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Der Stürmer ("The Attacker") was a weekly Nazi newspaper published by Julius Streicher from 1923 to the end of World War II in 1945, with a brief suspension in circulation during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was a significant part of the Nazi propaganda machinery and was vehemently anti-Semitic. Unlike the Völkischer Beobachter, the official party paper which gave itself an outwardly serious appearance, the tabloid-style Der Stürmer often ran obscene materials such as pornography, mixed with extremely anti-Semitic caricatures and open, undisguised hate propaganda like accusations of blood libel.

After the war, Streicher was tried at the Nuremberg trials for crimes against humanity, for his role in inciting Germans to exterminate Jews through his publishing activities which was presented as evidence leading to his conviction and execution.

Racist Caricatures

Der Stürmer was most notorious for its anti-Semitic cartoons, most of which portrayed Jews as ugly characters with exaggerated facial features and misshapen bodies. Philipp Rupprecht, known as Fips, was one of the most well-known anti-Semitic cartoonists.

At the bottom of the title page there was always the motto "Die Juden sind unser Unglück!" ("The Jews are our misfortune!"); below its nameplate was the motto "Deutsches Wochenblatt zum Kampfe um die Wahrheit" ("Germany's Weekly Newspaper in the Fight for Truth.)"

• Caption: Why, for what purpose is the blood flowing? Behind the scenes, the Jew grins. That makes the answer clear: They bleed for the Jews. Caption: Why, for what purpose is the blood flowing? Behind the scenes, the Jew grins. That makes the answer clear: They bleed for the Jews.
• Caption: It occurs to me that little good comes from poison or from Jews. Caption: It occurs to me that little good comes from poison or from Jews.
• Caption: Infertile. They belong to the church, she belongs to Satan. Both are lost to the people. Caption: Infertile. They belong to the church, she belongs to Satan. Both are lost to the people.

Circulation

Most of its readers were young people and people from the lowest strata of German society. In 1927, it sold about 27,000 copies every week; by 1935, its circulation had reached around 300,000.

Hermann Göring forbade the Stürmer in all of his departments, and Baldur von Schirach banned it as a means of education in the HJ-hostels and other HJ-education facilities via "Reichsbefehl", i.e. Reich command (IMT vol. XIII/XIV).

Other senior Nazi officials — including Heinrich Himmler (Head of the SS), Robert Ley (Leader of the German Labour Front), and Max Amann (Proprietor of the Zentral Verlag, comprising 80 percent of the German press in 1942) — endorsed the publication. Their statements were often published in Der Stürmer. Albert Forster, Gauleiter of Danzig, wrote in 1937:

"With pleasure I say that the Stürmer, more than any other daily or weekly newspaper, has made clear to the people in simple ways the danger of Jewry. Without Julius Streicher and his Stürmer, the importance of a solution to the Jewish question would not be seen to be as critical as it actually is by many citizens. It is therefore to be hoped that those who want to learn unvarnished truth about the Jewish question will read the Stürmer".

Hitler considered Streicher's ‘primitive methods’ to be very effective in influencing the man on the street. He told a senior Nazi politician in the mid 1930’s that:

"Anti-Semitism … was beyond question the most important weapon in his propagandist arsenal, and almost everywhere it was of deadly efficiency. That was why he had allowed Streicher, for example, a free hand. The man’s stuff, too, was amusing, and very cleverly done. Wherever, he wondered, did Streicher get his constant supply of new material? He, Hitler, was simply on thorns to see each new issue of the Stürmer. It was the one periodical that he always read with pleasure, from the first page to the last".

During the war, the paper's circulation dropped because of paper shortages and the absence of Jews as a result of the Holocaust, as well as a falling-out Streicher had with many top Nazis.

References

• Imbleau, Martin. "Der Stürmer." Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Ed. Dinah Shelton. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 247-249. 3 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Thomson Gale.

• Digital NSDAP Documents: Der Stürmer: The Nazi Newspaper of Hate on CD-ROM http://www.digitalnsdapdocuments.com

• Wistrich, Robert. Who’s Who in Nazi Germany (Routledge, New York, 1995), q.v. Streicher, Julius.

• Bytwerk, R.L. Julius Streicher (Dorset Press, New York, 1983), p 59.

• O'Brien, Darren. The Pinnacle of Hatred: The Blood Libel and the Jews (forthcoming, 2006).

Headline text

• Caricatures from Der Stürmer
• Der Stürmer: "A Fierce and Filthy Rag"

• Nazi newspapers
• Propaganda examples