Envelopes from the "Degenerate Art" Exhibition with Invitations to the Anti-Semitic Play "The Polish Jew." Berlin, 1938

Envelopes from the "Degenerate Art" Exhibition with Invitations to the Anti-Semitic Play "The Polish Jew." Berlin, 1938

Two envelopes with postmarks from the "Entartete Kunst" ("Degenerate Art") exhibition – Berlin, September to April 1938, with German Reich stamps. Inside each envelope is an invitation to the anti-Semitic play Le Juif Polonais ("The Polish Jew"). (The invitations are in French, possibly used as propaganda material for its presentation at the Degenerate Art exhibition in Berlin.)

The invitations feature an illustration of a scene from the play as well as the performance schedule. Handwritten inscriptions on the back provide details regarding the event's organization. 

The play Le Juif Polonais ("The Polish Jew") was written by Émile Erckmann and Louis-Alexandre Chatrian and was first published in 1867. The story is set in a small German village and revolves around Mathias, an innkeeper who seemingly leads a quiet life. However, it is revealed that he harbors a dark secret: years earlier, he murdered a wealthy Polish Jew named Wolf to steal his money. Wolf, the Polish Jew, is depicted as a mysterious and stereotypical figure who returns after his death as a vengeful ghost, reinforcing negative and fear-inducing associations with Jewish characters. The play was exploited by Nazi propaganda to spread anti-Semitic narratives.

The antisemitic exhibition Entartete "Kunst" ["Degenerate Art"], initiated and run by the German Reich Propaganda Office, opened in Munich in July 1937 and featured some 650 works by about 100 famous artists confiscated from museums and galleries throughout Germany [including Chagall, Monk, Matisse, and Kandinsky] in order to put them to ridicule in the eyes of the public. At the same time about 20,000 works of art found in public museums in Germany were sold or destroyed. The works were hung in the exhibition rooms in a chaotic crowded manner, and were accompanied by text labels that ridicule the art. The purpose of the exhibition was to show the public the 'decay of civilization' through original works of the human race, in the face of the great turning point in German works striving for a clean and progressive future. The Nazis called this art an "insult to German feelings." Degenerate art was defined as non-German, Jewish, or communist art in its character. The exhibition is designed to present everything that the Nazis perceived as corrupt, degenerate and perverted in modern art.

The exhibition traveled to several cities in Germany until 1941. It was accompanied by propaganda materials such as pamphlets, postcards and posters which created the antisemitic atmosphere within the framework of Nazi propaganda. Culturally, the exhibition was the culmination of the presentation of the Nazi 'enlightenment' and 'progress' in the face of the Jewish 'decay' that threatens to destroy the world in the field of art as well. The entry to the exhibition was free and was visited by over two million people during the years of its presentation. During the exhibition avant-garde German artists were now classified as enemies of the state and a threat to German culture. Many went into exile, others continued to live in Germany, but were banned from teaching at universities and the Gestapo would make surprise visits to them to make sure they were not engaged in art. Jewish artists who did not flee were sent to the extermination camps.

Identical envelopes measuring 19x13 cm. Identical invitations in size and design, measuring 14x10 cm. Very good condition.