Treasure Trove: Trying to Stamp Out Antisemitism in 1937 by Hand

This stamp tells a story of allyship and the fight against antisemitism.  It could be something needed today, but it is from 1937.

Viennese born Irene Hand (1900-1975) was a human rights advocate and led a fight against antisemitism in her home country of Austria. For her efforts in resisting Nazi antisemitism she was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

Although Catholic herself, she was first exposed to antisemitism as a child when her two half cousins, who were Jewish, were taunted and had to return home for their own safety. This memory never left her.

In 1933 she wrote and published a pamphlet that challenged the widely held antisemitic tropes that Austrians hear from birth. The pamphlet and Harand’s other activities were reported on in the Neue Freie Presse, the Viennese newspaper that Herzl wrote for three decades prior, under the heading “A Woman’s Courageous Words Against Anti-Semitism.” She then started her own newspaper Gerechtigkeit (Justice) that busted antisemitic myths and attacked the Nazis. For the next five years the paper repeated weekly the central theme that antisemitism was a moral outrage not only to Jews but to Christian ideals and that Nazism would destroy Europe if it is not stopped.

She founded the Harand Movement (formally the World League Against Racial Hatred and Human Need). In 1935 she published her book Sein Kampf (His Struggle) challenging the Nazi theories in the book with a similar name. Harand found other ways to support the fight against antisemitism including a musical chorus of anti-Nazi young men and woman.

Another way used to spread her pro-Jewish message was in stamps such as these.  The Harand Movement created a series of stickers for use on envelopes, letters and documents which depict great Jewish thinkers, artists and scientists, portraying the contributions Jews have made to civilization over the centuries. 

This particular sticker depicting LL Zamenhof, the creator of the international language Esperanto, is part of a set created to respond to the antisemitic exhibition called “The Eternal Jew” that was mounted in Munich in 1938. Brave members of the movement plastered these stickers on the walls and displays in the Nazi exhibit.

This Zamenhof stamps says that the Esperanto language he invented serves international understanding and world peace. Irene Harand was dedicated to the same purpose. She was a strong ally who stood up for the Jewish people at great personal risk.  

When the Nazis invaded Austria in 1938, Harand was fortunately in England on a speaking tour, as she was on Himmler’s list of opponents, the Nazis considered her activities to be treasonable and there was a 100,000 Reichsmark bounty for her capture.

As we observe Yom Hashoah VeHagevurah (the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Heroism) starting at sunset on Monday April 13 let us remember the bravery of Irene Harand, and be inspired by her example.

To everyone in Israel that is still subject to missile attacks from Hezbollah or who have been displaced or traumatized by the last few months (or years) know that we are thinking of you and your bravery. Our hearts are with you and we pray that you will soon enjoy quiet, a good night’s sleep, and peace.

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“Large Stamps in the Fight Against Antisemitism” was the subject of #Herzlbreak Episode 7 which you can watch here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DN1TdCYXl-Y/?igsh=cW53N29qcG42OXB0

For more treasures from the Herzl and Zionism Collection of David Matlow, which has appeared weekly in the Treasure Trove column in the Canadian Jewish News (www.thecjn.ca) since February 2021, see https://herzlcollection.com/treasure-trove

Treasure Trove is a program of The Herzl Project.