Glass mug painted with a Jewish man dancing with a pig

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 beer mug was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family. 

Glass mug painted with a Jewish man dancing with a pig 

overall: Height: 7.125 inches (18.098 cm) | Width: 3.875 inches (9.843 cm) | Depth: 6.750 inches (17.145 cm) 

Frosted glass mug with a painted depiction of a Jewish man dancing with a pig holding money bags, which is a combination of several antisemitic tropes. The man is obese, has a beard, and a large nose: three stereotypical physical features commonly attributed to Jewish men. Pigs are deemed “unclean” in the Book of Leviticus, and are well-known as a non-kosher animal, meaning they are not fit for consumption by Jews. Knowing of this prohibition, antisemites weaponized pigs for use against Jews, accusing them of associating with and worshiping pigs. The depiction of Jews with pig-like features, or in close and often indecent contact with pigs, is a common antisemitic image. The moneybags held by the pig show the perceived association of Jews and greed. This stereotype originated from the economic and professional restrictions placed on early European Jews, which restricted them to occupations such as money changing or money lending. Additionally, medieval religious belief held that charging interest (known as usury) was sinful, and the Jews who occupied these professions were looked down upon, predominantly by European Christians. The text under the image uses the name “Kleinen Cohn” (sometimes “Kleine Cohn” or “Kohn”) meaning Little Cohn, which was a pejorative term for Jews used in Germany around the turn of the 20th century. The term is thought to have originated in an 1893 German military pamphlet. It was popularized after German humorist, Guido Thielscher, sang a satirical song about the character in 1902, and quickly became ubiquitous in Germany. The term, often accompanied by antisemitic images of Jews, was featured on postcards and other ephemera throughout the first decades of the 20th century. This mug is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials. 

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Large, cylindrical, thick frosted glass mug with an open top with a pinched spout and a large, angled, clear glass handle attached at the back. The bottom has a convex, star shaped, molded indent, and a thick flat base with signs of wear. There is a painted design on the body below the spout. On the right, an overweight, balding, smiling Jewish man dances with his hands raised in front of him. He has a large, cartoonish nose and a brown beard. He wears a black kippah, black coat, gray vest and shirt, brown pants, and gray and black dress shoes. On the left, a human sized dark pink pig dances on its hind legs. The pig has small, dark eyes and an open, smiling mouth. It holds a brown bag of money labeled 10000 under each arm. There are 2 coins, labeled 10, between the figures. Below the figures are 6 lines of German text.