Saancamin a Maibilang a Tattao! ("We Are No Longer Counted as People!") (Iloko poster distributed in the Philippines)
A letter attributed to a nun held in a Soviet forced-labour camp is printed beside comic-style drawings of hooded women crowded together, guards in helmets with whips and bayonets, a pickaxe, and a bridge over a river. The headline is the letter's cry that the women are 'no longer counted as people'. The sheet argues that 1,500 German nuns are held in a Soviet camp. The tell is fear-appeal and testimonial: a first-person letter and scenes of suffering, with no corroboration printed on the sheet.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- June 8, 1951
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Truman Administration
- Leader
- Harry S. Truman
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- Religion, War and the military
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, June 8, 1951. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 5730160, 306-PPA-259).
Text on the object
"SAANCAMIN A MAIBILANG A TATTAO!" SURAT A NAGGAPU ITI MAYSA A MADRE IDIAY RUSSIA "AY-AYATEC A NAGANNAC CANIAC: "Yamanen iti Dios ta naiccanac iti gundaway a mangted cadayo iti pagilasinan nga addaac pay la a biag. Maawatyo met la ngata daytoy a surat? Naundayen a pannawen ti napalabas calpasan ti pannacaipaingmi ditoy Russia. Maricnayo ngata ti iliwco ken ti nasged a tarigagayco a sumarungcar cadayo? Mamin-anon a diac nacapagsurat: didacam liplipatan! Yetnagyo cadacami ti tulongyo! Nagbalincamin a nacaay-ay ket nabaybay-ancamin! Didacam liplipatan! Pangaasiyo ta icarcararagandacami! [...] [letter continues for several further paragraphs; remainder not transcribed] [boxed note:] Naiwaragawag iti sangalubongan ti nalawag a ladawan ti panagsagaba dagiti sangaribu ket lima gasut a mamadre a naipupoc iti campo dagiti maadipen nga agtrabtrabajo iti maysa a disso idiay Russia idi inlibas ti maysa a madre nga Aleman ti impatulod ti suratna cadagiti nagannac kencuana. Nasayaat ti pannacairacurac ti surat cadagiti nadumaduma a pagilian iti Europa ket naawat met dagiti camcameng ti Christian Brothers idiay Beltsville, Md., Estados Unidos. Naipablaac itay nabiit iti "The Crusader" ti Brooklyn. [...] (Naipablaac iti "The Crusader" ti Brooklyn, N. Y.) (Ibumbunong ti Gimong dagiti Agtutubo a Catolico ti Filipinas.)
"We are no longer counted as people!" A letter from a nun in Russia. "My dear parents: Thank God I have been given a chance to let you know that I am still alive. Will this letter reach you? A long time has passed since we were brought here to Russia. Can you feel my longing and my earnest wish to approach you? Many times I could not write: do not forget us! Give us your help! We have become wretched and forsaken! Do not forget us! Please pray for us!" [boxed note:] The clear picture of the suffering of the 1,500 nuns imprisoned in a slave-labour camp somewhere in Russia was made known worldwide when a German nun smuggled her letter out to her parents. The letter was published in various countries of Europe and also reached the Christian Brothers in Beltsville, Md., U.S.A.; it was recently published in 'The Crusader' of Brooklyn. [Imprint:] (Published in 'The Crusader', Brooklyn, N.Y.) (Collected by the Catholic Youth Movement of the Philippines.) (Literal and partial; the omitted parts are not translated.)
Body of the letter transcribed only in part (about the first two paragraphs); the rest is marked as not transcribed. Small type may contain misreadings.
