Efimov cartoons. Over a century old

On October 1, 2008, the famous Soviet cartoonist Boris Efimov died in Moscow at the age of 109.

Boris Efimov (real name Fridlyand) is a Soviet and Russian graphic artist, master of political caricature, People's Artist of the USSR, academician of the USSR Academy of Arts, younger brother of the repressed famous Russian Soviet writer and journalist Mikhail Koltsov.

Boris Efimov lived a long life, full of historical events, he said: “Fate was favorable to me, he shook hands with Mussolini, dined with Tito, saw Trotsky into exile, spoke with Stalin on the phone and saw off Lunacharsky.”

Boris Efimov was born in Kyiv. Parents - Fridlyand Efim Moiseevich (1860-1945) and Rakhil Savelyevna (1880-1969). Boris began drawing at the age of five. After his parents moved to Bialystok, Boris entered a secondary school, where his older brother Mikhail also studied. There they published a handwritten school magazine together. My brother (future publicist and feuilletonist Mikhail Koltsov) edited the publication, and Boris illustrated. In 1915, he ended up in Kharkov - there was a war going on, and Russian troops were forced to leave the city of Bialystok.

The first cartoons of Boris Fridlyand were published in 1916 in the illustrated magazine “Sun of Russia”, popular in those years. Since 1920, Boris Efimov has worked as a cartoonist for various newspapers. In 1922, Boris Efimov moved and painted in the genre of political satire for Rabochaya Gazeta, Krokodil, Pravda, Izvestia, Ogonyok, Searchlight and many other publications. In 1932 he was awarded the title “Honored Artist of the RSFSR”. During the Great Patriotic War, Boris Efimov’s works were published on the pages of the newspaper “Red Star”, in the magazine “Front Illustration”, as well as in front-line, army, division newspapers and even on leaflets that were scattered behind the front line. Since 1965 and for almost 30 years, Boris Efimov headed as editor-in-chief the Creative and Production Association “Agitplakat” under the Union of Artists of the USSR, while remaining one of its most active authors.

In August 2002, Boris Efimov headed the caricature art department of the Russian Academy of Arts. In 2006, Boris Efimov took part in the preparation of the publication of the book “Autograph of the Century”. On September 28, 2007, on his 107th birthday, he was appointed to the position of chief artist of the Izvestia newspaper. At the age of 108, Boris Efimov continued to work - he wrote memoirs and drew friendly cartoons, took an active part in public life, speaking at all kinds of memorable and anniversary meetings, evenings, and events.

When politics becomes history

Radio Liberty columnist and writer Pyotr Weil talks about Boris Efimov: “On the walls of the Moscow Bureau of Radio Liberty there are political cartoons of Boris Efimov, large, poster-sized, neatly framed. Just a dozen. Dated to different years - from the mid-60s to the late 80s. That is, there is also a story about perestroika, 1987, several people in striped trousers, black jackets and bow ties. They are perplexed and proclaim at random: “Perestroika is dangerous for the United States”; “Perestroika must be shackled”; “Perestroika must be welcomed.” The faces of these people are different: from unpleasant - to confused - to enlightened. The characters of earlier years are uniformly unpleasant. For example, those in the picture “Big Business and Its Henchmen”. Business itself is a shapeless bag , and on his leashes are humanoid mongrels with names on the leashes: “Sabotage,” “Bribery,” “Espionage,” “Corruption.” Humanoid crows cawing from the roofs of skyscrapers on another poster. On the skyscrapers there are signs: “They lied to the Tribune,” “ Brechley News." The media theme continues in a variety of ways. Humanoid cats stage what is called the "Anti-Soviet Cat Concert."

Humanoid snakes protrude from a barrel with the inscription “Provocation, lies, slander”: “Radio Liberty” and “Radio Free Europe”. A humanoid man with the letters “CIA” on his back uses arms and legs, only arms are missing, juggles small monsters: “Voice of America”, “Radio Free Europe”, “Radio Liberty”.
All these cartoons are monochrome, black and white. Two new ones are in color. A group of enthusiasts with joyfully focused faces rushes along, waving nets. Above them is the slogan: “Catch Freedom.” Below is the frequency: AM 1044. The signature is the same, familiar to millions: “Bor.Efimov.” Date - 2001. On the other - an inspired young man, also with a net, also catches "Freedom". Here the date is more precise - September 28, 2001. One hundred and one years is more than a century. In a world of such large, almost incomprehensible numbers, quantity becomes quality. The artist is a witness. Ideology is a chronicle. Politics is history."

Citizen of three centuries

Boris Efimov was twice awarded the Stalin Prize, was a Hero of Labor and a member of the USSR Academy of Arts. Radio Liberty has also repeatedly been the target of Boris Efimov’s propaganda wit. In the last years of his life, the artist was a guest of our radio several times. And three years ago, an exhibition of his cartoons was held in Prague, and the artist visited the headquarters of Radio Liberty, where he answered questions from RS columnist Ivan Tolstoy. Here is an excerpt from that conversation.

Boris Efimovich, in his youth, when a person has a choice of profession, he hesitates between one and the other. You chose to paint, but what did you reject, what did you discard in your career?

You know, somehow it turned out very difficult and unpredictable for me. I didn't have any specific attraction. Besides, I didn't even know who to be. At first it occurred to me to become a lawyer. I really liked the profession of a lawyer. Then the names of Karabchevsky, Plevako, Gruzenberg and so on thundered across the country. I thought it was beautiful and I would go to law school at university. And he began to cram Latin, which was necessary for admission to this faculty. And then it all somehow went wrong, I didn’t turn out to be a lawyer, and then events came that dictated completely different paths, other activities, and I went with the flow, which led me to my profession as a satirical artist. She also came in handy.

Boris Efimovich, what about your first drawings? After all, you were born in the 19th century, and, as you said, you lived 95 days in the 19th century...

Just like a pharmacy. And I consider myself a citizen of three centuries.

And, therefore, before the revolution, before 1917, you were already an adult young man and more than once held a pencil in your hands. What were your first drawings? Are they left?

My first drawings are impressions of the Civil War in Kyiv, in my hometown. The government there changed twelve times. This should not be understood to mean that there were twelve different authorities. These were the main three forces that replaced each other, and not according to a peace agreement, but with battles and bombings, with executions. You had to see all this, experience it, sometimes you had to sit in the basement for several hours while the city was being bombed by the next government. Therefore, childhood and adolescence were restless, frankly speaking. But drawing was a pleasure for me, because all these forces that occupied the city in turn were very picturesque. And I sketched them in their typical uniform, clothing, weapons, with all sorts of details that characterized them. For example, there was such a force - Ukrainian nationalists. They were simply called Petliurists, after their leader Simon Petlyura. These were these hats with long tails. They were called shlyki. Red, green... It was picturesque.

Boris Fridlyand was born on September 15 (28), 1900 in Kyiv. Parents - Fridlyand Efim Moiseevich (1860-1945), an artisan shoemaker, and Rakhil Savelyevna (1880-1969). Boris began drawing at the age of five. Since 1920, Efimov has been working in Odessa as a cartoonist for the newspapers Kommunar, Bolshevik, etc. Since 1922, the artist has moved to Moscow, where he collaborates with the newspapers Pravda and Izvestia, and with the magazine Crocodile". Author of politically topical cartoons on international topics. After the arrests at the end of 1938, the artist was fired from the Izvestia newspaper and was forced to switch to work in book illustration (works by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin). He actively participated in all political campaigns of the Soviet government: the fight against the “social fascists” - the social democratic parties of the West, the fight against the Trotskyists, Bukharinists, etc., with cosmopolitans, with geneticists - “Weismannists-Morganists, murderers-fly-lovers”, with the Vatican , “killer doctors” (the so-called Case of Doctors, Case of Doctors-Poisoners, in the investigation materials Case of the Zionist conspiracy in the MGB - a criminal case against a group of prominent Soviet doctors accused of conspiracy and murder of a number of Soviet leaders. The origins of the campaign date back to 1948 , when the doctor Lydia Timashuk drew the attention of the competent authorities to the oddities in Zhdanov’s treatment, which led to the death of the patient.), with Marshal Tito, with “enemy voices” - radio stations in Western Europe and America, etc., created a unique phenomenon in world culture - "positive satire"
In 1966-1990, Efimov was the chief editor of the creative and production association "Agitplakat". For the last year of his life (at the age of 107-108 years) he was the chief artist of the newspaper Izvestia.
Died October 1, 2008 IN THE HUNDRED AND NINETH YEAR OF LIFE.

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People's Artist of the USSR Boris Efimovich Efimov

