Raphael lemkin and the soviet propaganda poster collection at Duke university library

This article calls attention to the role played by Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959), the Polish-Jewish jurist who coined the term “genocide,” in providing the metadata for 30 of the 78 Soviet propaganda posters currently held by Duke University Library. The author presents new evidence about the provenance of the “General Political Poster Series,” substantiates Lemkin’s personal role in its description, and juxtaposes the hand-writ-ten, English-language translations with the posters’ original, Russian-language titles, thereby shedding light on the émigré scholar’s view of communist Russia. The annotated Soviet posters, which are reproduced in this article, have been digitized and can be viewed online at the Duke Digital Repository.

Duke Scholars

Author Erik Zitser