Happiness to the Young Couple-Kosciuszko,lithograph/paper,Format:19x24,5cm,1926
Kościuszko telegrams
also called PATRIOTIC or NATIONAL telegrams
At the end of the 19th century in the Prussian partition - in Poznan - an initiative was taken to celebrate the centenary of the Kosciuszko Uprising. This was expressed in the idea of issuing colorful blanks for conveying wishes on national occasions, as well as church and family celebrations, which became a patriotic manifestation of Poles under the partitions.
The blanks usually depicted Tadeusz Kościuszko, national and religious symbols and portraits of great Poles, such as Adam Mickiewicz, Henryk Sienkiewicz, General Henryk Dąbrowski, Prince Józef Poniatowski, Józef Piłsudski. The popularity of patriotic telegrams provoked the partitioners to use police and judicial repression (searches and seizures in printing houses and bookstores). Therefore, telegrams were not sent by mail, but rolled up in a roll, affixed with a Polish check stamp and delivered by messenger. The tradition of sending them survived until 1939.
