The Poison Mushroom Book

Phillipp Rupprecht (1900-1975) was born in Nuremberg, Germany. He served in the German Navy during World War I. In 1920, he left Germany for Argentina, where he worked as a waiter and cowboy for several years. In the mid-1920s, he returned to Germany and worked as a cartoonist for the Fränkischen Tagespost, a Socialist newspaper. After drawing a cartoon of the Lord Mayor of Nuremberg, Hermann Luppe, Rupprecht was hired as an illustrator for the antisemitic newspaper Der Stürmer, by Julius Streicher, publisher of the paper and a regional leader of the Nazi party. While there, Rupprecht worked under the pen name Fips and became known for his variations on the antisemitic stereotype of the bearded, bulging eyed, large-nosed Jew. In 1938, he illustrated the antisemitic children's book, Der Giftpilz (The Poison Mushroom), published by the Stürmer publishing house. He joined the German Navy in 1939, but was released to create propaganda for the Nazi party. Rupprecht stayed at the paper until the last issue was published on February 22, 1945, and his career ended with the defeat of Germany in May. After the war, Rupprecht was captured by the United States Army and held in the 7th Army Internee Camp #74 in Ludwigsburg, Germany. He was put on trial as part of the de-Nazification process and sentenced to six years hard labor. Rupprecht was released from Eichstätt prison on October 23, 1950. He married twice, had four children, and worked in Munich as a painter and decorator until his death. No restrictions on access Antisemitic children's book, Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom) acquired by Isadore Tuerk, a psychiatrist in Patton's 3rd Armored Division, in Gotha, Germany, circa May 1945. It has an anti-Jewish inscription in a child's handwriting and a stamp from a school library in Gotha. It was published by Der Stuermer Verlag, a division of the viciously anti-Jewish newspaper, Der Stuermer, published by Julius Streicher from 1923-1945. The illustrations are by Fips (Phillip Rupprecht), the paper's well known antisemitic cartoonist. Both men were arrested by the US Army in May 1945. Rupprecht was tried by a German denazification court and sentenced to six years hard labor. Streicher was tried by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, convicted, and executed per the ruling that his repeated articles calling for the annihilation of the Jewish race were a direct indictment to murder and a crime against humanity.