Catalog of the antisemitic exhibition 'The Jew and France' - Paris, 1941

Catalog of the antisemitic exhibition 'The Jew and France' - Paris, 1941

Exhibition Le Juif et la France, au palais Berlitz [Exhibition "The Jew and France" at the Berlitz Palace]. Paris, 1941. The catalog of the antisemitic exhibition that was displayed at the "Berlitz Palace" in Paris between September 1941 and January 1942. Accompanied by photographs from the exhibition halls, and antisemitic exhibits that were displayed there, along with accompanying venomous captions and long "explanations" condemning the Jews.

The antisemitic exhibition 'The Jew and France' took place from September 5, 1941 to January 15, 1942 at the Berlitz Palace, located in the second district of Paris, near the Opera House. The event was funded and organized by the Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question (IEQJ Institut) which was established in May 1941 by the German propaganda ministry (Propagandastaffel) under the direct instruction of the Nazi occupier. The purpose of the Nazis was to influence the French people, to believe that their real enemy is the 'Jews', and no one else responsible for all the ailments of France. The exhibition was presented as an educational project inspired by the anthropology professor George Montendon's work "How to Identify the Jew" published in November 1940, and was intended to "help the French identify the Jew by his physical characteristics" and demonstrate "their general corrupt grip against the state". For this purpose were brought to the exhibition, antisemitic illustrations, photographs, and works of art to present to the French people the dangerous Jew under the guise of 'science'.  

The exhibition featured portraits of Jews with stereotypical faces with long noses, dirty hair, crooked Jews, etc., along with accompanying antisemitic captions (including portraits of famous Jews in the French public such as Wolf Levitan, radio journalist Jean-Michel Grunbaum, journalist Bernstein Pierre, Producer Bernard Nathan, politician Leon Blum, and others), All in order to bring to the public the danger that the Jews pose to France in its various territories: the army, the cinema, the economy, and literature. The shocking display that was displayed above the entrance gate to the exhibition was a Statue in the shape of a huge "Palm" of the Jew, threatening France. It was followed by a Statue of the Jew embracing the world in his arms, and above it a sculpture smashing it with the figure of a woman holding her son and symbolizing the 'new France' without the Jews.

The painting on the cover of the catalog showing the traditional Jew with the beard and tallit, with a greedy look, holds the earth in his arms and his hands are on France precisely, and threatens to take over the whole world by Rene Perron (well-known illustrator, author of many famous film posters since the 1930s and after the war), hung on the side of Berlitz Palace as a huge official poster of the exhibition - see attached slide. (This antisemitic figure was portrayed by the Jew in various publications as early as the 19th century. In 1901, the German 'Kikriki' presented a mythological monster in the form of a Jew embracing the earth in his arms. The Nazi campaigners used it to spread Jewish hatred, Repeatedly in the Nazi de Sturmer in the form of a Jew wrapping the earth in his arms). The typography of the word 'Jew' on the cover, written in red LE JUIF in broken letters is deliberately different from the word 'FRANCE' written in a normally cast and massive way.

In the venomous introduction to the exhibition catalog written by Paul Sezil (Secretary General of the IEQJ Institut), he writes: "The purpose of the Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question in the exhibition is to make the French aware of what has been hidden from them for over a century ... the effects of Judaism and the Jews on our country. The Jew has seized all the levers of control, seized a monopoly on our ten, and is responsible for the low morale to which our country has descended ... By exposing the depth of evil that has gripped us, we want to convince our people of the destructiveness of Jewish influence ... We want the visitors the exhibition to leave it with a sense of disgust towards those who are dishonest, and to move towards the goal that France will finally get rid of its Jews ... ". (A major antisemitic claim that appears in the booklet is the fact that since being a people the Jews did not have an independent state, and throughout history has been a foreign plant and parasite on the backs of other peoples) The catalog itself was written by the writer and journalist Jean Marks-Rivier. 

In the months that the exhibition took place, more than 200,000 people visited it, and after a few months it was also shown in Nancy and Bordeaux (for six weeks there more than 60,000 visitors visited).

Attached: A slide showing the large antisemitic poster hung on Berlitz Palace in the months of the exhibition, and other antisemitic exhibits.

32 pages, 25 cm. Stains, good condition.