A most extraordinary exhibition opened January 5th 2012 at the Hechal Shlomo Museum of Jewish Art in Jerusalem. The name of the exhibition is “The Eternal Jew”. The subject of the exhibition is very special; something that was kept discreetly under the rug for over 60 years: “The Jew in Anti-Semitic Art”. The catalogue of the collection is a 200 page colored, illustrated book composed of photographs and scholarly descriptions of 573 items.
On exhibit are 200 selected objects, paintings, posters and graphics presented
in an elegant framework. This collection of fantastic anti-Semitic art was assembled
for over 30 years by Mr. Peter Ehrenthal, an antique Judaica gallery owner in New York.
The opening of the exhibition on January 5th 2012 took place at Hechal Shlomo (standing room only) in the presence of Israeli Knesset member Zvulun Orlev, academia, among them Professor Dina Porat (principal historian of Yad Vashem and professor of anti-Semetica at Tel Aviv University ); Rabbi Professor Daniel Sperber (President of Judaic studies at Bar-Ilan University); Professor Shalom Tzabar from Hebrew University Jerusalem, and Professor Irving Kutler (former minister of Justice of Canada and head of the Parliament Committee for the fight against Anti-Semitism. All of them also participated in giving relevant speeches.
The viewing of the exhibition left everyone with a very deep impression and the consensus was that this is a very educational tool and most relevant in showing the effect that anti-Semitic propaganda had on the Christian mind in Europe and to a lesser degree in the US. The outcome of this brainwashing of the Christian mind was the tolerance of the abject persecution and finally the extermination of the greater part of
the Jewish population of Europe.
On December 23rd 2011, an article in the NY Times by Ms. Eve M. Kahn commented on the exhibition and the catalogue. Quoting one sentence: ‘Anti-Semitic propaganda used to be mass produced and available in the guise of home accessories, manufactured in Europe and the US, which caricatured Jews as shabby, greedy and menacing. Peter Ehrenthal, a Judaica dealer in Manhattan, has assembled about 600 anti-Semitic artifacts ranging from somewhat jokey to appalling’.
On December 23rd 2011, an article in the NY Times by Ms. Eve M. Kahn commented on the exhibition and the catalogue. Quoting one sentence: ‘Anti-Semitic propaganda used to be mass produced and available in the guise of home accessories, manufactured in Europe and the US, which caricatured Jews as shabby, greedy and menacing. Peter Ehrenthal, a Judaica dealer in Manhattan, has assembled about 600 anti-Semitic artifacts ranging from somewhat jokey to appalling’.
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