Zapisujcie sie na czlonkow Czerwonego Krzyza [Polish Red Cross]

Polish post-First World War poster for the Red Cross. The Polish Red Cross, Polski Czerwony Krzyz in Polish, abbreviated to PCK, was founded in 1919 by Dr. Benjamin Reschovsky of Warsaw City Hospital and recognized by the International Red Cross in July 1919. Before the Second World War, the PCK operated ambulances for the Polish Army in order to save the Army budget. In 1922 after the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921), which followed on from the Soviet westward offensive of 1918-19, the Polish Red Cross participated in an exchange of Polish and Russian prisoners. The poster depicts a Red Cross nurse, depicted with an expression of great dignity and compassion, cradling a Polish soldier in her arms, while she touches his brow and holds a small glass in one hand. The pose of the Red Cross nurse mimics the Pieta- the Virgin Mary holding Christ - and reinforces the almost spiritual comfort and nurturing expected of Red Cross nurses. The simple, bold and graphic style of the poster emphasises the role of the Polish Red Cross at the end of the First World War when Polish soldiers had been conscripted into the armies of Germany, Austria and Russia, and forced to fight each other in a war that was not theirs. The symbol of the Red Cross appears prominently in four corners of the poster. During the course of the First World War, because of the German victory on the Eastern Front, areas of Poland became occupied by the Central Powers, with Warsaw captured by the Germans in August 1915. In November 1916, the Kingdom of Poland (Królestwo Regencyjne) was recreated by Germany and Austria in formerly Russian-controlled territory. This autonomous state existed until November 1918, when it was replaced by the newly established Republic of Poland. Polish independence was officially endorsed in June 1918 by the Allies. In all, about two million Poles served in the First World War , with 450,000 deaths.