Caricatures by Boris Efimov, his satirical and humorous drawings appeared in print after the Great October Revolution in newspapers of Soviet Ukraine, the artist’s homeland. And already in 1922, his works were published in Moscow, on the pages of Pravda and Izvestia. Of course, Efimov the man is a little older, but Efimov the satirist, without a doubt, was born and matured under Soviet power.
For almost fifty years, Efimov’s drawings have been exposing and ridiculing the enemies of the Soviet Union, mocking them. Capitalism, militarism, imperialism and fascism are the themes of most of his cartoons. He fully deserves the recognition that he has long won as a people's artist.
Already in Efimov’s early drawings, the thoughts and feelings of the Soviet people were conveyed so clearly and clearly that it was impossible to make a mistake in their meaning. Efimov's artistic style - expressive and purely newspaper - allows him to very clearly reflect the most difficult political problems. His caricatures of political opponents are distinguished by their great portrait resemblance. They always very accurately emphasize those features that reflect the weaknesses of their enemies, weaknesses carefully covered up by a pompous appearance, empty phrases, and superbly tailored clothes. Efimov’s drawings tear off all these clothes from them. In this regard, he is invariably frank and ruthless. At the same time, even the sharpest Efimov’s drawings are full of deep humanity, they always contain playfulness and humor - that is, qualities so inherent to the Soviet people. They express the faith of the Soviet people in their own strength, their conviction in the rightness of their cause. There is so much humor, for example, in Efimov’s drawing from 1937, which depicts the fascist leaders of the “Anti-Comintern Pact” tensely balancing on a lit bomb. Will they fall off it or will they manage to hold on? One way or another, this “circus” anti-communist act will end badly for them.
Even during the difficult years of the war, Efimov’s sense of humor did not change. His contempt for the Hitler horde, for the Nazi leaders, expressed in cartoons, strengthened the will of the Soviet people to fight against the enemies of humanity and humanity. A drawing from 1942 depicted a greedy Nazi soldier who, in pursuit of a fat pig, ends up at gunpoint with a partisan. Even funnier is the world-famous cartoon in which a Hitlerite, wrapped in a warm blanket, runs through the snow to relieve himself. In this drawing, which combines cheerful comedy and caustic mockery in a purely Efimovian way, the “superman” of the Third Reich is completely exposed.
The ridicule of fascism contributed to its weakening and strengthening of the determination to fight it to the end. Efimov’s pencil reached the enemy before the bullets of Soviet soldiers finally hit him. The artist hanged Hitler's war criminals long before they lost their lives on the ropes of the Nuremberg Tribunal. It was probably a great moment for Efimov when he saw the objects of his cartoons in the dock in Nuremberg. The trial showed that Efimov did not exaggerate anything in his caricatures of the leaders of the “thousand-year” Reich and that, on the contrary, these criminals were in reality even more disgusting and insignificant than in Efimov’s images, representing caricatures of Efimov’s caricatures.
Many of the long-dead enemies of the Soviet Union gained “immortality” in Efimov’s cartoons. They live in his drawings not at all as examples worthy of imitation, but as warning examples of the hopelessness of anti-communist plans. But Efimov, unfortunately, does not yet have to suffer from a lack of topics for satire.
Fascism found “worthy” heirs, who at first hid behind democratic masks, but then exposed their faces. The disgusting US war in Vietnam, launched in order to prevent the people of a small country from ruling it the way they wanted, gave Efimov enough topics. The military dictatorship in Greece also became the target of his direct attacks.
Who hasn’t Efimov painted over the past years!
His first models were Curzon and Hughes, Sir Austen Chamberlain and the Polish dictator Marshal Pilsudski. These anti-communist “phenomena” have long since disappeared from the historical arena. Mussolini, Hitler, Goering and Goebbels left in the same way. And Efimov’s cartoons, which appeared in their time, today remind us not so much of these ominous ghosts that have sunk into oblivion, but of the resilience and courage of the Soviet people, to whom these ghosts, then powerful and arrogant, threatened with all sorts of troubles and predicted the death of Soviet power. They all found their place in the dustbin of history.
Efimov also reflected brave fighters against fascism in his work. One of his drawings shows Dimitrov, thrown into prison, boldly denouncing German fascism at the Reichstag arson trial that took place in Leipzig. Many drawings pay well-deserved honor to the Soviet soldier.
Efimov condemned the crimes of the fascist dictator Franco against the Spanish people. In the same way, the British lion received what he deserved for his humility, compliance and, frankly speaking, support for fascist aggressive plans in the East. Efimov’s pencil reflected both the predatory campaign of Hitler’s army across Europe and its inglorious defeat in the war against the Soviet Union.
As already mentioned, Efimov did not become unemployed after the end of the Second World War. During the Cold War, the fascist reptile, using dollar support, crawled out of the grave again and took its place in NATO. Anti-communism rolled forward again, this time on the “democratic” wheels of the dollar. The West German eagle began to hatch its revenge plans. Wherever possible, the United States began to install puppet regimes and suppress freedom, hiding behind, naturally, the slogan of “defending freedom.” The Cold War led the United States into a hot war - first in Korea, then in Vietnam - again, of course, in the name of "freedom" and "peace." Yes, unfortunately, Efimov still has a lot of work to do. But he predicts the defeat of imperialism. And we have every reason to believe that he is not mistaken in his predictions, just as he was not mistaken in them before. Sooner or later justice will prevail. The October Revolution showed that working people are capable of defeating warmongers and exploiters, and now the Soviet Union is the best example of the struggle for freedom, independence and peace for the peoples of the entire globe. Efimov contributed to the fact that the Soviet people remained optimistic even in the most difficult times, and it is very correct that at the beginning of the second half-century of the Soviet state, Efimov’s cartoons are again reproduced. Of course, only a few examples of his countless drawings are given here.
Boris Efimov is one of the most popular artists of the Soviet Union. Perhaps the most popular, although it is difficult for a foreigner to judge this. Now he is the oldest employee of both Izvestia, Pravda, and Krokodil. But he looks wonderful - as if he belongs to the younger generation. This is very good, as it allows us to hope that his pencil will serve to protect the interests of peace, socialism and the happiness of workers for many years to come.
Herluf Bidstrup,
laureate of the International Lenin Prize for strengthening peace between nations.
COPENHAGEN.

The civil war ended with the victory of the young Soviet Republic. Participants in the “march of fourteen powers” ​​against Moscow broke their foreheads. The last remnants of the White Guards and interventionists were thrown out of the Soviet Union. In 1922, the world's first state of workers and peasants essentially opened the first page of its peaceful existence.
The pulse of the Soviet country speaks of its good health, excellent mood and confidence in the future, which cannot be said about the West. The enemies of the revolution are experiencing a severe moral and mental crisis. So obvious and clinical in form that the international review drawn by the Izvestia cartoonist had to be called “Madhouse “Europe”. Presented here are carriers of a number of mental and political diseases. The central figure of this “Europe” is the French Prime Minister (former President) Raymond Poincaré, nicknamed “Poincaré the War” by the working people of France. Five years have passed since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which meant the end of the First World War, and the Prime Minister still cannot part with the steel
helmet, he emits a warlike growl, demanding the seizure of foreign territories, indemnities, and especially the destruction of Bolshevism... Obvious symptoms of violent insanity.
Nearby is the English Minister Lord Curzon of Kedleston (we will meet him again). The lord suffers from an obsession - to get as much oil as possible, and first of all he is attracted to Soviet oil. An extremely serious form of the disease and, as we will see, incurable.
Each madhouse, as a rule, has its own Kai Julius Caesar and its own Napoleon Bonaparte. These are the most banal examples of megalomania. Of course, they are also present in “Europe”. Wrapped in Caesar's toga was a certain Benito Mussolini, the leader of the Italian "Black Shirts" who call themselves fascists. Soon this first fascist in the world will become the absolute master of Italy with the title “Duce” and will do a lot of troubles and bloody crimes before the Italian partisans hang him upside down. But humanity will have to wait another 22 years for this.
The maniac in the Napoleonic cocked hat is a certain Pilsudski, a fascist who seized power in bourgeois Poland. Why he imagined himself to be a great commander, no one knows, but Bonaparte’s laurels clearly clouded the mind of Master Marshal, who turned his gloomy and threatening gaze towards the Soviet borders. We will also meet him again on these pages.
With a noose in his hands - land admiral Miklos Horthy de Nadbanya, the bloody executioner of the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, Hitler's future satellite, a sadist obsessed with hatred of revolution and democracy. He will finally go crazy after the collapse of the counter-revolutionary rebellion of 1956 and end his days in Lisbon under the wing of the now former fascist dictator Salazar.
Around these large-caliber madmen, smaller-scale “crazy people” are scurrying around - mainly representatives of the White Guard emigration: Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries, Black Hundreds, monarchists and other anti-Soviet rumps; they went crazy because the October Revolution swept them away from their homes.
Madhouse "Europe".
So, the year is 1923, from the 6th October Revolution. A scarlet banner with a hammer and sickle proudly flies over a sixth of the planet. The Soviet state stretched from the Neman to the Pacific Ocean. Many have already broken their teeth, testing the strength of its boundaries. However, not everyone calmed down...
The seasoned imperialist bison, Lord Curzon, already familiar to us, the former Viceroy of India and one of the organizers of the intervention against the Soviet Union, decided that the time had come for another anti-Soviet attack. On May 8, 1923, he handed M. M. Litvinov his so-called “Curzon ultimatum.” The meaning of this document: Soviet Russia must fulfill a number of provocative British demands within ten days, otherwise - a severance of relations and military measures.
The drawings “Arsonist” and “Cold Shower” quite clearly characterize the further course of events. Faced with the firm position of the Soviet government, the zealous lord was forced to back down, realizing, with all his stubbornness, that it was useless to talk to the Soviet people in the language of ultimatums. The hapless arsonist lord soon ended his political career, but never gave up his anti-Soviet obsessions. Even leaving, “as they say, for another world” in 1925, Curzon declared that recognition of the Soviet Union was “the greatest mistake in the world”...
An arsonist and... a cold shower.
And yet, despite the “dissenting opinion” of Lord Curzon, this “mistake” was made during his lifetime by many European states in 1924, which went down in the history of Soviet foreign policy as the “year of confessions.”
This is also evidenced by the drawing “New Year's Prediction”, published on January 1, 1924 in Izvestia with the note that the first page of the newspaper depicted in the cartoon is specifically allocated to Senator Hughes. Who is Yuz? And why didn’t they spare a whole page of Izvestia for him?
Lawyer Charles Hughes had been at the helm of American foreign policy for several years at that time, in no way inferior to his British colleague Curzon in terms of the degree of anti-Soviet violence.
brilliance. He more than once burst out with abuse and threats against the Soviet country. Hughes was especially enraged by those articles and speeches by Soviet statesmen that were published on the front page of Izvestia, to which the irritable senator attached some special, offensive meaning to himself. This manic sensitivity of Hughes to the first page of Izvestia was the reason for the caricature.
The “principled” Mr. Hughes, of course, did not recognize the existence of the Soviet Union. It will take several more years before US statesmen will “notice” on the map one-sixth of the earth's landmass, colored red.

Since the beginning of 1924, recognitions of the Soviet Union have followed one after another. Some bourgeois governments still resist, still cling to the so-called “recognition de facto, but not de jure” (that is, factual, but not legal), but in the end they are forced to submit to the inexorable course of historical development. The drawing “New Magnetic Anomaly” tells about this, the plot of which was suggested to the cartoonist by a major event in the national economy of the Soviet country - the discovery of the Kursk magnetic anomaly.
The Soviet Union was recognized by England, followed by Italy, Norway, Greece and many other states. In the reception room of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin it becomes a bit crowded, and peculiar “Diplomatic friction” arises.
Bourgeois politicians are forced to reckon with very stubborn facts: the growing international authority of the Soviet state, the development of its economy and, last but not least, the strength of the Red Army, protecting the peaceful labor of the Soviet people.

Red Army. 1924
In May 1924, after the parliamentary elections, Poincaré-war very reluctantly parted with the portfolio of prime minister, and soon the new French government of Edouard Herriot recognized the Soviet Union.
The first Soviet ambassador (at that time they were still called plenipotentiary representatives) in Paris
became Leonid Borisovich Krasin. The reactionaries gnashed their teeth. Oh, how the former socialist, and later super-imperialist, the fierce enemy of the Soviet country, Millerand, would like to crush Soviet-French cooperation. But it turned out to be much stronger than his vigorous horns...
Poincare's farewell aria
You will soon forget me. But I won't forget you!..
At our embassy in Paris
Mr. Millerand kindly confirms that bulls still cannot stand the color red.
In October 1924, parliamentary elections were coming up in England. The Conservatives, who had very little chance of success, resorted to a proven fraudulent trick - they created a sensation: Scotland Yard had uncovered a “Bolshevik conspiracy” against Great Britain! The English reactionary press, with incredible noise, published a brazen forgery depicting the “Instruction of the Comintern to English Communists.” The fake was soon exposed, but the job was done: Labor
MacDonald's government was defeated, and the Conservatives found themselves back in power. And cheap at the same time: the fake cost them only 5 thousand pounds, as its performers publicly revealed many years later.
Charles Hughes again. And this time for the last time. We won't meet him again. This gloomy figure of American foreign policy, along with her countless anti-Soviet speeches, noisy interpellations, as well as direct threats and malicious warnings - all this has firmly fallen into the dusty folder of the historical archive.
Now let's talk about the Chamberlains. In 1925, two brothers entered the political arena - the offspring of the famous ideologist of British imperialism, Sir Joseph Chamberlain. Neville, the youngest of the brothers, is still a modest Minister of Health (but we will meet him in another, less innocent role), and Austin, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Remember that icy face with a monocle in his right eye. She will appear more than once in the drawings of Soviet caricaturists. That year Sir Austin was awarded the Empire's highest honor, the Order of the Garter, which is worn under the left knee. For what merits it is difficult to answer exactly, but, of course, also for the fact that the elder Chamberlain more than diligently undertook to carry out the line of his predecessor Lord Curzon. It does not change matters that if Curzon got his hand on threats against the Soviets, Chamberlain prefers to shout about the “Red threat”, about “Bolshevik propaganda”, about the “hand of Moscow”.
Mr. Charles Hughes "Hand of Moscow". With a portrait of the inventor.
And it is no coincidence that since the end of 1925, after the conference of the imperialist powers in the Italian city of Locarno, the policy directed by England, hostile to the Soviet Union, has been intensifying and growing. The leaders of the West even then set themselves the goal of insuring themselves
from the revanchist aspirations of Germany and direct them to the East, against the USSR. An ominous fuss is going on in the imperialist general staffs, plans are being developed for a military attack on the Soviet state using its closest neighbors.
An awl in a bag. A picture without words.
The Soviet Union opposes these aggressive plans with a firm peaceful policy and, in particular, takes all measures to strengthen normal good neighborly relations with Germany and Poland.
It is not surprising that G.V. Chicherin’s trips to Berlin and Warsaw cause such alarm and displeasure in the West. It is not surprising that a gentleman with a monocle, already well known to us, was so worried about the peace-loving mission of the Soviet People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.
In London they are watching Comrade's trip with alarm. Chicherina.
British Empire Model 1926. Everything seems to be in place, but its lifespan is already expiring. At the moment, the English cabinet is headed by Sir Stanley Baldwin. He would leave the political arena in 1937, but would already see how the empire was spreading.
Model of the British Empire. Visual aid for schools.
In 1926, the Conservative government of England went even further down the path of worsening relations with the Soviet Union. Clearly losing his famous British composure, Sir Austin Chamberlain kept sending messages to
Soviet countries curses and threats, both verbally and in writing (in the form of diplomatic notes). The Soviet press also had to remind the enraged diplomat that during the eight years of its existence the Red Army had learned something...
Red Army. 1918 - 1926.
Note Bohr. Efimova. Leaders of British foreign policy are recommended to cut out this drawing and decorate their offices with it.
Where a horse goes with its hoof, there goes... Pan Pilsudsky with his tooth against the USSR.
Back in 1919, he stated that “an attack on the Bolsheviks at any time and in any place” was his cherished dream.
It would seem that after the lessons taught by the cavalry blades, one could calm down. But the warlike gentleman marshal still rattles his weapons to the delight of his English boss.
“Poland should not and cannot remain within its current borders, but must seek to expand its possessions to the East.”
(From Pilsudski's gosets).
Zoological hatred of communism once again united the two friends in a stormy expression of joy over the brutal massacre of the Lithuanian communists.
By the way, Sir Austin reacted very painfully to this cartoon in Izvestia, loudly telling about his grievance in an official note that preceded the severance of diplomatic relations with the USSR.
A crowd favorite.

