Print of Simon of Trent with the Devil and Jews performing grotesque acts
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 8.625 inches (21.908 cm) | Width: 5.625 inches (14.287 cm)
Creator(s)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
Biographical History
The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.
Archival History
The engraving was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Print depicting the martyrdom of Simon of Trent in 1475, with a large scene below depicting a Jew, the Devil and the pig. The engraving is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Woodcut in black ink on paper of a naked young boy, his dead body bound at the ankles and wrists as if crucified, on the top of a stone wall. In front of the wall are a devil and 4 human figures engaged in bestial acts. All have circular patches marking them as Jews. The devil, C, with 2 long horns, fur, sagging breasts, and a tail, is on the right, directing the humans. Three commit acts with a large right facing sow which is eating feces. Beneath it lies a bald man, D, sucking on a teat. A bearded, bespectacled Jew, A, in a top hat and cape sits backward astride its back, holding the tail up as it defecates into the mouth of a bearded Jew, B, kneeling behind it. The devil’s clawed hand grasps his head. On the right a woman, E, in a cornette and cape sits sideways holding the horns and upright tail of a large defecating goat. The letter beside each figure corresponds to a stanza in the poem printed in German in 2 columns below the image. The bottom left corner is torn.
front, bottom right corner, pencil : 9. back, upper right corner, pencil : 1.
People
- Simon, of Trent, -1475--Pictorial works.
Subjects
- Antisemitism--Germany--19th century--Pictorial works.
- Anti-Jewish propaganda--History--Germany--19th century.
- Judaism and art--History--19th century--Pictorial works.
- Antisemitism in art--Germany--19th century.
- Jews--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Blood accusation--Germany--History--Pictorial works.
- Christianity and antisemitism--Pictorial works.
Genre
- Object
- Art