Der ewige Jude

Der ewige Jude was an exhibit featuring what the Nazis deemed to be “degenerate art” that traveled all over Germany and Austria. Depending how you translate the phrase der ewige Jude, it could mean “the wandering Jew” or “the eternal Jew.” Photographs featured in the exhibit identified typical “Jewish” features. The clothes they wore, facial and racial characteristics, religious items, and culture, were all shown in a very negative light. It also included so-called entartete Kunst (degenerate art) by Jewish and other sculptors and painters.

This postcard acted as an announcement of the opening of the exhibit and became the symbol for the show. It depicts a Jew with a hand out asking for money, we see the black coat (kaputa) and the sidelocks (payot) the traditional dress of the ultra-orthodox European Jew.The letters are in a Hebrew-like font in red to symbolize the blood libel, a slanderous myth related to Passover that was used to justify persecution of Jews starting in the Middle Ages. The map of Russia with the hammer and sickle links the Jews with Communism.

A very popular collecting area for stamp collectors is souvenir cancels, which commemorate an event. For many events, the postal authorities create a special cancel just for that event. Collectors will have a cover cancelled for their own collection or to send to other collectors. The following is an example of a souvenir cancel from Der ewige Jude.

This souvenir cancel, from when the exhibition was in Berlin, is dated November 13, 1938. In this case the collector had the stamp cancelled and placed the cover in his collection, rather than sending it through the mail.

This cover was addressed to a collector and has a souvenir cancel dated August 26, 1938, when the exhibit was housed in Vienna, Austria.


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