The year 1927 went down in history amid the “bark of revolvers” of political murders and anti-Soviet provocations. The USSR Plenipotentiary Representative in Poland P.L. Voikov fell from a bullet from a White Guard bandit. Calls for a new intervention against the Soviet Union continued. The atmosphere became tense. It is not surprising that in this situation
The repeatedly beaten White Guards, as well as fragments of the monarchy, became extremely cheerful and began to move. The august “guardians of the royal throne” competing with each other intensively dug up evidence of their rights to the Russian crown in family archives.
To the tenth anniversary of the February Revolution, “August persons who are now happily living.”
Meanwhile, Austin Chamberlain, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at that time (!!!), tirelessly creates military tension. As befits a purebred lord, he prefers to do this dirty work with the wrong hands: on April 6, Beijing dictator General Zhang Tso-ling organizes a hooligan raid on the Soviet embassy. The emblem of the Nobel Prize and the bow of the Order of the Garter under the left knee quite transparently hint at whom the raider general takes his example from and who stands behind him...
In the same year, Chiang Kai-shek, a traitor to the Chinese people, began his counter-revolutionary career. Having seized the leadership of the Kuomintang - the party created by the great Sun Yat-sen - he trampled on his teacher's covenants about friendship with the Soviet Union. Chan is still here
young Over the course of more than forty years, he will naturally grow old a lot, change his place of residence (he will move to Taiwan), as well as his patrons: he will prefer the American 7th Fleet to English gunboats. But he will not change his habits as an imperialist servant and lackey.
Imitating his idol, Chamberlain, Chiang Kai-shek, of course, also took up arms against Soviet cartoonists. It is good that the satirists of Pravda and Izvestia were beyond the reach of the Chiang Kai-shek police. Otherwise, perhaps, they will not escape the sad fate depicted in the picture... And it would hardly have helped them to refer to the popular saying: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked.” We see that neither the English lords nor the Kuomintang generals take this folk wisdom into account...
Band... Mr. Chamb...
Tso-ling, Peking raider.
Protecting public safety.
In Harbin, the police confiscated all issues of Izvestia and Pravda that contained cartoons on Chinese topics.
Anti-Soviet provocations continue. From Asia they spread to Europe. After the Beijing rehearsal, the action moves to the London stage: the representative of the most reactionary wing of the conservatives, the so-called “hard-headed”, is the Minister of the Interior
Del. Joynson Hicks organizes a wild defeat of ARCOS - the Anglo-Russian Cooperative Society, created to conduct trade operations between the USSR and England. And two weeks after the attack on ARCOS, a sad memory of “Chamberlain’s note” was sent to Moscow about the severance of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. In Europe again
it smelled like gunpowder. Once again, everyone who was waiting and thirsting for anti-Soviet intervention perked up and began to move. Among them, Karl Kautsky invariably and inevitably appears.
“A mediocre, narrow-minded person. Arrogant,” Karl Marx said about him. “A pedant and scholastic who, instead of unraveling complex issues, confuses simple ones,” Friedrich Engels said about him.
Having followed the inglorious, winding path of a social renegade, Karl Kautsky served everyone who opposed the October Revolution, against the Land of Soviets.
Savages in London Old anti-Soviet inkwell.
In the context of an emerging conspiracy of imperialist states, the Soviet Union is fighting even more decisively in defense of peace and exposing the political machinations of its enemies, which are fraught with war. For the first time in the history of mankind, concrete proposals for general and complete disarmament were heard from the rostrum of the Council of the League of Nations. They were proclaimed by the head of the Soviet delegation, Maxim
Maksimovich Litvinov. The attempts of Western diplomats to weaken the impression made by these proposals and to disrupt their discussion were in vain. And a particularly zealous opponent, the English representative Lord Keshen-den, received from Litvinov such a head-scratcher that, as they said in Geneva then, “even the old-timers will not remember”...
Final preparations for the arrival of the Soviet delegation.
Lord Keshenden received a detailed response to his speech.
“Everything is in the same position...”
In February 1930, His Holiness Pius XI cheerfully joined the anti-Soviet campaign, calling his flock simply to a “crusade” against the godless Soviet state. Despite some subtle differences in church views, the Vatican received
in this matter the fullest support of the Anglican clergy.
And the London Morning Post, with an anathema to the Soviet Izvestia, demonstrated that it wanted to be “more Catholic than the Pope himself.”
Crusade.
The Morning Post stated that Izvestia's editorials bore the mark of the Antichrist.
The latest issue of Izvestia in the editorial office of the Morning Post.
During this period, the demand for products of White Guard cuisine increased sharply. The bourgeois press literally snatched this foul-smelling product out of their hands. It’s no joke, the former minister of the provisional government Miliukov and the head himself
of this government, Kerensky (who apparently did not have time to take off the ladies’ outfit in which he is said to have fled from the Red Guards) brought his heated anti-Soviet concoction to the market.
The trade has revived!
Miliukov and Kerensky are selling stolen goods.
In response to all this pandemonium, in response to the cries and howls of fascists, social traitors, church obscurantists, militarists, White Guards and other sworn enemies, the Soviet people are under
With the reliable protection of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, he successfully completed his first five-year plan. And he not only fulfilled, but also exceeded. At four years old.
The reptile bares its rotten teeth.
Intimate talk. Imperialists without makeup.
Speed ​​running.

At this very time, the capitalist world was gripped by a severe economic crisis, aggravating the already intense social contradictions. Capitalism saw the way out of this crisis in a new redistribution of the world, in wars of conquest, in huge military profits, in a frantic arms race.
In February 1932, the international disarmament conference opened. The Soviet Union did everything in its power to move this issue forward and prevent a military conflagration from breaking out. He decisively exposed the true intentions of the imperialists, who, launching into casuistic rantings about disarmament, thought primarily about the benefits of the military business, about the dividends of arms factories.
The arms race continued. The world was uncontrollably sliding towards military catastrophe. It was approaching: Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany.
Adolf Hitler, aka Alois Schicklgrubber, was a rogue with a dark past. He had the Iron Cross for unknown military merits, served as a police spy-informant, had the ability to speak for five to six hours at a time, took part in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch and wrote a delusional misanthropic book called Mein Kampf ( "My struggle"). With the money of Krupp and other German financial magnates, he organized detachments of stormtroopers and SS men - an entire army of thugs and murderers who terrorized Germany.
This vile type seemed to be born at the request of capitalist monopolies, who dreamed of “destroying communism” and enslaving peoples. It was these “good fairies” who stood at the cradle of the fascist dictator. They handed him power, which he would have for twelve whole years, until he died in the dungeon of his Reich Chancellery under the thunder of Soviet guns.
"The Good Fairies" by Adolf Hitler.
The first steps of the Nazis were directed against Marxism. They understood well that it was the Marxists-Leninists who were the most implacable and consistent enemies of fascism. They knew that it was the communists who would be at the forefront of the anti-fascist struggle.
In 1933, the Nazis were still only banning and cursing Marxist teachings in the same discordant chorus with renegades and churchmen. But in a year, bonfires of books will already blaze in the squares, and in nine years, the stoves of Majdanek will begin to smoke...
Racism, anti-Semitism, and obscurantism became the state doctrine of the German Reich.
Karl and the dwarfs.
Alfred Rosenber Mr. - Please show me your documents!
Einstein Head Prize
F a sh i s t. - And for such a person only one thousand marks! Oh, exploiters!
One of the first and, perhaps, the largest provocations directed against the communists was the arson of the Reichstag, which caught fire on February 27, 1933. It was clear to the whole world that this was the work of the Nazis themselves, who used for this purpose the underground passage that connected the Reichstag building with the residence of Hermann Goering, who put the provocateur Van der Lubbe into action.
The Reichstag fire became the signal for a frantic anti-communist campaign and unbridled terror in Germany.
In September of the same year, the famous trial began in Leipzig. In the dock, in addition to the drugged and speechless Van der Lubbe, there were communists, and among them, in the foreground, was the heroic son of the Bulgarian people, Georgi Dimitrov. From the main accused, Dimitrov became the main prosecutor. He brilliantly exposed Hitler's falsification and angrily denounced the obscurantism and barbarity of fascism before the whole world. The Leipzig mock trial was a disgraceful failure. On December 23, 1933, the court was forced to acquit all defendants, with the exception of Van der Lubbe.
Currently, in the building of the Leipzig court there is a historical museum of Georgiy Dimitrov, organized by decision of the government of the German Democratic Republic.
Signal of provocation.
Improved interrogation of the defendant.
Achievements of fascist justice
Leipzig masquerade.
Dimitrov accuses.
Enraged by the Leipzig failure, the Nazis further intensified their provocative policies and moved on to open terror on an international scale. They commit a whole series of brazen and cynical political murders.
The year is 1934. The world is sliding further and further towards the abyss of war. The Soviet Union continues to fight with all its might to preserve peace, exposes fascist warmongers, and warns against connivance and concessions to aggressors. In Europe, this is Hitler’s Germany, which quickly switched to the path of revanchism and proclaimed the slogan of “living space in the East”; in Asia, this is Japanese militarism, which has already openly launched a war of conquest in China.
Humanity is watching with growing alarm the proliferation of dangerous military bacilli. Meanwhile, the leading figures of the Western powers adhere to the notorious “ostrich policy,” hiding their heads from the fascist military threat.
War salesman.
Fascist geography of Europe
Heavy atmosphere
E v r o p a. - Kar-raul! Can't breathe!..
Blood test
War anxiety bacippae detected.
A special breed of European ostrich.

