Russian Polish Jew
Greetings from Russian Poland. Russian Polish Jew (Homo Profitus). Russian Polish Louse. Published by Preiss & Kassler, Berlin. Posted on 14 July 1915.
The portrait of a Polish Jew on this card is by Ferdinand Preiss. In and of itself, not only is it not in the least bit offensive, it is in fact rather touching. It is the designation as “homo profitus” and the implied equation with the “Russian Polish louse” that clearly reveals the card’s antisemitic intent. This dissonance between what is actually portrayed and the interpretation it is given is by no means uncommon. When antisemites observe Jews, they almost invariably “see” any number of fantastical things that are, by any verifiable standard, not there. Preiss (1882–1943) was an artist who worked primarily with ivory and whose works were and still are—with the exception of his largely unknown antisemitic graphic productions—highly sought after. He established Preiss & Kassler with his business partner Arthur Kassler who took care of the commercial side of the enterprise, in 1906. It is worth noting the contrast that emerges between antisemitic propaganda of this kind that was being sent via Berlin to German soldiers serving on the eastern front, on the one hand, and the rather more positive and empathetic coverage by quite a few of the army’s official photographers and hobby photographers among the soldiers, on the other.
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