Bidspirit auction | (ANTISEMITICA. SWITZERLAND). Ab de Schiene

(ANTISEMITICA. SWITZERLAND). Ab de Schiene d'Bundesbahn Chunt! [“Get off the Rails, the National Railway is Coming… (Vote) Yes!”] Lithographed poster. Folds, couple of short tears. 14 x 19 inches (34.5 x 48.5 cm). Bern, 1898.     Electoral poster concerning the formation of the Swiss Federal Railways (Bundesbahn), a highly controversial decision that engulfed Switzerland as the 19th century was drawing to a close.     Employing obvious anti-Semitic motifs, the poster demonstrates support for the nationalization of the Swiss railways.     The Swiss national government, represented by Bern’s heraldic symbol the Bear, clears from the tracks the speculators and profiteers of the private rail companies. These “robber-barons” are ushered back to their ‘Temple of the Golden Calf’ where ‘High Interest is the Greatest Value.’ At the Bear’s feet, a crude stereotyped Jewish businessman presents Bern with a contract to purchase Switzerland’s three largest rail companies - at preposterous rates.     Famed today for its efficiency, Switzerland’s railways evolved from humble beginnings. Entirely privatized and carefully designed by respective owners to avoid direct competition with each other, operators charged passengers high rates, underinvested in their lines, while simultaneously demanding large bailout payments from the Federal government in order to maintain service.     The beneficiaries of such operations were widely perceived to be not the public, but elite businessmen in Zurich, Frankfurt and London. While Jewish involvement in these matters was not particularly noteworthy, fanning already popular anti-Semitic perceptions only furthered the propagandist’s purposes.     The referendum, held on 20th February 1898, passed with almost 70% of voters in favor of nationalization. Over the next decade SBB (Schweizerische Bundesbahn) bought up the private rails for a total of some one billion Swiss Francs, a price that became a controversy unto itself.