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When our Graphical History Tour last visited July, 1924, the Democratic National Convention had just struggled for two weeks to settle on its presidential nominee, rejecting its leading suitor, William McAdoo, in favor of John W. Davis.

"Americanische Wahlqualen" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, July 27, 1924

The debacle made the front page of Berlin's satirical weekly Kladderadatsch, where cartoonist Arthur Johnson was happy to enjoy the schadenfreude of the misfortunes of politicians of any other country.

"Die Schnüffel-Kommission" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, July 13, 1924

Especially since the alternative was to cartoon about the humiliation of his own country. (Johnson's father was American; but Arthur was German-born and grew up there raised by his German mother.) 

The title of this cartoon derives from a word that can mean either "snoop" or "sniff"; I've chosen the former, since Marianne, John Bull, Uncle Sam, and the Italian (King Vittorio Emanuele III, probably), representing the Reparations Commission, are using a magnifying glass rather than their olfactory senses to examine Michel's gesäß.

"Morgens.. in der Berliner Kunstuastellung" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, July 13, 1924

Johnson, renowned for his monstrously distorted caricatures of Germany's foes, was certainly capable of more flattering depictions of the human form, as shown in "Die Schnüffel-Kommission." I may not know much about modern art, but I know what Johnson liked.

"Der Dolchstoss von Hinten" by Oskar Theuer in Ulk, Berlin, July 18, 1924

Only months after the failed Beerhall Putsch, the Never Hitlerer cartoonists warned that the danger had not truly passed. Oskar Theuer's cartoon on the front page of Ulk depicted industrialists and royalists behind the bushes on the left and Nazis on the right, both waiting to ambush the young lad labeled Peace. Little Boy Peace's backpacks are labeled "reconstruction" and "reconciliation."

Theuer ironically took the blame-laying phrase used by those right-wingers, turning it back against them as the title of the cartoon.

"Der Fall Willstätter" by Theodor Heine in Simplicissimus, Munich, July 28, 1924

Publishing his magazine in the heart of Nazi country, Theodore Heine's play on words recalls the horrors of World War I's chemical warfare for his cartoon. Yellow Cross gas, or Gelbkreuzgas, was Germany's variant of mustard gas with an antifreeze agent for use in winter; Hakenkreuz is another word for "swastika."

Richard Willstätter was a Nobel Prize winning German chemist who determined the composition of chlorophyll in plants. Asked in 1915 to help develop poison weapons for the German government, he refused to work on anything beyond protective measures. He received the Iron Cross for his work on gas mask filtering systems.

In protest of increasing anti-Semitism, Willstätter, a Jew, announced his retirement as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in 1924, and subsequently refused all offers of employment. He eventually fled Munich for Switzerland in 1938, where he died four years later, ten days shy of his 70th birthday.

"Faschismus" by Arnold Lindloff in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, July 6, 1924

Looking beyond Germany's borders again, Arnold Lindloff has Italy's Benito Mussolini quoting The Sorcerer's Apprentice, although Il Duce (at right) appears to enjoy the work of the monsters he has set loose. 

Only the industrialist seems perturbed; wouldn't it have made more sense to have him the one who summoned the two spirits? Indeed, the fellow with a dagger appears to be a German brownshirt; and whereas Mussolini has a club, the industrialist is armed only with a baton. 

A magic wand, even.

"Die Ältesten und die Jüngsten von U.S.A." by Karl Arnold in Simplicissimus, Munich, July 7, 1924

Here's another cartoon in which the wrong person seems to be speaking. Karl Arnold's comment on the U.S.'s Japanese Exclusion Act is one of many cartoons through history that have proposed that Native Americans erred in ever allowing Europeans to settle the new continent.

It appears that the tribal elder in the foreground should be the one talking, but the caption makes more sense said by the Japanese gentleman. I wonder why the speaker wasn't identified as McAdoo and Mussolini were in the above cartoons, or if an editor changed the caption.

I don't always get German humor, largely because I don't speak the language. Relying on an on-line translation of "Die Yankees machen sich jetzt mausig" gave me "The Yankees are making a mess of things now." But from what I've been able to tell, the word "mausig" doesn't translate neatly into English. It combines senses of being unruly, obstinate, and deliberately combative. (One translator also gave me "mousy.")

"Ihr" can mean "you," "her," or "their." Only one of those pronouns makes any grammatical sense in the caption, so I stuck with "you."

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Well, that's our review for today of German cartoons from July of 1924. Hope you enjoyed the grammar lesson and the Jugenstil. Come back next week, and I promise to go back to having stuff in English.