Power of Print

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When we hear the phrase “underground newspapers,” most of us tend to picture 1960s-era radical tabloids raging against the war in Vietnam. While Special Collections certainly has its share of those, some of the most moving “underground” pieces are those produced in Europe during World War II. Countries such as Greece, France and the Netherlands were under Nazi occupation, and writers and printers literally risked their lives publishing papers that kept people informed about what was really going on.

Newspaper publishing was difficult, but book publishing was almost impossible — printing presses had to be disassembled and hidden; paper had to be stolen or even made by hand. But a number of heroic publishers in the Netherlands not only printed newspapers and broadsheets, they managed to produce books as well.

Of the estimated 1,000 underground publications produced in the Netherlands between 1940 and 1945, Special Collections holds nearly 800. One piece that epitomizes the triumph of art over oppression is the “Turkenkalender,” published in 1941 by artist and printer Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman. This “Turks’ Calendar” was a reference to a work of the same name produced in 1455, when the Netherlands was threatened by a Turkish invasion; the 1941 version contained poems inspired by the country’s resistance to foreign invaders in the past. The Turkenkalender is decidedly low-tech, but the striking visual images are a testament to Werkman’s creativity and dedication.

In early 1945, Werkman was arrested by the German police and charged with unauthorized use of paper. On April 10, only three days before Canadian forces moved in, he was shot and killed. But his work and that of other printers survived, a testament to the desire for free expression. A poster of an inspirational poem in Special Collections still bears tape marks from being hung in a Dutch family’s cupboard. The poem’s message meant so much to them that they literally risked their lives by hanging it in their house. A simple piece of paper, it seems, can inspire great acts of courage. — E.C.B.