Fascism did not fail to take advantage of the cowardice and compliance of Western European “ostriches”.
On July 18, 1936, according to the conventional radio signal “Fine weather over all of Spain,” a fascist rebellion of the Spanish reactionary military, led by General Francisco Franco, began. All honest people in the world were convinced that the democratic forces of Spain would crush a handful of counter-revolutionary conspirators and defend the people's republic. And this would undoubtedly have been the case if Hitler and Mussolini had not rushed to the aid of Franco, openly and brazenly supporting him with troops, aviation, and all types of weapons. Franco’s “government” was officially recognized by Germany and Italy, which gave the rebel general the impudence to declare himself a full-fledged “belligerent.”
The Nazis counted on quick success. However, in the battles near Madrid, where fighters from the international brigades were already fighting alongside the Spanish Republicans, their first misfire awaited them.
Condoning fascist intervention in favor of rebels against the legitimate government of the Spanish Republic, England and France simultaneously went to the creation in London of an international “Committee for Non-Interference” in Spanish affairs. Its chairman was Lord Plymouth, who saw the task of the “policy of non-intervention” as interfering as little as possible with Hitler and Mussolini, who were carrying out a real intervention against the Spanish people.
The more impudence and impudence of the fascists manifested themselves, the more polite, patient and compliant the English and French diplomats became.
As for the Soviet Union, true to its duty of international proletarian solidarity, it left the headquarters of the useless London committee and provided practical assistance to struggling republican Spain. Transports with weapons and food arrived from Soviet ports, and many Soviet people - pilots, tank crews, political workers, sailors - fought on the side of the Spanish people. At that time it was not customary to talk about this openly, but one could guess without much difficulty. The fives imprinted on Hitler’s face after the battles near Madrid are quite expressive...
Hey, let's go!
Through Ply... cloudy glasses. 1936
Lord Plym T. - I don’t see any German troops. I only see volunteers!
Clear position.
- Firstly, there are no Italo-German troops in Spain, secondly, they went there voluntarily, and thirdly, they will not leave there!
"Mistress of the Seas" Mediterranean Sea
Lush flowering on favorable soil.
Frank O. - Here you are, my Fuhrer, meet the Republicans...
In 1937, fascist Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, concluded a year earlier between Germany and Japan. Thus, an aggressive military-political alliance, or the so-called “Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis”, finally took shape.
This association of predators could arise unhindered only as a result of the indecisive, unprincipled, and sometimes provocative policies of Western states, and especially England.
Seeking to preserve his colonial possessions at any cost, the once proud British lion did not refuse to tenderly and obediently put his head in the greedy maw of the fascist “Duce”. What can't you do to save your skin? (By the way, it was this year that Sir Stanley Baldwin retired from political activity. The same one with the model of the British Empire that cracked ten years ago.)
The “guarantees” of security that Chamberlain (this time Neville) extracted from Hitler and Mussolini resembled exactly the kind of circus attraction depicted here.
The poor lion was so successful in training that he resignedly
harnessed to the chariot of fascist dictators. This lowly role of horse-drawn traction is performed by the royal beast under the supervision of Lord Irwin Halifax, the British Foreign Secretary, who in the near future will be an active participant in the shameful Munich agreement.
Hitler and Mussolini no longer make any secrets of their predatory plans. German fascism is feverishly arming itself, trampling all kinds of treaties. The muddy wave of Nazi chauvinism and racist obscurantism rises ever higher. Hitler’s hysterical cries about a campaign to the East for “living space” (“Drang nach Osten!”) are heard louder and louder. In the meantime, Mussolini attacked a poorly armed Ethiopia.
And yet it was not too late to stop the fatal course of events. The Soviet Union persistently puts forward proposals for collective security measures as the only alternative to war. “The world is indivisible,” said M. M. Litvinov, calling for the united efforts of all peace-loving states to curb the aggressors. But it was all in vain.
The fascist beasts freely entered the main European road...
Successful training.
The British lion has become completely tame: he has already learned to put his head in the mouth of his tamer.
Lion and axis. Closely knit relationships.
Unstable equilibrium.
From the heights of non-interference
Animals are on the loose.
Western diplomacy cherishes the idea of ​​paying off Hitler and pushing him against the USSR. And here is the crown of this “cunning policy” - Munich, September 1938. Chamberlain and Daladier (French Prime Minister) gave Czechoslovakia to be torn to pieces by Hitler. Or rather, they sold it for an empty piece of paper with “peace guarantees” signed by the Fuhrer. Landing on the London airfield, Chamberlain theatrically waved the text of the agreement and, ending his boastful speech (“I have brought peace for our generation!”), quoted Shakespeare’s “Henry IV”:
“From the nettles of danger we will extract the flowers of salvation.”
Izvestia then reminded the eloquent prime minister of the following words following this quote:
“The undertaking you have undertaken is dangerous. The friends you listed are unreliable, the timing is bad..."
But the Munich team rejoiced. They imagined that the “genie” of fascist aggression released from the bottle, heeding their spells, would immediately rush not to the West, but to the East.
They did not yet know that in just a year and a half a bloody flag with a fascist swastika would flutter over Paris, and the most beautiful buildings in London would be bombed by Nazi aircraft.
On the big European road
Anglo-French "regulators".
Ga/iodx Daladier chvmverlen
Released Spirit Spell.

Less than a year after the Munich Agreement, Hitler invaded Poland. Bound by certain obligations, England and France were forced, albeit very reluctantly, to declare war on Nazi Germany. The world entered the Second World War. However, it is no coincidence that its initial period went down in history under the name “strange war.” It really looked very strange: the warring parties did not conduct any military operations among themselves. The German and French armies quietly “coexisted”, separated by the French Maginot Line and the German Siegfried Line. England and France watched in cold blood as the fascist occupiers dealt with Poland and were in no hurry to help it. But how the Parisian and London bosses became more active when the Soviet Union was drawn into a military conflict with Finland! Here the British and French strategists completely forgot about their German enemy and turned all their energy against... the USSR. All their thoughts were now occupied with waging a fierce anti-Soviet campaign, bellicose threats against the Soviet country, discussing the issue of sending an auxiliary expeditionary force to Finland and even a plan to bomb Baku.
Militant activity.
Meanwhile, the “strange war” in Western Europe lasted about eight months, which was quite enough for Hitler to prepare the defeat of many European countries. In May 1940, it was France's turn. She was defeated in 35 days.
On June 22, 1940, an old pro-fascist, former ambassador to the government of General Franco, 84-year-old Marshal Petain signed a shameful surrender on behalf of the French government. Intoxicated by victory, Hitler “generously” declared part of French territory a “free zone” with its capital in the resort town of Vichy. The head of this scanty puppet state was Petain, and its prime minister was a seasoned
traitor Pierre Laval. There is no need to explain that “Vichy” France was actually, like the occupied part of the country, under the rule of the Nazis.
Liberated France gave justice to both high-ranking collaborators (employees of the occupiers). In 1945, Laval was executed and Petain was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Here, perhaps, it would be appropriate to remember the Honorable Neville Chamberlain. What was the fate of this appeaser of fascism? He died quietly in 1940, having still managed to see London set on fire by Hitler's bombs. Here are the “flowers of salvation”...
In Neville Chamberlain's personal bomb shelter.
On the memorable night of the summer equinox, June 22, 1941, a huge, mobilized and well-fed, armed with the latest military technology, intoxicated by easy victories in Europe and believing in its invincibility, Hitler’s army attacked the Soviet borders. Carefully developed at Hitler’s headquarters, the “Barbarossa Plan” provided for a three-week lightning war - “blitzkrieg”. Hitler proclaimed to the whole world that already in July his standards would be in Moscow.
Hitler's banners did reach Moscow, but a little later and as trophies of Soviet weapons. At the Victory Parade on May 24, 1945, they were thrown to the foot of the Mausoleum.
Already in the summer and autumn months of 1941, Hitler’s military machine began to slip, and in December, near Moscow, the Nazi horde received a crushing blow. Hitler suffered his first serious defeat. The myth of the invincibility of the fascist army turned out to be... a myth.
The immediate consequence of the defeat near Moscow was the purge of Hitler's generals. Some of the generals, for various and not always clear reasons, went to the next world. Field Marshal Brauchitsch was relieved of his duties as commander-in-chief, who became Hitler himself.
Having come to his senses after the defeat in Moscow, Hitler hoped to improve matters in the summer of 1942. Almost the entire industry of Europe, captured by Nazi Germany, works to supply and arm Hitler’s army in the East. All economic and human resources are mercilessly squeezed out of the satellites of the Third Reich.
By the summer campaign of 1942, Hitler increased the number of his divisions on the Soviet-German front to almost three hundred. Moreover, the fight against the partisans, who disorganize Hitler’s rear and do not give the invaders rest day or night, takes a lot of troops away from the “Führer.”
We performed and had fun!
They did the math and shed a tear...
Blitz... scream. Stuck.
Funeral near Moscow.
At the Fuhrer's headquarters.
After the Battle of Moscow, Hitler carried out a number of successful operations with his generals...
The increase in morbidity in Hitler's headquarters.
- How is your health, Field Marshal!
- Don't know. I haven't read the latest official announcements yet.
Who is next!
Funeral at public expense!
Gestapo men: The Fuhrer sent wreaths for you to choose from, General!
Some of the most unsuccessful German ersatz (substitutes)
Ersatz felt boots.
Ersatz sausage.
Ersatz culture.
Ersatz Commander-in-Chief,
“The little bird started singing early...”
Baron von Bilderling came from Germany to the state farm named after Volodarsky in the Luga region and announced the transfer of the lands and property of the state farm to his ownership. The Baron did not manage to rule on Russian soil for long. He was killed by partisans.
The landowner Herr Baron von Bilderling took possession...
..the land plot allocated to him.
In Hitler's rear
Word and deed
and off your shoulders!
ORDER
Preparation for the “winter campaign”.
Additional wool removal.
Blood tax collector.
Romania
What made it possible for Hitler to gather such large military forces against the Soviet Army? First of all, of course, the absence of a second front in Europe.
Despite the solemn promise to open a second front in 1942, the United States and England avoided fulfilling their allied duty in every possible way. This was the case in the days of the mortal battle on the Volga, when the fate of humanity was decided in the Battle of Stalingrad, when the active assistance of the Allies could quickly turn the tide of the struggle in favor of the anti-Hitler coalition in all military theaters. The Anglo-American leaders not only did not open a second front, but also fulfilled their obligations to deliver military equipment to the Soviet Army very sluggishly and sparingly.
The well-known energy of Sir Winston Churchill was manifested mainly
way in that he personally arrived in Moscow to inform the Soviet government that the second front would not be opened immediately, but at the “appropriate time”...
And yet, at the very beginning of 1943, the back of the fascist beast was broken. The Battle of Stalingrad ended with a great historical victory for Soviet weapons.
This is what Adolf Hitler said then: “The possibility of ending the war in the East through an offensive no longer exists.” This time the “Führer” did not lie.
A turning point came in the Second World War.
And nothing could save the situation of the fascist army: neither the super-powerful Tiger and Panther tanks, nor the hysterical cries of the Reich Minister of Propaganda Dr. Goebbels, nor the term “elastic defense” invented by him.
Under the broom...
Hitler gathers, Churchill watches.
Discussion of the issue of opening a second front.
Sewing on the last button.
Urgent change of program.
Two calendars
The German lies, the Soviet beats.
In the summer of 1943, after the “second Stalingrad” - the defeat of the Nazis on the Oryol-Kursk Bulge, the “Rome-Berlin axis” deafeningly cracked. In Italy they realized that it was time to get out of the lost game. By decree of the king, Mussolini was removed from the post of head of government and Marshal Badoglio was appointed in his place, who immediately signed the act of surrender. Italy as an ally of Germany was lost. The only thing that Hitler managed to save was the pretty battered Duce himself, who was kidnapped by a special detachment of SS saboteurs and taken to Hitler’s headquarters. Mussolini still held the title of head of the puppet “Italian Social Republic” for some time, but he did not have long to wait before his fateful meeting with the Italian partisans.
The New Year 1944 came under volleys of artillery salutes to commemorate
the creation of new and new victories of the Soviet Army. Retribution is inexorably approaching the borders of Germany. And no total and super-total mobilizations, no propaganda tricks to raise the spirit of German soldiers can delay the formidable wave of advancing Soviet armies.
At the "Fuhrer's" headquarters there is an attempt on Hitler's life, who is shell-shocked by the explosion of a bomb planted by the conspirators. A wave of bloody massacres and executions follows. The fascist ship is wrecked, and the most prudent “rats” are preparing to escape.
The “living space” of Hitler’s Reich is narrowing to its extreme limits. Hitler and Goebbels, like scorpions, are destroying themselves in the dungeons of the Reich Chancellery. Their corpses were burned by the SS. Hitler's empire collapsed in blood and shame. The great banner of Victory was raised above the Reichstag.
It backfired near Orel and responded in Rome.
Balance for a decade.
Amputation.
Liberation of Mussolini. Together again.
End of the blockade!
...Russia again triumphs in victory over the enemy
(A.S. Pushkin. “The Bronze Horseman”)
A new total mobilization has been announced in Germany. Goebbels was appointed imperial commissioner for its implementation.
Goebbels takes out...
German Santa Claus 1944
“Don’t listen, don’t read, don’t notice - that’s our slogan...”
(From the Nazi press)
New "secret weapon".
Very bad...
Goebbels is already losing his temper. Himmler takes control of the “strengthening of the spirit” of the Germans...
G i m m l e r. Radical measures have been taken against the conspirators, my Fuhrer: I have increased the number of doubles.
The German press made a big fuss about the visit of Hitler and Goebbels to the front line on the Oder.
Performance by a visiting vocal and acrobatic duet.
According to German radio, Hitler's chief of general staff, Guderian, said that he was "with feverish impatience" awaiting the reconquest of Germany's eastern provinces.
Guderian is shaking...
German newspapers report that Gauleiter Hanke's speech from besieged Breslau "was the most stunning speech that has recently been broadcast..."
Radio roll call from the boilers.
Pipe!
Where to go!! Trying on camouflage suits.
Nimble "dead men". Thrust to the West.
"Living space". May 1945.
Victory Banner.
This is not a chronological error. The drawing, marked 1942, recalls that even at that harsh time, when Hitler’s hordes stood on the Volga and besieged Leningrad, the Soviet government threateningly warned the fascist leaders that the hour of reckoning for their vile atrocities would inevitably come, that they would not leave from the answer.
True, the closer the collapse of Hitler’s Reich came, the more often there were such compassionate gentlemen who advocated a “humane attitude” towards the SS murderers, “gentlemen” who would like to avert fair retribution from these executioners.
But the will of the people was adamant - the Nazi gang was in the dock!
A dire warning (1942).
Compassionate gentleman:
Poor Nazis! How hot it must have been for them near these stoves...
The front edge of the dock.
In Nuremberg.
Reliable defense personnel...
And so the leaders of Hitler’s beast were caught, neutralized and brought before the people’s court in Nuremberg. They are almost all here, with the exception of Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler. Let's name these disgusting inhabitants of the fascist jungle, who for so long reveled in human grief and blood with impunity.
The fat, bloated python is Hermann Goering, Hitler’s “faithful paladin”,
as he called himself. Already in 1918, his name appeared on the list of war criminals of the First World War. Four years later, he met Hitler for the first time and since then became person No. 2 in the fascist hierarchy, and grabber and robber No. 1. In the dock, in Hitler’s absence, he took first place, and even this flattered his monstrous arrogance.
This humanoid is Rudolf Hess, the party deputy of the “Fuhrer,” who served with Hitler in the same regiment during the First World War. In the 20s, chance brought them together again - they were sitting in the same prison cell. There, on the bunk, Rudolf took shorthand, under Adolf’s dictation, of the book that became the bible of Nazism - Mein Kampf. Under the same dictation, Hess subsequently drew up and signed the notorious Nuremberg racial laws - the quintessence of obscurantism. Before the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR, Hess, on behalf of the Nazis,
top, made his “unauthorized” flight to England in order to enlist the support of the English reactionary clique.
This mangy hyena is the once brilliant veil and elegant diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop, former Reich Foreign Minister, whose main profession is a champagne merchant. He won Hitler's favor with his extraordinary skill in international intrigue, provocation and blackmail, for which he was awarded the honorary title of SS Obergruppenführer.

