Anti-Nazi drawing published in the PM newspaper The King of the Jews
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 20.000 inches (50.8 cm) | Width: 15.000 inches (38.1 cm)
Creator(s)
- William Sharp (Artist)
Biographical History
Leon Schleifer was born in 1900 in Germany. He served in the German army at the end of World War I (1914-1918). He became a political cartoonist and his work was published in the anti-Nazi press. He also specialized in courtroom trial sketches. After the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, Schliefer emigrated to the United States. He changed his name to William Sharp and continued his career as an editorial cartoonist and illustrator. His work was published in the New York Times, Life Magazine, and other publications. He died in 1961, age sixty-one years.
Archival History
The drawing was aquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
Scope and Content
In 1934, something some Nazi had written. This was it: "How high Horst Wessel towers over that Jesus of Nazereth." Horst Wessel was a rough neck, a panderer, one of Hitler's hooligans. He was killed in a street brawl, and he is a Nazi hero. This is the way the Nazis really feel about the Church. They once tried to prove that Jesus was a Nordic.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Image of two Nazi soldiers, bearing a swastika armband, smiling/laughing up at either a sculpture of Jesus Christ on the cross, or Christ himself, very realistic; set in a church.
lower left, in pencil, "The Nazis verspotten Jesus Christ", (written in hand other than artist's); and "Please careful!."
People
- Sharp, William, 1900-1961.
Subjects
- Anti-Nazi movement--United States--Political cartoons.
- Newspapers--New York (State)--New York--Political cartoons.
Genre
- Object
- Art