Julius Streicher

(1885-1946)

Streicher's Career and Positions
Streicher's Part in the Removal of Opposition Through Anti-jewish Propaganda and Incitement
     The Ant-Jewish Boycott of 1933
     "Ritual Murder" Propaganda
     The Anti-Jewish demonstrations of November 1938
     Perversion of Youth
Streicher's Use of His Authority as Gauleiter in the Service of the Conspiracy
Conclusion

Through his words and his deeds Julius Streicher assumed for himself the unofficial title of "Jew-baiter Number One" of Nazi Germany. For the course of some twenty-five years, Streicher educated the German people in hatred and incited them to the persecution and to the extermination of the Jewish race. He was an accessory to murder, on a scale perhaps never attained before.

A. STREICHER'S CAREER AND POSITIONS.

Streicher was born in 1885. He became a school teacher in Nurnberg and formed a party of his own, which he called the German Socialist Party. The chief policy of that party was anti-semitism. In 1922 he handed over his party to Hitler, who wrote a glowing account of Streicher's generosity in Mein Kampf (M-3)

The appointments which Streicher held in the Party and state were few. From 1921 until 1945, he was a member of the Nazi Party. In 1925 he was appointed Gauleiter of Franconia, and he remained until about February 1940. From the time that the Nazi government came into power in 1933 until 1945 he was a member of the Reichstag. In addition to that, he held the title of Obergruppenfuehrer in the SA (2975-PS).

The propaganda which Streicher carried out throughout those years was chiefly done through the medium of his newspapers. He was the editor and publisher of "Der Stuermer' from 1922 until 1933, and thereafter the publisher and owner of the paper. In 1933 he also founded and thereafter published a daily newspaper called the "Fraenkische Tageszeitung."

In addition, in later years he published several other papers, mostly local journals, from Nurnberg.

B. STREICHER'S PART IN THE REMOVAL OF OPPOSITION THROUGH ANTI-JEWISH PROPAGANDA AND INCITEMENT.

The course of Streicher's incitement and propaganda may be traced more or less in chronological order by referring to short extracts from "Der Stuermer." The extracts which follow were selected at random. They were selected with a view to showing the various methods which Streicher employed to incite the German people against the Jewish race, but his newspapers are crowded with them, week after week, day after day. It is impossible to pick up any copy without finding the same kind of invective and incitement in the headlines and in the articles.

In a speech which Streicher made in 1922 in Nurnberg, after abusing the Jews in the first paragraph, he went on to say:

"We know that Germany will be free when the Jew has been excluded from the life of the German people." (M-11).

In a speech in 1924 he stated:

"I beg you and particularly those of you who carry the cross throughout the land to become somewhat more serious when I speak of the enemy of the German people, namely, the Jew. Not out of irresponsibility or for fun do I fight against the Jewish enemy, but because I bear within me the knowledge that the whole misfortune was brought to Germany by the Jews alone.

"I ask you once more, what is at stake today? The Jew seeks domination not only among the German people but among all peoples. The communists pave the way for him. Do you not know that the God of the Old Testament orders the Jews to consume and enslave the peoples of the earth?

"The government allows the Jew to do as he pleases. The people expect action to be taken. You may think about Adolf Hitler as you please, but one thing you must admit. He possessed the courage to attempt to free the German people from the Jew by a national revolution. That was action indeed." (M-12).

In a speech in April 1925 Streicher declared:

"You must realize that the Jew wants our people to perish. That is why you must join us and leave those who have brought you nothing but war, inflation, and discord. For thousands of years the Jew has been destroying the nations. Let us make a new beginning today so that we can annihilate the Jews." (M-13)

This appears to be the earliest expression of one of the conspirators' primary objectives -- the annihilation of the Jewish race. Fourteen years later it became the official policy of the Nazi Government.

In April 1932 Streicher made the following statement:

"For 13 years I have fought against Jewry."

*******

"We know that the Jew whether he is baptized as a Protestant or as a Catholic, remains a Jew. Why cannot you realize, you Protestant clergymen, you Catholic priests, you who have scales before your eyes and serve the god of the Jews who is not the God of Love but the God of Hate. Why do you not listen to Christ, who said to the Jews, 'You are children of the devil'." (M-14).

(1) The Ant-Jewish Boycott of 1933.

When the Nazi Party came to power, they officially started their campaign against the Jews by the boycott of 1 April 1933. The boycott was agreed on and approved by the whole government, as appears from Goebbel's diary (2409-PS).

Streicher vas appointed the chairman of the central committee for the organization of that boycott. He started his work on Wednesday, 29 March (2156-PS).

On that same day the central committee issued a proclamation announcing that the boycott would start on Saturday at 10:00 -AM sharp:

"Jewry will realize whom it has challenged." (M-7).

On 30 March, two days before the boycott was due to start, an article was published under the title, "Defeat the Enemy of the World !by Julius Streicher, official leader of the central committee to combat the Jewish atrocity and boycott campaign" (2153-PS). The article stated, in part:

"Jewry wanted this battle. It shall have it until it realizes that the Germany of the brown battalions is not a country of cowardice and surrender. Jewry will have to fight until we have won victory.