One of the most disgusting Gestapo vultures is Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Himmler’s deputy chief executioner and head of the SD (security service) - the so-called “Gestapo within the Gestapo.” Organizer of the most terrible death camps - Mauthausen, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Treblinka...
Seasoned fascist wolf Wilhelm Keitel. Not so long ago, sparkling feld-
wearing marshal's regalia, he posed with Hitler for photographers, accepting the surrender of France. And in May 1945, in Karlshorst, he had to, placing the field marshal’s baton on the table, sign the act of complete and unconditional surrender of Germany. It is deeply symbolic that it was this constant co-author of all Hitler’s military adventures who signed for the collapse of the fascist strategy.
The cowardly and evil jackal is Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s assistant in the “ideology” and “philosophy” of Nazism, the author of a number of “works” preaching the “cult of Wotan”, “Aryan purity of the race” and similar misanthropic nonsense, which he, unfortunately , had the opportunity to turn it into reality as Reich Minister “for the Eastern Occupied Territories.”
A ferocious and poisonous reptile is Hans Frank, the governor and executioner of the Polish “Government General”, who destroyed millions of Poles.
Perhaps there is no need to show other Nazi criminals sitting in the dock - no less vile and bloody fascist beasts. I would just like to note that Soviet cartoonists had a rare stroke of luck: they were able to sketch the models of their anti-fascist cartoons from life. And they did this in Nuremberg - the same city that the Nazis proclaimed as the “holy capital” of Nazism and which, during the Nuremberg trials, became the place for the Judgment of Nations and severe retribution for criminals.

The International Military Tribunal completed its work at the end of September 1946. Despite the sophisticated casuistry of the lawyers of fascism, despite the shameless lies and cowardly subterfuges of the accused, the judges - representatives of four powers: the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France - irrefutably established crimes against peace, humanity, morality and international law committed by Hitler’s robbers, and 12 of them were sentenced to death.
This verdict was greeted with a feeling of deep satisfaction by all the honest people of the earth, who saw in it not only a merciless punishment for what the fascists had committed, but also a stern warning to all future warmongers, all organizers of aggression against freedom-loving peoples.
Such a warning was far from unnecessary.
After all, although the world had only just sighed after the war tragedy it had experienced, although burnt cities still lay in countless ruins and the hellish ovens of Majdanek and Auschwitz had not yet cooled down, although the mental and physical wounds of millions had not yet healed, and children had not yet become accustomed to the peaceful sky above their heads , - and political figures had already appeared who began to unite the forces of reaction and counter-revolution, and sat down to develop plans for a new anti-Soviet imperialist war.

The twelfth hour of fascist criminals.
Happy New [and last for them] Year!
Hitler’s aggressors were still sitting in the dock in Nuremberg, and the world was once again filled with hysterical cries about the “communist danger”, about the “Soviet threat”, about a new “crusade” against the USSR, about the “throwing back” of socialism.
These warlike calls were made on March 5, 1946 by none other than Sir Winston Churchill, our old acquaintance from the “Campaign of the Fourteen Powers.” The declaration of the Cold War on the Soviet Union came from the lips of a seasoned English imperialist in the American town of Fulton and symbolized a kind of passing of the anti-Soviet baton into the hands of the senior Washington partner, who from now on assumed the functions of the main international gendarme. Then-US President Truman, who brought Churchill to Fulton, was delighted. Still would!
Big American business, fattened on war profits, was uncontrollably rushing to war-torn Europe. He hoped that a dollar handout to the Old World would not only allow the weakened Western European countries to be enslaved under the banner of their “protection from Bolshevism,” but would also result in huge profits. Direct use
The implementer of this plan was the US Secretary of State, General George Marshall, and the plan named after him became synonymous with unceremonious economic expansion and the strangulation of the national independence of countries reaching out for American “help.”
Almost twenty years will pass before, for example, the French Marianne escapes from the tenacious embrace of Uncle Sam.
The economic dictatorship of the United States was reinforced by military-political: co-
NATO was created - the North Atlantic Pact, the aggressive sting of which is directed against the USSR and other socialist countries. Soon many more blocs and pacts will appear, aimed against social progress, freedom and independence of peoples.
US secretaries of state changed - after Marshall came Ache-son, John Foster Dulles and others, but the US imperialist course of exacerbating international tension remained unchanged. The principle of unanimity of the permanent members of the Security Council, the so-called “veto power,” has come under particularly vehement (albeit fruitless) attacks.
Scares the faint of heart...
Noise concert of Anglo-American blackmailers.
Dollar system...
Path of some European politicians.
On the surface and in the depths...
Anti-Soviet stuff in a “defensive” bag.

Forrestal is a somewhat tragicomic figure. As US Secretary of Defense, he diligently fanned the war psychosis. But he overdid it so much that he ended up in a psychiatric hospital. One day, hearing a fire brigade siren from the street, Forrestal lost all mental balance and shouted: “Russian tanks!”
they're coming!" - jumped out of the window of a multi-story building. Apparently, in this case, the lack of a straitjacket played a fatal role.
Doesn't this remind us of the usefulness of the straitjacket for warmongers and, so to speak, on a larger scale?
In pursuing its aggressive policy, American imperialism made the main
a new bid for monopoly possession of the atomic bomb. The heralds of aggression shouted hysterically about their atomic power, identifying it with international lawlessness and tyranny.
One fine day (we can say more precisely - September 25, 1949) the American atomic blackmail burst like a soap bubble: TASS reported that the Soviet Union possesses atomic weapons, which from now on protect the gains of October, the interests of universal peace, democracy and socialism.
At the same time, the Soviet country is developing a broad, worldwide campaign to preserve and strengthen peace. Millions of people all over the world add their signatures to the Stockholm Peace Appeal.
Forrest L. - Who's next, gentlemen!
Keep it up!
Molded blackmail.
- I’ve already seen these signatures somewhere.
- In my opinion, at the Reichstag...
In the year 1950, the Korean people became a victim of imperialist intervention. For three years in a row, under the cover of the blue UN flag, American aggressors will try to enslave this people and destroy the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. For three years in a row, Korean homes will burn, burned with napalm, and human blood will be shed. And at the same time, the mellifluous speeches of Washington diplomats will flow from the UN rostrum and the yapping of the Taiwanese puppet will be heard.
Apparently, not everyone benefits from history lessons...
Indeed: as if there was no Hitler and the fascist intervention in Spain, Munich and Pearl Harbor, Maida Neck and Nuremberg! American imperialism is again feeding the German militarists, it is again nurturing, repairing and mending the Wehrmacht generals hung with Iron Crosses, training them against the Land of the Soviets.
The inhabitants of the White House and the Pentagon have short memories...
It is not surprising that revanchist language was openly spoken in Bonn. At the forefront of international politics, the “Cold War Chancellor” Konrad Adenauer is ranting. Motley enemies of peace and socialism, united by the slogan of anti-communism, are moving along common rails - Pentagon nuclear generals, “mad” congressmen, half-dead Nazis, West German revanchists, all kinds of counter-revolutionary evil spirits.
Ghosts that return...

