This is Nazi Brutality Poster No 11

The Holocaust. The persecution of Lithuania’s Jews began in the first days of the Nazi occupation at the end of June 1941, and claimed the lives of about 200,000 people (96 per cent of Lithuanian Jews). The ghettos of Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai and Žagarė, set up by the Nazis, were like mini-states, with their own governments, economy, and spiritual and cultural life. The writers, musicians, actors and painters who were sent to the ghettos took their musical instruments and artists’ tools with them, and through various cultural activities, such as concerts, performances, art events and exhibitions, they strengthened the spirit of the residents of the ghetto, and fuelled the desire to live.

Not every politician or public figure in Europe and America had the courage to speak out in the present tense about the crimes committed by the Nazis. The US-based artist Ben Shahn, a native of Kaunas, addressed them boldly in his work. In 1942, he created the poster This is Nazi Brutality, in memory of the destruction of the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia. After an assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, Nazi soldiers carried out reprisals against the civilian population of Lidice, killing 340 people (192 men, 60 women, and 88 children), and razing the village to the ground. The brutal executions sparked international outrage, and Shahn did not remain indifferent. The telegram message on his poster reads: ‘Radio Berlin. - - It is officially announced: - All men of Lidice - Czechoslovakia - have been shot: The women deported to a concentration camp: The children sent to appropriate centers - - The name of the village was immediately abolished. 6/11/42/115P’.

© ADAGP/LATGA, Vilnius

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album STORIES OF LITVAK ART (2023). Compiler and author Vilma Gradinskaitė
© LATGA, Vilnius 2025

The Holocaust. The persecution of Lithuania’s Jews began in the first days of the Nazi occupation at the end of June 1941, and claimed the lives of about 200,000 people (96 per cent of Lithuanian Jews). The ghettos of Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai and Žagarė, set up by the Nazis, were like mini-states, with their own governments, economy, and spiritual and cultural life. The writers, musicians, actors and painters who were sent to the ghettos took their musical instruments and artists’ tools with them, and through various cultural activities, such as concerts, performances, art events and exhibitions, they strengthened the spirit of the residents of the ghetto, and fuelled the desire to live.

Not every politician or public figure in Europe and America had the courage to speak out in the present tense about the crimes committed by the Nazis. The US-based artist Ben Shahn, a native of Kaunas, addressed them boldly in his work. In 1942, he created the poster This is Nazi Brutality, in memory of the destruction of the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia. After an assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, Nazi soldiers carried out reprisals against the civilian population of Lidice, killing 340 people (192 men, 60 women, and 88 children), and razing the village to the ground. The brutal executions sparked international outrage, and Shahn did not remain indifferent. The telegram message on his poster reads: ‘Radio Berlin. - - It is officially announced: - All men of Lidice - Czechoslovakia - have been shot: The women deported to a concentration camp: The children sent to appropriate centers - - The name of the village was immediately abolished. 6/11/42/115P’.

© ADAGP/LATGA, Vilnius

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album STORIES OF LITVAK ART (2023). Compiler and author Vilma Gradinskaitė
© LATGA, Vilnius 2025