"National Socialists! Defeat the enemy of the world. Even if the world is full of devils, we shall succeed in the end." (2153-PS) .

As head of the central committee for that boycott, Streicher outlined in detail the organization of the boycott in orders which the committee published on 31 March 1933 (2154-PS). The committee stressed that no violence should be employed against the Jews during the boycott, but not for humanitarian reasons. The order was issued because, if no violence were employed, Jewish employers would have no grounds for discharging their employees without notice, and for refusing to pay them any wages. The Jews were also reported, apparently, to be transferring businesses to German figureheads in order to alleviate the results of this persecution; accordingly the committee declared that any property so transferred was to be considered as Jewish for the purpose of the boycott (2154-PS).

It is therefore clear that early in 1933 Streicher was taking a leading part, as appointed by the Government, in the persecution against the Jews.

Further extracts from Streicher's newspapers illustrate the form which his propaganda developed as the years went on. An article in the New Year's issue of a new paper founded and edited by Streicher -- a semimedical paper called "The People's Health Through Blood and Soil" -- is an example of the remarkable lengths to which he went in propagandizing against the Jews:

"It is established for all eternity; alien albumen is the sperm of a man of alien race. The male sperm in cohabitation is partially or completely absorbed by the female, and thus enters her bloodstream. One single cohabitation of a Jew with an Aryan woman is sufficient to poison her blood forever. Together with the alien albumen she has absorbed the alien soul. Never again will she be able to bear purely Aryan children, even when married to an Aryan. They will all be bastards, with a dual soul and a body of a mixed breed. Their children will also be crossbreeds; that means, ugly people of unsteady character and with a tendency to illnesses. Now we know why the Jew uses every artifice of seduction in order to ravish German girls at as early an age as possible; why the Jewish doctor rapes his patients while they were under anaesthetic. He wants the German girl and the German woman to absorb the alien sperm of the Jew. She is never again to bear German children. But the blood products of all animals right down to the bacteria like the serum, lymph, extracts from internal organs etc., are all alien albumen. They have a poisonous effect if directly introduced into the blood stream either by vaccination or by injection. By these products of sick animals the blood is ravished, the Aryan is impregnated with an alien species. The author and abettor of such action is the Jew. He has been aware of the secrets of the race question for centuries, and therefore plans systematically the annihilation of the nations which are superior to him. Science and authorities are his instruments for the enforcing of pseudo-science and the concealment of truth." (M-20).

At the beginning of 1935, the following extract, entitled "The Chosen People of the Criminals," appeared in "Der Stuermer":

" *** and all the same, or, let us say, just because of this, the history book of the Jews, which is usually called the Holy Scriptures, impresses us as a horrible criminal romance, which makes the 150 penny-dreadfuls of the British Jew, Edgar Wallace, go green with envy. This 'holy' book abounds in murder, incest, fraud, theft, and indecency." (2697-PS).

In a speech on 4 October 1935 (the month following the proclamation of the Nurnberg Decrees) Streicher made a speech which is reported in the Voelkischer Beobachter and is entitled in that newspaper "Safeguard of German Blood and German Honor." The report in that article reads in part:

"Gauleiter Streicher speaks at a German Labor Front mass demonstration for the Nurnberg laws."

*******

"We have therefore, to unmask the Jew, and that is what I have been doing for the past fifteen years." (M-54).

In a leading article in "Der Stuermer" Streicher again emphasized the part which he himself had taken in this campaign:

"The 'Stuermer's' 15 years of work of enlightenment has already led an army of those who know -- millions strong -- to National Socialism. The continued work of the 'Stuermer' will help to ensure that every German down to the last man will, with heart and hand, join the ranks of those whose aim it is to crush the head of the serpent Pan-Juda beneath their heels. He who helps to bring this about helps to eliminate the devil, and this devil is the Jew." (M-6).

The extraordinary length to which Streicher went in his propaganda is illustrated by the publication in "Der Stuermer" of a photograph of the burning hull of the airship "Hindenburg, which caught fire in June 1937 in America. The caption beneath the picture includes the comment:

"The first radio picture from the United States of America shows quite clearly that a Jew stands behind the explosion of our airship Hindenburg. Nature has depicted clearly and quite correctly that devil in human guise."

Although it is not clear from that photograph, the meaning of that comment is apparently that the cloud of smoke in the air is in the shape of a Jewish face.

In a speech in September 1937 at the opening of the Wilhelm Gustloff bridge in Nurnberg, Streicher declared:

"The man who murdered Wilhelm Gustloff had to come from the Jewish people, because the Jewish text books teach that every Jew has the right to kill a non-Jew, and, indeed, that it is pleasing to the Jewish God to kill as many non-Jews as possible.

"Look at the way the Jewish people have been following for thousands of years past; everywhere murder, everywhere mass murder. Neither must we forget that behind present-day wars there stands the Jewish financier who pursues his aims and interests. The Jew always lives on the blood of other nations; he needs such murder and such victims. For us who know, the murder of Wilhelm Gustloff is the same as ritual murder."

