---
title: 'Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/
description: A hand-painted sheet shows a large brown wooden cross broken across its upright, beside red hand-lettered Lithuanian text addressed to 'Brothers…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862.jpg)

# Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster

A hand-painted sheet shows a large brown wooden cross broken across its upright, beside red hand-lettered Lithuanian text addressed to 'Brothers Samogitians'. It says the Muscovites cut up the cross in Warsaw on 8 April 1861, killed countless people and a priest and plundered churches, and tells readers to call on God to save their faith. A broken sacred symbol is joined to an atrocity report to stage a threat to the faith.

## Text on the object

Original (Lithuanian (Samogitian dialect)) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Brolej Žemajcziaj !
O taj Križius su-
kapotas Mas-
kolajs Warsza-
woj 1861 me-
tuse 8
Bałandi.
Tada užmusza beskajtłus
žmoniu, wiena kuniga ir nuple-
sze bažniczes. Delto szaukie-
ties pri Diewa kad yszgialbetu
nu maskolu nepretelu wierus mus[illegible]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Brothers Samogitians!
Behold the Cross chopped up by the Muscovites in Warsaw in the year 1861, 8 April.
Then they killed countless people, one priest, and plundered churches. Therefore call upon God that He may save, from the Muscovite enemies, our faith [illegible]
```

Old Polish-based orthography. Hand lettering in worn red ink; line breaks and hyphens are the sheet's own. The last line runs under the cross and is cut off at 'mus'. 'beskajtłus' is read as 'beskaitlius' (countless); 'kolajs' and 'kuniga' are uncertain readings. Not fluent-reader verified.

[← Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) [Toma! Y qué hacen aquí esos tres? (Look! And What Are These Three Doing Here?), El Centinela cartoon →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/three-apes-el-centinela-1867/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [豬叫取胎圖 (Picture of the Pig Sect Extracting a Foetus), from Reverently Obeying the Sacred Edict: A Complete Picture Gallery to Repel Heterodoxy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pig-cry-taking-foetus-hunan-1891/) (Qing China · 1891 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Colour woodblock caricature depicting foreign Christians as members of a 'pig' sect and showing them cutting a foetus from a woman; violence against a woman and derision of Christianity.
- [The Radical Programme, No. 4: Dismemberment of the Empire (Gladstone & Co. auction India), St Stephen's Review Presentation Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/radical-programme-selling-india-st-stephens-review-1891/) (United Kingdom · Oct 31, 1891 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating)
- [En posesión de su presa (In Possession of Its Prey)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/en-posesion-de-su-presa-el-diablo-1894/) (Venezuela · Jun 2, 1894 · Fear appeal)
- [劉永福懸賞抓拿日本奸細告示 (Liu Yongfu's notice offering rewards for capturing Japanese spies), Taiwan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/liu-yongfu-reward-notice-japanese-spies-1895/) (Qing China · 1895 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Sífilis: Curación absoluta y radical en el Sanatorio para sifilíticos (Syphilis: Absolute and Radical Cure at the Sanatorium for Syphilitics)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sifilis-sanatorio-abreu-1900/) (Spain · 1900 · Fear appeal)