Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Evolution of Norwegian SS Posters

I think I have indentified the most extreme SS posters that were produced in Norway. They mirror the evolution of the recruiting pitch for the SS in Norway.

This 1941 poster for the Norwegian Legion, which became a part of the Waffen-SS, has zero SS symbols. The soldiers do not even wear German helmets. In fact, aside from the Finnish flag, the poster might well have been used by the Allies. This one is on display in the Narvik War Museum.

This 1943 poster for the Norwegian Germanic SS is the absolute opposite, the most black, SS- and viking-filled poster imagineable. This one is on display in the Troms Defence Museum in Setermoen.

This Norwegian page in English has virtually all Norwegian SS posters in a row, with some comments.
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3 comments:

  1. L-4Hpilot14 August 2019 at 05:02

    Lars
    I recently purchased an SS-Dagen 1943 poster in an Ohio antique mall that appears to be exactly the same as the one you poster except the background is not black but beige. Do you know if there were such variants or even reproductions? It appears not to be a modern reproduction but I can send you photos/scans and measurements of the poster if you would think it would be of help to authenticate it.

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  2. Lars Gyllenhaal23 August 2019 at 13:23

    Have never seen a beige variant myself but that does not mean it didn't exist. Try joining a Norwegian WW2 FB group to get more feedback.

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  3. L-4Hpilot26 August 2019 at 15:24

    Lars
    I have been looking around the internet for other examples and found two with a non-black background. One sold at auction in 2014 in Florida. This was was framed and had small tears and other condition issues that made it appear to be an authentic WWII produced poster.The background color is white although there are water stains.
    The other example is currently (24 Aug 2019) available on ebay for $199 (US). This one has a white background and appears to be pristine. The extraordinary condition makes me wonder about its authenticity.
    An original SS-Dagen 1943 40 page (+/-) booklet was sold in Europe a few years ago with photos of the event and now a copy of it is for sale on ebay. There may be photos in that booklet of the posters types but the selection of photos of the booklet on the ebay site do not show posters.
    None of the photos or descriptions of the black background posters or the white ones indicate that there are any publisher or printer credits at the bottom of the posters.
    Understood about the Norwegian WW2 FB group. Thank you.

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