"It is our duty to tell the children at school and the bigger ones what this memorial means."

*******

"The Jew no longer shows himself among us openly as he used to. But it would be wrong to say that victory is ours. Full and final victory will have been achieved only when the whole world has been rid of Jews." (M 4)

Extracts from the correspondence columns of "Der Stuermer," show another method which Streicher employed in his propaganda (M-26; M-27; M-28). The correspondence columns of every issue are full of purported "letters" from Germans protesting that some German has been buying shoes from a Jewish shop, etc., thus by printing these letters assisting in the general boycott of the Jews.

(2) "Ritual Murder" Propaganda.

Another form of propaganda employed by Streicher concerned the "Ritual Murder." Sometime in 1934 "Der Stuermer" began publishing accounts of Jewish ritual murder which horrified the whole world to such an extent that even the Archbishop of Canterbury, together with people from every country in the world, protested that any government should allow such matter to be published in their national newspapers.

Streicher based his ritual murder propaganda on a medieval belief that during their Eastertide celebrations the Jews were in the habit of murdering Christian children. Streicher misrepresented this medieval belief to make it appear that not only was this done in the Middle Ages, but that the Jews are still doing it and still want to do it. A few passages from "Der Stuermer" together with descriptions of photographs published therein will illustrate the type of propaganda that Streicher was putting out concerning "ritual murder":

"This the French front-line soldier should take with him to France: The German people have taken a new lease of life. They want peace, but if anyone tries to attack them, if anyone tries to torture them again, if anyone tries to push them back into the past, then the world would see another heroic epic; then heaven will decide where righteousness lies -- here, or where the Jew has the whiphand and where he instigates massacres, one could almost say the biggest ritual murders of all times. If the German people are to be slaughtered according to the Jewish rites, the whole world will be thus slaughtered at the same time."

*******

"As you have drummed morning and evening prayers into your children's heads, so now drum this into their heads, so that the German people may gain the spiritual power to convince the rest of the world which the Jews desire to lead against us." (M-2).

A photograph published in "Der Stuermer" in April 1937 purports to show three Jews ritually murdering a girl by cutting her throat, with the blood pouring out into a bucket on the ground The caption underneath that photograph is as follows:

"Ritual murder at Polna. Ritual murder of Agnes Hruza by the Jews Hilsner, Erdmann, and Wassermann, taken from a contemporary postcard.

Another article in "Der Stuermer", in April 1937, describes what is alleged to happen when ritual murder takes place, and the blood is mixed with the bread and drunk by the Jews in their feast. During the feast the head of the family is supposed to explain:

"May all gentiles perish -- as the child whose blood is contained in the bread and wine." (2699-PS).

An article in "Der Stuermer" for July 1938 has these further remarks to make on "ritual murder":

"Whoever had the occasion to be an eye-witness during the slaughtering of animals or to see at least a truthful film on the slaughtering-will never forget this horrible experience. It is atrocious. And unwillingly, he is reminded of the crimes which the Jews have committed for centuries on men. He will be reminded of the ritual murder. History points out hundreds of cases in which non-Jewish children were tortured to death. They also were given the same incision through the throat as is found on slaughtered animals. They also were slowly bled to death while fully conscious." (2700-PS).

On special occasions, or when Streicher had some particular subject matter to put before Germany, he was in the habit of issuing special editions of "Der Stuermer." "Ritual murder" was such a special subject that he issued one of these special editions dealing solely with it, in May 1939. One of the photographs published in this issue shows a child having knives stuck into its side, from which blood is spurting; and below the pedestal on which the child stands are five presumably dead children bleeding on the ground. The caption beneath that picture reads as follows: "In the year 1476 the Jews in Regensburg murdered six boys. They drew their blood and tortured them to death in an underground vault which belongs to the Jew Josfel. The judges found the body of the murdered boys; and blood stains are on an altar."

Two other pictures are explained by their captions. One reads: "For the Jewish New Year celebrations in 1913, World Jewry published this picture. On the Jewish New Year and on the Day of Atonement the Jews slaughtered a so-called 'kapores' cock; that is to say, dead cock, whose blood and death is intended to purify the Jews. In 1913 the 'kapores' cock had the head of the Russian Czar Nicholas II. By publishing this postcard the Jews intended to say that Nicholas II would be their next purifying sacrifice. On 6 July 1918, the Czar was murdered by the Jews Jurowsky and Goloschtschekin."

The other picture shows the Jews holding a similar bird:

"***the 'kapores' cock which has the head of the Fuehrer. The Hebrew script says that one day Jews will kill all Hitlerites. Then the Jews will be delivered from all misfortunes, but in due course the Jews will realize that they have reckoned without an Adolf Hitler.

In addition to reproductions of a number of previous articles on "ritual murder" beneath a picture of Streicher, another picture bears the caption: "At the Passover Meal. The wine and Matzoh, unleavened bread, contains non-Jewish blood. The Jew prays before the meal. He prays for death to all non-Jews."

