THE CHOSEN CREATURES: HOW ANIMAL JUXTAPOSITIONS IN ANTISEMITIC PROPAGANDA CONTRIBUTED TO INSTITUTIONALIZED OTHERNESS

Sammanfattning: This paper discusses how anthropomorphic animals have been used in depicting Jews in antisemitic art and propaganda imagery since the late High Middle Ages until the first half of the 20th century. It sheds light on why certain animal species were chosen to symbolize Jews, and categorizes the animals into three groups: creatures taken from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish folklore inspired by it, animals presented in secular and pagan folklore influenced by legends from Ancient Greece and Rome, and the “anti-charismatic” fauna. It explains how comparisons between people and animals are taken advantage of when justifying exploitation of both people and animals, and shows how animal motifs are a central, recurring theme in antisemitic contexts. The research for the paper has been carried out through studying animal motifs in images and descriptions of ecclesiastical art, secular folk art, medieval bestiaries, and Jewish folklore, such as the animal fables in the talmudic and midrashic literature. The aim has been to provide possible explanations as to why and how certain animal species (like the swine and the goat) have made their way into antisemitic imagery in European visual art and printed media.