What is the meaning of a cartoon with Hitler and Stalin standing over the body of a dead gentleman?

Answer 1

Although Hitler and Stalin did not like each other, they agreed to divide Poland between their countries.

Ruth, If you look closely you will see that the dead man is labeled Poland. In 1939 Germany and Russia both invaded Poland and divided it between them in accord with the Nazi-Soviet pact. The things that Hitler and Stalin are saying refer to their different ideologies and justifications for what they had done. Remember that Nazi ideology was based on a racial classification system in which Germanic peoples were superior to all others and "inferior peoples such as Jews and Poles were "sub-humans", the scum of the earth, who had no right to live. Communist ideology on the other hand was based on the idea that "the workers" were oppressed in capitalist societies and were only free under Stalinist style socialism. In Soviet mythology all the cpitalists in the world were trying to destroy socialism and and thw worker's state. Thus the cartoonist is trying to say that the two dictators used different, almost opposite reasons to justify working together to attack Poland.

the answer given is actually wrong. The Cartoons has nothing to do with the two countries feelings towards Poland. Rather it illustrates how strange the Nazi-Soviet pact was. Both Hitler and Stalin relentlessly attacked each other with Propaganda and despised each other's idealogies. This cartoon shows them meeting over the dead body of Poland and exchanging formalities in the form that their propaganda used.

Answer 2

It depends what context it's in. Hipster Hitler is purely for comedic purposes.