The fifth page of this same issue reproduces some of the European and American newspaper articles and letters protesting against this propaganda on "ritual murder." Among these is the "Stuermer's" answer to the letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, written to the editor of the London Times in protest (M-10)

Page 6 contains another picture of a man having his throat cut; again the usual spurt of blood falling into a basin on the floor, with the following caption:

"The ritual murder of the boy Heinrich. In the year 1345 the Jews in Munich slaughtered a non-Jewish boy. The martyr was declared holy by the church."

On page 8 appears another picture entitled:

"The Holy Gabriel. This boy was crucified and tortured to death by the Jews in the year 1690. The blood was drawn off him."

Page 11 reproduces a piece of sculpture on the wall of the Wallfahrts Chapel, representing the ritual murder of a boy named Werner. The picture shows the boy strung up by his feet and being murdered by two Jews. Page 12 reproduces another picture taken from the same place. The caption is:

"The embalmed body of Trient who was tortured to death by the Jews."

Page 13 contains another picture; somebody else having a knife stuck into him; more blood coming out into a basin. On page 14 are two pictures. One is said to show the ritual murder of the boy Andreas. The other is the picture of a tombstone, and the caption reads as follows:

"The tombstone of Hilsner. This is the memorial to a Jewish ritual murderer, Leopold Hilsner. He was found guilty of two ritual murders and was condemned to death by hanging in two trials. The emperor was bribed and pardoned him. Masaryk, the friend of the Jews, liberated him from penal servitude in 1918. On his tombstone Iying Jewry calls this twofold murderer an innocent victim."

The next page produces yet another picture of a woman being murdered by having her throat cut in the same way. Page 17 produces a picture of the Archbishop of Canterbury together with a picture of an old Jewish man, with a caption reading:

"Dr. Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest dignitary of the English Church, and his allies, a typical example of the Jewish Race."

The last page contains a picture of "Holy Simon, who was tortured to death."

This issue of "Der Stuermer" is nothing but an incitement to the people of Germany who read it, an incitement to murder. It is filled with pictures of murder, murder alleged to be against the German people. It is an encouragement, to all who read it to avenge themselves in the same way.

In January 1938 the persecution of the Jews became more and more severe another special issue of "Der Stuermer" was published. A passage from the leading article in that issue written by Streicher, states:

"*** The supreme aim and highest task of the state is therefore to conserve people, blood, and race. But if this is the supreme task, any crime against this law must be punished with the supreme penalty. 'Der Steurmer' takes therefore the view that there are only two punishments for the crime of polluting the race:

"1. Penal servitude for life for attempted race pollution.

"2. Death for committing race pollution." (M-39).

The following are some of the headlines on the articles contained in that edition:

"Jewish race polluters at work."

*******

"Fifteen year old non-Jewess ravaged."

*******

"A dangerous race polluter. He regards German women as fair game for himself."

*******

"The Jewish sanatorium. A Jewish institution for the cultivation of race pollution."

*******

"Rape of a feeble-minded girl."

*******

"The Jewish butler. He steals from his Jewish masters and commits race pollution." (M-40).

Another article appearing in "Der Stuermer," written by Streicher's editor, Karl Holz, states:

"The revenge will break loose one day and will exterminate Jewry from the surface of the earth." (M-35).

Again, in September 1938, "Der Stuermer" published an article describing the Jews as follows:

"A parasite, an enemy, an evil-doer, a disseminator of diseases who must be destroyed in the interest of mankind."(M-36).

This is no longer propaganda for the persecution of the Jews; this is propaganda for the extermination of Jews, and for the murder not of one Jew but of all Jews (see 2698-PS).

A picture published in "Der Stuermer" in December 1938 shows a girl being strangled by a man whose hands are around her neck. The shadow of the man's face, which is shown against the background, has quite obvious Jewish features. The caption under that picture is as follows:

"Castration for Race Polluters. Only heavy penalties will preserve our womenfolk from a tighter grip from ghastly Jewish claws. The Jews are our misfortune."

(3)The Anti-Jewish demonstrations of November 1938.

While his anti-Jewish propaganda was becoming constantly fiercer, Streicher took a leading part in the organized demonstrations against the Jews which took place on 9 November 1938 and 10 November 1938. In the autumn of that year, on the occasion of a meeting of press representatives in Nurnberg, Streicher organized the breaking-up of the Nurnberg synagogues. It was announced that Streicher personally would set the crane in motion with which the Jewish symbols would be torn down from the synagogues 1724- PS). The event was described as follows:

" *** the synagogue is being demolished! Julius Streicher himself inaugurates the work by a speech lasting more than an hour and a half. By his order -- so to speak as a prelude of the demolition -- the tremendous Star of David came off the cupola." (2711-PS).

