pornography: "(3) the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction (the ~ of violence)" (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Springfield, Mass (1993)

Those who downplay Nazi plans for the Jews will be hard-pressed to explain the existence of Julius Streicher's 'Der Stürmer,' a virulently anti-Jewish "newspaper" published in Germany. The following material is typical of the sort of rubbish Streicher was permitted to distribute under the guise of "news":

"From the Nazi point of view, emigration was not a satisfactory way of dealing with the Jewish question, as only a limited number could leave the country each year. Also the Nazi Government still showed itself very sensitive to foreign opinion. Before and during the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 Hitler ordered the temporary removal of anti-Jewish notices throughout the country to impress on the visitors that the situation was not as bad as the foreign press had portrayed it to be. A common feature in most towns was the display of placards of Der Stürmer, the sensational anti-semitic tabloid of Julius Streicher. These Stürmerkästen sometimes included letters from readers, even schoolchildren, to give the impression that the paper's influence was greater than it really was. Der Stürmer, which always printed in large letters on its front page Treitschke's saying, 'The Jews are our misfortune', appealed to baser instincts:

The murder of the 10-year-old Gertrud Lenhoff in Quirschied (Saarpfalz).... The Jews are our MISFORTUNE!

Moreover, the numerous confessions made by Jews show that to the devout Jew the carrying out of ritual murders is an ordinance. The former Chief Rabbi (and later monk) Teofiti declares that the ritual murders take place especially on the Jewish Purim (in memory of the Persian murders) and Passover (in memory of the murder of Christ).

The instructions are as follows:

The blood of the victims is to be forcibly tapped. On Passover, it is to be used in wine and matzos; thus, a small part of the blood is to be poured into the dough of the matzos and into the wine. The mixing is done by the Jewish head of the family.

The procedure is as follows: The head of the family empties a few drops of the fresh and powdered blood into the glass, wets the fingers of the left hand, then says: 'Dam Izzardia chynim heroff dever Isyn porech harbe hossen maschus pohorus' (Exodus VII, 12) ('Thus we ask God to send the ten plagues to all enemies of the Jewish faith'). Then they eat and at the end the head of the family cries: 'Sfach, chaba, moscho kol hagoym!' ('May all Gentiles perish, as the child whose blood is contained in the bread and wine!')

The fresh (or dried or powdered) blood of the slaughtered child is further used by young married Jewish couples, by pregnant Jewesses, for circumcision and so forth. Ritual murder is recognized by all devout Jews. The Jew believes he thereby absolves himself of his sins. [This extract, misrepresenting as it does the character of the two festivals of Purim and the Passover, which do not commemorate murders but deliverance from oppression, and embodying alleged quotations from Jewish sacred writings which are not to be found there and are moreover expressed in a tongue that cannot be identified, is a characteristic example of the falsehoods by which Nazi propagandists sought to work upon the ignorance of their readers.]

'The Poisonous Mushroom'

It was not typical [Der Stürmer] of the general character of antisemitic propaganda in that it specialized in lurid and suggestive stories, accompanied by large, crudely drawn illustrations. In 1938 Der Stürmer published a book for older school children called Der Giftpilz ('The Poisonous Mushroom'). It was written by Ernst Hiemer, editor of Streicher's paper, and contained coloured pictures drawn by the Stürmer artist, Philipp Rupprecht. The book began with a mother telling her son Franz during a walk in the forest that there were good and bad people in the world just as there were good and poisonous mushrooms.

The latter were of course the Jews. Other excerpts were as follows:

'It is almost noon,' says the teacher. 'Now we must summarize what we have learned in this lesson. What did we discuss ?'

All the children raise their hands. The teacher calls on Karl Scholz, a little boy on the front bench. 'We talked about how to recognize a Jew'.

'Good! Now tell us about it!'

Little Karl takes the pointer, goes to the blackboard and points to the sketches. 'A Jew is usually recognized by his nose. The Jewish nose is crooked at the end. It looks like the figure 6. So it is called the "Jewish Six". Many non-Jews have crooked noses too. But their noses are bent, not at the end, but further up. Such a nose is called a hook nose or eagle's beak. It has nothing to do with a Jewish nose.'

'Right!' says the teacher. 'But the Jew is recognized not only by his nose . . .', the boy continues. 'The Jew is also recognized by his lips. His lips are usually thick. Often the lower lip hangs down. That is called "sloppy". And the Jew is also recognized by his eyes. His eyelids are usually thicker and more fleshy than ours. The look of the Jew is sly and sharp....'

Then the teacher goes to the desk and turns over the blackboard, on its back is a verse. The children recite it in chorus:

From a Jew's countenance/the evil devil talks to us, The devil, who in every land/is known as evil plague. If we are to be free from the Jew/and to be happy and glad again, Then youth must join our struggle/to overcome the Jew devil....

Inge sits in the Jew doctor's reception room. She has to wait a long time. She looks through the magazines on the table. But she is much too nervous even to read a few sentences. Again and again she remembers her talk with her mother. And again and again her mind dwells on the warnings of her B D M leader: 'A German must not consult a Jew doctor! And particularly not a German girl! Many a girl who has gone to a Jew doctor to be cured has found disease and disgrace !' After entering the waiting-room, Inge had an extraordinary experience. 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 a man laughing scornfully. And then all of a sudden, absolute silence. Inge held her breath and listened. 'What can this mean ?' she asked herself and her heart was pounding. Once again she thought of her B D M leader's warning.

Inge has now been waiting for an hour. She takes up the magazines again and tries to read. The door opens. Inge looks up. There stands the Jew. She screams. She's so frightened, she drops the magazine. She jumps up in terror. Her eyes stare into the Jewish doctor's face. His face is the face of a 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 grin that says: 'Now I've got you at last, little German girl!' The Jew approaches her. His fleshy fingers stretch out for her. But now Inge has recovered her wits. Before the Jew can grab hold of her, she slaps the Jew doctor's fat face. Then a jump to the door, and Inge runs breathlessly down the stairs. She escapes breathlessly from the Jew house...." (Noakes, 468-470)

Work Cited

Noakes, Jeremy, and Geoffrey Pridham. Documents on Nazism 1919-1945. New York: Viking Press, 1974

The original plaintext version of this file is available via ftp.

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