The first thing that seizes the eye in Otto Plattner’s CH-NB Poster Collection SNL POL 380 is the sheer physical force of its central figure: a man, sleeves rolled and muscles taut, grapples with a monstrous red serpent. His determined glare and the tension in his arms are not just displays of strength, but signals of urgent resistance. The serpent’s coils threaten to engulf him, yet he stands his ground, wielding a massive key-shaped shield emblazoned with a black spiral—an unmistakable reference to the heraldic emblem of Basel.

The red and white sash slung across his chest echoes the colors of the Swiss flag, rooting the struggle in a distinctly national context. This poster, created circa 1934, belongs to a turbulent era when political posters were weapons as potent as any in the battle for public opinion. The bold slogan—“Erkennt die Gefahr! Wählt bürgerlich! Wählt liberal! Liste 3”—calls upon viewers to “Recognize the danger! Vote bourgeois! Vote liberal! List 3.” Such imagery and language were common in interwar Europe, where the threat of radical ideologies loomed large and election campaigns often took on the tone of existential struggle. Little is recorded about the specific journey of this work, but its presence in the Swiss National Library’s collection today speaks to the enduring power of visual persuasion.

The coiling serpent and the resolute defender invite the viewer to imagine themselves in the fray, and to consider what dangers—real or imagined—demand vigilance in their own time.