Atrocity Postcards
Post-War Anti-German Propaganda
Shooting hostages in Dinant, August 1914
Here are 5 post-war postcards illustrating German atrocities committed in Belgium. While official investigations agree that some 5500 Belgian citizens were killed by unjustified actions by German troops, such postcards and illustrations portray the events in a somewhat gleefully sadistic manner and uncharacteristically, do not shy from employing an erotic element as an eye-catching and suggestive motif. Such illustrations perpetuated nationalistic stereotypes and fostered lingering sentiments of resentment on both sides after the conclusion of the war.