On the eve of May Day 1960, Soviet missilemen shot down an American U-2 spy plane piloted by pilot Powers with the first shot in the Sverdlovsk area. The Washington organizers of this provocative flight appeared before the whole world as the perpetrators of a most dangerous adventure, and the open trial of Powers did not at all help to raise the prestige of the United States.
Here is a review of events for the week, typical for a certain period in the life of the Washington White House. As usual, it is turbulent in various parts of the world and, as usual, very calm on the lawns of the presidential residence. Dwight Eisenhower is busy with his main business - playing golf. This innocent passion of an elderly president sometimes costs the American people dearly.
The adventurism and recklessness of American bosses are challenging the world again
to the brink of war. This time the hottest spot on the planet is the Caribbean Sea. The object of aggression is free Cuba. However, a landing of counter-revolutionaries abandoned from the United States found a grave in the “Bay of Pigs” - Cochinos near Playa Giron.
More than once or twice, the Soviet Union suggested moving from talk to concrete constructive measures for disarmament, which the peoples bearing the burden of military budgets are eagerly awaiting. But this does not suit the imperialists and arms manufacturers. They use all sorts of excuses, speculate in every possible way about the issue of control, and most of all they like to retell the “fairy tale about the white bull.” Performed by bourgeois diplomacy, this work of folklore has long surpassed the classic “Tales of 1001 Nights” in length.
We got into trouble.
Pentabonne torpedo-provocative device.
On the summit meeting, on international cooperation and friendship - come on!
International Games
- Look, Uncle Sam, how high our prestige has risen!
Uncle Sam. - I'm afraid you guys are looking at him upside down.
Cuba is on guard.
Knots for memory...
Megillah
“Darling” is recognized by his gait.
Western sentences (with tricks).
Soviet proposal (without tricks).

This drawing was made in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Its theme is dictated by the atmosphere of the independent policy of peace and neutrality that the Khmer state adheres to. Ancient Cambodia continues to be the target of threats and blackmail from the United States. But... the eye sees, but the tooth numbs.
The consistent and firm foreign policy of the Soviet Union defended peace between nations and prevented the Cold War from escalating into a hot one. But imperialism does not intend to give up its predatory plans; it does not benefit from the easing of international tension. Here and there, hotbeds of armed conflicts, sabotage, bloody conspiracies and military coups, committed in the interests of the colonialists and monopolies, appear on the globe. Networks of intrigue are being woven against the young African states that have recently won independence, and the sinister activities of imperialist agents in Asian countries do not stop for a minute.
In the center of Europe, Bundeswehr generals dream of nuclear weapons, using all possible methods and means to make their way to mastering them, using their participation in NATO for this. Specific representatives of revanchist movements appear and disappear from the political scene.
trends. Speidel and Erhard, Heusinger and Seebohm, and various other Bonn politicians and generals flashed before us. The names are different, but the essence remains the same - this is open pandering to neo-Nazis, patronage of yesterday's war criminals, persistent unwillingness to reckon with the existence of an increasingly stronger peace-loving state of German workers and peasants - the German Democratic Republic, arrogant claims to West Berlin, provocative demands for the 1937 borders and admission to atomic weapons. And all this is “within the framework of NATO.”
Yes, it is “within the framework of NATO” that American imperialism is doing everything to revive German militarism and use it as a striking force against the socialist countries, and above all against the USSR.
And in this situation fraught with danger to the world, the British lion again appears in his already familiar subordinate role. It’s a pathetic sight: the lion’s tail is unceremoniously stepped on not only by the foot of the “senior American partner” and the boot of a Bundeswehr soldier, but also by the heel of a “loyal subject” of the British crown, the Southern Rhodesian racist Ian Smith.
The predatory paws of the “free world”.
Colonizers, get out of Africa!
Bonn bell ringer.
Twenty years later
Mission accomplished, my Fuhrer!
Ready to press the button...
Nuclear tête-à-tête.
The Bundeswehr generals are losing their heads.
“Integration” of Latin America according to the Pentagon plan.
Modern means for old architecture.
He's mad. - What, he's mad or something!!
Armaments and business. Speakers in the US Senate.
The second half of the 20th century will resonate in history with the pain of the bleeding wound of Vietnam. Armed to the teeth and brutalized by failure, Yankee imperialism is unable to break the heroic resistance of a small freedom-loving people. Thousands of American aircraft and American soldiers are being sacrificed to the insane “escalation” of the Pentagon, which is trying in vain to find a way out of the impasse of its aggressive adventure on Vietnamese soil. The endless shuffling and “reorganization” of the Saigon puppet does not provide relief either.
more precisely cliques. No matter what barbaric methods of warfare the American aggressors resort to, no matter how they expand their bloody “escalation,” the criminal intervention in Vietnam is doomed to an inglorious failure.
Troubles in NATO are also not helping to keep Washington in a good mood. The position of France, which delicately escorted the headquarters of the North Atlantic bloc from its territory, speaks of a serious crisis for this aggressive organization.
The "freedom" they would like to impose on the world...
American "footholds" in South Vietnam.
Consultations are continuing in Saigon on the issue of government reorganization.
From step to step (Washington “escalator” in Vietnam).
Manila meeting at my high level.
“Seeing off” an overstaying guest.
Birds that were not discussed at the poultry congress.
The Pentagon VULTURE is circling over Vietnam.
The revanchist CAUCARIE roars.
A worthy successor to McCarthy, Senator Pup, is making noise.
A wet CHICKEN holds up the British Lion in front of the racist TURKEY Smith.
Mad, mad, mad, free world...
A picture for memory.
On the left is a reproduction of a drawing published in Izvestia in 1941.
Our historical review is coming to an end.
Inspired by the light of Lenin's ideas, in the consciousness of their indestructible strength, full of inexhaustible creative energy, the multinational Soviet people, a heroic people, a toiling people, came to the fiftieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution.
And let those who, for their part, can “celebrate” the fiftieth anniversary of the furious
of numerous and unsuccessful attempts to destroy or at least weaken the Soviet state, let them once again think about the unenviable fate of all who, at different times and at different stages of our history, raised their hands against the Soviet Power.
And let the unlucky enemies and spiteful critics of the Soviet people, repeatedly beaten and shamefully sunk into oblivion, be remembered for the last time with contemptuous ridicule by the caricatures collected here.
I have never met a person indifferent to satirical graphics - caricature, cartoon, humorous drawing. Whether printed in a newspaper or pasted on a stand, a caricature always and everywhere attracts attention. You can miss this or that note, article, even a photograph, but it is impossible not to notice a caricature.
And not only because a satirical drawing among the text is itself an attractive visual spot for the eye. Caricature (I mean, first of all, journalistic caricature) has at all times and eras aroused increased interest as a unique, whimsical and sharp form of art, carrying a civic, purposeful meaning in its cheerful and mischievous form.
The cradle of Soviet political caricature was Lenin's Pravda. And after it, Izvestia and other Soviet newspapers made a satirical drawing the same integral and obligatory element of a newspaper page as an editorial or feuilleton. And it is not surprising: by its very nature, caricature is organically connected with the press, with journalism, being the most mobile, operational genre of fine art, capable of immediately, immediately responding to events, capable of keeping pace with the topic of the day.
There is no greater joy and pride for an artist than the feeling of the close connection of his work with the life of society. That is why the political cartoonist experiences deep inner satisfaction, having the happy opportunity to express the feelings and thoughts of the people immediately, without delay, hot on the heels of events.
While easel painting, graphics and even printed posters are still in motion, a newspaper drawing is already carrying throughout the country the emotion of many millions of people expressed by the artist - their ridicule or contempt, indignation or joy.
It is not for nothing that a newspaper cartoon is compared to military reconnaissance, to the dashing cavalry of art, always ready for action, the first to come into contact with the latest events.
These valuable properties of topical caricature, however, dictate special, sometimes very difficult, working conditions for the newspaper artist, very far from those that exist, say, in a satirical magazine.
How is a magazine cartoon made? The theme of the drawing, as a rule, is born at special editorial meetings (“dark”) in a rather heated atmosphere of either serious or funny debates and bickering. Satirical themes and
The plots are proposed by the artists themselves or by satirists and iterators skilled in this matter, called “themists,” each topic is subject to collective discussion, after which it is accepted or rejected. In many cases, the proposed topic is supplemented during the discussion with new details, refined, or, as they say, “achieved.” It happens that the topic just doesn’t work out. Then they return to it at the next meeting, again “finishing off” and “holding out” until, through joint efforts, they find an acceptable solution.
After the topic is approved, the next stage begins: the topic goes into the hands of one of the magazine’s artists who has expressed a desire to work on it.
A few days later, the finished drawing is presented to the editorial board, which reviews the artists’ work together with the entire magazine staff. Various opinions, wishes, and advice are expressed. The caricature is more or less enthusiastically accepted or returned to the author for alterations and corrections. There are, of course, obvious defects.
The drawing, which has successfully passed through all these creative tests, goes into production and ten days later appears on the pages of the magazine.
Apollo, god of the arts. Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Hermes, messenger god.
By the way, about mods
Fashion shown in Newark, Fashion shown Fashion established in Bonn, Munich
Detroit and other US cities. in Greece. and other cities in Germany.
Musical Key of the Athenian Junta
NATO escalator.
Neo-Nazi march on Bonn... with seven castles.
Mutual attraction between Bonn and London.
Thus, from the emergence of a topic to the publication of a cartoon, at least two to three weeks pass.
Working on a cartoon for a newspaper is of a completely different nature. Here the creative production process is calculated not in days and weeks, but in hours and minutes. There are no meetings, discussions or councils in sight. A newspaper cartoonist is both a “themist” and a consultant. We urgently need a drawing for the current issue, and now everything depends on the artist’s ability to quickly and independently navigate the political situation, choose the right topic, find an interesting plot interpretation for it, a funny and intelligible satirical solution.
The artist draws while looking at his watch: after all, the newspaper page is signed for printing at the exact deadline, but you also need to take into account the time required to make the cliche. Often you have to finish your work in a feverish hurry, in the presence of a courier sent for the caricature. You have to draw in the editorial office itself, when in front of your eyes there is a teletype tape with the latest information or a still wet typographical print of a telegram, next to which a caricature should appear on the page.
As a rule, a newspaper artist acts, in chess terms, under conditions of acute time pressure, when only the most accurate and correct decisions are needed, and mistakes are already irreparable.
And it happens that with great chagrin and annoyance, a cartoonist reviews his work in the published issue of a newspaper, if this or that successful detail occurred to him too late, if he did not have time to correct this or that error that was not noticed in time. At such a moment, he thinks, not without envy, about his fellow graphic artists working on an easel drawing or book illustration, on which he can work leisurely, calmly, gradually, letting his work “sit down” so that after some time he can look at it with fresh eyes , consult with friends, see shortcomings, correct, improve, “reach out”, “finish off”...
But, alas, one can only dream about this. The pace and specificity of journalistic satire do not allow (and thank God!) to work with “coolness”, with academic slowness.
...A call from the editor: a drawing is needed for the issue. A glance at the clock. The artist has approximately one and a half hours at his disposal. It's not bad. A blank sheet of paper is placed on the desktop, and the plot solution of the caricature and the approximate composition of the drawing begin to take shape in your head.
First pencil strokes.
- What if we do it this way... Hm... No, let's try to rearrange the pieces. What if... Yeah, that's probably more interesting. Stop. This isn't a bad idea. No, it won't do. But there is something here. Come on...
From the chaos of lines, a rough draft of a caricature emerges. Now the pencil shades the back side of the paper, the main contours of the draft are transferred to another, blank sheet, the drawing is refined, acquired with additional details.
waist, the excess is removed, the pencil is replaced with a thin brush, and outlining with ink begins.
Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick inexorably, and the hands rotate around the dial, and the editorial office calls again:
- Darling! What are you doing?!
- Yes Yes! I'm finishing. Send it.
And at that moment, when the editorial courier rings the doorbell, the eraser removes the last traces of pencil from the cartoon and the drawing is put into the envelope. Time does not allow us to look at it again...

