"Read the Book of Esther and you will know what the Jews want to do to you" - anti-Semitic poster. Munich, 1930

"Read the Book of Esther and you will know what the Jews want to do to you" - anti-Semitic poster. Munich, 1930

Ein Kapital aus der Bibel, "a chapter from the Bible" - a double-sided anti-Semitic poster calling on Germans to read the Book of Esther in order to understand the schemes that Jews are planning against Germany. Munich, 1930.

"Read the Book of Esther so that you know that the Jews are celebrating the massacre of 75,000 non-Jews". A particularly virulent anti-Semitic poster calling on Germans to read the Book of Esther, and even quoting the Book of Esther in its entirety, in order to incite the German population against the Jews who plan to do to them what they did to Haman. As an introduction, the writer quotes from Martin Luther's book "On the Jews and their Lies", which writes: "And all the worried Jews groan and miss and hope that they will be able to treat us Gentiles as they treated the Gentiles in Persia in the days of Esther... the vengeful bloodthirsty...". Then under the title "Germans read it" the announcer quotes the Book of Esther in its entirety while indicating the source - the Belgrade Bible published in 1913. And writes "Read it to your friends, to your family members because this is the book on which the festival of Purim celebrated by the Jews is based on". After the quote from the Megillah appears a long anti-Semitic section that reads, among other things: "Germans, what do you say about this? Notice how Mordechai behaves towards Haman and brazenly ignores the king's order! Germans, what do you think about the way Mordechai got up and behaves towards us again? And adds: "Germans, read the Bible, and check that the Book of Esther is indeed in it...". Alongside the words, the writer quotes an article written in the Viennese Jewish newspaper Neue Wiener Journal to show how the Jews are planning the defeat of Germany: "In the evening the Jews are going to celebrate with a feast and rejoicing Because the Gothic cathedrals are about to fall, and the German thunder will come to an end, the German lions will return to the deserts of Africa...", and more.

The Nazi propagandists used the story of the Book of Esther to incite hatred against Jews, both in posters like the one mentioned earlier and in Nazi newspapers and literature. Especially the Der Sturmer would occasionally publish anti-Semitic articles around the time of the Purim holiday, suggesting that Jews were celebrating their victory over the nations of the world. Throughout the 1930s, groups of Nazi SA members even went so far as to attack Jews during the Purim holiday following the incitement that was spread through all possible Nazi media.

[1] Leaf printed on both sides. 48x32 cm. Fold marks. Good condition.