This is an anti-Nazi painting entitled The Ignominy of the Twentieth Century by the Italian-American artist Michael Califano. The painting depicts Professor Albert Einstein with a look of despair, facing Hitler with a raised and clenched fist. By Hitler’s side is a brown-shirted Stormtrooper and behind them is an arm supporting a sword from which blood is dripping. Written on the back of the postcard is the title that the artist gave to the picture, “The Ignominy of the Twentieth century” and a quote from Albert Einstein: “Neither hatred nor persecution can stay the progress of science and civilization.”
The painting was created as a protest against the attitude of Nazi Germany towards its Jewish inhabitants, including the scientific genius Albert Einstein. Nazi Germany became increasingly violent against its Jewish citizens in 1934, and the flagrant violation of their basic civil rights led to a wave of protests, this painting being one of them. Califano, an Italian immigrant to America, was not satisfied with just creating one large picture and produced color postcard copies of the painting which were distributed all over the United States. The painting and postcards were Califano’s way of thanking the Jewish community who had helped him when he was a new immigrant. Five million copies of the postcard were distributed, and Califano decided to donate the proceeds from the sale to Jewish refugees who had come from Germany to the United States.
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Albert Einstein – Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany in 1879. He studied at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, earning his doctorate in physics in 1905. He published landmark papers, and his theories earned him the Nobel Prize in 1921. In 1916 Einstein published his theory of relativity which radically changed the previously accepted theories based on Newtonian mechanics. During the 1920s he lectured around the world, including a visit to Israel where he gave the first scientific lecture at the Hebrew University. Einstein was an outspoken supporter of pacifism, Zionism, and the League of Nations. Following the Nazi rise to power, Einstein was stripped of his academic positions in Germany, his books were burned, and his name could not be mentioned in lectures. He immigrated to the United States in 1933, renounced his German citizenship, and never returned to Germany. In 1939, Einstein sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning him about the possibility of Nazi Germany building an atomic bomb. His letter sparked the Manhattan Project, which led to the United States producing the first nuclear weapons. In 1940 Einstein became an American citizen and a professor at Princeton. In 1952 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion offered Einstein the position of president of the State of Israel, but he declined the offer, stating that he “lacked both the natural aptitude and experience...I would be unsuited fulfill the duties of that high office.” Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey on April 18, 1955. He bequeathed his archive and the copyright to his works to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Michael Califano – Michael Califano immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1922. Although he was an accomplished painter who had won awards in Italy, Califano had become deaf during the First World War which led to his deportation on landing on Ellis Island. While detained, Califano painted a portrait of an 18-year-old girl who was detained with her mother. The painting became known to the US Secretary of Labor, who promptly released the artist. Califano opened a studio in New York and later in Washington, DC. He was always grateful to the Jewish community, who purchased his paintings and helped him make a living as an artist. He said that he painted The Ignominy of the Twentieth Century as an expression of his feeling and sympathy for the Jewish people.
