Polish websites found to be selling mugs displaying grotesque antisemitic stereotypes
Jewish groups have expressed their outrage at a number of Polish websites that have been found to be selling mugs featuring a well-known antisemitic image.
The mugs display caricatures of Jews with hunched shoulders and grotesque hooked noses who smirk malevolently while rubbing their hands. Critics have been quick to point out that they look similar to the well-known antisemitic “smirking merchant” meme.
The mugs are being sold in order to promote Teodor Jeske-Choiński’s book Poznaj Żyda (Meet the Jew), which describes Jews as a “parasitic tribe”.
First published in 1912, the book is now coming out in a new edition published by far-right media group Magna Polonia. The front cover of this new edition depicts this stereotyped Jewish figure in numerous forms, including a communist, a journalist, and an activist for LGBTQ rights, suggesting that a sinister cabal of Jews are secretly working behind the scenes in these ways, which is a classic antisemitic canard.
With antisemitism increasing worldwide, Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on antisemitic incidents globally.