When the famous cartoonist Boris Efimov turned 100 years old, all the newspapers wrote about it excitedly.

He survived the revolution, the Civil and Patriotic Wars, in short, all the eras of the past century. Five years later, Boris Efimovich celebrated his next anniversary. On September 28, 2008 he was already 108! An RG correspondent met with the long-lived artist and asked him several questions.

I don't draw anymore

Russian newspaper:Tell us a secret: how did you manage to live to such a respectable age? Do you follow any special diets or techniques?

Boris Efimov: No way. I like one joke. In the Caucasus, they honor a centenarian who talks about how he leads a healthy lifestyle, does not drink or smoke. Suddenly, drunken screams are heard from the back rows. The old-timer says: “Don’t pay attention, it’s my older brother who got drunk again.”

RG:You are the same age as the century, before your eyes political leaders, artists and scientists have come and gone... The political system, laws, rules of life, communication style, fashion have changed... What is the most interesting period of your life?

Efimov: The century itself was interesting. Every decade had something different. Now it is difficult to single out any one period or decade. We need to look at the era as a whole.

RG:Are you drawing now?

Efimov: No. I don't draw anymore. The period of activity ended a long time ago. But I continue to work, albeit in a different field. I write books, fortunately I have something to talk about. For example, the book of memoirs “About Times and People,” written in collaboration with Viktor Fradkin. By the way, it may just be a detailed, detailed answer to the first question. It tells about the people and the times they filled. There are stories about politicians, actors, writers, and my fellow artists, for example, the Kukryniksy, Ernst Neizvestny, Zurab Tsereteli.

In addition, there are other books of memoirs: “The same age as the century”, “Ten decades” and others.

RG:What else do you do, how do you spend your time, what books do you read?

Efimov: I read different books, but there is one favorite that I am ready to re-read endlessly. This is the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas.

RG:Which of today's characters in world politics is the most imaginative?

Efimov: Nowadays there are no such bright characters as Hitler, Mussolini, Tito were, who could be ridiculed by noticing one or more details of their behavior and appearance.

RG:Do you follow the current situation with the cartoon genre in the country? Do you have any followers today?

Efimov: Of course there are good cartoonists. These are, for example, Vladimir Mochalov, Igor Smirnov.

But it should be noted that political caricature as a genre ceased to exist. What we see now are “handwritings”.

Enraged Stalin

RG:Did you look for characters for the cartoons yourself, because you were in the context of what was happening, or was there an order from the authorities every time?

Efimov: I searched for it myself. I read newspapers, listened to the radio, watched newsreels, and then television appeared. I chose the topics myself. But of course there were orders, including, for example, personally from Stalin. But we can say that I chose 90 percent of the stories myself.

RG:Did the authorities interfere in the creative process, did they point out some detail that needed to be emphasized?

Efimov: Yes, this happened. For example, you can remember this case. I drew a caricature of Japanese militarists. To highlight their political expansionist ambitions, I gave them long teeth. Then Stalin called Pravda editor-in-chief Lev Mehlis and was indignant. They say this insults the national dignity of the Japanese people.

Another example comes from more recent times. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of Great Britain. I drew a cartoon of her. This drawing was hung in propaganda windows throughout Moscow and other cities. This caused indignation among those in power, as it did not look entirely diplomatic.

RG:Is it hard for you to realize that your peers are leaving one by one?

Efimov: Certainly. This is a great tragedy, it is very difficult to see that you are left alone.

His father Efim Moiseevich Fridland was a shoemaker. Boris began drawing at the age of five, and after his parents moved to Bialystok he entered a secondary school, where his older brother Mikhail also studied. There they published a handwritten school magazine together. My brother (future publicist and feuilletonist Mikhail Koltsov) edited the publication, and Boris illustrated. In 1915, he ended up in Kharkov, after Russian troops were forced to leave Bialystok during the war.

In Kharkov, Boris Efimov studied at a real school, and later moved to Kyiv. In 1918, the first cartoons by Boris Efimov of Alexander Blok, Vera Yureneva and Alexander Kugel appeared in the Kiev magazine “Spectator”. In 1919, Efimov became one of the secretaries of the editorial and publishing department of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs of Soviet Ukraine.

Since 1920, Efimov worked as a cartoonist in the newspapers Kommunar, Bolshevik, and Visti and was the head of the visual propaganda department of YugROST in Odessa.

Since 1922, the artist moved to Moscow, where he collaborated with the newspapers Pravda and Izvestia, with the magazine Krokodil, and since 1929 with the magazine Chudak.

After the arrest of Mikhail Koltsov at the end of 1938, the artist was fired from the Izvestia newspaper and began illustrating the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin. In 1940, under the pseudonym V. Borisov, he returned to political caricature and, after the direction of Vyacheslav Molotov, was again included in the circle of masters of Soviet political caricature, with the resumption of publications in Pravda, Krokodil, Agitplakat and other publications.

From 1966 to 1990, Efimov was the editor-in-chief of the creative and production association “Agitplakat”, and the author of many political topical cartoons on international topics.

Together with Denis, D.S. Moore, L.G. Brodaty, M.M. Cheremnykh and Kukryniksy, he created a unique phenomenon in world culture - “positive satire”.

In August 2002, Efimov headed the department of caricature art of the Russian Academy of Arts, and in 2006 he took part in the preparation of the publication of the book “Autograph of the Century.”

On September 28, 2007, on his 107th birthday, he was appointed to the position of chief artist of the Izvestia newspaper, and at the age of 107 he continued to work. He wrote memoirs and drew friendly cartoons, took an active part in public life, speaking at various memorable and anniversary meetings, evenings and other events.

Boris Efimov died on October 1, 2008 in Moscow at the 109th year of his life and was buried in the columbarium of the Novodevichy Cemetery.

"TO GRANDFATHER'S VILLAGE."

Boris Efimovich Efimov has always been an interesting person. The world-famous cartoonist, who was friends with Mayakovsky and Trotsky, saw Nicholas II, talked with Stalin and was a personal enemy of Hitler, cannot be a boring person. Today Boris Efimov, who has every conceivable award and title and has created more than 40 thousand caricatures during his life, hardly draws, but he is already curious about another side of his personality: on September 28, the satirist turned 107 years old. Editor-in-Chief of Afisha D. met with Efimov and talked to him about the longevity, modern humor and gold teeth of Comrade Stalin.

Half an hour by minibus from Moscow, a bus, another bus, and then on a rain-wet highway, the actress of the Pushkin Theater Vera Leskova, the wife of Efimov’s grandson from his second marriage, picks me up in a jeep. We are driving towards Zhokhovo - here, in an inconspicuous village 70 kilometers from Moscow, Boris Efimov lives today. The long-living satirist’s apartment, which previously belonged to Tvardovsky, is located in the center of the capital, on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, but lately Boris Efimovich has been more fond of countryside peace.

Since the morning, water has been pouring from the sky, deep puddles are bubbling under the impact of cold drops. Confidently turning the steering wheel, Vera asks me to “write about the fact that they have power outages” (apparently, no other methods have any effect on the local authorities), complains that in the last six months the old man’s health has deteriorated - he doesn’t hear very well. But since he had surgery on one eye and the lens was replaced, he can read again.

While I am warming up with tea in the kitchen of the beautiful village house of the Efimovs, completely hung with the works of the satirist and his famous colleagues, I can hear Vera waking up my grandfather behind the wall. Soon he himself appears, leaning on a cane. Efimov places his feet in thick woolen socks very carefully - he says that he is afraid of falling and breaking something. In recent years, he complains, it has increasingly been used as a reference book on 20th-century history. But now you can say whatever you want - there’s still no one to check.

“I’ll tell you frankly - I had a very good memory,” he declares, adjusting his thick glasses on his nose. “But the older I get, the worse my memory is, not better!” Now my memory is not good, I’ll tell you straight.”

Being next to Efimov is like looking at a living mammoth: it is impossible to get rid of the feeling of awe. As Panikovsky would say: “A man from an earlier time, there are no such people anymore, and soon there won’t be any.” Trotsky handed him his coat! Ilf, Petrov and Kukryniksy accepted him as a friend! He was the last to see Mayakovsky being taken to the crematorium oven!..

Efimov, Ilf, Petrov, 1933.

I'm wondering if Mayakovsky was as interesting in life as in his poems. Efimov thinks for a couple of seconds, then begins to mint words, simultaneously tapping his cane on the floor: “You see, this is such a scholastic, I would say, question. It is difficult to separate Mayakovsky the poet from Mayakovsky the man. Everyone knows Mayakovsky as a poet. It’s more difficult with Mayakovsky the man. In his own way, he was a rare personality, separate, unlike others. Even the way he ended his life is also beyond my comprehension: what happened to him, why such a tragedy suddenly happened... There are many questions. I may say it unoriginally, but in general he was a complex, unusual, outstanding person who deserves to be studied and tried to understand.”

Boris Efimov was born in Kyiv at the end of the nineteenth century and after 95 days entered the twentieth century. Already at the age of 5-6, he tried to draw others and various funny situations from life. And when his parents moved to Bialystok (at that time still a Russian city), he went to a real school, where he and his brother made a handwritten magazine, being responsible for the illustrative part of it. With the outbreak of the First World War, Bialystok ceased to be a calm city: super-powerful bombs were exploding on the streets, one of which almost killed Efimov’s older brother, the journalist Mikhail Koltsov, who was later known throughout the union. The family separated: Koltsov went to study in Petrograd, his parents returned to Kyiv, but Boris chose Kharkov, where he entered the fifth grade. He read the press with interest and once tried to draw several cartoons of political figures of that time. Koltsov, already familiar with Petrograd journalism, immediately added a cartoon of the Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko to the popular magazine “Sun of Russia”. So at the age of 16, Efimov became a cartoonist. Since then, he began drawing for the publications “Spectator”, “Kommunar”, “Red Army”, “Bolshevik” and many others, gradually moving into the genre of political caricature. In 1922, without finishing his studies at the Kiev Institute of National Economy, Boris followed his brother to Moscow to stay there forever.

