DAS ENDE – Allied German-Language Propaganda Leaflet, ZG 64 – Churchill and Roosevelt on Germany’s Future. 1945 – Provenance: Robert Hastings; The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes.

Original Allied German-language propaganda leaflet issued in the closing phase of the Second World War, identified by the printed code ZG 64. The leaflet was directed at German soldiers and civilians as Allied forces crossed onto German soil and the defeat of Nazi Germany became inevitable.

The front is headed simply and dramatically:

DAS ENDE — “The End”.

The text announces that the Allies are already on German soil, that there is no longer a stable front, that the battle in the West has been won, and that the war has been decided. It presents German readers with a stark choice: either the Allied advance into Germany will continue under artillery fire and bombing, or it can proceed in a more ordered way, sparing the German population further destruction and pointless loss of life.

The reverse is particularly significant. It prints statements headed “Churchill über Deutschlands Zukunft” and “Roosevelt über Deutschlands Zukunft” — Churchill and Roosevelt on Germany’s future. Both statements are designed to reassure German readers that unconditional surrender does not mean the enslavement or extermination of the German people, but the defeat of Nazism, militarism and the ideology that had brought Europe to catastrophe.

This is a powerful example of late-war psychological warfare: direct, urgent and political. It seeks to separate the Nazi regime from the German population, undermine further resistance, and present the Allied demand for surrender as the only route away from death and destruction.

The leaflet is institutionally and bibliographically recorded. Agitka records ZG 64 with the same opening text, “DAS ENDE. Die Alliierten stehen auf deutschem Boden”, and a Dutch archival inventory also records ZG 64, title: Das Ende.

This copy has notable provenance. It was formerly in 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 here because Churchill is not incidental: his statement on Germany’s future is one of the central elements of the leaflet.

Condition: Very good. Light age toning, original fold creases, minor handling wear and small tape marks. Complete and clearly legible.

Date: 1945
Code: ZG 64
Language: German
Format: Two-sided propaganda leaflet
Size: 21.8 x 13.3 cm
Subject: Churchill, Roosevelt, Germany 1945, Allied propaganda, unconditional surrender, psychological warfare
Provenance: Robert Hastings, Churchill scholar and collector; subsequently The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine.

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