I Don’t Want to be Misunderstood… New York, 1942.

SZYK, Arthur. “… I don’t want to be misunderstood, but I invest my money in U.S. War Bonds…” Signed and Dated “Arthur Szyk, N.Y. 1942.” Pen and ink and graphite on paper. Sheet size: 11 3/4″ x 8 7/8″. Image size: 10 1/2″ x 8 1/2″. Marginal mat burn else Very Good condition.

Hermann Göring, the Third Reich’s Air Force Minister, raises one bejeweled hand to his face while making himself perfectly clear: “… I don’t want to be misunderstood, but I invest my money in U.S. War Bonds…”

Hermann Göring (1893–1946) was born to an influential German family. A veteran of the First World War where he served as an ace fighter pilot. He was made Marshall of the Greater German Reich in 1940, the military’s highest rank and was supreme commander of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force. Hitler’s admiration was enough to have secretly designated Göring as his successor in the event of the Führer’s death but Göring’s political influence began to ebb with the failure of the “Battle of Britain” in 1940/41 and was further diminished with in 1942 with the German Air Force’s unsuccessful attempt to assist besieged German troops at Stalingrad. Göring was captured by American troops in May, 1945 and sentenced to death in Nuremberg. He committed suicide by cyanide just hours before his scheduled execution in October 1946.

Publishing History: World War II, Wieder History Group, Leesburg, VA, November/December 2012, p. 51; Newsletter, The Arthur Szyk Society, Burlingame, CA, March 2013, p.5. A similar image where Szyk used Göring in a US War Bonds illustration appeared in the New York Post, November 20, 1944, sponsored by Sachs Quality Furniture, entitled “Ach, we should have bought U.S. War Bonds” (here Göring appears with Hitler and Goebbels, while Hirohito is in the background). Another War Bond ad by Szyk which features only Göring was published (by the Retail Reporting Bureau, NY) full-page in “Advertising Week” entitled “Do Me a Favor—Don’t Buy War Bonds!” sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue. Szyk also illustrated a Göring work entitled “I’m not worried. I keep my money abroad” which appeared in The New York Post, July 22, 1942.