Hitler attempts in vain to prop up his collapsing "house of cards" of his European empire.  Comment of cartoonist David Low, 24 August, 1944.  Best regards, JR.

House of Cards ...

Can't determine a precise date on this - but it definitely dates from the wartime period, or from the periods immediately preceding or (less likely) following WW II.

The main caption reads, "Militia - servant of the People".  The poster in the background translates as a sort of "mission statement" as we would now say -  "Sensitive to complaints and appeals of workers".  No doubt.

The Soviet "Militia" was the civil police force, rather than (at least technically) a gendarmerie.  The force was formed at the time of the Russian Revolution and was subsequently attached, in one way or another, to the Interior Ministry (policing) arm of the Soviet state; the situation in post-Soviet Russia seems similar.

Because the Militia were (for most of the period) subject t the national security apparatus (allowing for reorganizations and renamings over time, the NKVD), contacts between the two were, let us say, permeable.  Members of "the People" were encouraged to supply information to the Militia which, in all probability, would find its way back to the genuine spooks of the NKVD's "secret" departments.  In that context, this "public information" image is open to the interpretation that it is designed to encourage "Comrades" to supply "interesting" information on their neighbours.  

Stalinism was "not nice", even if it did pretend to be a bit more friendly in a wartime context ... Yours from Beria's Basement, JR.

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The twin battles of Ligny and Waterloo were fought between Friday, 16 and Sunday, 18 June, 1815 - just 200 years ago today.

This post is in memory of the brave English, French, Irish, Netherlander, Scots, Prussian and other German States, Welsh and other soldiers who, in spite of the fact that considerably more than half of them were inexperienced in combat or even barely trained, fought and in many cases died in these battles.  May their souls sit at God's Right Hand.  With greatest respect, JR.

Painting - Thédore Géricault, "Le Chasseur de la Garde" (Hussar of Napoleon's Imperial Guard), 1812-1814.