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German 1st Issue |
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The German first issue 'Lusitania Medallion' A description of Goetz's original medallion underlines the capacity of such pieces to convey a powerful political message. A medallion of this type, packed with detail and arranged with forensic skill, in the words of Hill 'corresponds to the satirical print, crowding in the space available all the details that it is thought will amuse the populace.' Goetz's standpoint is clear; he assumes the correctness of Germany and castigates the duplicitous indignation of the Allies. |
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Obverse of Goetz's first issue 'Lusitania' medallion (HU 74867) |
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The circular coated iron piece, 56.5 mm in diameter, whose thickness varies between 2 and 3 mm depending on the model used in making the cast, depicts on its obverse the stricken liner sinking, her stern submerged to left while her bow, laden with armaments, rises clear of the water - an image contradicting eye-witness accounts which stated that the ship went down bow first. The bow is depicted as being ram-shaped, a reference to the configuration of war- ships of the period and possibly a reminder that the British Admiralty had ordered merchant vessels to attempt to ram German submarines. Smoke billows from the vessel's four funnels. The obverse text 'KEINE BANN WARE!', around the upper edge, is translated as 'No contraband goods'. The text in five lines in the obverse exergue 'DER GROSS-DAMPFER=LUSITANIA=DURCH EIN DEUTSCHES TAUCHBOOT VERSENKT 5.MAI 1915' is translated as 'The liner Lusitania sunk by a German submarine 5 May 1915'. | |||
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The reverse design shows Death,
in the form of a skeleton, behind the ticket office counter of the Cunard
Line in New York, issuing tickets to a crush of passengers. Above the
window are the words 'CUNA LINIE'. Arranged vertically down the right
side of the window is the word 'CUNARD' and below the counter 'FAHRKARTEN
AUSGABE' ('ticket-office'). At the extreme left of the crowd a man reads
a newspaper bearing the headline 'U BOOT GEFAHR' (translated as 'U-boat
danger') and standing next to him is a top-hatted and bearded figure,
arepresentation of the German Ambassador to the USA, Count Johann-Heinrich
von Bernstorff, raising a warning finger. The significance of this reference
is that on 1 May 1915, Lusitania's sailing day from New York, a German-sponsored
announcement appeared next to the Cunard advertisement in all New York
papers reminding passengers that Germany was at war with Britain and her
allies and that the war zone included the waters around the British Isles,
also that vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies,
were liable to destruction in British waters. The reverse text 'GESCHÄFT
ÜBER ALLES', upper edge, is translated as 'Business above all'. The initials
of the designer, 'KG', are to be found in the reverse exergue.
British Intelligence seized upon the medallion to give a new lease of life to the propaganda impact of the original sinking, and the date mistake made easier their efforts to exploit it for their own purposes. Goetz's original intentions were obscured by claims that the piece was nothing more than a perverse celebration of a singular atrocity. |
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