Handmade Invitation to Young Congregation Event
PPR.010536
Papers
1979
Dippoldiswalde, (Germany)
German
Ink and Paint on Paper
3.3 × 4.25 in. (8.3 × 10.8 cm)
On View in The Impact of the Bible, Bible in the World
The Young Congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the city of Dippoldiswalde, German Democratic Republic (1949–1990), printed this invitation to an open evening event in 1979 using a carved potato as a stamp. Classified as anti-state events, these invitations were not allowed to be printed commercially, instead having to be made by hand from repurposed or scrap materials. The theme of this evening was Wahrheit (Truth). Open evenings filled with music and sermons aimed to casually introduce people to Christianity in an atheist communist state that had discouraged all religious practices and public worship for decades.
Created in 1979 by the Stadtkirche Dippoldiswalde, Dippoldiswalde, Germany; Acquired in 1979 by Joachim Ullrich, Ore Mountains, Germany; Donated in 2021 to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC
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