Streicher took active part in the November demonstrations of that year, particularly in his Gau of Franconia. The Nurnberg demonstrations were reported as follows in the "Fraenksche Tageszeitung, which was Streicher's paper, on 11 November:

" *** In Nurnberg and Furth it resulted in demonstrations by the crowd against the Jewish murders. These lasted until the early hours of the morning. Far too long had one watched the activities of the Jews in Germany."

*******

"After midnight the excitement of the populace reached its peak and a large crowd marched to the synagogues in Nurnberg and Furth and burned these two Jewish buildings where the murder of Germans had been preached.

"The fire-brigades, which had been notified immediately, saw to it that the fire was continued to the original outbreak The windows of the Jewish shopkeepers, who still had not given up hope of selling their junk to the stupid Goims, were smashed. Thanks to the disciplined behavior of the SA men and the police, who had rushed to the scene, there was no plundering." (M-42).

On 10 November, the day of the demonstrations, Streicher made a speech stating in part as follows:

"From the cradle, the Jew is not being taught, like we are, such texts as, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' or 'If you are smitten on the left cheek, offer then your right one.' No, he is told: 'With the non-Jew you can do whatever you like.' He is even taught that the slaughtering of a non-Jew is an act pleasing to God. For 20 years we have been writing about this in 'Der Stuermer'; for 20 years we have been preaching it throughout the world and we have made millions recognize the truth."

"The Jew slaughtered in one night 75,000 people; when he emigrated to Egypt he killed all the first-born, i.e. a whole future generation of Egyptians. What would have happened if the Jew had succeeded in driving the nations into war against us, and if we had lost the war? The Jew protected by foreign bayonets, would have fallen on us and would have slaughtered and murdered us. Never forget what history has taught us." (M-41)

After the November 1938 demonstrations, irregularities occurred in the Gau of Franconia in connection with the organized Aryanization of Jewish property. Aryanization of Jewish property was regulated by the Nazi State, which had decreed that the proceeds of the transfer of Jewish properties to Aryans were to go to the State. In Streicher's Gau of Franconia, however, a good deal of the proceeds never found their way as far as the State. -As a result Goering set up a commission to investigate what had taken place. The report of that commission (1757-PS) describes what had been taking place in Streicher's Gau:

"*** Following upon the November demonstrations the Deputy Gauleiter, Holz, took up the Jewish questions. His reasons can be given here in detail on the basis of his statement of 25 March 1939:

"The 9th and 10th of November 1938.

"In the night of the 9 November 1938 and 10 November 1938 and on 10 November 1938, events took place throughout Germany which I [Holz] considered to be the signal for a completely different treatment of the Jewish question in Germany. Synagogues and Jewish schools were burnt down and Jewish property was smashed both in shops and in private houses. Besides this, a large number of particular Jews were taken to concentration camps by the police. Toward midday we discussed these events in the Gauleiter's house. All of- us were of the opinion that we now faced a completely new state of affairs on the Jewish question. By the great action against the Jews, carried out in the night and morning of the 10th of November, all guiding principles and all laws on the subject had been made illusory. We were of the opinion (particularly myself) that we should now act on our own initiative in this respect. I proposed to the Gauleiter that in view -of the great existing lack of housing, the best thing would be to put the Jews into a kind of internment camp. Then the houses would become free in a twinkling, and the housing shortage would be relieved, at least in part. Besides that, we would have the Jews under control and supervision. I added 'The same thing happened to our prisoners of war and war internees.' The Gauleiter said that this suggestion was for the time being impossible to carry out. Thereupon I made a new proposal to him. I said that I considered it unthinkable that, after the Jews had had their property smashed, they -should continue to be able to own houses and land. I proposed that these houses and this land ought to be taken away from them, and declared myself ready to carry through such an action. I declared that by the Aryanization of Jewish land and houses a large sum could accrue to the Gau out of the proceeds. I named some million of marks. I stated that, in my opinion, this Aryanization could be carried out as legally as the Aryanization of shops. The Gauleiter's answer was something to this effect: 'If you think you can carry this out, do so. The sum gained will then be used to build a Gau school.' "

*******

"The Aryanization was accomplished by the alienation of properties, the surrender of claims, especially mortgage claims, and reductions in buying price.

"The payment allowed the Jews was basically 10% of the nominal value or nominal sum of the claim. As a justification for these low prices, Holz claimed at the Berlin meeting of 6 February 1939, that the Jews had mostly bought their property during the inflation period for a tenth of its value. As has been shown by investigating a large number of individual cases selected at random, this claim is not true." (1757-PS)

The second part of this report, which contains the findings of the commission, reads in part as follows:

"*** Gauleiter Streicher likes to beat people with a riding whip but only if he is in the company of several persons assisting him. Usually the beatings are carried out with sadistic brutality.

"The best known case is that of Steinruck, whom he beat bloodily in the prison cell, together with Deputy Gauleiter Holz and SA Brigadier General Koenig. After returning from this scene to the Deutscher Hof he said: 'Now I am relieved. I needed that again!' Later he also stated several times that he needed another Steinruck case in order to 'relieve' himself.

"In August 1938, he beat Editor Burker at the District House together with District Office Leader Schoeller and his Adjutant Koenig.

