"Hitler Dead" Reaction Image

About

"Hitler Dead" Reaction Image refers to a historic photograph of four American soldiers reading a May 2nd, 1945, issue of a military newspaper with the bolded headline "HITLER DEAD" on the front page. On social media, the photograph has been used as a reaction image and meme, utilized to react to news of sports transfers and retirements, video game patches and deaths, among other things.

Origin

The photograph depicting four U.S. World War II soldiers reading an issue of The Stairs and Stripes newspaper with a bold headline "HITLER DEAD" on the front page was taken on May 2nd, 1945, by an unknown photographer.^[1] The historic photograph is a part of the Everett Collection (full version shown below, left; cropped version used in memes shown below, right).

While the exact first use of the photograph as a reaction image is unknown, the earliest found notable instance of its use is a January 17th, 2023, post by X^[2] / Twitter user @ToddThibault in which they used it to react to news of football team Los Angeles Chargers parting ways with two members of its coaching staff. The post (shown below) received over 110 reposts and 2,800 likes in two years.

Spread

In 2023, the image saw extensive use on X / Twitter, where it has been used to react to news of retirements and sports transfers, among other things. For example, on April 13th, 2023, X^[3] user @thejnollV2 used the image to react to recent news regarding the football team Washington Commanders, with the post (shown below, left) gaining over 70 reposts and 420 likes in one year.

On December 20th, X^[4] user @NeuuTV used the image to react to the news of Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick stepping down, with the post (shown below, right) gaining over 50 reposts and 700 likes in seven months.

The image has also been used to react to news of the deaths of controversial individuals. For example, on February 14th, 2024, X^[5] user @DIOButFemale used the image to react to the news of YouTuber Twomad passing, with their post garnering over 80 reposts and 950 likes in five months (shown below).

Related Memes

RIPBOZO

RIP Bozo, often written as RIPBOZO, is a phrase used online to celebrate a person's death, deeming them a "bozo," commonly defined as someone who is insignificant and stupid or a "clown." The phrase first appeared on Instagram in 2015 as the hashtag #RipBozo, becoming associated with a reaction video of NBA commentator James Worthy smoking a cigar alongside text reading "#PACKWATCH" and "REST IN PISS YOU WON'T BE MISSED" in late 2020.

Various Examples

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External References