--- title: World Famous Figures - Czechoslovakia url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/czechoslovakia-world-famous-figures-1939/ description: A yellow sheet numbered 13 with seven portraits, numbered 1 to 7, beside short biographies of Hus, Comenius, Hollar, Smetana, Dvorak, Masaryk and Capek. section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. World Famous Figures - Czechoslovakia **Content note:** The text prints the former title of Dvorak's string quartet, which contains a racial slur, as published in the 1940s. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [![World Famous Figures - Czechoslovakia, 1939 Czechoslovakia poster: A yellow sheet numbered 13 with seven portraits, numbered](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/czechoslovakia-world-famous-figures-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/czechoslovakia-world-famous-figures-1939.jpg) # World Famous Figures - Czechoslovakia A yellow sheet numbered 13 with seven portraits, numbered 1 to 7, beside short biographies of Hus, Comenius, Hollar, Smetana, Dvorak, Masaryk and Capek. The tell is the borrowed prestige: the sheet gives no argument, and places the nation's best-known scholars, composers and its first president together under a 'world famous' heading to raise regard for Czechoslovakia ('has contributed much to western culture'). ## Propaganda techniques used in this poster [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) ## Text on the object Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` 13 WORLD FAMOUS FIGURES Czechoslovakia has contributed much to western culture through her great men. To mention only a few here are:— 1 JOHN HUS. 1369-1415. Reformer of religion, society and moral life. Took as his guide the English reformer, John Wycliffe. Died at the stake, a martyr to truth and a great patriot. 2 COMENIUS. 1592-1670. Last Bishop of the Moravian brotherhood. Acclaimed in all the schools and colleges of Europe as a profound thinker. He believed in popular education, introduced geography, history and art into the classroom and made the first picture-books for children. 3 VACLAV HOLLAR. 1607-1677. One of the greatest of engravers who brought the Bohemian tradition to Britain from Prague. He produced portraits of English celebrities, made the first fashion plates and his "Views of London" are the best pictorial evidence of the capital before the Great Fire. He died in England and is buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster. 4 BEDRICH SMETANA. 1824-1884. Composer of the "Bartered Bride" and other famous operas. Created a world-wide audience for Czech music which expressed the unconquerable spirit of the people of the Czech lands. 5 ANTONIN DVORAK. 1841-1904. Composer of Czech music, hailed on both sides of the Atlantic as a great master. Composer of the "New World" Symphony, "Nigger Quartet" and the "Slavonic Dances." 6 T. G. MASARYK. 1850-1937. Liberator-President of the Czechoslovak Republic. Fought throughout his long life for the spiritual and political freedom of his own countrymen. Born of humble stock, he lived to be hailed throughout the world as one of the greatest leaders in European history. 7 KAREL CAPEK. 1890-1938. Most famous Czechoslovak author and playwright. His "R.U.R." and "Insect Play" were great hits on the London stage and were translated into many other languages. Life-long promoter of international understanding by his sympathetic writing about foreign countries and his own. ``` [← What They Fight Against - Czechoslovakia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/czechoslovakia-what-they-fight-against-1939/) [5,000 Danish Seamen Sailing for United Nations on 800,000 Tons of Danish Ships →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denmark-5000-danish-seamen-800000-tons-1939/) ## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques - [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer) - [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer) - [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial) - [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer) - [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer) - [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account. - [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)