"On 2 December 1938 he asked to have three youthful criminals (15 to 17 years old) who had been arrested for robbery brought to the room of the director of the Criminal Police Office in Nurnberg-Furth. Streicher who was accompanied by his son, Lothar, had the youths brought in singly and question them about their sex life and in particular, through clear and detailed questioning, he laid stress on determining whether and since when they masturbated. ***

"*** The last one of these three boys he beat with his riding whip, with blows on the head and on the rest of the body." (1757-PS)

A later passage shows the authority and power which Streicher held in his Gau:

"According to reports of reliable witnesses Gauleiter Streicher is in the habit of pointing out on the most varied occasions that he alone gives orders in the district of Franconia. For instance, at a meeting in the Colosseum in Nurnberg in 1935 he said that nobody could remove him from office. In a meeting at Herkules Hall, where he described how he had beaten Professor Steinruck, he emphasized that he would not let himself be beaten by anybody, not even by an Adolf Hitler.

"For, this also must be stated here, in Franconia the Gau acts first and then orders the absolutely powerless authorities to approve." (1757-PS)

That report shows the kind of treatment and persecution which the Jews were receiving in the Gau over which Streicher ruled. It further shows the absolute authority with which Streicher acted in his district.

As a result either of that investigation or of some other matter, Streicher was relieved of his position as Gauleiter in February 1940, but he did not cease from propaganda or from control of his newspaper. In an article written in "Der Stuermer," on 4 November 1943, Streicher declared:

"It is really the truth that the Jews, so to speak, have disappeared from Europe and that the Jewish reservoir of the East, from which the Jewish plague has for centuries beset the peoples of Europe, has ceased to exist. However, the Fuehrer of the German people at the beginning of the war prophesied what has now come to pass." (1965-PS).

That article, signed by Streicher, shows that he had knowledge of the Jewish exterminations which were going on in the East. Streicher's article was written in November 1943. In April 1943 the Warsaw ghetto was destroyed. Between April 1942 and April 1944 more than 1,700,000 Jews were killed in Auschwitz and Dachau. It seems clear from this article that Streicher knew what was happening, perhaps not the details, but the fact that Jews were being exterminated.

(4) Perversion of Youth.

Streicher paid particular attention to the instruction and perversion of the children and youth of Germany. He was not content with inciting the German population. He started to poison the minds of the children at school at the earliest possible date. He continually emphasized the need for teaching children antisemitism. In a speech as early as June 1925 Streicher said:

"I repeat, we demand the transformation of the school into a national German institution of education. If we let German children be taught by German teachers, then we shall have laid the foundations for the national German school. This national German school must teach racial doctrine."

*******

"We demand, therefore, the introduction of racial doctrine into the school." (M-30)

The "Fraenkische Tageszeitung" of 19 March 1934 reports Streicher's address at a girls' school at Preisslerstrasse:

"Then Julius Streicher spoke about his life and told them about a girl who at one time went to his school and who fell for a Jew and was finished for the rest of her life." (M-43)

Every summer in Nurnberg a youth celebration was held. At this pagan rite the youth of Nurnberg were rallied, organized, and incited, encouraged by Streicher. Streicher's speech to the Hitler Youth on the "Holy Mountain" near Nurnberg on 22 June 1935 contained the following statements:

"Boys and girls, look back to a little more than 10 years ago. A great war -- the World War -- had whirled over the peoples of the earth and had left in the end a heap of ruins. Only one people remained victorious in this dreadful war, a people of whom Christ said its father is the devil. That people had ruined the German nation in body and soul. Then Adolf Hitler, unknown to anybody, arose from among the people and became the voice which called to a holy war and battle. He cried to the people for everybody to take courage again and to rise and get a helping hand to take the devil from the German people, so that the human race might be free again from these people that have wandered about the world for centuries and millennia, marked with the sign of Cain. "Boys and girls, even if they say that the Jews were once the chosen people, do not believe it, but believe us when we say that the Jews are not a chosen people. Because it cannot be that a chosen people should act among the peoples as the Jews do today." (M-1).

A report of Streicher's address to 2,000 children at Nurnberg at Christmas-time, 1936, states:

"'Do you know who the Devil is,' he asked his breathlessly listening audience. 'The Jew, the Jew,' resounded from a thousand children's voices."(M-44).

Streicher was not content with writing and talking. He issued a book for teachers, written by one Fink and published from the "Der Stuermer" offices, called "The Jewish Question and School Instruction." This book emphasizes the necessity of anti-semitic teaching in schools, and suggests ways in which the subject can be introduced and handled. The preface, written by Streicher, reads in part as follows:

"The National Socialist state brought fundamental changes into all spheres of life of the German people.

"It has also presented the German teacher with some new tasks. The National Socialist state demands that its teachers instruct German children in social questions. As far as the German people is concerned the racial question is a Jewish question. Those who want to teach the child all about the Jew must themselves have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

"Those who take to heart all that has been written with such feeling by Fritz Fink, who for many years has been greatly concerned about the German people, will be grateful for the creator of this outwardly insignificant publication." (M-46). The preface is signed by Julius Streicher, City of the Reich Party Rallies, Nurnberg, in the year 1937.

