Political Cartoon of Hitler in Europe

This cartoon made by Fasouliotis presents a Cypriot villager in traditional baggy trousers pushing a wooden log away from Russia and into Germany. The log bears the Nazi insignia at the back end and has Hitler’s face carved at the front. It is impossible to tell the meaning of this cartoon without knowledge of the news context to which the cartoon provided a commentary. It may, however, be relevant to note that Fasouliotis was a liberal leftist. [ref. Andreas Panayiotou]. The cartoon may be a political commentary on the participation of Cypriot communists in the Second World War against the Nazis. A group of Cypriot Communists living in England went to Spain to fight the Fascists before the mass enrollment of Cypriots in the British Army that happened much later in time. It is also relevant to note that the log presented in the picture is reminiscent of the Cypriot djini, a heavy object laying in the church yard of many villages in Cyprus. This object was used in athletic contests on festive events when young village men contested among themselves in trying to raise the object from the ground and move it around the church. The image in the picture alludes to the Cypriot pallikari or strong man pushing the Nazis out of Europe. Most probably, this represents an ironical comment on the significance of the Cypriot contribution to the war effort that might have been exaggerated a bit in the Cypriot press.