Worse than a wolf: taking the world's wealth Poster of an evil looking Jewish man with the key to a globe sized safe
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 27.375 inches (69.533 cm) | Width: 19.750 inches (50.165 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. It depicts a caricature of an evil looking Jewish man looming over the globe with the key to a giant safe. 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 grotesque, giant Orthodox Jewish man with a stringy beard and sidelocks, large, pointy ears, a huge nose, and sparse teeth between fleshy lips. He is dressed in a black skullcap and overcoat and is holds up a large key in his left hand. He fills the top half of the poster, towering over the earth and the enormous, gray metal safe perched on top. The safe is marked with a Star of David and Serbian text. The background is shaded in a yellow gradient. At the bottom there is Serbian text. It is adhered to slightly larger linen backing.
Subjects
- Antisemitism--Serbia--History--20th century--Posters.
- Anti-Jewish propaganda--Serbia--20th century--Posters--Specimens.
- Jews--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Antisemitism--Pictorial works.
- World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda--Posters.
- Antisemitism in art.
Genre
- Posters
- Object