The introduction to this book reads as follows:

"Racial and Jewish questions are the fundamental problems of the National Socialist ideology. The solution of these problems will secure the existence of National Socialism and with this the existence of our nation for all time. The enormous significance of the racial question is recognized almost without exception today by all the German people. In order to attain this recognition our people had to travel through a long road of suffering.

"No one should be allowed to grow up in the midst of our people without this knowledge of the monstrous character and dangerousness of the Jew." (M-46).

A later passage in the book contains this statement:

"One who has reached this stage of understanding will inevitably remain an enemy of the Jews all his life and will instill this hatred into his own children." (M- 46).

"Der Stuermer" also published some children's books. Although Streicher himself did not write the books, they were published from his publishing business, and they are on the same line of everything else published and issued from that business. Among these books was one entitled "Don't trust the Fox in the green meadow nor the Jew on his oath." It is a picture book for children. The pictures all depict Jews in an offensive light. And Opposite each picture there is a little story. For instance, opposite one picture, which portrays an unpleasant-looking Jewish butcher cutting up meat, there appears the following

"The Jewish butcher: he sells half refuse instead of meat. A piece of meat lies on the floor; the cat claws another. This doesn't worry the Jew butcher since the meat increases in weight. Besides one mustn't forget he won't have to eat it himself." (M-32).

The story opposite another picture reads as follows:

"Jesus Christ says 'The Jew is a murderer through and through'. And when Christ had to die the Lord didn't know any other people who would have tortured Him to death so he chose the Jews. That is why the Jews pride themselves on being the chosen people." (M-32).

Other pictures in this book portray: a girl being led away by an evil-appearing Jew; Streicher smiling benignly at a children's party, greeting the little children; children looking at copies of "Der Stuermer" posted on a wall; Jewish children being taken away from an Aryan school by an unpleasant-looking father, with all the Aryan children shouting and dancing and enjoying the fun very much (M-32).

Another book, called "The Poisonous Fungus," is very similar in character and appearance, and likewise calculated to poison the minds of readers. One of the pictures in this book shows a girl sitting in a Jewish doctor's waiting room. The story that goes with this picture is not a very pleasant story, but it is only by adverting to these matters that it becomes possible to believe the kind of education which German children received from Streicher.

The story reads as follows:

"Inge sits in the reception room of the Jew doctor. She has to wait a long time. She looks through the journals which are on the table. But she is much too nervous to read even a few sentences. Again and again she remembers the talk with her mother. And again and again her mind reflects on the warnings of her leader of the League of German Girls: 'A German must not consult a Jew doctor. And particularly not a German girl. Many a girl that went to a Jew doctor to be cured, found disease and disgrace!'

"When Inge had entered the waiting room, she experienced an extraordinary incident. From the doctor's consulting room she could hear the sound of crying. She heard the voice of a young girl: 'Doctor, doctor, leave me alone!'

"Then she heard the scornful laughing of a man. And then, all of a sudden, it became absolutely silent. Inge had listened breathlessly.

"'What may be the meaning of all this?' she asked herself and her heart was pounding. And again she thought of the warning of her leader in the League of German Girls.

"Inge was already waiting for an hour. Again she takes the journals in an endeavor to read. Then the door opens. Inge looks up. The Jew appears. She screams. In terror she drops the paper. Horrified she jumps up. Her eyes stare into the face of the Jewish doctor. And this face is the face of the devil. In the middle of this devil's face is a huge crooked nose. Behind the spectacles two criminal eyes. And the thick lips are grinning, a grinning that expresses: 'Now I got you at last, you little German girl!'

"And then the Jew approaches her. His fleshy fingers stretch out after her. But now Inge has composed herself. Before the Jew can grab hold of her, she smacks the fat face of the Jew doctor with her hand. One jump to the door. Breathlessly Inge runs down the stairs. Breathlessly she escapes the Jew house." (1778-PS).

Another photograph shows youthful admirers standing around looking at Streicher's picture, with the following commentary:

"'Without a solution of the Jewish question there will be no salvation for mankind.' That is what he shouted to us. All of us could understand him. And when, at the end, he shouted 'Sieg Heil' for the Fuehrer, we all acclaimed him with tremendous enthusiasm. For two hours Streicher spoke at that occasion. To us it appeared to have been but a few minutes." (1778-PS).

The effect of all this propaganda is evident from the columns of "Der Stuermer" itself. In April 1936 there was published a letter, which is typical of many others that appear in other copies from children of all ages. The third paragraph of this letter, signed by the boys and girls of the National Socialist Youth Hostel at Grossmuellen, reads:

"*** Today we saw a play on how the devil persuades - the Jew to shoot a conscientious National Socialist. In the course of the play the Jew did it too. We all heard the shot. We would have all liked to jump up and arrest the Jew. But then the policeman came and after a short struggle took the Jew along. You can imagine, dear Stuermer, that we heartily cheered the policeman. In the whole play not one name was mentioned, but we all knew that this play represented the murder by the Jew Frankfurter. We were very sick when we went to bed that night. None felt like talking to the others. This play made it clear to us how the Jew sets to work." (M-25).

