1951 Morac Pictorial Cold War Propaganda Broadside Map of Europe

This is a c. 1951 Paix et Liberté propaganda broadside map of Europe presaging European unification. The map reflects both optimism and threat in the post-World War II (1939 - 1945) era. Western Europe enjoyed a post-war flowering of cross-national solidarity, as well as industrial, cultural, and trade booms. Eastern Europe, at the same time, languished under Communism.

A Closer Look

A verdant floral Western Europe spreads across the broadside representing pan-European solidarity. A young girl wearing white embodies the hope of unification in the within the next generation. She holds an umbrella composed of the flags of Western European nations indicating that Unification of Western Europe was an essential defense against the storm of Soviet Communism, the clouds of which loom threateningly in the background.

Publication History and Census

This broadside was drawn by Morac and published by Paix et Liberté c. 1951. An example is part of the Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection at Cornell University. We note a second cataloged example in OCLC at the Bibliothèque Nationale Universitaire de Strasbourg. This broadside is rare on the private market.