Antisemitic Hate Signs in Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts from Medieval Germany

Download or read book Antisemitic Hate Signs in Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts from Medieval Germany written by Ruth Mellinkoff and published by Jerusalem : Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This book was released on 1999 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rejects the widely-held theory that medieval artists distorted the human faces in Hebrew illuminated manuscripts due to anti-iconic attitudes of German Jewry. Presents the hypothesis that the illustrations were done by Christian artists under the supervision of Jewish scribes and for Jewish patrons. Concludes that artistic devices such as profile portrayal and animal features were antisemitic signs, whereby the artists expressed hatred and denigration. The animals chosen had negative connotations (e.g. asses and pigs). Another feature, closed eyes, suggested the "blindness" of the Jews. Further, human features were often distorted according to stereotypes (beaked noses) or deformed to the point of grotesque or demonic, suggesting that Jews were less than human. To the question of how the Jewish scribes and patrons overlooked such signs, responds that the "looking but not seeing phenomenon" operated in the past as it does in the present.