"Unser Feind! Churchill Der Weltlugner" ("Our Enemy! Churchill The World Liar") – An Original And Likely Unique German Propaganda Poster Caricaturing Winston S. Churchill, Drawn On 3 October 1939, A Month After The Second World War Began Unidentified German Soldier Wsc Churchilliana

This Second World War propaganda poster is an original caricature of Winston S. Churchill drawn on 3 October 1939, just a month after the Second World War began. The piece seems likely both unique and the work of a German soldier. The piece measures 12.25 x 8.5 inches (31.1 x 21.6 cm). The drawing features a slightly demonically-rendered countenance of Winston S. Churchill wearing a hat high on his head and cocked to the right with a stylized, gloved hand clawing around the brim. Churchill’s eyes are slightly asymmetrical and horizontally elongated, the roundness of his face slightly and unflatteringly exaggerated, his mouth open. The net effect is oddly evocative of an inebriated, rotund, clumsily malign and yet simultaneously ridiculous German burgher. The drawing, measuring 4.5 x 3.5 inches (11.4 x 8.9 cm) and framed by two border rules, occupies the upper center of the paper below a prominent, underscored title labeling the image "Unser Feind!" ("Our Enemy!"). Lightning-shaped arrows originating from the underscoring beneath the title point unsubtly to either side of the image – just in case the identity of the subject "Unser Feind" is in question. Centered directly below Churchill’s image are two further lines: Churchill, | der Weltlugner. ("Churchill, the World Liar"). At the lower right corner, just inside of a single border rule, the image is dated "8 Okt. 1939 and signed by the artist. The signature is indecipherable.Condition is very good, particularly given the age and wartime experience of the piece. There are pin holes at the corners, a small hole in the second "h" of Churchill’s name, and a small vertical hole, slightly wider at the center and pointed at the ends, in Churchill’s upper right forehead; it requires little imagination to perceive the shape of this hole as consonant with a knife point. There are five small circular stains adjacent to the upper and lower vertical center, some light spotting to the blank lower portion of the drawing, light overall soiling, the soiling heavier to the upper verso, where we also note a small paperclip rust stain. Clues to provenance are tantalizing. 3 October, when this piece was drawn and signed, was an optimistic day for the Wehrmacht; French forces completed their withdrawal from advanced positions in German territory and the last significant units of the Polish army surrendered, allowing German forces to begin redeploying from Poland to western Europe. Two days prior, on 1 October, Churchill, then still First Lord of the Admiralty, made his first wartime radio broadcast.At the upper left of the verso is a dated notation in pencil in four lines: "18 Sept 44 | The Jerries left this | behind at their now our | barracks." Below and in a different hand, also in pencil, is a translation of the poster "Our enemy | the world liar". Pin holes at the center of circular thumbtack indentations at each corner make it clear that this poster was displayed informally – which is consonant with the dated discovery notation made presumably by an allied soldier. The term "Jerry" to refer to the Germans was used generally by Allied soldiers and civilians, but originated with, and was most used by, the British. In the European theater in mid-September 1944, Operation ‘Market Garden’ – involving one of the largest airborne operations in history - was underway. On Monday, 18 September 1944, British ground troops linked with U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Eindhoven, Holland.This piece was once part of the extraordinary collection of Philip David Sang (1902-1975). Sang donated manuscript collections to Brandeis University, Yale University, the Illinois State Historical Museum and to Southern Illinois University, among others. He also loaned items to many museums and libraries. Following his death, his widow, Elsie Olin Sang, sold many of his remaining manuscript and archival collections. This piece thus made its way to a colleague in the book trade, who held it for a number of years b