US Finances are 98% in Jewish hands Poster of Uncle Sam giving bags of gold coins to Henry Morgenthau Jr.
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 25.375 inches (64.453 cm) | Width: 19.000 inches (48.26 cm)
Creator(s)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
- Henry Morgenthau Jr. (Subject)
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.
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was born on May 11, 1891 in New York, NY, and was raised in a secular German Jewish family. His father, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., was appointed Wilson’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, 1913-1916, and Henry Jr. visited his father in Istanbul. Though Henry attended Cornell University, he did not graduate but instead bought a large farm in Dutchess County, NY, near the home of Franklin Roosevelt. The two men became friends. In 1916, Henry met and married Elinor Fatman; the couple had three children: Henry III (b. 1917), Robert (b. 1919), and Joan (1922-2012). Henry intended to make a living as a farmer, and also published the American Agriculturalist magazine. When Roosevelt was elected governor, Henry was appointed to an agricultural advisory committee. In 1934, on the death of Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Treasury, Morgenthau was appointed to the position. After his resignation in July 1945, Morgenthau became more heavily involved in Jewish affairs. He became General Chairman of the United Jewish Appeal and was a financial advisor to the newly-created state of Israel. “Tal Shahar,” an agricultural community near Jerusalem, was named in his honor. After Elinor’s death in 1949, Morgenthau married Marcelle Morgenthau in 1952. He passed away in 1967.
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 poster was printed in several languages and distributed in the occupied countries to promote the idea that Jews were manipulating the Allied Powers. In April, 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by Germany and its allies. The country quickly capitulated and was dismembered by the Axis powers. Germany annexed most of Slovenia and placed Serbia under military occupation. The Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition was organized by the Serbian puppet government in collaboration with the German occupiers. The exhibition featured propaganda material distributed to the public, including 60,000 copies of twenty different posters, and propaganda films that had previously been seen during “The Eternal Jew” exhibitions in Munich and Vienna in 1937. The organizers claimed the exhibition was anti-Masonic, but the true purpose was to promote antisemitism, dehumanize Jews, and justify their extermination. Henry Morgenthau Jr. was the United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1934-1945. Morgenthau, who was Jewish, was a frequent target of Nazi propaganda. His high ranking position was used as proof for the antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews controlled Western governments. 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 depicting a miniature, smiling Uncle Sam emptying a sack of gold coins onto the desk of a balding Jewish banker, drawn in realistic detail. The banker in his black suit, with a pince nez perched on his large nose, smiles slightly. He sits with his arms on the desk among bundles of US dollar bills and stacks of gold coins. Uncle Sam, symbol of the US, stands in front of the banker on a stack of bills, dressed in his blue top hat, blue tailcoat with white stars, and red and white striped pants. The background is orange with Serbian text at the top. The poster is adhered to slightly larger linen backing.
People
- Morgenthau, Henry, 1891-1967.
Subjects
- Antisemitism--Serbia--History--20th century--Posters.
- Belgrade (Serbia)
- World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda--Posters.
- Antisemitism--Pictorial works.
- Uncle Sam (Symbolic character)
- Jews--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Nazi propaganda--Posters.
- Jewish bankers--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Anti-Jewish propaganda--20th century--Posters.
Genre
- Object
- Political posters.
- Posters