Anti-British / Anti-Churchill Propaganda Miniature Booklet – “Pour anéantir le hitlérisme…” German Propaganda in French, c.1940 – Robert Hastings / Steve Forbes Provenance.

Original miniature French-language anti-British and anti-Churchill propaganda booklet, almost certainly produced by German propaganda authorities for distribution in occupied France.

The red cover carries a purported quotation attributed to Winston Churchill:

“Pour anéantir le hitlérisme l’Angleterre se battra jusqu’au dernier Polonais et — si la Pologne est détruite — jusqu’au dernier Français.”

The text claims this was said by Churchill during a secret meeting of the British War Cabinet on 2 September 1939. The statement should be understood as propaganda, not as a reliable Churchill quotation. Its purpose was to portray Britain as cynical, self-interested and willing to sacrifice other nations in its struggle against Hitler.

Inside, the booklet uses a mixture of literary quotation, caricature and anti-English sentiment. One opening invokes Victor Hugo sur les Anglais, contrasting “Hommes” and “Anglais”, while the facing page shows a grotesque caricature of Britain as a monstrous, uniformed figure. The format is deliberately compact and portable, closer to a propaganda pocket-card or miniature booklet than a standard leaflet. Unpaginated. Illustrated throughout with photographs and diagrams.

This is a particularly appealing small-format example of German propaganda directed at French readers. Rather than attacking France directly, it attempts to undermine French sympathy for Britain by presenting Churchill and the British as manipulative, hypocritical and exploitative. The use of Victor Hugo is especially revealing: German propaganda sought to weaponise a major French literary authority in order to make anti-British messaging appear rooted in French cultural memory rather than in German occupation policy.

The exact cover text is institutionally recorded by FranceArchives / Archives de Paris, under the title beginning “Pour anéantir le hitlérisme [sic] l’Angleterre se battra jusqu’au dernier Polonais…”, where it is catalogued as a wartime tract. The Hugo quotation belongs to a broader tradition of French literary commentary on England and Europe, though its use here is propagandistic and selective rather than neutral literary citation.

This copy has notable provenance, having formed part of the collection of Robert Hastings, Churchill scholar and collector, before entering The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine. The provenance is especially relevant because the booklet is explicitly Churchill-focused and belongs to the wider wartime propaganda war over his image in occupied Europe.

Condition: Good. Minor edge wear, rubbing and age toning. Some wear to the red cover and corners, but complete and legible. A fragile survival in a very small format.

Date: c.1940
Language: French
Format: Miniature propaganda booklet
Size: 5.2 x 3.8 cm
Subject: Winston Churchill, anti-British propaganda, occupied France, Victor Hugo, Second World War
Provenance: Robert Hastings, Churchill scholar and collector; subsequently The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes.

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