This welcome message to visitors of the 1932 Oktoberfest in Munich—printed on the inside page of the official guide to the world-famous festival—appeared at the height of the economic depression and political polarization in Germany. Written in rhyming couplets, the message presented the occurrence of the festival that year as a victory over naysayers. People needed diversions now more than ever, the Oktoberfest’s organizers argued, especially in cities such as Munich, where the suffering was particularly great. Moreover, they clearly saw this as a matter of civic pride, pointing out that eight smaller towns and cities in Bavaria had gone ahead with their festivals. The Oktoberfest was still struggling to come back from its series of cancellations during the First World War and again during the period of hyperinflation, and organizers undoubtedly wished to avoid having to call it off yet again.

The message also made an explicit appeal to anyone who still had money to spend some of it at Oktoberfest. It framed such spending as a part of the social contract, even going so far as to label anyone who did not do so “a scoundrel” [ein Schuft]. Such appeals had become commonplace in the early 1930s, as businesses struggled to stay afloat in a time of plummeting consumer spending. German unemployment peaked in 1932, with over 6 million people looking for jobs, or around 30% of the workforce, and the city of Munich’s unemployment rate surpassed the national average.

The welcome message ended with a reference to the frustrating results of that year’s many elections, which had only seemed to compound public uncertainty about Germany’s future direction. Although Germans did not actually vote in four Reichstag elections in 1932—the message’s writer likely took poetic license here to maintain the meter—they did vote in two rounds of national presidential elections in the spring, as well as for a new Reichstag in late July and then again in early November. On top of that, Bavarians went to the polls to elect their state parliament just two weeks after the last round of the presidential elections in April. Campaigns and elections, in other words, definitely saturated the year. Until further notice, though, the message playfully concluded, just vote for the Oktoberfest.