Bidspirit auction | “The Beast Is Dead! –

“The Beast Is Dead! – The World War Among the Animals” - a high-quality comic created during World War II documenting its events. Published at the end of the war - Paris, 1945 - “La bête est morte ! – La guerre mondiale chez les animaux” - “The Beast Is Dead! – The World War Among the Animals” – a French comic by Edmond-François Calvo (Calvo), with texts by Victor Dancette and Jacques Zimmermann. Part two: “Quand la bête est terrassée” – “When the Beast Is Defeated” – dealing with the defeat of Nazi Germany. Paris, 1945 - First edition. French. Extremely rare. One of the most important political comics published in France shortly after the end of the war, influenced by Disney animation. A monumental work that presents, through comic figures, all the nations and forces involved in the war as animals. The second part of The Beast Is Dead! was drawn during the German occupation and published in the third month after the liberation. Each animal carries symbolic power corresponding to the nation it represents. The wolves, ferocious and cruel (the Germans) - slaughter brave rabbits and courageous squirrels (the French) with the full force of their artillery, not hesitating to invade the territory of proud lion cubs (the Belgians). Yet resistance is organized by the determined bulldogs (the British). Despite attacks by snarling hyenas (the Italians) and treacherous monkeys (the Japanese), they ultimately prevail thanks to the precise and powerful intervention of the mighty bison (the Americans), while the bears (the Russians) vigorously defend their territory. Adolf Hitler himself is portrayed in caricature as both violent and ridiculous. Page 25 of the booklet is the most discussed text in the work, as it is regarded by various historians as the first reference to the systematic murder of the Jewish people in death camps ever to appear in a comic: “In the occupied countries, the evident weakness of the great wolf was bound to lead to increased resistance from oppressed peoples. The response of the barbarians was doubled violence and atrocities. Hundreds of thousands of innocent animals were sent to the infamous death camps, from which no one returned.” On this page, Nazi brutality is further described: “They responded with their usual cruelty: mass arrests and executions were carried out with the systematic spirit that these savages brought to everything, even to their atrocities. This time, in their fury, they found unprecedented refinements. Gone were the days when they were content to tie the victim to a rocking chair that moved back and forth without the executioner needing to move in order to deliver a sure blow...”.  A striking early comic illustration depicts a Nazi torture chamber in which experiments are carried out on human bodies, accompanied by the description: “Science, placed at the service of the most diabolical cruelty, enabled the barbarians to establish torture chambers that made those of the Inquisition seem like paradise. The pulling of fingernails was one of the executioners’ minor amusements; the real torture began with the removal of eyes or ears. But the horrors that mutilated the victims were reserved for those marked for elimination. For the others, there were further torments...”. Since the comic was published after the liberation of France, yet several months before the end of the war in Europe, the ending foreshadows Hitler’s downfall without depicting it directly.  This booklet concludes with the moving declaration: “The total, absolute, and undeniable defeat inflicted upon the barbarians by the bison and the dogs after their landing, the magnificent uprising of the rabbits in our capital, the liberation of nine-tenths of our land by the bison, the liberation of the land of the lion cubs by the dogs, the lightning-fast and irresistible advance of the bears through the barbarian territory, all these unprecedented events, for which we waited more than five years and which unfolded within a few months, truly sounded the death knell of the great wolf’s rule. The unleashed beast - whose reign was supposed to last a thousand years! - was finally defeated after five years of struggle, suffering, and sacrifice by all the peaceful animals. Its agony was near, and the regime it had established already reeked of decay.” In the colophon it is stated: “This second booklet, conceived under occupation and produced in freedom, was written by Victor Dancette, under the tranquil shadow of Le Vésinet. Illustrations by CALVO. It was engraved and printed by Néogravure under the artistic direction of Williams Féraud. Printing was completed in June 1945, in the hope that the beast was truly dead.” Calvo is considered one of the greatest illustrators in Europe of the period, and some regard him as having had a direct influence on the development of European animation and even on later creators. The work was conceived during the period of German occupation in France.