Poster of a Jewish man spinning the globe like a dreidel
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 27.625 inches (70.168 cm) | Width: 18.375 inches (46.673 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 poster 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
Anti-Jewish poster issued in German occupied Serbia in the fall of 1941 for the Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition in Belgrade from October 22, 1941, to January 19, 1942. The exhibit focused on the alleged Jewish-Communist-Masonic conspiracy to achieve world domination with the intent to increase hatred against outsider groups that opposed Nazi Germany. Yugoslavia had been invaded and dismembered by the Axis powers in April 1941. Germany annexed most of Slovenia and placed Serbia under military occupation. The exhibition was organized by the Serbian puppet government in collaboration with the German occupiers. This poster is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Offset color lithograph poster on light brown paper with a caricature of a disembodied, older, bald Jewish man towering over a globe of the earth. He wears a dark robe with rings of light. He has a long flowing white beard with mustache and sidelocks, thick protruding ears, hooded eyes, and a big hooked nose. His thick lipped mouth is open as if he is performing an incantation. Behind his head is a large white Star of David. His right hand is raised, index finger up, and is surrounded by a large white spiraling line of motion. His left index finger is on the tip of a pointed rod inserted through the globe, tilting it on its axis. The globe is also surrounded by motion rings as he makes it spin. The background is shaded in a black/gray gradient. There is Serbian text in Cyrillic in a light brown bottom panel. The poster has a narrow blank border and is adhered to slightly larger linen backing.
Subjects
- Jews--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Antisemitism--Serbia--History--20th century--Posters.
- Anti-Jewish propaganda--Serbia--20th century--Posters--Specimens.
- Antisemitism--Pictorial works.
- World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda--Posters.
- Antisemitism in art.
Genre
- Object
- Posters