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The tragic story of the sinking of the Lusitania, in May 1915, has been well

documented in publications such as :

The Lusitania, Unravelling the Mysteries, by Patrick O'Sullivan (2003)

Exploring the Lusitania by Robert D.Ballard, with Spencer Dunmore (1995)

Lusitania, An Epic Tragedy by Diana Preston (2002)

A myriad of journals, websites and forums deal with the Lusitania tragedy and the controversies

Any expansion on these is beyond the scope of this site.

This page features a small collection of contemporary postcards and ephemera, most published just after the event, or immediately postwar. The First Wold War was the first time that the power of mass propaganda was used to it's fullest extent. The postcard, was the e-mail of of the era, cheap, with instantly visible impact. It was a potent propaganda tool.


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A pre-war card of the Lusitania, published by Tuck's, of London, one of the premier British publishers of postcards.

cLusitania off coast
One of a series of six British postcards, published in the Summer of 1915. "Passing the Irish Coast"
sighting the submarine
"Sighting the submarine"
The explosion
"The explosion"
To the lifeboats
"To the lifeboats"
The last plunge of the Lusitania
"The last plunge"
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"Rescue ships arrive" cover
Cover of French jounal 'L'ILLUSTRATION' Picture entitled "The German Naval War" (by Spanish Artist Joseph Simont)
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Propaganda card produced in England, and translated to languages such as Portuguese above.
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The same card in English: "A memorial to German Savagery - The three large graves a Queenstown where the bodies of 178 of the "Lusitania" Victims rest. Inset is the medal which was struck in Germany to celebrate this dastardly crime .
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Two photos taken by American Serviceman in 1918 of graveyard in Queenstown. Caption reads "Graveyard, Queenstown, where the victims of the torpedoed LUSITANIA were buried" .
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Privately produced card, showing some of the military cortege at the funeral of the Lusitania victims .
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Another privately produced card, showing the partially filled mass graves in the Queenstown graveyard. .
French Lusitania Propaganda card
Propaganda card produced in France, the child victim is crying "Maman! Maman! Pourquoi? ("Mama! Mama! Why?) .
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German propaganda card justifying the sinking of the Lusitania (card mailed June 1915) .
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The remains of U-20 on the Danish Coast. Danish postcard, mailed December 1918.
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Propaganda card produced in Milan, Italy "Lusitania - Sadismo - Dio punisca l'Inghilterra... ed io me ne incarica"
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PropagandaPostcard by the famous British illustrator Donald McGill, Caption reads "Von Turnip - REMEMBER.! WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!!"
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A postcard with a vicious diatribe against naturalised Germans in Britain, with Lusitania vignette on right hand side. No publisher on reverse
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British 1916 copy of the infamous Goetz medal. Deliberately ignoring the satirical contant of the original,( The deliberate carriage of civilians and munitions into an advertised war-zone).
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French Postcard by Emile Dupuis, captioned "In the shadow of Liberty". America weighs the vast profits against the victims of the Lusitania (and finds they balance out!).