Title: British anti-Nazi Propaganda Poster for Iran

Author: "Kem" [Kimon Evan Marengo]

Description: Color poster, 13½x8¾". ]. Persian/Farsi text, loosely translated as " Tie Up the Two Hands so the Devouring Elephant Can’t Untie Them”.“Kem” was the pseudonym of British artist Kimon Evan Marengo (1904-1988), Egyptian-born and Oxford-educated, who produced some 3000 anti-Nazi propaganda drawings for the British Ministry of Information during World War II. His fluency in both European and Middle Eastern languages made his art work especially useful for wartime distribution in Algeria, Morocco, Egypt - and Iran, where fear of German influence had prompted British and Russian occupation of the oil-rich country. Possibly issued in conjunction with the “Big 3” conference of Allied leaders at Teheran in November 1943, the cartoon, in a Persian miniature style, shows Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt, riding along majestically, while Hitler is depicted as the mythical figure Zahak, an evil king who had two snakes (drawn here with the faces of Mussolini and Tojo) growing out of his shoulders. The significance of the cryptic caption is unknown. The Imperial War Museum holds copies of five of Kem’s Persian posters. This copy is believed to be a wartime original, obtained by an Allied soldier stationed in Iran during the War.

Heading: (World War II Propaganda Poster for Iran)Place Published: [London]

Publisher: [British Ministry of Information]

Date Published: [c.1943]