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
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
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Not stated on the sheet (numbered 13); issuer and country of origin not established
- Region
- Eastern Europe and Eurasia
- Country
- Czechoslovakia
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Czechoslovak Government in Exile
- Leader
- Edvard Benes
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Issuer not stated, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-780.
Text on the object
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.
