This poster design from 1943 titled “Das Leben geht weiter” (Life Goes On) represents a remarkable testimony to the anti-fascist resistance in exile during World War II. The work, signed with the artist's monogram “HF 1943,” was created by an anti-fascist from Hamburg in British emigration and belongs to a series of propaganda designs that ultimately were never published.
The visual representation shows a steel helmet and barbed wire being reclaimed by nature—a powerful metaphor for the hope of ending National Socialist rule and the rebirth of a peaceful society. The technique combines pencil and watercolors on cardboard, typical for poster designs of that era, which needed to be produced quickly and cost-effectively.
Anti-fascist resistance in exile formed an important, though often overlooked, part of the resistance against the Nazi regime. After the seizure of power in 1933, thousands of Germans fled abroad, including politicians, artists, intellectuals, and labor activists. Great Britain became an important refuge, especially after the outbreak of war in 1939, when other European exile countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Czechoslovakia were occupied by the Wehrmacht.
In London and other British cities, a vibrant community of German emigrants developed, organizing various resistance activities. They produced propaganda material, broadcast radio programs, wrote leaflets, and designed posters intended for psychological warfare against the Nazi regime. The British government supported many of these activities through organizations such as the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
The year 1943, when this design was created, marked a turning point in World War II. The German defeat at Stalingrad in February 1943 and the Allied successes in North Africa fundamentally changed the course of the war. For the exiles, this represented a glimmer of hope that the end of the Nazi regime was drawing closer. Propaganda material from this period often reflects this changed mood—it was no longer just about denouncing Nazi crimes, but increasingly about envisioning a democratic post-war Germany.
The fact that these designs were never published is characteristic of many exile projects. Not all artistic and propaganda works found their way to actual use. The reasons were manifold: lack of financial resources, disagreements over content and strategies, technical difficulties in distribution, or political considerations by Allied authorities. Nevertheless, these unpublished works are of great historical value, as they document the mindset, hopes, and artistic expressions of German emigration.
The symbolic imagery of the design—war equipment being reclaimed by nature—was a common motif in anti-war art. The steel helmet as a symbol of German military power, overgrown and covered, conveys the message of the transience of war and the vitality of nature and peace. This iconography was intended to reach both German soldiers and the civilian population, encouraging resistance or resignation.
Anti-fascists from Hamburg played a significant role in exile resistance. Before 1933, Hamburg was a stronghold of the labor movement and had a strong communist and social democratic tradition. Many Hamburg activists fled after the seizure of power, first to neighboring countries and later, after the outbreak of war, to Great Britain. They often remained in contact with resistance groups in Germany and attempted to continue the fight against the regime through their work in exile.
Today, such documents of exile resistance are important sources for historical research. They provide insights into the strategies, hopes, and daily life of German emigration, as well as the largely unknown history of cultural and political resistance outside Germany. These artifacts remind us that resistance against tyranny took many forms and that artists and intellectuals contributed significantly to the struggle against fascism, even when their works never reached their intended audiences.
