The stamp was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by Gregg Philipson.
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 supervise the publication of the Haggadah. In 1939, following Germany's invasion of Poland, he focused on producing anti-Nazi editorial cartoons published in many Western newspapers and magazines. During the German occupation of Poland, his 70 year old mother, Eugenia, and her Polish companion were forced to live in the Łódź ghetto. In 1943, they were transported to Majdanek concentration camp and killed. In late 1940, Szyk immigrated to the United States with his family. He became a leading anti-Fascist political caricaturist as well as an advocate for Jewish rescue. In addition to his widely published satirical art, Szyk devoted a great deal of time and energy to the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, and pushed for the establishment of an independent Jewish state in Palestine. Szyk received his US citizenship in 1948. In 1951, he was investigated by the United States House Un-American Activities Committee as a suspected Communist. His son, speaking on his behalf, declared his non-affiliation with any Communist organization. Later that year, on September 13, Szyk suffered a heart attack and died at age 57.
Sheet of four rectangular poster stamps, separated by perforated edges, on off-white paper with polychrome printed images and an adhesive backing. The top and left edges are perforated, while the bottom and right edges are not. All four stamps bear different images featuring banners with text and the same man in medieval clothing, who has a short, bobbed haircut. In the upper left image, the man is standing behind a decorated pulpit, speaking and gesticulating emphatically. Leaning against the pulpit is a shield with a flat top and pointed base, decorated by a blue band with white stars and red and white vertical stripes below. In the upper right image, the man is looking upwards with his hands raised in prayer, while kneeling on a decorative pew with a prayer book in front of him. He wears a long, purple surcoat, sword at his hip, and a red cape that trails behind him. In the lower left corner, the man wears a red robe and sits at a table with a feast. The table has a green tablecloth decorated with a red, white, and blue shield. On the floor next to the table is a brown, ceramic jug and a short table topped with food. In the lower right corner, the man is dressed in armor and sits upon a white warhorse outfitted with an elaborate, tasseled caparison. The man is wearing a flowing, green cape and carrying a large red, white, and blue shield. In the lower right corner of each image is the artist’s signature and date. The distributing organization and their address is printed in black across the bottom.
No restrictions on access
No restrictions on use
overall: Height: 4.500 inches (11.43 cm) | Width: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm)
Poster stamps distributed in 1944 and 1945 by the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe. The designs were copied from works created by Jewish artist, Arthur Szyk, who was inspired by President Roosevelt’s January 1941 State of the Union address (also known as the Four Freedoms Speech), and used to create public interest in the Committee’s humanitarian efforts. 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.
Set of US poster stamps depicting the Four Freedoms