Simon Gutman creating poster for the film 'The Soviet Latvia'

Simon Gutman creating poster for the film 'The Soviet Latvia'

This is a picture of me, photographed as I was drawing the poster in 1951 for the film "The Soviet Latvia? in 1951. In order to print it I had to acquire permission at Glavlit [the State Committee on Literature], get approvals from numerous authorities, and obtain all the rights. This photo was published in the newspaper ?Kurzemsky Golos?.

The story was the same with my caricatures: I had to approve them with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the highest level of bureaucracy. I was summoned to the ministry, I had serious talks with the officials about politics, the current international situation, I presented my views and was explained the official position. My political cartoons were published in "The Soviet Latvia? - the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia, and general caricatures in the magazine ?Dadzis? (?Burdock?). I still have an extensive archive of my caricatures, but I have handed over my film posters - the originals - to the Latvian Cinema Museum.

Open this page

Centropa Collection acquired by USHMM

The Centropa archive has been acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. 

USHMM will soon offer a Special Collections page for Centropa.

Academics please note: USHMM can provide you with original language word-for-word transcripts and high resolution photographs. All publications should be credited: "From the Centropa Collection at the United States Memorial Museum in Washington, DC". Please contact collection [at] centropa.org.