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Last updated 13/10/2026

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1807

See entry for 1939 below which mentions a version featuring Napoleon of this date. Unfortunately, at present, such a print has not been located.

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1870 / 71

See entry for 1917 which mentions a version of this date featuring 'Guillaume and Bismarck'.

The catalogue of the BNF records a print 'Ou est Bismarck?' here, described as 'The unfolded sheet depicts four pigs, which once the sheet is folded turn into a portrait of Chancellor Bismarck', but the print itself is not available to view online.

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1878

This example of a fold-in creating a fifth image is not printed on paper but on a 650 x 550 mm cotton handkerchief. It shows images of Prince Gortschakoff, a Russian hero of the Crimean war, Gyula Andrassy, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, Saffet Pasha, the Turkish Foreign Minister and Otto Von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, and, when correctly folded, reveals a picture of Benjamin Disraeli, then the British Prime Minister. It is clearly dated 1878. (Information from https://historicmedals.com/viewItem.php?no=1030)

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1914

This version shows caricatures of the opponents of the Central Powers in October 1914 and asks the question "Riddle of the World War! Who will be the winner?". Once the sheet is folded, it shows a portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

From: Bielefeld City Archives, inventory 200.1/family papers, no. 123.1; Paderborn City Archive, p. 1/3/2, p. 131.

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1917

The February 1917 issue of 'Le Musee et L'Encyclopedie de la Guerre', available online here, contains a description of fifth pig prints dating to 1870/71 and featuring Bismarck and Guillaume II. (Information from Michel Grand.) Roughly translated it says:

'The papers that are folded to form a figure.

These kinds of images are not new, as we know, since already under the first Restoration, Louis XVIII folded up gave a Napoleon, but it is only a question here of images of war and not a retrospective study.

The most widespread of these popular sheets, picking up the idea already popularised in 1870 and 1871, when Guillaume and Bismarck were transformed in this way, is the image of four pigs, which today invariably produces the figure of William II.

Of this widespread image, especially during the first months of the war, we know three different versions ... but the difference is only in the caption and the format.

Are there any other versions?'

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c1914 / 18

In this essentially similar Dutch propaganda fold-in, dating from around the time of the first world war, a picture of four pigs folds in to reveal a fifth, who, in this case, is Kaiser William 2, Emperor of Germany, who can be identified from the shape of his mustache.. (Information from Juan Gimeno)

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1930s

In his article 'The Vilification of Enemy Leadership in WWII' (available at http://www.psywarrior.com/AxisLeadersMonsters.html) Herbert A. Friedman states 'For many years prior to WWII various venders made and sold puzzles to children. These puzzles had a number of different pictures on the front, and when folded in a special complex way depicted a hidden picture of an old man, or sometimes a political leader, sports figure or movie star.'

I have not been able to locate any of these designs, but Michel Grand has found advertisements by the Magnotrix Novelty Corp.from the year 1933 which mention a Fifth Pig puzzle. The adverts do not, however, state which particular Fifth Pig the designs could be folded to reveal. It is possible that, when folded, this puzzle revealed the face of Adolf Hitler, but at present I have no evidence that this was the case.

From 'The Billboard' Vol 45 Issue 34 of 26th August 1933

This advert says 'when folded , the face of a Famous Man is revealed', but does not even hint who the famous man might be.

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A similarly folded sheet of political propaganda asking 'Wer retet Deutschland?' (Who will save Germany?) was published in Germany, probably sometime in the 1930s).Four men equal to four different political options appear in Germany at the beginning of the 1930s. The unfolded page bears four pictures representing four ploitical parties, the Center, State Party, S.P.D. (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) and K.P.D (Kommunistische Partye Deutschlands).When folded up the image of Adolf Hitler, the leader of the N.S.D.A.P. (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) appears. Information from Juan Gimeno.

