The Wolfsonian presents Tyrants and Terrorists: Satirists Bite Back!

Tyrants aiming to dominate populations and terrorists aspiring to intimidate are vulnerable to satire and ridicule. In both wartime and peace, anti-Nazi propaganda campaigns have deployed biting humor, undermining their adversaries’ power by making them look ridiculous rather than fearsome. This installation examines the parallels between Allied propaganda directed against Adolf Hitler and the Axis powers during the Second World War, and contemporary drawings by the popular cartoonist Sam Gross—known for his work in The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire—who directed his pen against the resurgence of Nazi symbols and aggression in recent decades.