The treacherous attack of the fascist hordes on the Soviet Union disrupted the peaceful life of the country. The leadership of the USSR needed to mobilize millions of Soviet citizens to defend the Fatherland as soon as possible. A significant role in this was played by propaganda materials, which created vivid images calling for the fight against the invaders. One of the most famous such masterpieces is the poster "The Motherland Calls!"
The creator of the famous propaganda poster was the Soviet artist Irakli Toidze. The official version of the creation of the work is known from the memoirs of his relatives. On the day the war began, the master worked on sketches for works of art. Suddenly the door to the studio opened, the artist's wife, Tamara Fedorovna, stood on the threshold. In a choking voice, she uttered only one word: "War!"
With her hand, Tamara pointed in the direction of the street, from where scraps of messages from the Sovinformburo could be heard. The state of his wife, her despair and a dumb call for immediate action were transmitted to Irakli Toidze. Driven by impulse, he immediately made several sketches, which formed the basis of the future poster.
By the end of June 1941, a very large print run of the poster "The Motherland Calls!" was sent out all over the country. The agitation was pasted up at assembly points of the army, at train stations, in offices, or even just on the streets. A special edition of the poster was issued in a small format. Such a postcard could fit in a tunic pocket. Going to the front, many soldiers carefully put in their breast pockets the image of the Motherland, which reminded them of the need to fight the enemy to the end.
But there is another, more prosaic version of the poster's history. The writer Viktor Suvorov, known for his historical investigations dating back to the period of the Great Patriotic War, claims in one of his sensational books that the famous propaganda poster was actually created long before the German invasion.
According to Suvorov, this poster, along with many other ideological tools, was supposed to appear everywhere in the country in early July 1941, when the country's leadership was planning to start a liberation campaign in Europe. But Hitler was ahead of Stalin, so the plans had to be drastically changed. As an indirect confirmation of his version, the author cites facts indicating that in some remote corners of the country, the Motherland looked at citizens with a piercing gaze already on the day the war began.
Nowadays, it is quite difficult to reliably reconstruct the events of that distant time. One way or another, the poster, created by Irakli Toidze, turned out to be a powerful tool for the widespread upsurge of patriotism. The image of the Motherland created by the artist was extremely impressive and heartfelt; it awakened the best feelings in citizens much more effectively than political studies or the most fiery speeches of political workers. Poster "Motherland Calls!" is still considered a masterpiece of propaganda art.
