Exhibition at the Swiss Cottage Library
Curated by staff at The Wiener Library, this exhibition at the Swiss Cottage Library explores aspects of resistance against Nazism and various manifestations of this resistance, from instances of organised rebellion to examples of anti-Nazi jokes.
The exhibition draws upon the Wiener Library’s rich archival collections to feature a number of anti-Nazi communist pamphlets camouflaged to protect their readers; a notebook containing anti-Nazi jokes recorded by a schoolgirl in Nazi Germany, and accounts of acts of rebellion from in the Library’s collections of eyewitness accounts of The Holocaust.
Quiet Down There will be running two school workshops alongside this exhibition, one on Wednesday 12 July 2018 10am-12pm at the exhibit of this work at The Wiener Library (on display until 14 September 2018), and one on Wednesday 26 September 2018 10am-12pm at this exhibition at Swiss Cottage Library.
Exhibition Highlights
Oistros, Truffle Eater – pretty stories and funny pictures (1933)
This book is the earliest anti-Hitler cartoon. The author used the pseudonym of Oistros. His real name was Humbert Wolfe, a British civil servant and poet with a Jewish family background.
The book is loosely based upon Struwwelpeter, a classic German children’s story in which terrible consequences arise from children’s bad behaviour. Oistros predicted that war and destruction would arise from Hitler’s actions.
Lyon’s Tea sample containing anti-war and anti-fascist propaganda
Tarnschriften are anti-Nazi booklets and periodicals that were published outside Germany between 1933 and 1945, often by Communist groups. The front and back pages are disguised with non-political content to hide the anti-Nazi messages inside, effectively camouflaging the publication.
This exhibition is supported by Camden Vox
Taking inspiration from the Women’s Suffrage movement and the centenary of the Representation of the People act, Camden VOX celebrates and explores themes of equality, place, history and power.
