My unpretentious remarks on the labels of Italian colonies brought comments from readers who came to realize the historical significance of some hotel labels. Playing forth on that string I decided to write on the labels of the German III Reich.

Hitler's coming to power in 1933 and his subsequent rule of Germany is rarely documented by labels. The German black/red/gold tricolor flag, first established in 1848 (and then superseded by the black/white/red flag seen in many pre-WW I labels), had been in use since 1919 but was abolished with the Nazi take-over. The swastika flag was used thereafter and was actually made the national flag of Germany in 1935. But it occurs only rarely in German labels, although the swastika itself is more often seen, particularly in the fins of airships after the State acquired a controlling interest in the Zeppelin Company in 1936.

Above, two unusual German labels of the late 1930s depicting nazi symbols.  The label at top left, earlier issued with a simple heraldic eagle, now has an eagle bearing the swastika on the chest (see enlargement at left) and the ditto "Gott mit uns" (God with us). The one at top right shows a swastika painted on the zeppelin fin and also a swastika flag.

Austria was taken over by Germany in 1938, in a bloodless coup that led to the Anschluss (joining of the two countries). All labels bearing the country's name in German (“Österreich” – Austria) or the red/white national flag were scrapped and replaced by labels mentioning “Deutschland” (Germany); “Deutsches Reich”; or “Ostmark” – Austria's name as a German province. Nazi flags were also occasionally represented. Nazi symbols are actually more common in Austrian labels than in their German counterparts presumably because Austrian hotel owners were hard pressed to show enthusiasm for their new status as members of the Greater German Reich by scrapping old labels with Austrian symbols or names and replacing them with up-to-date versions.

		The label at left has Deutschland (Germany) as the country's name, instead of Austria, as in the earlier version. Notice how, after the war, the name of the country was simply covered with black ink which I removed partially to reveal the original writing.
		There are many versions of this rather somber label. The silhouetted skyline and the gothic writing are common German graphic solutions of this period. The label at far left has "Austria" where the other label has "Ostmark", Austria's name as a German province.
		In this case, the cheaply printed label with the country identified as "Osterreich" (Austria) is probably more recent than the lithographed label at the near left, in which the country is identified as "Deutsches Reich" (German Reich).

I for one am glad it turned out the present way: Europe would not be Europe without Austria, as much as it would not be Europe without Germany... Enjoy the next images!

The label at far left is one of a series of fine designs done by an unknown artist for  Austrian hotels in the 1930s. It is the only one in the series depicting a swastika flag.  The other label was made usable after the war by painting over the flag and cutting off "Deutschland" from the bottom.

The label at left, dating from circa 1935 shows a fine depiction of the hotel Pitter and the Salzburg landscape. The Austrian flag still flies on top of the hotel. The label at the bottom left was printed in late 1938 or 1939 and the hotel is now flying the swastika flag. Later the flag was cleverly altered by painting a white strip over the red (see detail at lower right). I scratched part of the white ink from the label at the bottom left to reveal the nazi flag underneath..

The label illustrated here is much more cheaply made than the labels above and may have been printed during the war. It may have not been used in the original issue as I have never seen a pristine specimen. The post-war version has the nazi flag, either covered with black ink, or else altered by painting a white streak over, which was partially removed in the label at left to show the original red swastika flag.

The very interesting label at left has a note in German that translates as "Jew free / for forty years". This suggests that the label is a remarkable piece of anti-Semitic nazi ephemera, but that is not the case. A research for which I am very indebted to the German wine label expert Thomas Wangler and to Dr. Michael Matthaus of the Frankfurt Image Institute has unearthed a postcard of 1893 in which a large sign at the door of the hotel informs that the entry is not allowed to jews, and another of 1898 in which the hotel prides itself of being the only jew free hotel in town. Since the hotel dates back to 1892, the label was likely printed in 1932, just before Hitler's rise to power...

Joao-Manuel Mimoso                                                                                   April 20, 2002