Bolshevik Freedom Poster of a naked, red Leon Trotsky seated on human skulls

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. 

The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family. 

Bolshevik Freedom Poster of a naked, red Leon Trotsky seated on human skulls 

overall: Height: 45.125 inches (114.618 cm) | Width: 32.625 inches (82.868 cm) 

Anti-Jewish, anti-Soviet, Nazi propaganda poster distributed in battleground regions of Poland and Ukraine in 1943. It depicts a skeleton talking to a red, naked Leon Trotsky, who sits upon a pile of human skulls. During the war, Germany sought instances of Soviet perpetrated violence against Polish and local non-Jewish populations to exploit as graphic propaganda that would turn the locals against the Soviets and frighten them into supporting Germany. In 1943, the Germans exploited the discovery of mass graves documenting Soviet atrocities, such as the 1940 Katyn massacre of nearly 4500 Polish Army officers captured as prisoners of war as well as graves from prewar Soviet atrocities, such as Vinnitsa, committed during campaigns of political repression. The Germans then linked these to the always looming threat of the Jewish Bolshevik conspiracy to dominate the world and crush those who opposed them. This poster was originally issued in 1920 by the Polish Ministry of Military Affairs, during the Russo-Polish War. Trotsky, a leader in the Russian Revolution, also built the Red Army, and images of him as a red, bloodthirsty, satanic figure were used by the opposing White Army during the Revolution. This poster is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of anti-Semitic visual materials. 

No restrictions on access 

No restrictions on use 

Offset color lithograph poster on light brown paper with an oversize, naked, red skinned man with glasses, a big nose, short dark hair, mustache, and goatee, Leon Trotsky, seated on a pile of human skulls. A skeleton in a white shroud grips his right shoulder and whispers in his ear. The face is in right profile; the left hand is on his knee, holding a downward pointing handgun. The right hand grips a bloody, dripping dagger and rests on the pile of skulls. He is frowning and appears to contemplate his work with grim satisfaction. The skulls fill the bottom third of the image. In the right background, 4 uniformed soldiers beat, drag, and steal from the dead. In the far background, across an open plain, is a town in flames. There is Polish text along the top and bottom. The poster is adhered to linen backing and has trimmed, uneven sides. See 2016.184.395 for another version of this work.