Der Stürmer Archives

Der Stürmer Archives Background

The Der Stürmer Archives is comprised of the front-page cartoons that were a prominent feature of the Nazi newspaper of the same name. Founded in May 1923, the newspaper was in print, with a few interruptions until shortly before the end of the war in 1945. While never the official newspaper of the Nazi party, Der Stürmer had a wide following in Germany. Its appeal was rooted in its controversial, crude, and anti-Semitic nature. It was intended for an unsophisticated readership and its print material relied on a lot of common terms, slang, and populist sentiment. In short, the newspaper targeted the masses and in terms of reaching its intended audience, Der Stürmer succeeded brilliantly. In short, simple sentences, Der Stürmer repeated the same messages over and over, reinforcing and amplifying the prejudices and stereotypes held by many Germans, especially in regard to the Jews.

"Stürmer's fight"

One important feature of the Der Stürmer were the cartoons included on almost every single front page. One might ask why feature a cartoon on the cover? It’s often easy to dismiss these visual images as being harmless and insignificant, but this misses the very real power and impact that these cartoons had. In many ways, cartoons provide a potent vehicle for quickly and effectively getting across a message because they are quick and easy to read and are easily understood. It doesn’t take any time at all to glance at a cartoon and get its message. This was especially true for Der Stürmer which relied on big front page cartoons that could be taken in at a glance and whose images were crude and obvious. Der Stürmer was often posted on public kiosks, bus-stations, and other locations so that passers-by could peruse them while out and about. Cartoons can also often be humorous. Hate is generally more palatable when presented as humor. People are often more willing to accept negative attitudes and prejudices when presented as a joke or in a somewhat humorous illustration. Humor tends to appeal to emotion rather than reason and is thus a perfect way to convey the kinds of anti-Semitic attitudes and beliefs that were such a destructive component of the Nazi ideology. In many ways, the constant barrage of anti-Semitic stories and images found in Der Stürmer helped pave the way for the Holocaust. Fed a steady diet of negative propaganda about the threat the Jews posed and their subhuman qualities, many ordinary Germans found it easier to accept the increasingly persecutory policies of the Nazi state. Ultimately, this helped pave the way for the genocide of the Jews.

Project Goals:

The Genocide Resource Project currently has the entire collection of front page cartoons analyzed, digitized, and translated. The total number of DSA images is 1103 with accompanying text. We envision four main uses and benefits to this project.