What are these dear naked German gentleman doing?

July 19, 2012 1:36 PM

Can any German history lovers tell we what these sweet old naked fat men are doing in this old postcard?

Thank George? Usually I'm pretty good at surmising from context and internet research...but this one has me stumped. Any ideas?

posted by esereth to Society & Culture (16 answers total)

I think that's Swedish.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:41 PM on July 19, 2012

The text says "Thanks Jorg" and then has what looks like FPO on the bottom, which makes me wonder if it's related to Jorg Haider and the FPO (Austrian Freedom Party)?
posted by feets at 1:47 PM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

German, but googling the phrase gets me to this page if someone wants to translate what FPO means.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 1:48 PM on July 19, 2012

The logo at the lower left is for the Freedom Party of Austria, so presumably the "Joerg" being thanked is Joerg Haider.

I have no idea what the forms the men are looking at might be.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:50 PM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's an Austrian political cartoon depicting old guys collecting their Kinderbetreuungsscheck from candidate Jörg Heider. There's a really long-winded and totally boring article on that election and it's historical context, including a picture of the original campaign poster here. FPO is a political party in Austria.
posted by carsonb at 1:50 PM on July 19, 2012 [5 favorites]

Yeah, I think the Austrian Freedom Party was sending out checks (?). I am also not sure that all the "fat men" in your original drawing are men. The one on the right especially looks like she has boobs...?
posted by feets at 1:50 PM on July 19, 2012

(They're naked 'cuz the babies in the original ad were naked.)
posted by carsonb at 1:51 PM on July 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: But why are they naked?
posted by esereth at 1:52 PM on July 19, 2012

I think the thrust of the cartoon is that handing out checks to kids will make them dependent on the checks on into adulthood. Not to mention all of the criticism wrapped up in how the adults are depicted (fat, balding, blind).
posted by carsonb at 1:55 PM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Wow...you people are amazing. This was a really convoluded mystery and you solved the crap out of it. Thank you, particularly carsonb.
posted by esereth at 1:57 PM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Testament to the power of political speech. Google "Danke Jorg"!
posted by carsonb at 1:58 PM on July 19, 2012

You know, seeing the difference between the J and the T would have helped me a lot.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 2:08 PM on July 19, 2012

seconding feets: I think the one on the right might be an old woman --- either that, or that's some amazing man-boobage!
posted by easily confused at 2:11 PM on July 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know, this is how we learned to write the "J" in school.
posted by Namlit at 2:23 PM on July 19, 2012

this is a postcard by the famous Austrian caricaturist Manfreid Deix German wikipedia Entry and I agree that this is a reference to the "Kinderscheck" where the Carinthian chapter of the Freedom Party (the region where Haider was provincial governor) handed out checques to familys that got children
posted by ironicon at 12:00 AM on July 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks ironicon, after getting the context I did begin to wonder about the artist. Hadn't yet had a moment to look into it though. Thanks again!
posted by carsonb at 9:57 AM on July 20, 2012