The treacherous attack of the fascist hordes on the Soviet Union violated the country's peaceful life. The leadership of the USSR needed as soon as possible to mobilize millions of Soviet citizens to defend the Fatherland. A significant role in this was played by campaign materials that created vivid images that called for a fight against the invaders. One of the most famous such masterpieces is the poster "Motherland is calling!".
The creator of the famous poster-agitation 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 workshop opened wide. The artist’s wife, Tamara Fedorovna, stood on the threshold. In a broken voice, she spoke only one word: "War!".
With her hand, Tamara pointed in the direction of the street, from where fragments of the message of the Sovinformburo came from. His wife’s condition, her despair and dumb call for immediate action were passed on to Irakli Toidze. Motivated by the impulse, he immediately made several sketches, which formed the basis of the future poster.
By the end of June 1941, the poster "Motherland is calling!" was sent out across the country. The agitation was pasted up at the prefabricated army points, at train stations, in institutions, or even just on the streets. A special edition of the poster in a small format was released. Such a postcard could fit in the pocket of the tunic. Going to the front, many soldiers carefully put in their breast pockets an 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 creation story. The writer Viktor Suvorov, known for his historical investigations dating back to the Great Patriotic War, claims in one of his acclaimed books that the famous propaganda poster was actually created long before the German invasion.
According to Suvorov, this poster, among many other ideological tools, was supposed to appear everywhere in the country in early July 1941, when the country's leadership planned to begin a liberation campaign in Europe. But Hitler was ahead of Stalin, so the plans had to change dramatically. As an indirect confirmation of his version, the author cites facts indicating that in some remote corners of the country the Motherland looked at the citizens with piercing eyes already on the day the war began.
Today it is quite difficult to reliably restore the events of that distant time. One way or another, but the poster created by Irakli Toidze turned out to be a powerful tool for the widespread rise of patriotism. The image of the Motherland-Mother created by the artist was extremely impressive and penetrating, he awakened the best feelings in citizens much more effectively than political activities or the most fiery speeches of political workers. Poster "Motherland is calling!" it is still considered a masterpiece of propaganda art.
