Vladimir Vasil'evich Lebedev
(Born St. Petersburg, 1891; died Leningrad, 1967)
Samuil Iakovlevich Marshak
(Born Voronezh, 1887; died Moscow, 1964)

The Force of Habit, TASS No. 1132, January 8, 1945

Stencil
1970 x 855 mm
Fritz has returned
From overseas
To his native family.
He’s robbed his father and his sisters,
He’s robbed his mother too.

The German stormtrooper is unable
To be anything but a robber.
He says, “Overseas
I just got used to it”.
“My Fritz!” - says his father
“My Fritz!” - sighs his mom.
“What a talented boy you are!
You can even steal!”

The father says, “What a pillaging,
It's robbery in broad daylight!
You’ve taken after the Führer,
After your mother and after me!”
Gift of the USSR Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, 2010.123