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US poster stamp encouraging people to donate to a humanitarian organization

Object | Accession Number: 2017.227.25

First-issue poster stamp, distributed in 1944 by the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe. The design is copied from a piece entitled “Modern Moses,” created in 1943 by Jewish artist, Arthur Szyk, to develop public interest in the Committee’s humanitarian efforts. The image depicts Moses, a role model for the Zionist movement. He is flanked by a Jewish soldier prepared to fight, and an industrial worker, ready to contribute to the war economy. All three figures serve as inspiration for American Jews to make their own contributions to the war effort. Szyk was himself an immigrant born in Łódź, Poland, and lost his mother in the Holocaust. The mission of the Committee was a personal cause for Szyk, and he became one of the founding members. Although they were not valid for postage, poster stamps could be affixed to letters and envelopes as fund-raising, propaganda, and educational tools. The Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe was founded in 1943 by Peter H. Bergson (pseudonym for Hillel Kook) and other young Jewish activists. The Committee formed in reaction to the first verified information of the Holocaust that reached the United States. On July 20, 1943, the group held the Emergency Conference in New York City, bringing together 1,500 delegates. The Committee was replaced by the American League for a Free Palestine in 1945.

Date
issue:  1944 February-1945 June 27
designed:  1943
Geography
issue: New York (N.Y.)
distribution: United States.
Language
English
Classification
Posters
Object Type
Poster stamps (lcsh)
Genre/Form
Stamps.
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum collection, gift of Gregg and Michelle Philipson
 
Record last modified: 2023-09-15 10:18:41
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn562724