---
title: '"Mora Dravca vsahniti" plebiscite postcard no. 9 (The Drava Must Dry Up)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mora-dravca-vsahniti-plebiscite-postcard-1920/
description: 'A folk-art heart in red, black and grey carries a rhyming vow in first-person Carinthian Slovene dialect: the Drava will dry up and the Black Sea with it…'
section: Collection
---

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

[!["Mora Dravca vsahniti" plebiscite postcard no. 9 (The Drava Must Dry Up)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mora-dravca-vsahniti-plebiscite-postcard-1920.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mora-dravca-vsahniti-plebiscite-postcard-1920.jpg)

# "Mora Dravca vsahniti" plebiscite postcard no. 9 (The Drava Must Dry Up)

A folk-art heart in red, black and grey carries a rhyming vow in first-person Carinthian Slovene dialect: the Drava will dry up and the Black Sea with it before the speaker gives up a Slovene girl. A small 'SHS' monogram marks the state whose side the card takes. The tell is the borrowed peasant voice and ornament, which carry a territorial claim as if it were a village sentiment.

- **Date:** 1920
- **Period:** [Interwar](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=interwar)
- **Made by:** Narodni svet za Koroško (National Council for Carinthia), Yugoslav side of the Carinthian plebiscite campaign
- **Region:** [Eastern Europe and Eurasia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=eastern-europe-eurasia)
- **Country:** [Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=kingdom-of-serbs-croats-and-slovenes)
- **Medium:** [Postcard](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=postcard)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=kingdom-of-serbs-croats-and-slovenes)
- **Leader:** [Milenko Vesnic](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=milenko-vesnic)
- **Audience:** [Diaspora or minority](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=diaspora-minority)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics), [Race and ethnicity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=race-ethnicity)
- **Event:** [Carinthian Plebiscite](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=carinthian-plebiscite)
- **Techniques:** [Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Dr. Franc Sušnik Central Library of Carinthia, Ravne na Koroškem (dLib.si, National and University Library, Ljubljana; via Europeana)](https://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:IMG-S5156316), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public Domain Mark (Europeana/dLib); published 1920, U.S. public domain Plebiscitna razglednica štev. 9, Narodni svet za Koroško, 1920. Koroška osrednja knjižnica dr. Franca Sušnika, via dLib.si (URN:NBN:SI:IMG-S5156316).

## Text on the object

Original (Slovene (Carinthian dialect)) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Mora Dravca vsahniti,
noj črno morje,
prej da bom pustil
slovensko dekle !

[monogram in small heart:] SHS
```

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

```
The Drava must dry up,
and the Black Sea,
before I shall leave
a Slovene girl!

[monogram in small heart:] SHS (Serbs, Croats, Slovenes)
```

Dialect forms as printed ('noj' for 'and'). The card number and publisher are taken from the library's catalogue title, not from the printed face. Translation is a literal machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader.

[← Красный подарок белому пану (A Red Gift for the White Lord): Soviet Polish-Soviet War poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/krasny-podarok-belomu-panu-1920/) [Ozio - Miseria, Lavoro - Ricchezza (Idleness - Misery, Work - Wealth) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ozio-miseria-lavoro-ricchezza-prestito-1920/)

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- [Бо війна війною (For War Is War), Sich Riflemen postcard series II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kurylas-bo-viina-viinoiu-sich-riflemen-postcard-1917/) (1917 · Plain folks)
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