Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Walking stick with a handle carved as a sorrowful Jewish man's head

Object | Accession Number: 2016.184.618

Search this record's additional resources, such as finding aids, documents, or transcripts.

No results match this search term.
Check spelling and try again.

results are loading

0 results found for “keyward

    Walking stick with a handle carved as a sorrowful Jewish man's head

    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Walking stick with a marled wooden crook handle carved in the form of a Jewish man's head attached to an oak shaft. European artisans commonly adorned everyday items such as ceramics, toys, and even walking sticks, with caricatures of Jewish faces. These walking sticks are examples of racial antisemitism becoming part of everyday life. This cane is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials.
    Date
    undated:  approximately 1850
    Geography
    creation: Germany
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
    Contributor
    Compiler: Peter Ehrenthal
    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

    Physical Description
    Finished, light brown wooden crook handle with marled maple like grain carved in the shape of a man's head attached to an oak shaft. The face has finely etched detailing: large, circular eyes with a sad, blank expression, beneath thick eyebrows with etched hairs and a furrowed forehead. Short, tightly spiraled, etched sidelocks extend from beneath a tilted kippah. He has lined cheeks, an oversized ridged nose with a plump tip, a long, thin, grooved mustache, and a protruding lower lip. The long, thick beard has etched lines of semi-circles over the curved top and a smooth, flat underside with a rounded tip that extends outward to create a finger grip. The neck curves at the back and angles down into a cylindrical stem. The stem is attached to a long, finished cylindrical oak shaft with a cone shaped, rusty, iron ferrule with an indented cap at the bottom.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 36.625 inches (93.028 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) | Depth: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm)
    Materials
    overall : wood, metal, varnish

    Rights & Restrictions

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

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The cane 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 18:13:49
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn545055

    Download & Licensing

    In-Person Research

    Contact Us