Julius Streicher

Julius Streicher (February 12, 1885 – October 16, 1946) was a prominent Nazi prior to and during World War II. He was the publisher of the Nazi Der Stürmer newspaper, which was to become a part of the Nazi propaganda machine. The newspaper was controversial even in Nazi circles because of its pornographic obsessions and sensationalism. His publishing firm released three anti-Semitic books for children, such as the 1938 Der Giftpilz ("The Poison Mushroom"), one of the most widespread pieces of propaganda, which purported to warn about insidious dangers Jews posed by using the metaphor of an attractive yet deadly mushroom. After the war, he was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed.

Early life

He was born into a teacher's family in Fleinhausen, Bavaria, and worked as an elementary school teacher until joining the German Army in 1914. Streicher won the Iron Cross and reached the rank of lieutenant by the time the Armistice was signed in 1918.

Nazism

In 1919 Streicher was active in the Schutz und Trutz Bund, an anti-Semitic organization. In 1920 he turned to the newly established German Socialist Party (Deutschsozialistische Partei), which despite its name was a right-wing organization. His battles with other members led him to yet another anti-Semitic organization in 1921, the German Working Community (Deutsche Werkgemeinschaft), which hoped to unite the various anti-Semitic movements. In 1922, Streicher merged his personal following with that of Adolf Hitler, almost doubling the membership of the Nazi Party, and earning Hitler's lifelong gratitude. He participated in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, which later gave him the privilege of marching at the front of the annual reenactment of the event after the Nazi takeover of power in 1933.

In 1923 Streicher founded and edited the racist newspaper, Der Stürmer, which he used to build up a deep hatred of everything and everyone Jewish. Eventually the newspaper reached a peak circulation of 800,000.

Streicher argued in the newspaper that the Jews were responsible for the depression, unemployment, and inflation in Germany. He claimed that Jews were white-slavers and were responsible for over 90 percent of the prostitutes in the country.

After the refounding of the Nazi party, Streicher became Gauleiter of Franconia. After 1933, he practically ruled the city of Nuremberg and was nicknamed "The King of Nuremberg." In 1940, however, he was stripped of all party offices after being involved in major financial scandals involving Jewish property seized after the anti-Semitic outburst of Kristallnacht in November 1938, and also for spreading untrue stories about Hermann Göring. Streicher, however, remained on good terms with Adolf Hitler until the end of the dictator's life.

Trial and execution

Julius Streicher was found guilty of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and sentenced to death on October 1, 1946. During the trial the other defendants, who, to a man, despised Streicher, refused to have anything to do with him. His last words, before execution on October 16, 1946, were "Heil Hitler," and, "The Bolsheviks will get you," making him the only sentenced Nazi to declare this at the end. Streicher was not a member of the military and was not part of planning the Holocaust, the invasion of Poland, or the Soviet invasion. Yet his role in inciting the extermination of Jews was significant enough, in the prosecutors' judgment, to include him in the indictment. This decision is still debated because of its implications for speech and the press.

According to Dennis Bark and David Gress, A History of West Germany, vol.2, these were Streicher's last words before being hanged:

"Heil Hitler! Dies ist mein Purimfest 1946. Ich gehe zu Gott. Die Bolschewisten werden eines Tages Euch auch hängen." ("Heil Hitler! This is my Purim celebration 1946. I go to God. The Bolshevists will one day hang you, too.")

This last may be a reference to the defeat of Haman and the hanging of his ten sons, enemies and persecutors of the Jews, in the Book of Esther. The Jewish holiday Purim commemorates that event. It is believed that Streicher was making the observation that, likewise, ten contemporary enemies and persecutors of the Jews, himself included, were being hanged (the eleventh Nazi found guilty, Hermann Göring, had committed suicide the night before). By ironic coincidence, Streicher was indeed executed on a Jewish holiday, but a very different one --- Hoshanah Rabbah (Purim that year fell on March 17). It took 12 minutes of hanging till he died.

Influence

Streicher was considered by many observers to be a fanatic. Despite this his newspaper and his speaking tours made him one of the best known leaders in Nazi Germany.

Large amounts of material from Der Stürmer have found their way, together with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, into present-day outlets of anti-Semitic literature.

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