Auction 35 - Rare and Important Judaica
Proclamation on Behalf of the Mandate Government – Enlistment to the British Army
Opening: $2,500
Sold for: $7,500
Including buyer's premium
"JOIN THE ARMY – You can crush him – Enlist!" A proclamation by the Mandate government, PDR MISC / 3553 [Palestine Drawing & Reproduction, Miscellaneous], [August / September 1941].
At the center of the proclamation is a large illustration of a stretched out hand in the shape of the letter V – symbolizing victory (identified with Winston Churchill during World War II), which slices the map of Europe (on the map are marked the capital cities: Rome, Bucharest, Budapest, Tirana, Istanbul, Bern, Paris and London). The fingers of the hand grasp a Wehrmacht soldier (a swastika appears on his helmet) and underneath is a call encouraging the Yishuv's young generation to enlist to the war effort against the German enemy – "Join the army – You can crush him – Enlist!". At the top of the proclamation is the emblem of the United Kingdom of the British government.
When World War II broke out and during the war, many of the Jewish settlers in Eretz Israel volunteered for the British army to assist in the war against the German enemy. At the end of 1939, the national institutes of the Jewish settlement announced that they would assemble Jewish soldiers who would be willing to fight in the lines of the British army. 40,000 young men and women enlisted. At first, the British government was unwilling to recruit the Jews, but the German threat grew and its unwillingness dissipated. In the summer of 1941, when the German army attacked the USSR and was in the western desert on its way to conquering the Suez Canal, the lifeline of the British Empire, the demand of mass enlistment to the British army was reawakened. The national institutes announced the conscription of single men from the age of 20-30 and punished those who evaded the draft. Apparently, this proclamation is from that time. 60X85.5 cm, framed: 88.5X64 cm. Good condition. Folding marks. Few stains.
At the center of the proclamation is a large illustration of a stretched out hand in the shape of the letter V – symbolizing victory (identified with Winston Churchill during World War II), which slices the map of Europe (on the map are marked the capital cities: Rome, Bucharest, Budapest, Tirana, Istanbul, Bern, Paris and London). The fingers of the hand grasp a Wehrmacht soldier (a swastika appears on his helmet) and underneath is a call encouraging the Yishuv's young generation to enlist to the war effort against the German enemy – "Join the army – You can crush him – Enlist!". At the top of the proclamation is the emblem of the United Kingdom of the British government.
When World War II broke out and during the war, many of the Jewish settlers in Eretz Israel volunteered for the British army to assist in the war against the German enemy. At the end of 1939, the national institutes of the Jewish settlement announced that they would assemble Jewish soldiers who would be willing to fight in the lines of the British army. 40,000 young men and women enlisted. At first, the British government was unwilling to recruit the Jews, but the German threat grew and its unwillingness dissipated. In the summer of 1941, when the German army attacked the USSR and was in the western desert on its way to conquering the Suez Canal, the lifeline of the British Empire, the demand of mass enlistment to the British army was reawakened. The national institutes announced the conscription of single men from the age of 20-30 and punished those who evaded the draft. Apparently, this proclamation is from that time. 60X85.5 cm, framed: 88.5X64 cm. Good condition. Folding marks. Few stains.