US propaganda poster depicting World War II and Revolutionary War soldiers

Bernard Perlin (1918-2014) was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Jewish parents, Davis and Anna Perlin. Bernard studied at the New York School of Design, National Academy of Design Art School, and the Art Students League in New York. In the late 1930s, he received the Kosciuszko Foundation Scholarship for study in Poland. Before going to Poland, Bernard spent time traveling through Europe, where he personally witnessed, Nazi discrimination of Jews in Germany. Once he returned to the United States, he received commissions from the Works Progress Administration for a mural for the South Orange, New Jersey Post Office, and another from the U.S. Maritime Commission for murals for the SS President Hayes. When the United States entered World War II, Bernard was barred from the military because he was openly homosexual. However, he was able to work for the Graphics Division of the Office of War Information (OWI), and designed several propaganda posters for the war effort. Later, he worked as a war correspondent for “Life” and “Fortune” magazines, serving time with commando forces in occupied Greece, and later in the South Pacific and Asia. Bernard was also aboard the USS Missouri for the official Japanese surrender in September 1945, and then remained in Asia for a time, to document the war's aftermath in Japan and China. After the war, Bernard lived both in the United States and abroad. He worked as an illustrator for Harper’s, Collier’s, and Fortune magazines, and continued to paint throughout his life. Bernard’s works are featured in prestigious institutions such as: the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Oxford, the Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art, and several other private collections and institutions worldwide.

The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was created on June 13, 1942, to centralize and control the content and production of government information and propaganda about the war. It coordinated the release of war news for domestic use, and using posters along with radio broadcasts, worked to promote patriotism, warn about foreign spies, and recruit women into war work. The office also established an overseas branch, which launched a large-scale information and propaganda campaign abroad. The government appealed to the public through popular culture and more than a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of advertising was donated during the first three years of the National Defense Savings Program. Victory in Europe was declared on May 8, 1945, and in Japan on September 2, 1945. The OWI ceased operation in September.

The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by David and Zelda Silberman.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of David and Zelda Silberman

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.