Caricature of Refugees and Overcrowding in Kassel (1945)
Abstract
In this caricature, an unscrupulous German, represented by an overweight pharmacist/landlord, invites a naïve-looking refugee family to live in the overcrowded rental unit above his pharmacy. His current tenants lean out of the windows, waving as though in joyous welcome to the newcomers. The caricature portrays refugees as intruders who flood Germany’s destroyed cities in flagrant disregard for the misery of established populations who were still reeling from the war. Published in the Hessischen Nachrichten in December 1945, this caricature mocks arriving refugees for being naïve enough to believe that there was room for them in Germany.
Source
Source: Caricature of refugees and overcrowding in destroyed Kassel, Hessische Nachrichten from 15. December 1945. Website for the exhibition ANGEKOMMEN of the “Zentrum gegen Vertreibung,” http://www.ausstellung-angekommen.de/index.php?id=29&tx_wtgallery_pi1[show]=169263891&cHash=f294baba0ed816f953f4967985ebca82
© Peter von Tresckow / Zeichnung: Egon von Tresckow
Further Reading
Klaus J. Bade, Neue Heimat im Westen: Vertriebene, Flüchtlinge, Aussiedler. Münster: Westfälischer Heimatbund, 1990.
Mathias Beer, Martin Kintzinger, and Marita Krauss, eds., Migration und Integration: Aufnahme und Eingliederung im historischen Wandel. Stuttgart: Steiner, 1997.
Andreas Kossert, Kalte Heimat: Die Geschichte der deutschen Vertriebenen nach 1945. Munich: Siedler, 2009.
Martina Kessel, “Keine Heimat für Hybrides – Mamitschka und die Politik der Gefühle im Film der 1950er Jahre,” in Politische Leidenschaften: zur Verknüpfung von Macht, Emotion und Vernunft in Deutschland, edited by José Brunner. Tel Aviver Jahrbuch für deutsche Geschichte 38. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2010, pp. 183-98.