C. STREICHER'S USE OF HIS AUTHORITY AS GAULEITER IN THE SERVICE OF THE CONSPIRACY

Streicher's authority as a Gauleiter was extensive. The Organization Book of the NSDAP for 1938 describes the duties and authority of Gauleiters as follows:

"The Gauleiter bears over-all responsibility for the Fuehrer for the sector of sovereignty entrusted to him. The rights, duties and jurisdiction of the Gauleiter result primarily from the mission assigned by the Fuehrer and, apart from that, from detailed direction." (1814-PS)

Streicher's association with the Fuehrer and other Nazi conspirators may also be seen from the newspapers. On the occasion of Streicher's 50th birthday, Hitler paid a visit to Nurnberg to congratulate him. The account of that meeting is published in the "Voelkischer Beobachter" of 13 February 1934 as follows:

"Adolf Hitler spoke to his old comrades in battle and to his followers in words which went straight to their hearts. By way of introduction he remarked that it was a special pleasure to be present for a short while in Nurnberg, the town of the National Socialist community which had been steeled in battle, at this day of honor of Julius Streicher, and to be within the circle of the standard bearers of the National Socialist idea during many years.

"Just as they, all of them, had during the years of oppression unshakeably believed in the victory of the movement, so his friend and comrade in the battle, Streicher, had stood faithfully at his side at all times. It had been this unshakeable belief that had moved mountains.

"For Streicher it would surely be a solemn thought, that this 50th anniversary meant not only the halfway point of a century, but also of a thousand years of German history to him. He had in Streicher a companion of whom he could say that here in Nurnberg was a man who would never waver for a single second and who would unflinchingly stand behind him in every situation." (M-8).

A letter from Himmler, published in "Der Stuermer" of April 1937, declared:

"If in future years the history of the reawakening of the German people is written, and if already the next generation will be unable to understand that the German people was once friendly to the Jews, it will be stated that Julius Streicher and his weekly paper 'Der Stuermer' have contributed a great deal towards the enlightenment regarding the enemy of humanity. "(Signed) For the Reichsfuehrer SS, Himmler."

Finally a letter from von Schirach, the Reich Youth Leader, published in "Der Stuermer" of January 1938, had this to say:

"It is the historical merit of 'Der Stuermer' to have enlightened the broad masses of our people in a popular way as to the Jewish world danger. 'Der Stuermer' is right in refusing to fulfill its task in the tone of the aesthetic drawing room. Jewry has shown no regard for the German people. We have, therefore, no cause to be considerate and to spare our worst enemy. What we fail to do today our youngsters of tomorrow will have to suffer for bitterly." (M-45).

D. CONCLUSION.

It may be that Streicher is less directly involved in the physical commission of the crimes against Jews than some of his coconspirators. The submission of the Prosecution is that his crime is no less worse for that reason. No government in the world, before the Nazis came to power, could have embarked upon and it; into effect a policy of mass Jewish extermination in the way in which they did, without having a people who would back them and support them, and without having a large number of people who were prepared to carry out the murder themselves. (See Chapter XII on Persecution of the Jews.)

It was to the task of educating and poisoning the people with hate, and of producing murderers, that Streicher set himself. For 25 years he continued unrelentingly the perversion of the people and youth of Germany. He went on and on, as he saw the results of his work bearing fruit.

In the early days he was preaching persecution. As persecution took place he preached extermination and annihilation and, as millions of Jews were exterminated and annihilated, in the Ghettos of the East, he cried out for more and more.

The crime of Streicher is that he made these crimes possible, which they would never have been had it not been for him and for those like him. Without Streicher and his propaganda, the Kaltenbrunners, the Himmlers, the General Stroops would have had nobody to do their

In its extent Streicher's crime is probably greater and more far-reaching than that of any of the other defendants. The misery which they caused ceased with their capture. The effects of this man's crime, of the poison that he has put into the minds of millions of young boys and girls goes on, for he concentrated upon the youth and childhood of Germany. He leaves behind him a legacy of almost a whole people poisoned with hate, sadism, and murder, and perverted by him. That people remain a problem and perhaps a menace to the rest of civilization for generations to come.

[Streicher was sentenced to death by hanging at the Nuremberg Trial. On October 16, 1946, Streicher was executed. When he went up to the scaffolding, he spat at the hangman and said, "The Bolsheviks will hang you one day!" Just before he fell to his death, he shouted, "Purim Festival, 1946!" apparently referring to the Jewish celebration commemorating the deliverance of the Jews from Haman, who had advocated their extermination, but had instead himself been hanged.*]

Source: Nizkor. Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression, Volume II, Chapter XVI, pp. 690-709.
*Conot, Robert. Justice At Nuremberg. NY: Carroll & Graf, 1984.