Hitler as Leviathan of the German People; a Map of the Threat to Germany (1936)

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2613

the following two images are found in a small pamphlet on the general election and single-question referendum held in Germany on March 29, 1936 (Des Deutschen Volkes Schicksalswende am 29. Marx). as it turns out the small pamphlet accordion-folded oput to about 2.5 feet, which was printed on both sides.  Anyway the single question was whether the voter wanted a single-party representation by the NSDAP in the Reichstag--not surprisingly whatsoever the German population voted/"voted" 99% in favor of the proposal.  The pamphlet was a gross propaganda instrument, as was the "election/referendum", and it contained a number of striking images, though perhaps none so as near-unforgettable as that showing Hitler arising from a living-person map of Germany:

 

Hitler came to power via a number of elections--he didn't just take it, or at least not until 1933; 44 million people voted in March 1933 (an 88% turnout), and 17 million voted for the NSDAP and Hitler giving him the popular vote and the most seats in the Reichstag. In the November 1933 ("Ein Volk, Ein Fuhrer, Ein Ja") elections, 39 million/92% voted for Hitler, which was another story.  And here he is, rising from a sea of Germans, three years later, a leader restrictive of enemies and opposition, the whole thing looking horrible. 

Here's another bit from the same 12-panel accordion-fold pamphlet, a propaganda map showing the possibly-invasive weaknesses of the Versailles-dictated German army.  AS in the case of several other maps posted to this blog on this 1934-1939 geographic creation of risk and threat, this one depicts a heavily-armed and populated French army looking at Germany, while the relatively-meagre 100,000-man German army quietly protects itself on the borders 50km away from the Rhine.  I guess it might have been effective if people were actually voting in this election, for scared people to vote their scared conscience for the man who scared them. The writing however was on the proverbial wall, and the only thing left to do with the Versailles treaty at that point would be to scrap it.  About four years later the Nazis would come sweeping down on France and by June 22 the French would be signing a humiliating surrender instrument.