Not that this alternative was any less bleak. “She had to create alternatives to the world she was living in,” says Jansson biographer Boel Westin. It was the horrors of that time that also served as inspiration for the first Moomin books. If the war had ended differently the consequences for her would have been fatal. Her courage in challenging public opinion cannot be underestimated. As Finland had entered into an alliance with Germany in 1940, her work caused consternation among the authorities and the magazine came perilously close to being charged with insulting the head of a friendly state. Her cartoons reveal a pathetic and ridiculous clown behind the monster who threatened Europe. She had been mocking Hitler in the pages of Garm since as early 1935 but the war heightened her satirical bite. The war years were traumatic for Jansson but also provided a great stimulus to create.
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