[Second World War Propaganda / Churchill / Roosevelt / Atlantic Charter.] “Englisch-amerikanische Deklaration” – 1941

German-language wartime propaganda leaflet reproducing and disseminating the Anglo-American declaration issued by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt following their Atlantic meeting of August 1941, with the printed signatures of both leaders at foot. From the Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes, with earlier Robert Hastings provenance.

Single bifolium leaflet (2 pp.), measuring 19.8 cm × 13.8 cm, printed by letterpress. A rare and historically important wartime leaflet presenting the principles of what became known as the Atlantic Charter, one of the foundational political declarations of the Allied war effort and a defining statement of Anglo-American cooperation during the Second World War. Printed in German under the heading “Englisch-amerikanische Deklaration”, the leaflet opens with the instruction “Lesen und weitergeben!” — “Read and pass on!” — indicating intended circulation among German-speaking readers during wartime conditions of censorship and information control.

The text summarises and reproduces the declaration agreed between Churchill and Roosevelt following their clandestine North Atlantic meeting aboard warships in August 1941. Although the United States had not yet formally entered the war, the Charter publicly aligned American policy with Britain’s resistance to Nazi Germany and articulated a programme for the post-war world founded upon collective security, self-determination, economic cooperation, freedom of navigation, reduced armaments and liberation from tyranny.

The verso contains the famous eight-point declaration in German translation, including the pledges that neither Britain nor the United States sought territorial expansion; that territorial changes should accord with the wishes of affected peoples; that all nations possessed the right to choose their own form of government; that economic barriers should be reduced; and that peace following the destruction of Nazi tyranny should allow nations to live securely within their own borders. Particularly striking is the phrase “Nach der endgültigen Vernichtung der Nazi-Tyrannei” — “after the final destruction of Nazi tyranny” — which gives the leaflet its strongest ideological force.

Unlike sensational or caricature-based propaganda, the present leaflet derives its authority from political seriousness and documentary presentation. It offered German readers direct access to Allied war aims through the combined names of Churchill and Roosevelt themselves. In doing so, it functioned simultaneously as propaganda, clandestine information transmission, and psychological warfare. The leaflet communicated not merely opposition to Hitler, but the existence of a coherent post-war vision shared between Britain and the United States at a moment when the eventual outcome of the war remained uncertain.

Examples of this exact leaflet appear to be exceptionally scarce. While institutions preserve official English-language Atlantic Charter printings, posters and pamphlets, this German wartime distribution version does not appear widely represented in publicly searchable institutional catalogues. Worldcat finds only one copy in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin in major online holdings relating to Churchill, wartime propaganda or Atlantic Charter material. The survival of this ephemeral paper document is therefore of particular historical significance, preserving not simply the Charter itself but its role within the wider information and propaganda war conducted across occupied and contested Europe.

The provenance is distinguished. The leaflet comes from the renowned Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine and one of the most important modern private collectors of Churchill material. It also carries earlier association with Robert Hastings, the noted American Churchill scholar, collector and bibliophile whose collecting activity helped preserve important Churchilliana and wartime ephemera during the post-war decades. The combination of Hastings and Forbes provenance places the leaflet firmly within the documented history of serious Churchill collecting.

Condition: printed on fragile wartime paper, browned and worn with old folds, creasing, marginal losses, chips, small ‘filing’ holes and handling wear consistent with clandestine circulation and wartime survival. Despite the fragility, the text remains substantially complete and legible throughout, including the Roosevelt and Churchill printed signatures. An exceptionally rare and historically resonant survival linking Churchill, Roosevelt, the Atlantic Charter and the propaganda war of the Second World War. In good condition overall.

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