Two issues of the antisemitic weekly Der Stürmer, founded by Julius Streicher – the most extreme and vicious antisemitic incitement newspaper of all time. Filled with articles and vicious, venomous antisemitic photographs. Germany, issues from February 1939.
Issue no. 6 from February 1939. Its headline: Schandprozess in Amerika – “The Disgraceful Trial in America – The Jews’ Great Hunt Against the Germans Abroad.” The cover story addresses a “disgraceful trial” that allegedly took place in America against six Germans, supposedly innocent, and is described as an anti-German conspiracy by Jews in the United States. It is reported that six Germans were accused and tried by a court in New York, apparently in connection with espionage activity, Nazi propaganda, or some form of criminal offense. The newspaper claims that the Jews – primarily through control of the media and the judicial system, initiated the trial in order to portray Germany as the source of evil and to generate negative global public opinion against it. To the right, there is an illustration of a Jewish lawyer, seemingly despairing and regretful over the alleged outcome of the act: “With our calls for war against Germany, we first mobilized the whole world against us, the Jews.” Inside pages feature numerous cartoons and articles against Jews. One page states that the German people are beginning to internalize the distancing from the Jews, and in many places signs are being posted such as: “Don’t buy from Jews” or “Attention, Jew!” beside Jewish-owned shops in Czechoslovakia, and more.
Issue no. 7 from February 1939. Its headline: Dank des Kronprinzen Und der Hohn des Juden – “The Crown Prince’s Gratitude and the Jew’s Mockery.” The image shows an ultra-Orthodox Jew (with a beard, glasses, tallit, and kippah) holding a ritual slaughter knife with a Star of David on it, handing it to a Christian clergyman who holds a cross and a Bible/New Testament. The caption reads: “The Jew is also glad to add the symbol of the cross to the handle of his slaughter knife, as this way he can slaughter non-Jewish humanity more easily – with the blessing of the Church.” A vicious antisemitic statement accusing Judaism of exploiting the Christian Church for the purpose of destroying non-Jewish humanity, using the imagery of ritual slaughter as a metaphor for murder. Throughout the issue are wild incitement articles and cartoons against Jews.
Der Stürmer (German: Der Stürmer, “The Attacker”) – an extreme antisemitic weekly that stood at the forefront of Nazi propaganda in the war against the Jews. The newspaper was founded in the spring of 1923 by Julius Streicher and was published until the end of World War II in 1945. Streicher was known as an especially fanatical and cruel antisemite, something that was clearly reflected in the content of his newspaper. Throughout its years of publication, the paper engaged in unrestrained antisemitic incitement, and it is considered the most extreme newspaper ever published against the Jews during the Nazi regime—and beyond. The newspaper’s style was crude, aggressive, and easy to understand. The articles were composed of simple, blunt propaganda statements that repeated themselves; antisemitic caricatures; antisemitic stories (some of which were aimed at younger readers – each issue included a serialized antisemitic story about “the Jewish merchant”); and photographs of Jews in ghettos accompanied by antisemitic slogans. As part of the aggressive antisemitic line adopted by the newspaper, it adopted as its motto the statement coined by Heinrich von Treitschke – “The Jews are our misfortune!” (in German: “Die Juden sind unser Unglück”). This slogan appeared at the bottom of the newspaper’s front page in every edition starting in 1927, and was also used by the Nazis at official gatherings. The newspaper’s peak circulation reached approximately 800,000 copies.
Complete issues. Good condition.
