Judenbank - Austria, 1 krone note, overprinted with anti-Jewish slogan
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Width: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm)
Creator(s)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
- Oesterreichische-ungarische Bank (Issuer)
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 Judenbank note 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
Austrian 1 krone note with an antisemitic slogan on the back blaming the Jews for the international financial crisis of the 1920s. It accuses the Jews of taking the gold and leaving dreck. The bank note, printed on one side to save money, was issued as emergency currency in 1922, during a period of hyperinflation in the newly independent republic of Austria. The Social Democrats penalized rural regions with low tariffs and overtaxed city residents. The bloated government bureaucracy met the financial crisis by printing more and more money, catastrophically depreciating the currency. The value of 1 krone [crown] in January 1919 was 16 to a dollar; in May 1923, it was over 70,000 per dollar. This Judenbank note 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
Austrian bank note on nearly square white paper with red and light blue ink. The face has a jagged, vertical rectangle with the denomination 1 with a checked pattern on the left and right, connected by checked patterned links. In the center is German text, an the denomination EINE KRONE. On the bottom left and right are swirl patterned squares enclosing swirl patterned 8 point stars, connected by a jagged, geometric patterned rectangle. It appears unused.
back, overprint, black and red ink : Das Gold, das hat die / Judenbank / Der Dreck, der blieb in deiner Hand! [The Jew's Bank has the gold, The Shit remains in your hand!]
Subjects
- Austria--Social conditions--1918-1938.
- Financial crises--Austria--History--20th century.
- Antisemitism--Austria--History--20th century.
- Anti-Jewish propaganda--Austria--History--20th century.
- Inflation (Finance)--Austria--History--20th century.
- Austria--Politics and government--1918-1938--Money.
Genre
- Exchange Media
- Object