1945.02.20 “All Cleaned Out”
by Hyman Joseph (Hy) Rosen (1923-2011)
11 x 14 in., ink and crayon on paper
Coppola Collection
Hy Rosen, an Albany native, attended several art studios before enlisting in the army, in 1942, at age 19 (his army record lists him an enlisting on Dec 1). He served in the Army Corps of Engineers Camoflauge Battalion, where one duty was painting anti-Hitler murals in buildings in France. In 1945, after WW2, Rosen sought a job with the Albany Times-Union as a photographer (a job he held while in the military) but ended up as the paper’s editorial cartoonist, a position he held for more than forty years.
He is also listed as working as a comic book artist in the late 1940s, doing ‘Bonnie’ for National/DC and romance stories for St. John Publishing (Hollywood Confessions). Up until the mid 1950s, he worked mainly for Timely/Atlas, drawing both funny and realistic features.
By the signature and its style, the cartoon is clearly Rosen’s. I would be surprised if this was not the earliest known work. In fact, dating this cartoon is an interesting challenge.
After the successful Allied invasions of western France, Germany gathered reserve forces and launched a massive counter-offensive in the Ardennes, which collapsed by January, in the Battle of the Bulge. And at the same time, Soviet forces closed in from the east. The bombing of Dresden happened in mid-February. By March 1945, Western Allied forces crossed the Rhine River and the Red Army had meanwhile entered Austria, with both fronts quickly approached Berlin.
During their retreat back to Germany, the Nazis ravaged their occupied lands for resources, and pressed the German people, too. With more and more members of the Volkssturm (Germany’s National Militia) being directed to the front line, German authorities were experiencing an ever-increasing strain on their stocks of army equipment and clothing. In a desperate attempt to overcome this deficiency, street to street collection depots called the Volksopfer, meaning Sacrifice of the People, scoured the country, collecting uniforms, boots and equipment from German civilians. An AP archival image from Berlin on February 12, 1945 shows a Volksopfer site bearing the words “The Fuhrer expects your sacrifice for Army and Home Guard. So that you’re proud your Home Guard man can show himself in uniform – empty your wardrobe and bring its contents to us.”
In the first several months of 1945, Germany put up a fierce defense, but rapidly lost territory, ran out of supplies, and exhausted its options. In April, Allied forces pushed through the German defensive line in Italy. East met West on the River Elbe on April 25, 1945, when Soviet and American troops met near Torgau, Germany. Hitler’s suicide was April 30.
As of now (May 2020), I am trying to find someone with more information about the end of Rosen’s army service and the beginnings of his job at the Times-Union, and how fast he moved from photographer to cartoonist. If this was drawn for the TU, the casual depiction of Hitler and Nazi actions gives less than a 4-month time window in 1945 for Rosen to be discharged, hired, and moved to editorial. If he was still serving at the end of the war and not discharged until after VE Day, locating the history of the drawing gets even more interesting as it predates the time period of his professional work. The quality is high, and seems more of a studio production than the work of an Army Private in the field.