Regardless of what Shakespeare 's authorial intent may have been , the play has been made use of by antisemites throughout the play 's history . The Nazis used the usurious Shylock for their propaganda . Shortly after Kristallnacht in 1938 , '' The Merchant of Venice '' was broadcast for propagandistic ends over the German airwaves . Productions of the play followed in Lübeck ( 1938 ) , Berlin ( 1940 ) , and elsewhere within the Nazi territory
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
The Merchant of Venice