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1939

Friedman (see above) also states that the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) printed and distributed a number, at least four, versions of the Adolph Hitler Fifth Pig design. 'It is believed that besides being used in Allied countries as a morale booster, they were also shipped to partisans in Nazi-occupied nations to attack and belittle the German Fuhrer.'

The illustrations below are included in Friedman's article. Unfortunately he does not give an origin or date for them.

Michel Grand has discovered that the top image is the front of an envelope inside which a version of the puzzle was sold in the United States (by the magic company Green Frog as stated in the centre of the image). The version of the puzzle sold in this envelope is as shown below:

The version shown in trhe other two images from Friedman's article is a very similar one sold by Magno N. Y. aka Magnotrix Novelty Corp. of New York. See below:

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In a similar vein, the Oct 16th 1939 issue of Life magazine published a letter from a Londoner which included 'The Biggest Swine of All', which the writer says are 'selling like hot cakes here in London at a penny each'. Information from Michel Grand. At Find the 5th Pig - Science History Institute Digital Collections the design of this version is attributed to the British Information Services. I have not been able to verify this information.

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The 6th November issue of Life Magazine printed a letter responding to this article which read:

It is, of course, by no means impossible that the writer is correct and that there was a version of this design featuring Napoleon printed in 1807. Unfortunately, at present, such a print has not been located.

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Friedmann also illustrates a second Fifth Pig propaganda sheet, bearing words in Greek script, in which the pigs fold up into a picture of Mussolini.

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Several articles from newspapers published in the United States (located by Michel Grand) refer to a Fifth Pig puzzle in circulation in Poland made by laying together four cards rather than by folding a single sheet of paper. Thus for instance:

From the 'Chicago Daily Tribune'. of 10th June 1939

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From the 'Atlanta Constitution' of 10th June 1939

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From the 'Cumberland News' of 13th June 1939

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I have not been able to locate this four card version and it is difficult to see how it would work. It is probable that this reference is an error in the original press release on which these various articles have drawn.

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There is also reference to a Polish version of the Fifth Pig in Wladyslaw Szpilman’s memoir, which was published in Polish as 'Smierc miasta' (The Death of a City) by Wiedza in Warsaw in 1946. However the relevant passage appears in the second chapter, 'War' and is dated to the early days of September 1939

The following passage appears in the English translation by Andrea Bell, which was published by Victor Gollancz Ltd in 1999 as 'The Pianist'. (Information from Daphne Parkin)

The description of how the design works is incorrect but the reference to the nature of the design is clear enough.

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Michel Grand has kindly provided me with a Polish version of the Fifth Pig puzzle, although whether this is the version referred to above I do not know.

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The Peterborough Examiner of 23rd September 1939 contained a story about a streeet vendor brought before a Recorder in Montrealon a charge of selling a puzzle on the street without a licence, but who was let off when the nature of the puzzle was discovered. Information from Michel Grand.

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1940

'Jackals and Pigs: British Government Propaganda in WW2 Iraq' by Louis Allday, available at (https://louisallday.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/jackals-and-pigs-british-government-propaganda-in-ww2-iraq/) focuses on the use of similar fold-ins in Iraq in 1940/1. He states that 'A Foreign Office file from 1941 (FO 371/27101) held at the UK National Archives in Kew reveals a fascinating and surprising example of the type of propaganda material that the British Embassy disseminated during this period. The file contains two original copies of hand-outs that were distributed by the Embassy that initially appear to simply be two cartoons, one depicting four jackals and the other four pigs. However, once folded in a certain way, the animals come together to form caricature-like images of the faces of the Italian and German fascist leaders, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler'

The fold-in of Hitler is the familiar Fifth Pig design, that of Mussolini a variant where the final face is composed of parts of jackals rather than pigs.

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1991

According to the website of the Imperial War Museum (http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030001574) a redrawn Fifth Pig fold-in was in circulation in February 1991 during the first Gulf War. In this case the subject was Saddam Hussein. I obtained one of these at the time, though I cannot now recall how I came by it. The writing is in Dutch and the Netherlands appears to have been the source of this version.

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