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book (design) story #216

(unknown) :
die hölle von maidanek

verlag der partei der arbeit, zürich, 1945
size: ?? x ?? cm
designer: max huber

one could say that many if not most modernist graphic designers positioned themselves rather on the left side of the political spectrum – a fact jan tschichold had pointed out in his article "glauben und wirklichkeit" (published in 1946 as a reply to max bill): tschichold stated that almost all of the modernist typographers of the 1920s withstood the nazis, with the exception of two people he names by their initials: "prof. m.b., essen" and "dr. w.d., jena" – obviously referring to max burchartz and walter dexel.

also in 1930s' switzerland many modernist artists, designers and architects were involved in socialist and/or anti-fascist activities. among these was max huber (1919-1992) who designed several posters and brochures for socialist organisations. this booklet here doesn't credit its designer, but it is featured in the new monograph on huber (isbn 0714845477).

this tiny postcard-sized brochure, published by the swiss communist "partei der arbeit" in early 1945, informs about the concentration camp of majdanek/lublin which had been freed by soviet troups in 1944. the cover design by max huber drastically illustrates the title – the hell of majdanek: the red sans-serif letters literally "melt" above the flames...

the inexpensively produced pamphlet contains crudely reproduced photos of gas containers for carbon monoxide and zyklon-b (above), and ads for more ussr-related propaganda brochures (below).