When Jews Laugh Antisemitic Der Stürmer advertising flier showing several Jewish people smiling

Identifier
irn8314
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1993.72.1
Dates
1 Jan 1937 - 31 Dec 1938
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 17.000 inches (43.18 cm) | Width: 12.000 inches (30.48 cm)

Creator(s)

Archival History

The flier was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993 by Mr. Leslie Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Leslie John Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko

Scope and Content

Antisemitic flier for the Der Stürmer newspaper showing photographic images of the “devilish grins” of Jews. The text claims that Jews are born criminals, who are incapable of laughter, and can only smile nefariously, which implies their untrustworthy nature. Two versions of the flier were published: this one with red lettering and an advertisement on the bottom, and one with black-and-white text without a bottom advertisement. The antisemitic newspaper was founded by Julius Streicher and published from 1923 to 1945. Striecher used the paper as a platform to foment public hatred of the Jewish race. The paper blamed Jews for the depression, unemployment, and inflation in Germany as well as rape and other crimes against the German people. Der Stürmer also accused Jews of "blood libel" or "Jewish ritual murder" antisemitic fabrications that were common in the Middle Ages. They claimed that Jews used Christian blood, usually from children, obtained from a torturous ritual sacrifice to perform religious ceremonies. The paper often featured crude and distasteful cartoons that showed Jewish people as ugly, with exaggerated features and misshapen bodies. The paper became very popular, eventually reaching a circulation of 800,000. After the war ended, Streicher was arrested by the US Army in May 1945. He was tried by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, convicted, and executed per the ruling that his repeated publication of articles calling for the annihilation of the Jewish race were a direct indictment to murder and a crime against humanity.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Offset lithographic advertising flier printed on tan-colored paper. The flier has black-and-white photographic portrait images of ten men and one woman. The images are overlaid on top of one another and arranged around three, short lines of large, red, cursive font in the center of the page. They are well-dressed with collared shirts and jackets. Five of the men wear flat caps, while an older man wears a brimmed hat, and the largest, central figure wears a yarmulke. The figures are situated in different poses, though they are all depicted looking towards the front and smiling. There is a line of red text in the bottom border, and two lines of small, black text in the bottom right of the image. The left edge has a worn surface, and the back, right edge has a discolored patch at the center.

People

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.