Small 76-pp. volume of anti-Nazi jokes and cartoons. 12mo (6 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches). Original illustrated paper wrappers. Some light wear to wrappers including minor discoloration and spotting, light toning to interior, very minor scattered spotting, overall very good. Montreuil-Paris: Edition Sauba, 1945.

This small volume compiles an extensive collection of anti-Nazi jokes, anecdotes, and cartoons, published just after the liberation of France but collected during the Nazi occupation of Paris by M. Fougerole and Joseph Hémard, with cartoon illustrations by Hémard (1880-1961), a popular French book illustrator, cartoonist, and theatrical and poster designer.

The book is organized by year and includes 75 jokes and cartoons mocking Germans, Adolf Hitoler, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, the German army, the Gestapo, and other figures from the Third Reich. Some of the main targets of the authors' satire include the Nazi obsession with antisemitism, German manners, the blind obedience of the Germans to Hitler, and the actions of the German army. The name "Gavroche" in the title comes from a character in Victor Hugo's novel "Les Misérables", and came to be synonymous with the image of a street urchin as well as a kind of spirit of French rebellion, the latter of which is the usage here.

The volume opens with a brief two-page note from the editor, which reads in part: "These stories...you will better appreciate their flavor and you will understand what they represent for us when you know the conditions under which they were collected: Since our defeat in June 1940, I received a visit to my office almost every month from a friend, the well-known illustrator Joseph Hémard. He is not only a talented painter: he is also a phlegmatic, deadpan and witty storyteller. Too often, when the resounding successes of the German armies were announced, the ambient heaviness, the feeling of suffocation, that foretaste of the grave that we all experienced during the occupation, weighed on our conversations. So, to react and try to lighten the atmosphere, we told the good stories that we had each gleaned on our own. To be fair, I must acknowledge that Joseph Hémard was the main source of these stories. It was he who wrote them down at my request because, as early as 1942, I had decided to publish them in a small collection for the clients and friends of Laboratoires Sauba, when France was liberated, while awaiting the resurrection of No Broyer du Noir [i.e. No Brooding ]. Hitler and Mussolini, as well as their subjects, are the main victims of these stories. However, some may seem caustic to our English friends. They have too good a sense of humor not to forgive us for them, especially since, if at certain times, public opinion has scorned them, it is because we were waiting too impatiently for their arrival on French soil. These stories, collated from year to year, mark the stages of a harsh ordeal. Brought forth by the popular spirit, carried from mouth to mouth, they prove to the eyes of the world that never, even in the darkest hours, have the people of France been morally submissive to the invader."

An extensive anthology of contemporary anti-Nazi sentiment. Very scarce; as of December 2025, OCLC locates three holdings worldwide and none in the United States.

Book ID: 53598

Price: $950.00