---
title: 'Prisoner of the Soviet secret police: Boris Penson, Soviet Jew: let my people go!'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sssj-boris-penson-let-my-people-go-1970/
description: A poster of a young man's portrait crossed by dark vertical bars, headed "Prisoner of the Soviet Secret Police, Boris Penson, Soviet Jew", between two…
section: Collection
---

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

[![Prisoner of the Soviet secret police: Boris Penson, Soviet Jew: let my people go!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sssj-boris-penson-let-my-people-go-1970.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sssj-boris-penson-let-my-people-go-1970.jpg)

# Prisoner of the Soviet secret police: Boris Penson, Soviet Jew: let my people go!

A poster of a young man's portrait crossed by dark vertical bars, headed "Prisoner of the Soviet Secret Police, Boris Penson, Soviet Jew", between two Stars of David above the slogan "Let my people go!". The prison bars and the Exodus slogan carry the moral weight of enslavement and deliverance onto the case, and the sponsor prints its New York address and telephone number.

- **Date:** 1970
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (New York)
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Nixon Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=nixon-administration)
- **Leader:** [Richard Nixon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=richard-nixon)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [Migration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=migration), [Race and ethnicity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=race-ethnicity)
- **Event:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=cold-war)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2016648088/), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** U.S. publication without copyright notice; LoC: no known restrictions on publication Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Prisoner of the Soviet Secret Police
BORIS PENSON
SOVIET JEW

LET MY PEOPLE GO !

Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry
200 WEST 72nd STREET • SUITES 30-31 • NEW YORK, N.Y. 10023
(212) 799-8900
```

Two six-pointed stars flank the name line; they are marks, not text.

[← He needs a mind of his own ... he needs Radio Free Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/rfe-mind-of-his-own-1970/) [Meany in Miami Beach with our union dues →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/plp-meany-miami-beach-union-dues-1971/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)