After Italy invaded Greece in October 1940, support for Greece grew rapidly across the United States. Railroad executive Harold Vanderbilt and film executive Spyros Skouras helped establish the Greek War Relief Association only days after the invasion.
As occupation and blockade brought famine to Greece, the American relief campaign expanded. Hollywood studios, theater owners, radio personalities and performers used their public reach to raise money and attention. Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Shirley Temple, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable and other leading figures were among those associated with relief efforts.
The campaign also produced a remarkable visual record. Posters asked Americans to remember Greece, respond to hunger and support a nation whose resistance had captured international admiration. These designs were fundraising tools, but they were also documents of how Americans understood Greece during the war.
The Greek WWII relief posters reproduced for Pappas Market come from that historical context. Their messages and imagery were created to mobilize public support during a genuine humanitarian emergency; today they preserve the memory of an unusually broad American response to Greece.
Explore the Greek WWII relief poster collection.
Source and further reading: Adapted from Gregory Pappas’s “When Hollywood Came to Greece’s Aid” in The Pappas Post. Archival material also exists in the Greek War Relief exhibition collection maintained by Gregory Pappas.