History Sourcework - How similar are the messages of these two cartoons? - Hitler's Germany

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History Sourcework: Compare Sources F and G. How similar are the messages of these two cartoons?

Source F was published in a Russian newspaper on the 10th of November after the events of Kristallnact. It depicts a German officer, of the SA as the uniform shows, holding a knife covered in blood standing on the wreckage and rubble of a house while over him from the clouds looks Tsar Nicholas II in a disapproving manor quoting ''Attacking the Jews never did me any good, my Fascist Friend''. The stance of the German officer makes him look oafish or thuggish; that the pride of the German military might is nothing. He is fat and ugly, the very opposite of what the Germans were trying to promote as there ideal man. The way, in which his sleeves are rolled up indicating that he has just performed a messy job, the blood on the knife leads to this conclusion as well. The club in the officers left hand is meant to represent a certain stone age feel to this act of brutality and the pocket watches that have been looted trying to shame the German army by showing them as no more than common thieves. Tsar Nicholas II was the last Tsar of Russia. He was Anti Semitic and supported attacks against the Jews during his reign; eventually overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 he was killed for his perceived crimes. His message caries a chilling message to the Germans who are carrying out the same crimes during Kristallnact.

There are many objects contained within this cartoon that carry meanings in relation to Kristallnact. As well as showing that the act was of brutality only seen in the Stone Age, the club in the left hand of the officer shows that the Jews were viciously beaten to death in the streets. The knife carried in the right hand also carries the message of death and murder. The pocket watch's that were looted off bodies and found in the cartoon in the officers pockets were the symbol of the Jewish business, therefore this represents the destruction and looting of the Jewish business'. The destroyed household objects that are under his feet such as tables and chairs, are the remains of the Jewish property that was plundered, ransacked and burnt to the ground.  In the bottom right hand corner the pair of shoes once again present the image of murdered Jews, with sacks in the corner again indicating the wealth of the Jews being looted.

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The opinion in the cartoon is very negative, openly condemning the course of the Nazi party. This is not to say that the communist party did not have it's own form of oppression against the Jews and other religions, this cartoon is as form of propaganda promoting the good of the communist lifestyle and ideology while showing the open corruption of the bourgeois capitalist system and in particularly the fascist rule over Germany. As all newspapers were censored in Russia, as in Germany what the ruling body wanted to publish was published. Therefore the opinion follows the beliefs of ...

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