Satirical, French language flier acquired by Carl Ebert, a Jewish American World War II soldier while he was serving as a teletype maintenance technician in Europe from March 1944 - October 1945. Several pockets of French resistance developed in the face of German occupation. Among the activities that these groups carried out was the circulation of anti-German leaflets. Carl, a jeweler whose family emigrated from Austria-Hungary to New York in 1920, enlisted in the army in 1942. In early 1944, Carl’s unit, Company B, 3111th Signal Corps, shipped out from Monmouth, New Jersey to England. As part of the Signal Corps, Carl coordinated and maintained communication between his unit and the rest of the allied forces. Carl’s unit was deployed to France in June, landing on Omaha and Utah beaches a few days after the Normandy invasion. They quickly moved east into northeastern France, Belgium and Germany. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. On October 14, Carl was released from the military and returned to the US.
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Satirical French Anti-Nazi flier found by an American soldier
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Off white, rectangular paper flier printed with black French text satirically announcing the death and funeral services of Adolf Hitler. At the top center is a black outline of a swastika and below are ten lines of text with prominent figures’ names in uppercase letters. In the center, is one line in large bold lettering followed by three lines of bold italicized text. Below the italicized text are six paragraphs. At the bottom are five lines of bold, italicized text, each indented to the right of the line above. The flier is adhered to a black liner, a rectangular sheet of light weight paper with a white back. Below the liner is a sheet of loose white paper. Both sheets are taped horizontally at the top, bottom and center to black construction paper. There are two horizontal creases, one each near the top and bottom. The top crease is torn on the left side, partially obscuring the text and the edges have several small tears and wrinkles. The tape has become discolored and has stained the paper.
The flier was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014 by David Ebert, the son of Carl Ebert.
1944 March-1945 October, before 1945 February 22
Kalman (later Carl) Ebert was born on February 14, 1907 in Bolszowce, Austria-Hungary, (now Bilshivtsi, Ukraine) to a Jewish couple, Samuel and Reizie (later Jennie) Teichberg Ebert. His father was born in 1884 and his mother in 1885, in Austria Hungary. He had three brothers, David (1909-1982), Lieb (later Louis b. 1910) and Saul Siegel (b. 1916) and one sister, Beulah (b. 1926). In 1907 Reizie immigrated to the United States and Samuel followed in 1911. On October 27, 1920, Kalman, David and Lieb sailed out of Antwerp, Belgium, and arrived in New York on November 7. They reunited with their parents and Kalman and Lieb Americanized their names to Carl and Louis. Carl lived with his family in Brooklyn and worked as a Jeweler. On April 13, 1927 Carl petitioned to become a naturalized citizen of the United States. During this time he married and divorced. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The following day the United States declared war on Japan, and on December 11, Germany declared war on the US. On July 29, 1942, Carl enlisted in the US Army and joined the Signal Corps as a private. The Signal Corps were responsible for establishing, coordinating, and supporting rapid communication across air, land and sea for the allied forces, as well as repairing communication infrastructure for the military and civilians and documenting the war effort and Nazi atrocities. Carl was assigned to Company B, 3111th Signal Battalion out of Fort Monmouth New Jersey as a teletype maintenance technician. After boot camp and specialized training, the unit was activated for duty on January 20, 1944. In March 1944, the 3111th shipped to England where they continued training throughout the spring. They arrived in Normandy several days after the initial June 6 invasion, landing on Omaha and Utah beaches. From the Normandy beachhead they followed the army to Cherbourg on July 10 where they established a permanent telegraph installation. With the forces of US Army Company B, the 3111th pushed forward to Reims, through Belgium and into Fulda and Frankfort in Germany taking part in the campaigns of Normandy, Ardennes, Northern France and Rhineland. On May 7, 1945, the Germans surrendered to the allies. The 3111th was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, for several months to help repair and stabilize the civilian communication infrastructure. Carl was released from the military on October 14. He returned to New York and resumed his occupation as a jeweler. On May 23, 1947, Carl married Anna Stekin (1909-2004), they had two sons. Carl, age 90, died on December 6, 1997, in Palm Beach, Florida.
overall: Height: 9.875 inches (25.083 cm) | Width: 6.500 inches (16.51 cm)