Kami ay mistulang mga hayup! (We are like starved animals), 1951 US poster: A purple-and-yellow poster reprinting a letter

Kami ay mistulang mga hayup! (We are like starved animals) (Tagalog poster distributed in the Philippines)

A purple-and-yellow poster reprinting a letter said to be from a German nun held with 1,500 others in a labour camp in Russia, ringed by drawings of guards whipping and beating nuns and of a bridge over the Dnieper. It asks readers to pray for the nuns. The tell is testimonial: an anonymous letter is vouched for only by the publications that carried it, with no checkable names or dates.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Date
March 19, 1951
Period
Cold War
Made by
U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Dept. information program), Asia posters series; imprint: Ipinamahagi ng Samahang Katoliko ng Pilipinas
Region
North America
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Truman Administration
Leader
Harry S. Truman
Audience
Foreign public
Purpose
Persuade or win support
Themes
Religion, War and the military
Event
Cold War
Source
Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
Rights
Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, March 19, 1951. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 5730155, 306-PPA-254).

Text on the object

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

"KAMI AY MISTULANG MGA HAYUP!"

(LIHAM BUHAT SA ISANG MONGHA SA RUSYA)

"MAHAL KONG MGA MAGULANG:

"Sa wakas ay nagkaroon din ako ng pagkakataong maipabatid sa inyo na ako ay buhay pa. Umaasa ako na ti-nanggap ninyo ang liham na ito. Lubhang napakatagal na ang panahong lumipas sapul nang kami ay ipadala sa Rusya. Hindi ba ninyo nadarama ang aking pangungulila sa inyo at ang aking mataos na hangaring kayo ay muling makita, mayakap? Makailang ulit nang tinangka kong isulat sa inyo: Huwag ninyo kami lilimutin! Ipagdasal ninyo kami! Tulungan ninyo kami! Kami ay nagdurusa, pinabayaan, at nasa laot ng matinding paghihikahos! Huwag ninyo kami lilimutin! Ipanalangin ninyo kami!

[...]

Isang maliwanag at kalunoslunos na paglalarawan ng paghihirap na tinitiis ng may 1,500 mongha sa isang kampamento ng mga alipin sa isang dako ng Rusya ang kumalat at nabatid sa iba't ibang panig ng daigdig, nang ang isa sa mga nasabing mongha, isang Alemana, ay nakapagpalabas ng isang liham at naiparating sa kanyang mga magulang.
Ang liham ay nalathala sa iba't ibang babasahin ng mga bansa sa Europa at ang buong nilalaman nito ay ka-salukuyang iniingatan ng Christian Brothers sa Beltsville, Md. Ito ay nalathala kamakailan sa babasahing "The Crusader" ng Brooklyn (isang siyudad ng Nuweba York, America). Ang malungkot na kasaysayang ito ng mga mongha at ang kanilang mataimtim na panawagang sila ay ipagdasal ay napapaloob sa liham na ito na salin sa tagalog buhat sa orihinal na nasusulat sa wikang Aleman.

(Nilimbag buhat sa "The Crusader" ng Brooklyn, Nuweba York)

Ipinamahagi ng Samahang Katoliko ng Pilipinas

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

"We Are Like Starved Animals!" / (Letter from a nun in Russia) / "My dear parents: At last I have also had the chance to let you know that I am still alive. I hope you received this letter. A very long time has passed since we were sent to Russia. Do you not feel my longing for you and my sincere wish to see you again, to embrace you? Many times I tried to write to you: Do not forget us! Pray for us! Help us! We are suffering, abandoned, and in the depths of great hardship! Do not forget us! Pray for us! [...] / A clear and pitiful description of the suffering endured by about 1,500 nuns in a slave camp in a part of Russia spread and became known in various parts of the world when one of the said nuns, a German, got out a letter that reached her parents. The letter was published in various publications in European countries and its full content is currently kept by the Christian Brothers in Beltsville, Md. It was recently published in "The Crusader" of Brooklyn (a city of New York, America). This sad history of the nuns and their earnest appeal that they be prayed for is contained in this letter, a Tagalog translation from the original written in German. / (Printed from "The Crusader" of Brooklyn, New York) / Distributed by the Catholic Federation of the Philippines

Body text abridged at [...]; headline, subtitle, opening, explanatory box and imprint are given as printed. Translation is a literal best reading.