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Single-sided page removed from a periodical with a large, black ink print of an engraving and German caption on the front of discolored, off-white paper. Two men wearing top hats and evening attire are depicted conversing on the steps of a theater. Both have short beards and stereotypical Jewish features: bushy eyebrows, hooded eyes, hooked noses, and fleshy lips. On the left, the gloved man wears a loose overcoat, tailcoat, and waistcoat over a dress shirt with a plaid bowtie. He stands in slight right-facing profile, his left hand on a thin cane and his right near his lapel. He looks at the thin man standing opposite him, who wears a tailcoat and waistcoat over a dress shirt with a white bowtie. He is in left-facing profile and smiles slightly as he gestures with his left hand. In the background on a column between the men, there is a poster advertising a play called, The Jew. The background is very detailed, showing a crowd within the theater on the left, and a columned building in the distance on the right. The publication information is centered above and below the image in a narrow, tan border. Printed in the wider margin beneath the illustration, the caption contains dialogue between the two men. There are water stains in the margins, and a piece of tape centered along the top and bottom edges of the paper.
overall: Height: 11.750 inches (29.845 cm) | Width: 9.375 inches (23.813 cm)
The print was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
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.
Full-page print from German humor magazine, Düsseldorfer Monathefte, with a satirical illustration and commentary on Jewish theatergoers complaining about prices being too high. Both men are depicted in evening attire and have prominent, stereotypical Jewish features: bushy eyebrows, hooded eyes, and hooked noses. This illustration is from 1854, printed in Volume 7, Issue 2 of the magazine, which was produced for 14 years in Düsseldorf, Germany. Satirical humor magazines that commented on social, economic, and political situations emerged in Europe during the mid-19th century and grew in circulation and popularity through the early 20th century. The discussion about spending money on the theater alludes to the common canard of Jews being too cheap or greedy to spend money. A Jew with this mindset was often considered a miser, a person who greedily hoards money, often to the detriment of themselves and others. Jewish misers are frequently portrayed expressing an exaggerated desire for hoarding and counting money or actively doing so. This stereotype originated from the economic and professional restrictions placed on early European Jews. They were barred from owning land, farming, joining trade guilds, and military service. These restrictions forced many Jews into occupations such as money changing or moneylending, professions which were perceived as morally deficient, greedy, and unethical. However, the practice of hoarding money goes against the Jewish principle of giving charitable contributions to the less fortunate called “Tzedakah,” and there are several Jewish parables that warn against hoarding wealth. This illustration is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
Print from a German periodical depicting two Jewish theatergoers conversing