Hitler's "Gifts", TASS No. 744, 21 June 1943

A Russian propaganda poster created under the TASS news agency centred in Moscow, it depicts the Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel on a plane after escaping North Africa, where most of his men had been caught as prisoners of war. A caricaturised and sick-looking Hitler awards Rommel with a badge for his retreat. The text underneath the image was written by TASS poet Dem'ian Bednyi and refers to Rommel as a coward being rewarded for his actions. It also refers to the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad earlier in 1943, and predicts similar results for Germany in the future. It translates as: 'Field Marshal Rommel's sour expression / Will not improve his situation. / Having lost half his forces / Scratching his whipped back, / Sides and other parts, / He's flown off to escape / In direction of Berlin. Hoorah! / Surprised at his good "fortune", / He proudly watches down / Upon those he abandoned to surrender: / Cape Bon, Bizerte, Tunisia. / Berlin! That's where reward awaits him. / That's where since Stalingrad / The Führer has adopted a new fashion: / That all of his defeated Field Marshals / Covered in shameful glory / Be honored with gifts of honor. / Shame masked in solemn wrapping! / But we cannot hide our belief / That Hitler will soon need such "gifts" / Not only for two, / But for all his Field Marshals.'

The translation was provided by the Art Institute of Chicago, which held an exhibition of TASS posters from July 31 to October 23 2011. The exhibition's catalogue, "Windows on the War" (edited by Peter Zork Zegers and Douglas Druik), includes a large amount of information about the TASS posters, the artists and writers as well as methods of printing and distributing.