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  1. Montreal Holocaust Museum
  2. Archiducatus Austriae
  3. Dreyfusard Cane

Dreyfusard Cane

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Dreyfusard Cane
Montreal Holocaust Museum · small copy hosted here: www.cjhn.ca blocks its images on other sites · full-size image ↗ · view and cite at source ↗

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Held by
Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
Level
item
Extent
Dreyfusard Cane : carved, screwed, varnished ; Ht: 4 cm x W: 11 2 cm x De: 90 1 cm
Scope & content
The wooden knob of this cane depicts a face with stereotypical features often attributed to Jews. This carved decorative element places the cane in the category of opinion canes. Towards the end of the 19th century, a number of ornamental objects intended for the wealthy class bore antisemitic and caricatural features. France was no exception. The cane was an essential accessory of men's attire until the 1930s. Among the many categories of decorated canes are 'opinion' or 'Dreyfusard' canes. These usually depict politicians or popular figures in a caricatured way. This wooden cane, donated to the museum by Dolores Rosen, is one of many examples. The Delores cane falls into the category of 'opinion' canes. This style echoes the Dreyfus Affair, which began in 1894 when Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew from Alsace, was unjustly convicted of spying and distributing important French documents to the German Empire. The conflict broke out, dividing the French society into two camps: the supporters of Dreyfus's innocence, the 'Dreyfusards', and their opponents, the 'Anti-Dreyfusards'. Delores Rosen and her husband Harry bought this antisemitic cane from an antique shop in Montreal. The cane comes from France and dates from the late 19th century. It features a carved head with caricatured features at its knob, a way of humiliating and dehumanizing Jewish communities. Its use shows that intolerance and antisemitism were present in France before racist laws were enacted and enforced by Nazi Germany and Vichy France.
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Genre / form
object
In the picture
CaricatureSculptureStill LifeWalking StickTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.
Harvested
2026-10-17T20:12:41Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn

Digital objects at the source

Original metadata as harvested (cjhn)