Julius Streicher : nazi editor of the notorious anti-semitic newspaper Der Stürmer

259 Pages·2001·12.66 MB·English

by  Bytwerk

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Nazi Editor of the Notorious Anti-Semitic
Newspaper Der Sturmer
Randall L. Bytwerk
by
with a new afterword
Eer Square Press
First Cooper Square Press Edition 2001
This Cooper Square Press paperback edition of Julius Streicher is an unabridged republication of
the edition published in New York in 1983, with fifty textual emendations and the addition of a new
afterword by the author. It is reprinted by arrangement with the author.
Copyright© 1983 by Randall L. Bytwerk
New afterword copyright© 2001 by Randall L. Bytwerk
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the
publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
Published by Cooper Square Press
An Imprint of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
150 Fifth Avenue, Suite 817
New York, New ¥ork 10011
Distributed by National Book Network
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bytwerk, Randall L.
Julius Streicher :Nazi Editor of the notorious anti-Semitic newspaper Der Sttlrmer I Randall L.
Bytwerk.-1 st Cooper Square Press ed.
p. em.
Originally published: New York: Stein and Day, 1983.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-8154-1156-7
I. Antisemitism-Germany. 2. Streicher, Julius, 1885-1946. 3. Stermer. 4. Germany
Ethnic relations. I. Title.
DS146.G4 898 2001
305.892'4043-dc21 2001028990
8""
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSUNISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
TO
Sharon Van Haitsrna Bytwerk,
"Heaven's last best gift,
my ever new delight"
Julius Streicher (far left) and Adolf Hitler at the 1927 Nuremberg Rally.
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
I: The Making of an Anti-Semite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II: The Bloody Czar of Franconia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
III: Der Sturmer: "A Fierce and Filthy Rag" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
IV: The German Anti-Semitic Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
V: Children of the Devil: Streicher's Image of the Jew ....... 101
VI: Fraud, Conspiracy, and Murder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
VII: The Worst Crime: Racial Defilement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
VIII: Solutions: Final and Otherwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
IX: A Poisoned Nation: The Impact of Der Sturmer . . . . . . . . . 171
X: The lllusion of Immunity .......................... 183
Afterword to the Cooper Square Press Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Appendix I: Three Sturmer Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Appendix II: Two Children's Stories from The Poisonous
Mushroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Notes ............................................ 221
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Index ............................................. 243
Illustrations between pages 77 and 100

Preface
Why did the Germans kill six million Jews? There are dozens of
books on what one might call the technology of the Holocaust, the
operation of the death camps, but far fewer on the forces that led a
civilized nation to commit, condone, or ignore genocide. Most Ger
mans, of course, had no part in the death camps, indeed did not know
that Jews were being annihilated by the millions. Yet almost all
Germans had seen the intensifying persecution of the Jews that began
in 1933. Few Germans had protested. Few Germans had been inter
ested in knowing where all the Jews had gone.
This book looks at part of what persuaded Germans to stand by
while their Jewish fellow citizens were persecuted-the anti-Semitic
propaganda of Julius Streicher, "World Jew-baiter No. 1," the most
vicious and prolific of the Nazi anti-Semites. Streicher and his like did
not persuade all or even most Germans to hate Jews. But they did
establish an attitude of indifference toward Jews without which the
Holocaust could not have occurred.
I owe thanks to many people who have helped me to write this
book. Professor Robert D. Brooks first interested me in the subject
and has given much help over the years. Professor David Zarefsky had
valuable advice. Northwestern University and Southern Illinois
University at Carbondale gave travel support. My colleagues of the
Department of Speech Communication at SIU made my work easier
by their example and good cheer. The book was finished during a
sabbatical semester provided by Southern Illinois University.
Librarians and archivists have made their usual quiet but essential
contributions. I owe particular thanks to the splendid staff at the
Wiener Library, and to the late Dr. Arnd Muller of Nuremberg,
whose guide to the Stiirmerarchiv saved me much work. The Hoover
Institution at Stanford University provided many ofthe illustrations.
Jim Jennings helped out with photography.
The editors of the Wiener Library Bulletin and Journalism History
gave permission to incorporate material into this book that originally
appeared in their journals, and the editor of the Christian Vanguard
allowed me to use material from his newspaper.
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