us-005578-irn562656-irn562728
has or had holder: us-005578
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn562656-irn562728/acquisitions/1
biographical history: The Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe was founded in 1943, by Peter Bergson 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. Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was born to Jewish parents, Solomon and Eugenia Szyk in Łódź, Poland, which at the time was part of the Russian Empire. He had his first public art exhibition at age 15, and then went to Paris, France, for formal art training at the Academie Julian. He visited Palestine in 1914 with a group of Polish-Jewish artists and studied Muslim art. Upon his return, he was conscripted into the Russian Army and served in World War I. He married Julia Liekerman in 1916, and they had a son, George, in 1917. In 1918, Poland regained independence, but continued to fight a series of regional wars to secure its boundaries. Between 1919 and 1920, during Poland's war against the Soviet Bolsheviks, Syzk served as a cavalry officer and artistic director of the Department of Propaganda for the Polish Army in Łódź. In 1921, he and his family moved to Paris where his daughter, Alexandra was born the following year. Szyk was well known for his illuminations and book illustrations, in a style reminiscent of Persian miniatures. He worked on several significant projects in France, including illustrating the Statute of Kalisz, the Haggadah, and a series of watercolors on the American Revolutionary War. The themes of his most admired works, democracy and Judaism, were already well established, earning him both fame and significant commissions. In 1934, Szyk traveled to the United States for exhibitions of his work and to receive the George Washington Bicentennial Medal, awarded by the US Congress. He resided in England from 1937-1940 to super…
identifier: irn562728
is or was included in: us-005578-irn562656
record resource extent: overall: Height: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Width: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm)
title: US poster stamp encouraging people to donate to a humanitarian organization
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular poster stamp on beige paper with a red printed image. The top edge is unperforated. The image in the center features two Jewish children with large eyes, looking up and to the left. On the right is a young boy with sidelocks, wearing a cap, collared shirt, and vest, with a prayer shawl poking out of the bottom. On the left is an older girl, holding onto the boy’s left shoulder. The girl has short, bobbed hair and bangs, and wears a collared shirt under a button-front dress with a jacket. She is also wearing knee-high socks with shoes. Both children are wearing armbands with the Star of David. In the lower left corner of the image is the artist’s signature and date. At the lower right corner of the image is a small, oval logo. The slogan is printed in red across the top and the distributing organization and their address is printed across the bottom. There is no adhesive on the back.
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1943-12-31
archival history: The stamp was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by Gregg Philipson.
date: 1944 May-1945 June 27
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1943-01-01
type: RecordSet
has record set type: Item
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn562656-irn562728/alternateIDs/1
scope and content: Second-issue poster stamp, distributed in 1944 by the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe. The design, featuring two frightened Jewish children, is an excerpt from a piece entitled “To Be Shot, as Dangerous Enemies of the Third Reich…,” created in1943 by Jewish artist, Arthur Szyk, to develop public interest in the Committee’s humanitarian efforts. The full drawing depicts the children standing before a tribunal from the German Wehrmacht. 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.