“I am essentially a Kievite, I was born in Kyiv and I can consider myself one of the oldest, and maybe even the oldest Kievite. Living in Moscow, I continue to be interested in events in Ukraine. But I haven't been there for a long time. Now Ukraine is a different country, right? You could say it's next door. It now has its own face, its own character, its own history and some characteristic features that Russia does not have. But I won’t be able to express my attitude towards Ukraine in a nutshell - the processes taking place with it cannot be easily characterized... Could the Union not have collapsed? – Efimov smacks his lips, collecting his thoughts. - Probably could. But... serious reasons accumulated, and something happened that could not be avoided. “Many events happened, each of which influenced the overall outcome.”

One of the collections of Efimov’s cartoons, dedicated to the Nuremberg trials (the artist was sent there by Stalin along with the Kukryniksy), is called “Lessons of History.” Indeed, the artist has the most careful attitude towards history. He answers questions mostly evasively and streamlinedly, thinks about each question for a long time and, by his own admission, tries to say only what he is completely sure of, without making any far-reaching conclusions.

“So you’re asking if I understand something about life. This is an unexpected question. Well, of course, I learned some lessons, learned something, understood something that I didn’t know before. But life is always rich in some changes, some, so to speak, new events, unforeseen sensations that are difficult and even, I would say, impossible to avoid... - The satirist sighs heavily. - You are a young man, and you must come to terms with the idea in advance - I don’t know how to formulate it - that the laws of life are unpredictable. It is difficult to be guided by them. One does not necessarily depend on the other, often everything is decided by the accompanying circumstances. And the same thing said or done by different people can have very different consequences. And this is how we live..."

Upon his arrival in Moscow, the cartoonist immediately joined newspaper life - his works are published in Rabochaya Gazeta, Krokodil, Pravda, Izvestia, Ogonyok, Prozhektor, and are published in the form of collections... And in the mid-30s x Efimov happened to visit Berlin. And it so happened that on the street he managed to see Adolf Hitler and his retinue. Later, during the war, when the cartoon image of the Fuhrer with a swastika under his nose firmly settled on the pages of the Soviet press, and leaflets with his image began to be scattered behind the front line, Hitler put Efimov on a special list of personal enemies - with the stamp “find and hang.”

“But, as you can see, he didn’t hang me,” Boris Efimovich smiles. - Did not have time. Maybe he would have hanged me if he had caught me. But he disappeared much earlier than he received such an opportunity. This was a threat, of course, quite real, because at that time Hitler was in great power and could afford such things. But it didn’t work out.”

Cartoonists Herluf Bidstrup, Jacques Effel and Boris Efimov.

In a short time, Efimov’s brother Mikhail Koltsov, as they say, soared high. The first editor-in-chief of the Krokodil magazine, the editor-in-chief of Ogonyok, where his things that were too bold for those times were often published, the initiator of the creation of many magazines (including Za Rulem) and the construction of the city of Zelenograd near Moscow, he was included in many offices, incredibly popular and loved by readers. At the end of the 30s, Koltsov visited military Spain, where he even took part in the storming of the Toledo fortress, and wrote the famous book “Spanish Diaries”. Hemingway made him the prototype for the Russian journalist in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Mikhail's fame had no analogues. In December 1938, when Koltsov went to the theater, Stalin invited him to his box and invited him to make a report on the anniversary of the publication of “A Short Course in the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).” The Generalissimo was very friendly and smiled a lot, flashing his gold teeth. Koltsov, who sincerely, deeply and almost fanatically believed in the wisdom of Stalin, took on the task with delight. Five days later, on December 12, he spoke at the Central House of Writers in front of the intelligentsia, and the report was a huge success. That same evening, Koltsov, then already the editor-in-chief of Pravda, was arrested in his own office. On February 2, 1940, after long interrogations and torture, he was shot.

Boris Efimov and Mikhail Koltsov at military maneuvers near Kiev.

“There was no reason for the arrest, and there could not have been,” recalls Efimov. - But a reason was found. The then owner disliked him. It began to seem to him that he imagined too much about himself, that he was too smart, too popular. And Stalin, a capricious man, decided: “Well, actually, why keep him? I can do without him!” I think he considered himself the master of the country, and, in general, he was. And I was almost sure that I would follow Koltsov. But the owner did not agree. He didn’t need it... As for the gold teeth, I didn’t see them myself. Koltsov saw them and told me about it. Maybe Stalin was annoyed that his brother noticed his gold teeth... The devil knows..."

While working at Ogonyok, Koltsov undertook an unprecedented experiment - he invited 25 popular Soviet writers to write a collective detective novel. For a whole year, the project “Big Fires” with its sequels was published in Ogonyok, however, the writers (among whom were Green, Babel, Zoshchenko and Novikov-Priboy) turned out to be a people not very adapted to collective work - everyone pulled the plot on themselves. Therefore, in order to correct all the flaws, Koltsov had to write the final chapter with his own hand.

“It happened, yes,” says Efimov. – But I don’t know whether it was published later in book form. Well, at least I didn't come across it. Well, who could publish it then if Koltsov was arrested... Nevertheless, his arrest did not affect me, and Stalin even sent me to Nuremberg. He specifically said: take this one too, let him go. He generally liked my cartoons. And I think he expected that they would be useful. That’s it – fate was decided.”

The story of how Stalin ordered Efimov over the phone for an anti-American political cartoon is widely known. After Zhdanov’s words “Comrade Stalin will speak to you,” the satirist stood up. “My legs lifted me up,” he later said in his book.

Stirring tea in a cup, I wonder what people had more towards Stalin - love or fear. “This is an interesting question! Of course, they were afraid of him, and at the same time they had some kind of - here Efimov switches to a hoarse whisper - a feeling of awe, respect... How did I myself feel about him? Hard to say. I owe him a lot - first of all, life and freedom. He could well have rotted me and my brother then. And no one would ask him..."

I remind you of the story when in 1949, on the day the 10,000th issue of Izvestia was published, Efimov once again did not find himself on the list of awarded employees and, upset, wrote a letter to Stalin asking him to sort out the mistake. True, I immediately regretted it. But the Owner suddenly showed generosity - he did not waste time on trifles and soon, instead of an order, awarded the cartoonist the Stalin Prize. It turned out that Efimov - a Jew, the brother of an enemy of the people - actually beat the award out of him, which was an insolence unheard of at that time.

“Knocked out? “Well, why do you formulate it like that,” the satirist grunts slightly offended, but then begins to smile. – Although there is some truth in this. Indeed, he knew that I drew very well, and understood that I would be needed and useful someday. That's why he decided not to touch me. He even rewarded me. But I was, of course, on the verge of death.”

I ask if, after 107 years of life, he is tired of journalism. “Well, I’m quite satisfied,” Efimov answers. – I have enough journalists. Mainly, they want to understand the reasons for my age. You know my age. Many people are interested in why a person actually lives so long. Is he doing anything about it? But I don't have a recipe. And it can't be. Although, of course, this is not a typical case for a person to live that long.”

Efimov happened to write letters not only to Stalin. For example, on the eve of his 100th birthday, he congratulated the Queen of England. And I even received an answer. “Yes, we are the same age,” Boris Efimovich nods. - And they corresponded. But then it somehow dried up. She seems to have died. In general, I’m not very good at communicating with peers. I don’t meet people my age very often... I don’t know how much longer I will live, but no matter how long I live, thank you! A lot has fallen to my lot - I didn’t just, so to speak, lie on the stove and gradually grow old. I’ve seen a lot in 107 years, and not everything was good; I didn’t always understand what was happening. But I understood something else: that human life is unstable, and I was not surprised if it should have been this way, but it turned out differently.”

However, there was also something that can be called stability in Efimov’s life: from 1965 and for almost 30 years, he worked as the editor-in-chief of the Creative and Production Association “Agitplakat” at the Union of Artists of the USSR, while remaining one of its most active authors.

We are talking about modern humor. “I’m not delighted with the humor that comes to us from TV - from Zhvanetsky and others,” Efimov thinks out loud. “But in the absence of anything else, let there be such humor.” I ask who he would say is the best joker. “We need to figure this out. Many people joked. Mayakovsky joked well! I wanted to name someone else... In general, if a person has humor, he somehow finds a common language with people, you know.”

Lately, Boris Efimovich has not been drawing satirical drawings, admitting that satire has lost its sharpness. Prefers cartoons. But he takes the question of the future of caricature seriously: “I think that caricature is an eternal art, it will never disappear, because laughing is a natural human desire.” I assume that it was his laughter that prolonged his life. “Hehe! Well, you attribute a lot of this to me. Although this is an interesting thought, by the way. I’ll write it down, so to speak, here,” Efimov taps his finger on his temple. - How long I will live - only God knows, if there is one. Wait and see. I can still live, heh! - for some time. And I can cook quickly, so to speak. – His tone becomes confidential. “Although, to be honest, I don’t think there’s anything beyond that.”

Efimov’s grandson Viktor, a stern-looking man with a receding hairline, enters the kitchen. “Ver! - he says. “Will you give the cat something to eat?” “I already gave,” Vera responds, busy washing the dishes. Victor spreads his hands: “He came again. It interferes with work."

Tired from a long conversation, Boris Efimovich expresses himself in the sense that it would be nice for him to sleep again. Victor switches to him: “Why do you need to rest, sit down! You've already had enough rest, that's enough. You need to rest... You rest all day. “You better show the guest your books,” he takes out from somewhere two beautifully published volumes - “My Century” and “10 Decades.” Seeing the last book, Efimov perks up: “I didn’t know it was here.” “We literally brought it from Moscow the other day,” explains Vera, wiping the plate with a towel.

The rain continues outside the windows. The tea has already finished, now we eat the cake and look at the photographs in the books. In addition to Efimov, they depict Mayakovsky, Zoshchenko, Mikhalkov Sr., Ilf and Petrov, Kukryniksy, Ranevskaya, Tsereteli, Tvardovsky, Gorbachev, Yeltsin... Separately, a caricature of Stalin is shown - in it he is with a huge mustache and in shining boots. “From nature! – Boris Efimovich comments. – 24th year. It was still possible then. Then it’s no longer..."

I point to a photo where the famous cartoonists Herluf Bidstrup and Jean Effel are depicted hugging Efimov. Efimov confirms: “I was friends with Bidstrup, and with Effel too. True, not for long. Effel died early. Look, there are many more illustrations there. In general, I don’t like to be photographed, my appearance is uninteresting.”
I ask how he feels about alcohol. Efimov doesn’t hear - he has already slowly begun to nod off. “Sometimes he likes to have a glass,” Vera prompts. “He prefers cognac.”

“I was sleeping when you came,” the satirist apologizes with a sleepy grin. – I must say that my longest activity is sleeping. And dreams - ohh! This is my most treasured pastime. I see dreams all the time, and such interesting dreams! Now I'll go watch them again. So thank you for your interest in my humble person,” he extends his hand to me. Efimov’s palm is dry and strong.

When I, having finished reading the books, go out onto the glassed-in terrace to go back to Moscow, Boris Efimovich is indeed already snoring, curled up on the sofa. Due to his thinness, from a distance he can be mistaken for a child. But this impression is deceptive, and I know that in reality a true giant of spirit is hiding in a fragile body. The wisdom that emanates from this man in waves will fall like gold powder off me for at least two more weeks.

A documentary film “Three Centuries of One Man” was shot about Boris Efimov.

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Text prepared by Artyom Yavas