Antisemitic version

Van den vos Reynaerde (Of Reynaert the Fox) was an anti-Semitic children's story,
written by the Dutch-Belgian Robert van Genechten, and named after the medieval
Dutch poem. It was first published in 1937 in Nieuw-Nederland, a monthly
publication of the Dutch Nazi Party's front, the NSB. In 1941 it was published as a
book.
The story features a rhinoceros called Jodocus, somewhat akin to the Dutch word
jood; and a donkey, Boudewijn, who occupies the throne. Boudewijn, as King of
"Belgium", was the Dutch name for the contemporary real-world Belgian crown
prince. In the story, Jodocus is an outsider who comes to the Empire and subsequently
introduces new ideas that drastically alter the natural order. The land is then declared a
"Republic", where "liberty, equality and fraternity" are to be exercised. This dystopian
view of socialist republics fits the Nazi ideology on equality and liberty as something
degenerate: "There was no one who kept to the rules of the race. Rabbits crept into
foxholes, the chickens wanted to build an eyrie." Eventually, Reynard and the others
trick and kill Jodocus and his colleagues.[1]
Van den vos Reynaerde was also produced as a cartoon film by Nederlandfilm in
1943.[2] The film was mostly financed with German money. While lavishly budgeted,
it was never presented publicly, possibly because most Dutch Jews had already been
transported to the concentration camps and the film came too late to be useful as a
propaganda piece, possibly also because the Dutch collaborationist Department of
People's Information, Service and Arts objected to the fact that the fox, an animal
traditionally seen as "villainous", should be used as a hero.[3] In 1991, parts of the film
were found again in the German Bundesarchiv. In 2005, more pieces were found, and
the film has been restored. The reconstructed film was shown during the 2006
Holland Animation Film Festival in Utrecht and during the KLIK! Amsterdam
Animation Festival in 2008, in the Netherlands.[4]

1
Reynard the Fox and the Jew Animal by Egbert Barten and Gerard Groeneveld Archived June 18,
2006, at the Wayback Machine.
2
Animation World Network. "Reynard the Fox and the Jew Animal". Awn.com. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
3
Animation World Network (1996-10-01). "Reynard the Fox and the Jew Animal, page 6". Awn.com.
Retrieved 2012-02-20.
4
"Animaties over oorlog op filmfestival" (in Dutch). ANP.