1944

January-May, travels between Algiers, Bari, and Naples with Morale Operations (OSS), as the Allied liberation of Italy moves northward.

Steinberg’s drawing of the OSS Morale Operations office, Algiers, from “Collection of Cartoons Produced by MO Artist Lt. (jg) Saul Steinberg.” NARA, Washington, DC, RG226, E99, Box 40, folder 6.

Steinberg’s drawing of the OSS Morale Operations office, Naples, from “Collection of Cartoons Produced by MO Artist Lt. (jg) Saul Steinberg.” NARA, Washington, DC, RG226, E99, Box 40, folder 6.

Napoli, March 1944, 1988. Pencil and crayon on paper, 14 x 11 in. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. — *Napoli, March 1944*, 1988. Pencil and crayon on paper, 14 x 11 in. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

June, Rome liberated. Morale Operations sets up an office there by early July, officially the 2677^th Regiment OSS.

Steinberg’s drawing of the OSS Morale Operations office, Rome, from “Collection of Cartoons Produced by MO Artist Lt. (jg) Saul Steinberg.” NARA, Washington, DC, RG226, E99, Box 40, folder 6.

ST’s duties involve the preparation of pictorial propaganda, some of it dropped over Germany to imply a fictitious German resistance movement. According to an official OSS explanation: “When forging an enemy publication, a definite style is used, such as that of a certain cartoonist or a primitive and hasty style when the drawings are supposedly originated by underground movements using improvised means.” ST’s drawings were usually copied as linocuts by his colleague Barbara Podoski and then put into propaganda service.

Steinberg with his colleague Barbara Podoski in the OSS Morale Operations office, Rome, 1944. The Saul Steinberg Foundation.

Propaganda drawing with Hitler as a two-faced wolf, 1944. From a photostat in the Hermann Broch de Rothermann Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Der Schuldige (The Guilty One), in the July 26, 1944 issue of <em>Das Neue Deutschland</em>, a fake Resistance newspaper produced by the OSS Morale Operations. — *Der Schuldige (The Guilty One)*, in the July 26, 1944 issue of *Das Neue Deutschland*, a fake Resistance newspaper produced by the OSS Morale Operations.

Wie lange noch (How much longer?), no. 7. Along the right side, “Lesen und weitergeben” (“Read and pass on”). One of a series of postcards produced by the OSS and dropped over Germany. — *Wie lange noch (How much longer?)*, no. 7. Along the right side, “Lesen und weitergeben” (“Read and pass on”). One of a series of postcards produced by the OSS and dropped over Germany.

While drawing in the style of an imagined German resistance artist, he is also sending drawings of military life to The New Yorker, where they are published as portfolios over the next year: “North Africa,” April 15 and 29, 1944; “Italy,” June 10, July 8 and 29, 1944; “India,” February 24 and April 28, 1945.

Promoted to lieutenant (jg).

From “North Africa,” portfolio in The New Yorker, April 29, 1944. — From “North Africa,” portfolio in *The New Yorker*, April 29, 1944.

From “Italy,” portfolio in The New Yorker, June 10, 1944. — From “Italy,” portfolio in *The New Yorker*, June 10, 1944.

From “India,” portfolio in The New Yorker, April 28, 1945. — From “India,” portfolio in *The New Yorker*, April 28, 1945.

September, ordered back to the OSS office in Washington. Before returning stateside, makes a short trip to Bucharest to visit his family (September 18-25)—the last time he sets foot in Romania.

Steinberg with his parents, sister, and brother-in-law, Bucharest, 1944. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

October 4, arrives at the Naval air base in Patuxent, Maryland. Gets brief leave of absence. October 11, marries Hedda Sterne.

Travels between the OSS office in Washington and Naval Command in New York. In Washington, sometime before spring 1945, compiles a portfolio of Morale Operations work for OSS records and congressional oversight committees: “Collection of Cartoons Produced by MO Artist Lt. (jg) Saul Steinberg. Target – Germany…1941-1945.”.

Cover of “Collection of Cartoons Produced by MO Artist Lt. (jg) Saul Steinberg.” NARA, Washington, DC, RG226, E99, Box 40, folder 6.

In New York, lives with Hedda at 410 East 50th St.

Steinberg and Sterne in their East 50th Street apartment, 1944-45. The Hedda Sterne Foundation.

November 16, signs new contract with the Civita agency, now with Victor Civita, his brother Cesar having left for Argentina; ST now receives 70% of earnings from the sale of drawings to magazines and newspapers. The contract excludes drawings for The New Yorker, with whom ST signs a separate contract on December 23.