Holocaust History Archived Page

"The Eternal Jew"
November 1937

On November 8, 1937, antisemitism was already on the rise.  The “Eternal Jew”, the largest pre-war antisemitic exhibit, opened in Munich, Germany.  This exhibit served as propaganda for the Nazi regime.  It was not a flattering exhibit and pointed out “Jewish features” and other ways to identify Jews from a crowd.  The exhibit made strong correlations between Jews and their efforts to bolshevize Germany.  These statements were untrue.

The exhibit ran until January 31, 1938.  In this brief amount of time almost a half a million visitors came to the exhibit – at a rate of almost 5000 per day.  This exhibit was designed to propagate hatred and show the Jewish people in a bad light.

This exhibit traveled to Vienna August 2 through October 23, 1938, and then to Berlin from November 12, 1938 through January 31, 1939.

In 1940, a short film of the same name was produced by the Nazi party. The film was done in the style of a documentary, and depicted Jews as parasites and vermin.



Picture: Nazi officials in attendance at the opening of "The Eternal Jew" exhibition in Munich, view a segment entitled, "Jewish dress was a warning against racial defilement." To the left is a segment entitled, "Usury and the fencing of goods were always their privilege." [Photograph #44201] Courtesy USHMM