Dramatic Transformation

Transformation of fritzes (The TASS Window №640)
Kukriniksy, 1942

The poster verse says:

These are not the animals with wild howl
Crossing stormy river flow.
This is Hitler kicking
Troops eastward.

Here where all the windows are loop-holes,
And the bushes hide death,
Here after tasting the foreign ground,
The fooled fritzes
Transform into grave crosses.

And this death of German bastards
Have no magic whatsoever.
This is military triumph of
The Red Army

This poster is a great example of Okna “TASS” art. These series of posters drawn always on acute topics, were created during the WW2 by Kukriniksy – a group of three brilliant cartoonists.

The poster shows German lines marching under direct command of Hitler and transforming into swastikas and then into white birch grave crosses. This poster is a very significant artwork of the War as this is the first time German soldiers (pejoratively nicknamed “Fritzes”) are portrayed as being fooled by its rulers – namely Hitler. The first row of soldiers is archly pictured with red noses and in cowardly poses, but certainly not evil. The second row has undergone partial transformation in swastikas. The final transformation is death in a form of grave crosses. Such separation of the ordinary executors and organizers became possible when in the beginning of 1942 Soviet Army performed successful counteroffensive - the Battle of Moscow. This operation eliminated the direct threat to the Russian capital, made the blitzkrieg impossible and strengthened Soviet confidence in final Victory.

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