The Image of the Enemy: Visual Manifestations of Antisemitism in the Czech Lands from the Middle Ages to the Present

Provider and number: NAKI II DG18P02OVV039

Duration: 2018–2021

Recipient/s: Institute of Art History, CAS

Principal investigator: Eva Janáčová

Research team: Jan Dienstbier, Jakub Hauser, Eva Janáčová

The project's goal is to research and evaluate the phenomenon of visual antisemitism in the Czech lands from the Middle Ages to the present. The first instances of Anti-Judaism or antisemitism occurred in the Czech milieu in the 12th century, followed by a number of unseemly excesses in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era. Modern Czech antisemitism took shape in the 1860s and culminated in connection with the Hilsner Affair at the turn of the 20th century. Following several outbursts during the Czechoslovak First Republic, antisemitism became openly manifest after the Munich Agreement and especially during the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In the 1950s, the Communist regime created a new Jewish enemy – Zionism and the state of Israel. After 1989, antisemitism has been most evident in the activities of neo-Nazi groups.

Visual forms of antisemitism have been and remain one of the most powerful means of awakening and maintaining dangerous racial stereotypes and prejudices. The project therefore aims to systematically analyze and interpret visual media which raised anti-Jewish and antisemitic topics and petrified their place in the public discourse by giving them a visual form in cooperation with both professional and amateur artists. The outcomes will be presented to the public in the form of a workshop, international conference, scholarly articles, publications and an exhibition accompanied by a critical catalogue.  

CEP