ASSIGNMENT 3: ANALYZING NAZI PROPAGANDA

INTRODUCTION

This exercise asks you to analyze Nazi propaganda through the anti-Semitic publications of Julius Streicher.  It uses the superb web-site of Calvin College history professor Randall Bytwerk as a basic resource.

A German World War I veteran, Streicher became a key Nazi image-maker.  In 1923, he founded the weekly newspaper Der Sturmer.  Eventually reaching a circulation of 800,000, the journal sounded the tocsin of a presumed world Jewish conspiracy.  Contributors accused German Jews both of specific crimes, including ritual murder and sexual defilement, and of sapping the national will.  Streicher's publishing house also printed children's books and Nazi educational materials.  Streicher would be judged guilty of crimes against humanity by the Nuremberg Tribunal and was hanged on October 16, 1946.  At the moment before his death, he called out "Purim Festival, 1946!," an apparent reference to the holiday in which Jews celebrate their deliverance from Haman, a man who had called for their elimination but had himself instead been executed.

REQUIRED READINGS

a)  Toadstool:  A book that teaches children how to recognize the characteristics of the "poisonous mushroom" (ie. the Jew).  Click on individual frames for enlarged images.  Note also that many of the captions include links to stories from the book.

b)  Fritz Fink, "The Jewish Question In Education":  Selections from a pamphlet that encourages teachers to incorporate the "central problem of the National Socialist worldview" into every part of the curriculum.

c)  Cover Cartoons from Der Sturmer:

i)  Cartoons from 1928-1931

ii)  Cartoons from 1932-1944

d)  At least one of the following:

• Trust No Fox On His Green Heath And No Jew On His Oath:  Approximately 100,000 copies of this 1936 children's book, written by eighteen-year-old Elwira Bauer, were printed.

• Der Pudelmopsdackelpinscher: Selections from another's children's book published by Streicher.

• "The Guilty":  An article on the 1933 Reichstag fire.

• "Secret Plans Against Germany":  A July 1933 article that advocates Jewish genocide.

• "The End":  A 1935 story alleging Jewish seduction.

• "Mailbox":  1935 letters to the editor naming neighbours who associate with Jews.

• "The Sturmer's Readers":  A 1935 article that explains the reasons for the newspaper's seemingly strident language.

• "Madagascar":  A 1938 article by Julius Streicher about possible Nazi plans to transport Jews to Madagascar, at that time a French colony.

• "The Way To Slavery":  An editorial from Streicher published a month before the beginning of World War II.

• "Bolshevism And Synagogue":  The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union provides Streicher another opportunity to call for the destruction of the Jews in September 1941.

• "The Battle With The Devil":  In this September 1941 article by Julius Streicher, the American Theodore N. Kaufman's proposal to sterilize the German population is taken as proof that World War II must inevitably be a struggle to the death.

• "When Will The Jewish Danger Be Over":  The answer suggested to the title question in this 1942 article is that the danger will only disappear with the elimination of all Jews.

• "The Way To Action":  A 1943 article in which Streicher salutes Hitler for policies designed to fulfill the dream of a Jew-free world.

• "The Holy Hate":  A 1943 article by Ernst Hiemer that contrasts the "devilish" hate of Jews with the "holy" hate of the Nazis.

• "What Is Americanism?":  A 1944 article by Streicher in which he argues that the United States is dominated by "the influence of the Jewish spirit."

• "The Horror In The East":  Streicher's final editorial in February 1945.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

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