The Jew Having Fun Poster of a Jewish man whipping tops with faces of Allied leaders
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 18.250 inches (46.355 cm) | Width: 13.625 inches (34.608 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
Antisemitic, anti-Allies poster with a caricature of a Jewish man using a whip to spin dreidels with caricatures of Allied leaders, Franklin Roosevelt, Alcide De Gasperi, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. Italy, under the Fascist dictatorship of Mussolini, was an Axis member and entered World War II (1939-1945) as an ally of Germany. In May 1943, the Axis campaign in North Africa collapsed. That July, Allied forces invaded Sicily. Mussolini was arrested by his own government and, in September, Italy unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. Germany occupied north and central Italy and launched an offensive that confined Allied troops to the south for 20 months. The German SS launched systematic deportations of Jews and engaged in severe reprisals against Italian partisans and civilians. The Allies broke the stalemate in late spring 1944, but never won a decisive victory. The war ended with Germany's surrender in May 1945. 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 lithograph poster in black ink on light brown paper with a caricature of an oversized man, standing with rolled up shirtsleeves, brandishing a long whip labeled Giudaismo [Judaism] in his raised right hand. He wears a checked shirt, high waisted cuffed pants, and oxfords. He has pronounced Jewish features: curly hair, thick eyebrows, a short forked beard with a trim mustache, an extremely long, hooked nose, and open, fleshy lips. He looks angrily down at 4 large tops spinning in a row in front of his feet. The tops have caricatured faces: on the left is a man with a long face, pince nez, and teeth gritted in a smile, Roosevelt; the next face is smaller, bald with a set mouth and circular glasses, Gaspari; then a round, bald face, frowning and clenching a cigar, Churchill, and finally, a stern looking man with thick black hair, unibrow, and mustache, Stalin. The title is in Italian across the bottom. See 1998.139.2 for another version of this poster.
People
- De Gasperi, Alcide, 1881-1954--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Stalin, Joseph, 1878-1953--Caricatures and cartoons.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda--Posters.
- Propaganda, Anti-American--Posters--Specimens.
- Propaganda, Anti-British--Posters--Specimens.
- Propaganda, Anti-Soviet--Posters--Specimens.
- Anti-Jewish propaganda--Posters--Specimens.
- Jews--Caricatures and cartoons.
Genre
- Object
- Posters