Julius Streicher

Streicher (1885-1946), a radical rightist leader of the early 1920s, later a Nazi and the Gauleiter of Franconia, was a rabid antisemite and a relentless antisemitic propagandist. Presents a brief political biography, followed by an examination of his anti-Jewish views and propaganda methods. Streicher's views, as divulged in his newspaper "Der Stürmer", included extreme racism and belief in racial defilement by Jews, a Jewish world conspiracy, and an inborn Jewish hostility toward Germany and the "Aryan world". Many negative traits that Streicher ascribed to Jews were actually his own: while ascribing lasciviousness and sadism to Jews, he was lascivious and sadistic himself. Streicher's propaganda was primitive; it appealed to the most simple instincts of his readers and was built on sexual imagery (hence Streicher's nickname, "Reichspornograph"). Many leading Nazis shunned Streicher and demanded that "Der Stürmer" be closed down; however, Hitler supported Streicher's paper. Notes that during the war Streicher's views on the Final Solution were inconsistent; e.g. at times he interpreted it as mass murder and at times as isolation of Jews on some remote island. "Der Stürmer" was highly popular in Germany and was translated and reprinted by right-wing radicals worldwide. Streicher's propaganda had a strong impact on the Germans, perceptibly influencing their behavior toward the Jews. Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-231) and index. 236 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm