George Grosz began his career as an illustrator with an interest in caricature. Many of his images lampoon the powerful and the institutions that insulate them: the military, the church, and the government. German Doctors Fighting the Blockade (Die Gesundbeter) is from the portfolio God with Us (Gott mit uns), a title Grosz ironically repurposed from the chauvinistic inscription on the belt buckles issued to German soldiers during World War I. In this print, he targets military authorities and those who collaborated with them to keep young men fighting and dying on the frontlines. A military doctor examines a rotting corpse and announces “KV,” short for Kriegsverwendungsfähig, or “fit for military service.” Arrayed around the room are generals, a staff officer, an enlisted man, and a medic, many of whom will remain safely behind the scenes while others do the dying.
Grosz always sought broad dissemination of his art. Each sheet in God with Us was published with titles in English, German, and French (see also M.82.288.73f). This image first appeared in the Malik periodical Die Pleite (Bankruptcy) in April 1919 with the title Dedicated to the Doctors of Stuttgart, Griefswald, Erfurt, and Leipzig. It later appeared in the 1921 Grosz collection The Face of the Ruling Class and again in The Marked in 1930.
God with Us became the basis for a slander case the government brought against Grosz and his publisher, Wieland Herzfelde. They were found guilty, and the military confiscated remaining copies of the portfolio as well as the printing plates.
Erin Sullivan Maynes
2022 (adapted from Pressing Politics: Revolutionary Graphics from Mexico and Germany, 52)
