LE COMPLOT JUIF CONTRE L'EUROPE! "The Jewish Conspiracy Against Europe". Huge antisemitic poster designed by: Abel (signed in red print at top right) published by Jan Acke, Filips van den Elzaslaan, Kortrijk. Belgium, 1941.
A large colorful poster depicting John Bull (representing England) shaking hands with Joseph Stalin (USSR), with the other hand dripping blood, The two stand on opposite sides of the European continent, Russia on the one side and England on the other, bathed in blood, allying as the Eastern European Jew is depicted above as the demonic figure behind the "Jewish conspiracy" to take over Europe through evil forces. The entire poster was printed in vivid colors with the Jew depicted solely in stark black-and-white with a scraggly beard, hooked nose, and Kippah. John Bull is a fictional figure symbolizing England similar to Uncle Sam for America, used by cartoonists like Thomas Nast in the 19th century and George Bernard Shaw in the early 20th. He is usually depicted as a short heavy-set man wearing a top hat, overcoat and flag patterned muffler. Stalin is a Bolshevik identified by his uniform and red star as he appeared in cartoons of the 1920s. Both Britain and USSR are distinctly recognizable and represented by the same blood red color. Besides mentioning the Jewish conspiracy, no other description is provided to allow the viewer to "draw their own conclusion" - Nazi Germany is not portrayed as the "counter-force" to the Jewish plot, but all of Europe is under threat, requiring an alleged "objective recruitment" to save the world from the Jew's scheme - a common trope used by Nazi propagandists. The poster aimed to spread the message Germany wished to convey - that occupied Europe did not fall under German rule but was rather liberated from its internal Jewish enemies through the German initiative. This also sent a message to occupied nations to cooperate with Germany whose goal was allegedly to "save" and not conquer Europe.
The poster was published in late 1941 as the German-Soviet non-aggression pact was broken by the German invasion of the USSR in "Operation Barbarossa" that summer, leaving the defeated Soviets and weakened British forced into an "unnatural" alliance between English money - London and international banking networks, and communist power. The poster rationalizes this unnatural alliance as the Jew's conspiracy to unite opponents contributing to the success of the scheme. Since the 1920s Hitler denounced the Soviet Union as the stronghold of the Jewish Bolshevik conspiracy threatening Germany's security, and the plan to attack the USSR was set in motion by 1940. Hitler's "New Order" presents itself as protecting Europe from the Jewish connection that threatens to unite even opposing forces in the European arena in order to succeed in its plot. The Nazi conquest of Europe is portrayed here as a positive act aimed at eradicating the internal Jewish threat through the "Final Solution" decided at the 1942 Wannsee Conference - total extermination. The poster was part of an overall campaign meant to further mass recruitment into the Waffen SS to fight Bolshevism on the Eastern Front.
See additional details on this poster at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum record No. 2016.184.420 under the title "Poster of John Bull and Stalin joining the Jewish conspiracy".
110x81 cm. Mounted on cotton backing for display and preservation. Light fold marks. Poster preserved in good - very good condition, emitting a faint mold smell likely from long storage in a damp warehouse.
