Hamburg-Sud poster – Monte Rosa – Ottomar Anton – 1931

Hamburg-Sud poster – Ottomar Anton – 1931.

The German artist Ottomar Anton is probably best known for his wartime propoganda and recruitment posters. However, Anton’s was quite prolific in creating posters for some of the world’ largest companies. His poster artwork for companies  such as  Cunard, Hamburg-America Line, Norddeutscher Lloyd-Bremen, American-Line and Hamburg-Sud are amongst the best and most sought after of all vintage travel posters.

In this poster Anton features the Monte Rosa in dock at night. The dark starry sky and the black silhouettes of the trees give the poster’s image a  dramatic look and despite the hull of the ship being black the ship jumps off the paper.

The SS Monte Rosa featured in this poster had an interesting history. She was the last of five similar ships built by for the Hamburg-Sud shipping line between 1924 and 1931. The Monte Sarmiento launched in 1924, Monte Olivia in 1925 and Monte Cervantes in 1928. The last two ships, Monte Pascoal and the Monte Rosawere built in 1931.

The ships were designed and intended to be used for what Hamburg-Sud would be a lucrative business carrying German immigrants to South America. However, the immigrant trade never reached expected levels. The ships built by Hamburg based shipbuilders Blohm & Voss were instead repurposed as cruise ships operating in Europe, the Meditteranean and South America. By offering modestly priced cruises Hamburg-Sud were able to offer trips that were previously only available to the very wealthy. The change of use was a successful business move.

With the breakout of World War II, the Monte Rosa was deployed as a German navy barracks ship at Stettin, then as a troopship for the invasion of Norway in April 1940. German navy troopship.Later she was used as an accommodation and recreational ship assigned to the Tirpitz battleship. In November 1942  the darkest stage of the ship’s history took place, when the became one of several ships used for the deportation of  Jewish people. The ship carried 46 people from Norway to Denmark where they were transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Of the 46 people that made the journey all but two died in the camp.

In 1944, Monte Rosa served in the Baltic Sea, rescuing Germans trapped in Latvia, East Prussia and Danzig by the advance of the Red Army. In May 1945, she was captured by advancing British forces at Kiel and taken as a prize of war. In 1946 she  was assigned to the British Ministry of Transport and converted into a troopship. By this time, the Monte Rosa was the only survivor of the five Monte-class ships.

At the end of the war  the ship was renamed Empire Windrush. In  service, she continued to be used mainly as a troopship until March 1954.

In 1948, Empire Windrush, en route from Australia to England, docked in Kingston, Jamaica, to pick servicemen who were on leave. The British Nationality Act 1948 had just been passed. This gave UK Citizenship status to all British subjects connected with the United Kingdom or a British colony. The scheme was named the Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies, abbreviated to CUKCs.

Prior to 1962, the UK had no immigration control for the CUKCs  People were offered full rights of entry and settlement to anybody that wanted to was able to settle indefinitely in the UK without restrictions. Initially, not many people took it up.

However, Britain  was trying to rebuild it’s economy after the Second World War. There was a serious shortage of labour and industries such as the Post Office, the National Health Service and British Rail were already recruiting heaving from the Caribbean.

to help rebuild the British economy after the Second World War. The shortage of labour encouraged industries like British Rail and the National Health Service to heavily recruit from the Caribbean.

An advertisement was placed in a Jamaican newspaper offered transport to England for £28 (not an insignificant amount of money then being at least five weeks average wage) to anybody who wanted to come and work in the UK.

492 immigrants famously began a wave of migration from the Caribbean to the UK when the ship docked at the Port of Tilbury, near London, including many servicemen. The name Windrush has, as a result, come to be used as shorthand for that migration, and by extension for the beginning of modern British multicultural society.

In 1954, Windrush set off from Yokohama, Japan, on what ws to be her final voyage. She called at Kure and was to sail to the United Kingdom. The voyage was plagued with engine breakdowns , defects and an engine room explosion that killed four crew members.

The burned-out shell of Empire Windrush was supposed to betowed to Gibraltar, but on the journey the Empire Windrush sank in March 1954. The wreck lies at a depth of around 2,600 metres (8,500 ft).

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12.