us-005578-irn523296
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn523296/alternateIDs/1
title: Ben Shahn poster of a hooded chained man issued to protest Nazi destruction of Lidice
record resource extent: overall: Height: 38.000 inches (96.52 cm) | Width: 28.250 inches (71.755 cm)
has record set type: Item
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1942-01-01
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Offset color lithograph poster adhered to stiff paper backing with a painting of a man in a blue-black suit and white shirt with a brown sacklike hood over his head. His arms hang straight at his side and his large clenched fists are in blue metal wrist cuffs with chains. He is depicted from the knee up and stands facing forward at the intersection of 2 high red brick walls. The strip of sky at the top is dark blue with black shading. Across his torso is the title in bold red font above 6 yellow bars with English text designed to look like the pasted strips from a telegram. The artist's name, Ben Shahn, is printed in black ink in the right corner of the image.
biographical history: Ben Shahn was born in Kovno,(Kaunus) Lithuania, on September 12, 1898. Shahn immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, in 1906. He first worked as a lithographer's apprentice until 1930 and was formally educated at NYU and the National Academy of Design in New York City. He was associated with the Social Realist movement and his work often joined striking visual images with compassionate and powerful political commentary. During World War II (1939-1945) he designed posters the Office of War Information. Shahn, age 71, died on March 14, 1969. The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was created on June 13, 1942, to centralize and control the content and production of government information and propaganda about the war. It coordinated the release of war news for domestic use, and using posters along with radio broadcasts, worked to promote patriotism, warn about foreign spies, and recruit women into war work. The office also established an overseas branch, which launched a large-scale information and propaganda campaign abroad. The government appealed to the public through popular culture and more than a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of advertising was donated during the first three years of the National Defense Savings Program. Victory in Europe was declared on May 8, 1945, and in Japan on September 2, 1945. The OWI ceased operation in September.
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn523296/acquisitions/1
archival history: The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Jeremy and Nancy Halbreich.
type: RecordSet
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1942-12-31
date: 1942 June 11
scope and content: Poster created by Ben Shahn for the US Office of War Information as a response to the Nazi-led annihilation and destruction of communities throughout the Czech Republic, including Lidice. It also protests the retaliatory measures taken for the attempted assassination by Czech resistance members of Reinhard Heydrich, director of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, under the Nazi occupation.
has or had some members with language: eng
identifier: irn523296
conditions of access: No restrictions on access