COURAGE

Підключення Колекцій

The Jazz Section Collection, now deposited in the National Archives, contains a postcard from 1986 addressed to the Czechoslovak president, Gustáv Husák; the postcard was part of a campaign to release the detained members of the Jazz Section. Similar postcards which were sent by citizens of Western countries led to the earlier release of many political prisoners – members of the Jazz Section – and to lower sentences for others.

Heldur Viires painted his self-portrait in the prison camp in the 1950s on the back of a piece of paper with a poem written and presented to him by his friend the poet Helmut Tarand. He sent it home as a postcard in 1955. The sad eyes of the artist in this portrait, and the poem by Tarand, both reflect expressively the harsh conditions of camp life. This postcard is not a normal work of art, but a tool for communication with relatives at home.