Thursday 26 February 2015

Cartoonist Erich Ohser (1903-1944)


Serving the Nation 

                  
Cartoonist Erich Ohser, a victim of denunciation,  hanged himself in his cell at Berlin-Moabit rather than appear before a so-called People's Court. His friend and editor Erich Knauf (b. 1895) was taken before the court and sentenced to be executed. The sentence was carried out  at Brandenburg-Görden in May 1944.              

Today the satirical journal Charlie Hebdo is back on sale in Paris and elsewhere. I applaud all concerned for having the courage to continue. 

German cartoonist Ohser showed readers, with one simple drawing titled Serving the Nation which was published in Neue Revue in 1931, why irresponsible journals (such as Charlie Hebdo today) play a vital role in highlighting the ever present threats and dangers, from outside and inside, and attempts to undermine our hard won  freedoms here in Europe. 

Freedoms for which tens of millions paid with their lives,  we should always remember.


12 comments:

  1. I may be an infidel in the middle of the United States but I don’t recall seeing a better cartoon in my too-long life. I’m old enough to have seen the work of Bill Mauldin and later to have worked at the same newspaper with him. But I recall nothing of his cartoons that struck me the way this one did. After you see this, what else is there to say. I wish he were with us now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Donal. I'll have a look for the work of Bill Maudlin. Maybe there's some on the internet. I found the above cartoon in a book called 'The House Prison at Gestapo Headquarters in Berlin' which I bought when I went to the Topography of Terror Museum a few years ago. It's not too far from checkpoint Charlie.

      Delete
    2. Oops. I meant to say Mauldin. Sorry, Bill!

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. And we must never forget. We cannot say it too often.

      Delete
  3. Even though I'm usually turned off by the kind of stuff that magazines like Charlie publish, I support their right to print. Often, "polite society" will try to look the other way instead of criticize. Charlie and other publications have no such mores. However, I do wonder if their criticism is often lost in the plethora of venom on their pages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Charlie is a satirical magazine and so people who do not like satire need not read it. Nobody is being forced to read it, as is the case with the Koran.

      A man from India who used to cut my hair many years ago told me that he had memorized the whole of the Koran. Naturally I asked him if it was interesting. He said: I don't know. I had to memorize it in Arabic, but since I can only speak Gujurati and English I have no idea what it says.

      My position is that I stand alongside those who say: I may not agree with everything you say but I defend your right to say it.

      Delete
  4. Question: I see the picture, but is the man supposed to be a specific figure or just a general commentary?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The title of the cartoon is "Serving the Nation" and one may serve nation as one sees fit. The man saw fit to serve his nation by urinating on it. Taking the piss, as the saying goes. The man could stand for any man. We cannot see his face. He has his back to us. He is just a man taking a walk on the beach. If the cartoonist showed his face you would see a look of terror for then it would be too late, the Gestapo would be on the scene.

      Delete
  5. As brave as a man who sticks his hand in liquid nitrogen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It doesn't feel cold either, but if you leave it in too long it'll fall off I was given to understand. The bodyheat from the hand acts as insulation but obviously there's a limit to how long. Don't try it at home folks. I was at Jodrell Bank under expert supervision which Gerald forgot to mention. So wasn't exactly being brave in the true sense of the word.

      Delete
    2. Forgot to mention the tennis balls in the solution. They fell apart like broken crockery into fragments when you tried to bounce them on the floor.

      Delete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.