Erst im Westen – Jetzt im Osten – Roosevelt and Churchill on Germany’s Future – Allied German-Language Propaganda Leaflet, WG.32, February 1945 – Provenance: Robert Hastings; The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes.

Original Allied German-language propaganda leaflet issued in February 1945, as Nazi Germany was collapsing under pressure from both west and east. Identified by the printed code WG.32, the leaflet presents the military situation in stark terms: Rundstedt’s western offensive has been crushed, East Prussia has been cut off, the Red Army is deep in Silesia, Zhukov’s armies are west of Posen, and the evacuation of state and Party authorities from Berlin is already under way.

The reverse carries crossed American and British flags above parallel statements by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill on Germany’s future. Both texts distinguish between the Nazi leadership and the German people, while insisting on unconditional surrender and the destruction of Nazi power.

This is a strong late-war psychological warfare leaflet: visually direct, politically explicit, and issued at the moment when Allied victory was becoming unavoidable.

The leaflet is recorded in wartime leaflet reference material as WG.32, dated February 1945, under the title beginning “Erst im Westen: Rundstedts Verzweiflungsoffensive zerschlagen…”. A University of the Bundeswehr Munich PDF also illustrates the same title text.

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 here because Churchill is one of the two central named figures on the leaflet.

Condition Near fine. Clean, bright and well preserved, with strong red-and-black printing.

Date: February 1945
Code: WG.32
Language: German
Format: Two-sided propaganda leaflet
Size: 21.4 x 13.2 cm
Provenance: Robert Hastings; The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes

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