Der Stürmer

  

Photo of front page of Der Stürmer, dated May 1934, which is on permanent display at the Jewish Museum, Berlin. Subject matter is the Blood libel against Jews. Accompanying text reads:

"Der Stürmer, a weekly magazine published by Julius Streicher, was the most vile anti-Semitic publication of the National Socialist period. This special edition was dedicated to the practice of ritual murder ascribed to the Jews. The authors presented their prejudices as fact in order to intensify anti-Semitic hatred towards the 'murderers of Christ.' This accusation, which emerged in the Middle Ages, maligned Jews as 'murderers' of Christian children for ritualistic purposes. Der Stürmer attempted to keep this old prejudice alive by citing alleged current examples"

Der Stürmer (pronounced [deːɐ̯ ˈʃtʏʁmɐ], lit. "the Attacker") was a weekly tabloid-format Nazi newspaper published by Julius Streicher (a prominent official in the Nazi Party) from 1923 to the end of World War II, with brief suspensions in publication due to legal difficulties. It was a significant part of Nazi propaganda and was vehemently antisemitic. Unlike the Völkischer Beobachter (translatable as The People's Observer), the official party paper which gave itself an outwardly serious appearance, Der Stürmer often ran obscene material such as antisemitic caricatures of Jews and accusations of blood libel, plus sexually explicit, anti-Catholic, anti-Communist, anti-capitalist and anti-monarchist propaganda also too.

The newspaper originated at Nuremberg during Hitler's attempt to establish power and control. During the struggle to achieve power, Streicher was accused by the opposition of the Nazi party as being "a liar, a coward, of having unsavory friends, mistreating his wife and of flirting with women". Despite the accusations, the first copy of Der Stürmer was published April 20, 1923. Der Stürmer’s circulation grew over time, distributing to a large percentage of the German population as well as Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

Between August 1941 and September 1944, Streicher authorized articles demanding the annihilation and extermination of the Jewish race. After the war, he was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed.