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Woodcut of an antisemitic board game with printed instructions

Object | Accession Number: 2016.184.370

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    Woodcut of an antisemitic board game with printed instructions

    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Print of a numbered playing board and Dutch instructions for a dice game, the New Jewish Game, printed in 1837. It was a variation on a game called Jeu de Sept, Merry Seven, or Glückshaus, which was common throughout Europe. It is played with two dice and many tokens. The dice are rolled and the value indicates the corresponding space to which tokens can be added or removed. The central space is numbered 7, which has the highest probability of being rolled, and depicts a man with a bushy beard, curly sidelocks, and a large, hooked nose; all stereotypical features commonly attributed to Jewish men. Tokens are only added, not removed, to the Jew’s space. This is the only regularly unlucky roll for players, and suggests how the Jew will always take money. The player who rolls a rare 12 collects the accumulated tokens on the board, and the player with the most tokens wins. Thus, the player's goal is to emulate the antisemitic stereotype of the greedy Jew hoarding, counting, or handling money, which originates from the economic and professional restrictions placed on early European Jews. They were barred from owning land, farming, joining trade guilds, and military service. These restrictions forced many Jews into occupations such as money changing or money lending. They were perceived as morally deficient, greedy, and willing to engage in unethical business practices. This canard was often visually depicted as a Jewish man expressing an exaggerated desire for or accumulation of money. The game board is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
    Title
    1837. Het Nieuwe Jooden-Spel
    Alternate Title
    1837. The New Jewish Game
    Date
    publication/distribution:  1837
    Geography
    publication: Amsterdam (Netherlands)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
    Markings
    front, top, title, black ink : 1837. / Het Nieuwe Jooden-Spel. [The New Jewish Game.]

    front, below image, black ink : Onderrigting, hoe men dit Spel moet spelen: / Dit Spel kan gespeeld worden door zoo veel Personen als / men begeert, met 2 Steenen. / Men werpt wie het eerst zal spelen. / Men bepaalt vooraf hoe veel ieder in de Pot zal zetten. / De JOOD wint alle zevens welke men gooit, aan wien / men dan moet geven zoo veel men vooraf bepaald heeft, het / zij één, twee of meer Centen, of andere Stukjes. / Alle Oogen die men gooit, moet men op de Nommer, / welke men gooit, één of meer Centen of andere Stukjes / opzetten, naar men bepaald heeft; en welke Oogen men / gooit, daar niets op staat, moet men opzetten, en als er wat / op staat trekt men er af; bij voorbeeld: men gooit 6 Oogen, / en de 6 op het Spel is ledig, moet men de bepaalde Centen / of andere Stukjes opzetten; wanneer dezelfde Persoon, of een / ander weder 6 gooit, zoo trekt hij het er af, en zoo / vervolgens met de andere Nommers. / Die 12 Oogen gooit heeft de Pot, en neemt alles wat de / JOOD heeft gewonnen, en wat verder op de Nommers staat. [Instructions how to play this Game: / This Game can be played by as many Persons as / one desires, with 2 dice. / One casts who will play first. / You determine in advance how much each will put into the Pot. / The JEW wins all sevens that one throws, to whom / one must then give as much as one has predetermined, be it one, two or more Cents, or other Pieces. / All Eyes that one throws, must be placed on the Nommer, / which one throws, one or more Pennies or other Pieces / as determined; and which Eyes one / throws, there is nothing on it, one must put on, and if there is some / on it, one pulls off; for example: you throw 6 Eyes, / and the 6 on the Game is empty, you have to put on the certain Cents / or other Pieces; when the same Person, or another, throws 6 again, he subtracts it, and so / then with the other Nommers. / Who rolls 12 Eyes has the Pot, and takes whatever the / JEW has won, and whatever else is on the Nommers.]

    front, bottom center, black ink : Te Amsterdam, bij H. MOOLENIJZER, Boekverkooper, op het Rokin, bij de Stads-Drukkerij. [In Amsterdam, by H. MOOLENIJZER, Book Sales Representative, at the Rokin, at the City-Printing shop.]
    Contributor
    Compiler: Peter Ehrenthal
    Publisher: Hendrik Moolenijzer
    Biography
    The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.

    Physical Details

    Language
    Dutch
    Classification
    Art
    Category
    Prints
    Object Type
    Relief prints (lcsh)
    Genre/Form
    Gameboards.
    Physical Description
    Woodcut print in black ink on discolored, off-white paper depicting the square board for a dice game with 11 numbered spaces and the rules printed beneath. The board resembles a square, stylized wooden picture frame with a square mat around a central circular image, both edged with decorative borders. On the left and right sides of the exterior frame are eight, evenly spaced, numbered circles, each with a scalloped frame and solid border. On the left, from the top, is 2-5; the right is 11-8. Centered above and below the inner image and flanked by leafy garlands, respectively, are a numbered trophy marked 12 and a circular frame with a numbered circle marked 6. Surrounding the central image is a square mat with a beaded frame and a circular, roped frame. In the central circle, a Jewish man with a stereotypically large, hooked nose and sidelocks, wears a slanted top hat (tzylinder) while sitting at a table marked with a number 7 on the tablecloth, in front of two windows. He looks to his left as his left hand points at two dice, and his right hand points toward his bearded face. In Dutch, the title is printed at the top and the instructions are printed in two columns below the board. There is a pencil marking in the lower left corner. The paper is creased, has discolored edges, and is backed for additional support. A triangular section is torn out of the center of the left edge.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 21.125 inches (53.658 cm) | Width: 18.000 inches (45.72 cm)
    Materials
    overall : paper, ink, pencil
    Inscription
    front, bottom left corner, pencil : 1

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Geographic Name
    Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The print was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Special Collection
    Katz Ehrenthal Collection
    Record last modified:
    2022-07-28 18:13:43
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn543900

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