Mortal enemy of Christianity Poster with a Jewish man looming over a crucified Christ

Polish poster advertising the antisemitic propaganda pamphlet, Śmiertelny wróg Chrześcijaństwa [Mortal Enemy of Christianity], written by Zbigniew Kowalewski in 1943. The image is based on an illustration by Philipp Rupprecht, which was published in the antisemitic German newspaper, Der Stürmer, in 1937. The poster has an image of a crucifix, in front of a background of buildings that appear to be on fire with a large image of a Jewish man looming over the scene. The man has a large nose and ears, hooded eyes, and fleshy lips; all stereotypical physical features commonly attributed to Jewish men. The crucifix is a reference to the deicide myth, which falsely blames and condemns Jews for the death of Jesus Christ, and for rejecting his teachings. The pamphlet’s cover is illustrated with the same image as the poster. The pamphlet details the alleged relationship between Jews and Christianity, and falsely claims that Jews spread ideas of world revolution. Both themes are displayed in the image; the crucifixion represents the adversarial relationship between Jews and Christianity, and the burning buildings represent revolution. Jewish conspiracies of world domination and revolution are longstanding antisemitic canards used by the Nazis and other groups to justify Jewish persecution. The pamphlet was part of a series of Nazi propaganda literature produced in German occupied Poland during World War II. This poster is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials.