Elastolin national socialists 🗞️📰🗞️📰🗞️📰🗞️

The article from the Oberbergischer Bote (23 May 1938), a Nazi Party-affiliated newspaper, criticizes the commercialization and trivialization of National Socialist symbols through children's toys and consumer goods. It specifically targets the company Hausser, which produced Elastolin toy figures of Nazi leaders such as Hitler, Goebbels, and Göring. These figures, once detailed in the 1937 catalog—including controversial items like a "Blood Flag" bearer—were deemed offensive and labeled as national kitsch (nationalist tackiness). The article acknowledges that by 1938, the worst of these items had been removed from the catalog, but still disapproves of the general concept of turning National Socialist figures into toys. It frames this practice as profiteering and an insult to the dignity of the Nazi cause. The article further supports its stance by quoting a letter from a party member who disapproves of Nazi slogans appearing on products like coal briquettes during election campaigns. The author agrees, stating that not everything should be permissible in the name of propaganda or goodwill, and calls for public vigilance and rejection of such commercialization. In summary, the piece is a propaganda-driven denunciation of the commodification of Nazi imagery, appealing to party loyalty and public morality to curb what it sees as disrespectful and tasteless uses of political symbols.

Full text of this article in English is available here: 

 You know lead soldiers, right? Nobody has anything against lead soldiers. Today, they are made from a new material called "Elastolin." Lead is needed for other purposes, and Elastolin is an excellent substitute. But we certainly don't want to hear about Elastolin being used to make National Socialists. Nevertheless, there are some enterprising businessmen who offer such things. Just open Hausser's Elastolin toy catalog from 1937, and you'll find the following offers on page 10: "Hausser Elastolin National Socialists, National Socialist Leaders, Hitler, standing with movable arm, 0.40 RM. Hitler, standing with coat, can be had for as little as 25 Pfennigs. While for Goebbels, standing with movable arm, and for Göring in SA uniform, standing with movable arm, you still have to spend 40 Pfennigs. One has to completely doubt the intelligence of these profiteers when one reads offers 33, 49, and 50 on page 10, which state: "Flag bearer, standing at attention, with Elastolin blood flag." This is the height of national kitsch we've seen so far. But justice demands that we note that the fight against national kitsch has made progress compared to the previous year. Let's take Hausser's Elastolin toy catalog for 1938. This one also contains Elastolin National Socialists, even available for 10 pfennigs, but the most tasteless items, such as the National Socialist leaders and the Blood Flag, have been omitted this year. Nevertheless, "Elastolin National Socialists" still doesn't appeal to us in its 1938 guise. In the fight against the denigration of National Socialist symbols and against everything we understand as national kitsch, the press's educational work has, it can happily be stated, had great success in recent years. Letters from our readership indicate that the population has a very fine sense of what is compatible with our national dignity and what is not. And that's a good thing! Only if the broad consumer segments reject all these kitschy products that are repeatedly thrown onto the market by versatile profiteers can this nonsense be controlled once and for all. We are reproducing here a letter from a party comrade, which states: "The other day, a workmate told me that during the election campaign and even later in Cologne, briquettes bearing the inscription 'One people - one Reich - one Führer!' were sold. A corresponding sketch is enclosed." I was now asked whether, as a party member, I was aware that such a course of action was permissible, and whether it was even permissible. I naturally denied it, in keeping with my stance. I believe that you share my opinion and do not agree with those who take the position that all means are permissible in an election campaign, and that, moreover, that such action, as in the present case, is simply dictated by goodwill, which must be recognized. In my opinion, some limits must be drawn here as well, and that they must be respected. We are of the same opinion as the sender of this letter and are also of the opinion that only the cooperation of all our fellow citizens will be able to eradicate these unpleasant contemporary phenomena very soon.