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.
- Date
- 1862
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Anonymous Catholic opposition in Samogitia under Russian rule (issuer not named; hand-made sheets posted secretly on church doors)
- Country
- Russian Empire
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Movement
- Regime
- Russian Empire
- Leader
- Alexander II
- Audience
- Diaspora or minority
- Themes
- Religion, Empire and colonialism
- Techniques
- Fear appealTransfer
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (object in the Lithuanian National Museum, via Vilnius city museum note), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (anonymous hand-made sheet of 1862, over 160 years old; Commons: PD-old-70-expired, Public Domain Mark)
Unknown author; Lithuanian National Museum, via Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
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]
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.
