The word antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews. The Holocaust is history’s most extreme example of antisemitism.
The Nazi Party spread antisemitic propaganda to help garner support for many anti-Jewish policies that led ultimately to genocide.
An assortment of antisemitic handbills, posters, and stickers from Germany, 1919.
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Poster for the antisemitic museum exhibition Der ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) characterizes Jews as Marxists, moneylenders, and enslavers. Munich, Germany, November 8, 1937.
Nazi propagandists also created a film of the same name.
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Shortly after the German annexation of Austria, Nazi Storm Troopers stand guard outside a Jewish-owned business. Graffiti painted on the window states: "You Jewish pig may your hands rot off!" Vienna, Austria, March 1938.
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A woman who is concealing her face sits on a park bench marked "Only for Jews." Austria, ca. March 1938.
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Viennese pedestrians view a large Nazi sign posted on a restaurant window informing the public that this business is run by an organization of the Nazi Party and that Jews are not welcome. Vienna, Austria, March-April 1938.
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Antisemitic graffiti painted on the wall of a Jewish cemetery reads "The death of the Jews will end the Saarland's distress." Berlin, Germany, November 1938.
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A Jewish-owned cafe in Vienna that was defaced with antisemitic graffiti. Vienna, Austria, November 1938.
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Cover of a German antisemitic book for children, Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom), published in Germany by Der Stuermer-Verlag.
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Nazi propaganda cartoon by Seppla (Josef Plank), a political cartoonist. Germany, date uncertain [probably during World War II].
Beginning in the 1920s, Nazi propagandists promoted the antisemitic myth that Jews were engaged in a massive conspiracy to take over the world. This false notion alleged that “international Jewry” used various people and groups as part of a plan for global conquest. At the time, an octopus extending its tentacles over the globe was a common visual metaphor for this myth.
Seppla likely created this cartoon in the early 1940s, when Nazi Germany was at war with Great Britain. The cartoon shows British politician, Winston Churchill, as the octopus. Above the octopus's head is the Jewish Star of David. The tentacles seem to be losing their grip on the world. In the cartoon, Europe is shown as being free from under the octopus's control.
In Seppla’s cartoon, the octopus seems to symbolize both the antisemitic myth of "international Jewry" and Great Britain. The image suggests that Churchill is a tool of the alleged “conspiracy.” It also suggests that both Jews and Great Britain will be ultimately defeated.
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Sign on a phone booth in Munich that prohibits Jews from using the public telephone. Munich, Germany, 1942.
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An anti-Jewish sign posted on a street in Bavaria reads "Jews are not wanted here." Julien Bryan took this photograph while visiting Germany in 1937. Back in the United States, Bryan regularly gave lectures with accompanying motion pictures to convey the looming dangers he foresaw in Europe.
During one of these presentations in 1938, he said: "And then a sign like this. Along the Rhine you see these signs against the Jew everywhere, … all through central and southern Germany, saying simply and uniformly the same thing. Jews are not wanted here…. Out of my own curiosity because I am a reporter who is anxious to get both sides of the story – I talked further with these peasants and in a number of cases I asked the German people along the Rhine … how come these signs? Who put them up? They rather laughed about it all and not too pleasantly, and they denied having anything to do with it..."
Citizens would have viewed this sign in public every day. Think about which municipal officials might have had to approve the content of the sign and its display in a public area. Who might have created it and decided where to hang it? What does this indicate about the involvement of citizens and officials in public discrimination?
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German boys read an issue of Der Stuermer newspaper posted in a display box at the entrance to a Nazi Party headquarters in the Dresden region. The German slogan (partially obscured) at the bottom of the display box reads, "The Jews are our misfortune."
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A pedestrian stops to read an issue of the antisemitic newspaper Der Stuermer (The Attacker) in a Berlin display box. "Der Stuermer" was advertised in showcase displays near places such as bus stops, busy streets, parks, and factory canteens throughout Germany. Berlin, Germany, probably 1930s.
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During the anti-Jewish boycott, SA men carry banners which read "Germans! Defend Yourselves! Do Not Buy From Jews!" Berlin, Germany, March or April 1933.
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An SA member instructs others where to post anti-Jewish boycott signs on a commercial street in Germany. A German civilian wearing a Nazi armband holds a sheaf of anti-Jewish boycott signs, while SA members paste them on a Jewish-owned business. Most of the signs read, "Germans defend yourselves against Jewish atrocity propaganda/Buy only at German stores." Germany, ca. April 1, 1933.
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A sign outside a town in northern Bavaria warns: "City of Hersbruck. This lovely city of Hersbruck, this glorious spot of earth, was created only for Germans and not for Jews. Jews are therefore not welcome." Hersbruck, Germany, May 4, 1935.
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A motorcyclist reads a sign stating "Jews are not welcomed here." Germany, ca. 1935.
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Illustration from an antisemitic children's book. The sign reads "Jews are not wanted here." Books such as this one used antisemitic caricatures in an attempt to promote Nazi racial ideology. Germany, 1936.
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Illustration from a German antisemitic children's book titled Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow and No Jew on his Oath (translation from German). The headlines depicted in the image say "Jews are our misfortune" and "How the Jew cheats." Germany, 1936.
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Page from Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom). This photograph shows a page from one of several antisemitic children's books published by Julius Streicher's Der Stürmer-Verlag, used for indoctrinating youth. The text reads, "The Jewish nose is crooked at its tip. It looks like the number 6."
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Cover of an antisemitic German children's book titled Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow and No Jew on his Oath, published by Der Stürmer-Verlag (publishing company of Julius Streicher). Germany, 1936.
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Illustration from an antisemitic German children's book, Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom), used to indoctrinate children in the Nazi worldview. It was published in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1935. The caption to the image on the page shown here reads: "The Jewish nose is crooked, it looks like a 6."
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