The Twentieth Century

Locomotives CP 62 em and CP 103 em (ca. 1900)

Online Exhibition: Historical Snapshots and Sketches

It is impossible to succinctly summarize the 20th century. However, memorable phrases can characterize pivotal moments. Churchill’s “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat” is undoubtedly one of them. “An American airplane dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, destroying its usefulness to the enemy” (President Harry S. Truman on August 6, 1945) is another.

In 1961, Frantz Fanon predicted that there would be no single revolution against colonial rule. He pointed out, “They say the struggle goes on. The people realize that life is an unending combat.”

Ahead of Their Time: New Zealand was the first self-governing country in the world to give women the right to vote in parliamentary elections, starting in 1893. That same year, a woman was elected mayor of the village of Ohakune.

Mikail Gorbachev’s statement “Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life” on the 27th Party Congress on February 25, 1986, swept aside decades of arguments against democracy.

Much has remained just a promise: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Mail Art about a Century

Works of artists that followed the call by La Collettivah (Chiara Bertoncello, Cris Piloto, Elisa Rioda, Giuliana Ceretta, Silvia Gervason, and Rita Stevanato) can be viewed at the site InspirArtePostal

Published by Gerald Jatzek

Gerald is a poet, musician, and mail artist who writes in German and English . He has published books for children and adults. He has played in quite some countries, including Australia, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Hong Kong. 2001 he received the Austrian State Prize for Children’s Poetry.

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