Postmarked postcard of the Eternal Jew for an antisemitic exhibit

Identifier
irn538936
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2016.184.272
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 5.875 inches (14.923 cm) | Width: 4.250 inches (10.795 cm)

Creator(s)

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 postmarked postcard 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

Promotional postcard with a caricature of the Eternal Jew, for a Nazi sponsored antisemitic traveling exhibition of the same name in Munich, Germany, in November 1937. The “Eternal Jew” (also called the Wandering Jew) was a Jewish man (in some versions named Ahasuerus or Cartaphilus) who taunted Jesus on his way to be crucified. In response, Jesus said, “I stand and rest, but you will go on,” dooming him to live and wander the Earth until the end of the world or the second coming of Christ. The origin of the story is uncertain, although parts were possibly inspired by biblical passages. From November 8, 1937, to January 31, 1938, the Nazis held the “Eternal Jew” in the Library of the German Museum in Munich. The exhibit featured images and artifacts designed to instill fear and incite enmity against Jews by presenting antisemitic images, caricatures, myths, and conspiracy theories as truthful. The poster features an image that embodies all of these antisemitic themes in a caricatured Jewish man with large, curved nose, thick eyebrows, and hooded eyes. He is looking longingly at the money in his hand, while holding a whip in his opposite hand. A three-dimensional map of the Soviet Union, easily identified by the distinct red hammer and sickle, is secured under his left arm. After the exhibit finished in Munich, it was shown in Vienna, Austria, Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, and Magdeburg, until the summer of 1939. "The Eternal Jew" was one of the most popular propaganda exhibitions of the Nazi regime, attracting more than 1.3 million visitors. The postcard is one of 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

Postcard with a caricature of a Jewish man with a large, curved nose, thick eyebrows, hooded eyes, and stringy sidelocks and beard. He wears a small black cap and a long black overcoat with a dirty white buttoned up shirt. He is shrugging his shoulders and looking at a pile of gold coins in his outstretched right hand. He holds a knotted whip in his left hand; above his left elbow is a small inset map of the Soviet Union with red sickle and hammer, representing the Soviet - Jewish conspiracy for world domination. The artist's pseudonym HSchülter (?) is printed in the lower left. The background is bright yellow. Exhibit information is printed in yellow ink within a black rectangle along the bottom. On the back upper left and right are 2 identical postal cancellation stamps; adhered to the upper right corner is a green 6 pfennig postage stamp with a Hindenburg medallion, a moustached man in left in profile in a circular seal, with Deutches Reich along the bottom. There are 2 cancellation marks that advertise the exhibition.

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.