Content note: Brush drawing of an emaciated, naked child-like figure on a famine-relief banner, 1968. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Biafra famine-relief banner above a post office counter, Utrecht
Press photograph of a hand-lettered paper banner hung above a post-office counter where customers queue and pay. Black capitals read 'Geef iets meer dan u dacht.... Zijn leven is in uw macht' (Give something more than you thought.... His life is in your power); at lower left a brush drawing shows a naked, skeletal figure crawling on all fours. The tell is the staged imminent death of one person, with the passer-by's payment at the counter named as the only thing between him and it.
- Date
- August 10, 1968
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Unnamed organisers of a Dutch collection for starving children in Biafra (banner at the Utrecht main post office counter); photograph by L.H. Hofland
- Country
- Netherlands
- Medium
- Photograph
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- De Jong Government
- Leader
- Piet de Jong
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Themes
- Health, War and the military
- Event
- Nigerian Civil War
- Techniques
- Fear appeal
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Het Utrechts Archief (via Internet Archive item het-utrechts-archief-126709), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY 4.0 per the Internet Archive item's licenseurl for Het Utrechts Archief
Het Utrechts Archief, cat. no. 126709; photographer L.H. Hofland; CC BY 4.0. Image downscaled to 1280 px and kept in greyscale as scanned. Rights basis is the item metadata; not independently confirmed on the archive's own catalogue page.
Text on the object
GEEF IETS MEER DAN U DACHT.... ZIJN LEVEN IS IN UW MACHT
Give something more than you thought.... His life is in your power
Hand-lettered black capitals on a white paper banner. Machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader. The counter number plates '9' and '8' are visible but are not part of the banner text.
