“In Proverbiis Non Semper Veritas”: Reflections on the Reprint of an Antisemitic Proverb Collection

Abstract

Abstract: This article concerns the highly questionable 2016 reprint of Ernst Hiemer’s antisemitic proverb collection Der Jude im Sprichwort der Völker (1942, The Jew in the Proverbs of the People ). It begins with a glance at earlier antisemitic proverb collections while also reviewing some of the superb Yiddish and Jewish/Hebrew proverb collections and serious studies on this rich repertoire of proverbs. This is followed by a discussion of the misguided antisemitic publications of the nineteenth century that were precursors of even more slanderous and prejudiced collections that appeared during the time of National Socialism. It is shown that both traditional proverbs and invented pseudo-proverbs discrediting the Jewish population were used to manipulate public opinion in Nazi Germany by claiming that these proverbial stereotypes express absolute proverbial truths. A number of examples show that this campaign against the Jews is a clear indication that stereotypical proverbs can be extremely harmful and that they ultimately played a role in the Holocaust. Hiemer’s collection, published during the height of Nazi rule over Germany, is the most vicious antisemitic proverb compendium that should be a warning against such intentional misuse of stereotypical proverbs that have no truth value. Since it is available in libraries and on the Internet, it certainly should not have been reprinted for fear of fueling present-day antisemitism.