Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides

1881

Trans-Atlantic Hebrew Line Political Cartoon

To escape religious persecution in Europe and Russia, waves of Jewish immigrants -depicted here with hooked noses - traveled to the United States toward the end of the nineteenth Century, a scenario depicted in this cartoon. Notice the words “the persecuted,” in quotes, nodding to a rising antisemitic sentiment and lack of sympathy toward their plight. Shortly after this cartoon was published, an organization called The Immigration Restriction League founded in Boston, with chapters across the country, based upon the belief that Jewish people were racially inferior.

Source

https://www.sutori.com/en/story/anti-immigration-political-cartoons--DfpN4SFeM2XWLeHHNdHHBDck

"New Trans-Atlantic Hebrew Line"
Published in the January 19, 1881 issue of the magazine Puck. Caricature showing crowded ship carrying Jewish immigrants. Wood engraving by F. Opper. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Use the Cartoon Analysis Worksheet as an activity.

The turn of the 20th century came at the height of a massive wave of Jewish immigration to the United States from eastern Europe.  It is estimated that around three million Jews landed on America’s shores in the period stretching from 1880 to 1924. They came fleeing the pogroms and antisemitism which had become rampant in their homelands, seeking a new life in a new world.

The 1909 card exhibited here along with its accompanying prasim (lithographic die-cut) cutout by Jacob Keller depicts two eagles in the sky: under the Imperial Eagle of the Russian coat of arms a group of impoverished, traditionally dressed Russian Jews, carrying their meager belongings, line Europe’s shore, gazing with hope and yearning across the ocean. Waiting for them are their richly dressed smiling Americanized relatives, whose outstretched arms simultaneously beckon and welcome them to their new home. Above them, an American eagle clutches a banner with a line from Psalms 91:4: “Shelter us in the shadow of Your wings.” [in Yiddish]

Follow-up Activity: How does the card and cartoon reflect different attitudes towards Jewish immigration to the United States in the period of 1880-1924?

Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs Division

1881

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Trans-Atlantic Hebrew Line Political Cartoon

"New Trans-Atlantic Hebrew Line" Published in the January 19, 1881 issue of the magazine Puck. Caricature showing crowded ship carrying Jewish immigrants. Wood engraving by F. Opper. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

"New Trans-Atlantic Hebrew Line"
Published in the January 19, 1881 issue of the magazine Puck. Caricature showing crowded ship carrying Jewish immigrants. Wood engraving by F. Opper. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.