Wer ist dieser Mann? – Schwarze Listen für die Schwarze Schmach – Allied German-Language Anti-SS Propaganda Leaflet, G.54, 1942 – Provenance: Robert Hastings; The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes.

Original German-language Allied propaganda leaflet, issued in 1942 and identified by the printed code G.54. The leaflet forms part of the “Schwarze Listen für die Schwarze Schmach” campaign, encouraging German civilians to remember and identify Nazi and SS criminals for future punishment after Hitler’s fall.

The front is visually striking: a crowd photograph in which an SS officer is picked out by a bold red circle. The reverse asks “Wer ist dieser Mann?” — “Who is this man?” — and tells German readers that if they know his name they should place him on their “black list”. It warns that after Hitler’s fall, the guilty will be judged.

The leaflet quotes Winston Churchill’s statement of 8 September 1942, declaring that when the hour of liberation comes, those responsible for Nazi crimes will be brought before courts wherever they can be found. This makes the leaflet especially significant as both anti-SS propaganda and a Churchill-related wartime document.

The message is direct and psychologically astute. Rather than speaking only in broad military terms, it asks ordinary Germans to look at individual perpetrators among them, remember names, and anticipate accountability. The red-circled SS man makes the leaflet unusually graphic and memorable within the British German-language propaganda series.

The exact leaflet is recorded in the major wartime leaflet sales/reference list as G.54/1942 “Wer ist dieser Mann?”, described as a 13 x 21 cm red-and-black two-sided leaflet with a photograph of a mass of German people in which an SS man is singled out. The title is also recorded in the Gale / McMaster Psychological Warfare and Propaganda in World War II index and in Dutch wartime source records.

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 particularly relevant here because Churchill’s statement is central to the leaflet’s warning of post-war justice.

Condition: Very good. Original fold creases, light age toning and minor handling wear. Complete and clearly legible, with the red printed circle still strong.

Date: 1942
Code: G.54
Language: German
Format: Two-sided propaganda leaflet
Size: 21.2 x 13 cm
Subject: Allied propaganda, SS, war crimes, Churchill, Germany, psychological warfare, Second World War
Provenance: Robert Hastings, Churchill scholar and collector; subsequently The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine.

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