Tag des freien EuropaFree Europe Day
Artist / Maker
Date
Creation: 1952
Object Name
Inventory Number
C.2015.094.141
Physical Description
Colour lithograph poster entitled ‘Tag des freien Europa – Erster Schritt: Kohle und Stahl’ (Free Europe Day – First Step: Coal and Steel). It depicts a factory building with a brick chimney and a crane. Six oblong ‘E’ letters, the symbol of the European Federalists, hover over the chimney. A large yellow sun dominates the composition in the upper right-hand corner. The flags of France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are visible on the side of the building. Stylised male figures hold hands in a line in the foreground. In the bottom right-hand corner is the name of the commissioner (Europa-Union, the German branch of the Union of European Federalists) and the printing company (Druckhaus Tempelhof, Berlin).
Content Description
On 9 May 1950, French foreign minister Robert Schuman suggested placing European coal and steel production under the authority of a supranational European institution. Schuman’s declaration led to the Treaty of Paris (18 April 1951), which established the European Coal and Steel Community between France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The European Coal and Steel Community was governed by four institutions – a High Authority, an Assembly, a Council and a Court of Justice. The Community was the first step that led to the European Communities and eventually, the European Union. Its institutions were the forerunners of today’s EU institutions.
Exhibition Theme
-> 9. When walls talk! Posters. Promotion, propaganda and protest (not on display)
Material / Technique
Colour lithograph on paper
Dimensions
H x W 119,00 x 83,90 cm
Curator’s Note
This poster was created for ‘Free Europe Day’, a celebration in West Germany of the first session of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community in Strasbourg, on 10 September 1952. On the first page of the Langener Zeitung newspaper, dated 12 September 1952, we read about these festivities: ‘The schools stressed the importance of the day aimed at the beginning of a united Europe. Corresponding posters were shown in schools and in public ... One saw repeatedly the image of a smoking factory chimney, around which persons representing each nation hold hands.’
Credit line
Acquired 2015. EU, EP, House of European History, Brussels.
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