„Unter di fener fun Bund”. Sfera wizualna Bundu
„Unter di fener fun Bund.” Bund’s Image

Summary/Abstract: In the visual aspects of the Bund, the party of the Jewish proletariat, the universal symbols of socialism, the working class and labor unions blended with national iconography and the Yiddish language. It embraced the press, posters, leaflets and publication, election campaigns, photographs, joint May Day celebrations, sports events and school exhibitions, portraits of heroes, burials of merited activists and the erection of their tombstones. In the visual message of Tsukunft, the youth offshoot of Bund, there was a pronounced and meaningful artistic aspect, which was connected with Hersz Cyna (1911–1942), a student of the Academy of Fine Arts and a Tsukunft member himself. This was an exceptional combination of talent and political involvement in Bund iconography. We can also come across the Bund counterculture, opposed to the Judaist religious tradition, in the cemeteries. In the message found on the tombstones of the dead comrades (Józef Jankielewicz, Bejnisz Michalewicz and Józef Chmurner in Warszaw and Izrael Lichtenstein in Łódź), Bund strongly articulated its ideological distinctness, emphasized its faithfulness to the cause of Jewish laborers, the right to choose a secular path in life, the fight to develop national culture and Yiddish education. The graves of Bund activists stand out by their modern form, lay nature, the use of working-class iconography not seen in cemeteries so far (hammer, torch, steering wheel), a strong partisan and national message.

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