De Duitsche uitbuiting van Nederland in cijfers en feiten 1945 - 1949

This is a cover of a booklet titled "The German Exploitation of the Netherlands in Figures and Facts" by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It’s an image dominated by flat shapes in a restricted palette of black, red, yellow and green. What grabs me is the black rake, which cuts across the image, contrasting with a green landmass covered in numbers. It’s a powerful metaphor, isn’t it? This rake, a tool for gathering, becomes an instrument of extraction and oppression. The image teeters between abstraction and representation. The map isn’t quite a map, but more like an idea of one, filled with the cold, hard data that signifies economic exploitation. The yellow streak coming from the rake is not quite sun but the potential wealth removed from the land. This stark, graphic style speaks to the political climate of the time, not unlike some of the WPA posters from the USA, but with a more European sensibility. You can feel the urgent need to communicate a clear, unambiguous message, to make visible the invisible forces at play.