Julius Streicher at Nuremberg during the trials. He was known as the dirty old man by other prisoners. US National Archives and Records Administration photo.
During the fall of the Weimar Republic, the rising far-right that would become the Nazi Party obsessed over its leadership, hunting for one powerful voice that would unify the movement and the parties. While we all know that Adolf Hitler eventually became that voice, another World War I veteran and totalitarian almost took him down.
Instead, Julius Streicher negotiated a position within Hitler’s entourage, became the Nazi Party’s greatest propagandist, and collected the world’s largest porn collection.
Yes, Hitler’s one-time rival was a weird, hate-filled pervert. Are you surprised?
Julius Streicher rivaled Hitler but then became his best propagandist. In this photo, he’s the one visible in Hitler’s armpit. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum photo, courtesy of Joanne Schartow.
Who Was Julius Streicher?
Julius Streicher started his professional life as a schoolteacher and, like many future Nazis, flirted with center-left politics in his youth.
But Streicher also hated Jewish people, especially after World War I, during which he served and was highly decorated. He got into public speaking after the war and discovered he had real skill in it. However, he made a lot of antisemitic jokes in his speeches and didn’t appreciate how the Jewish audience members didn’t laugh.
Just after the 1919 armistice, Streicher joined the Society for Defense and Protective Action. The political group pushed right-wing rhetoric, and Streicher took part in street fights and assaults on Jewish people.
Julius Streicher in later years, reviewing a march of Hitler Youth. He’s the chubby pervert grinning at the kids like he wants to steal one. US Holocaust Memorial and Museum photo.
As a rising star on the radical right, Streicher helped found the German Socialist Party, a rival to the Socialist German Workers’ Party (which would later become the Nazi Party). Streicher’s skill as a speaker served him even better as a propagandist. He wrote virulently antisemitic tracts, published them, and sold them throughout Nuremberg.
His best-selling newspaper, Der Stürmer, became popular by tying together accusations of blood libel — false claims that Jewish people used the blood of Christian children for religious rituals — with pornographic stories. It was basically the world’s most hateful version of Playboy but with fewer photos.
Streicher managed to print his newspapers, in part, by routinely running up debt with one printer until they cut him off, then moving on to another printer he could fleece. His debt eventually caught up with him, alongside other legal problems. Meanwhile, the German Socialist Party struggled to keep up with the Nazi Party’s finances, organization, and popularity.
Julius Streicher authored and published antisemitic propaganda. This image comes from the children’s book The Poisonous Mushroom. Photo by Lee Wright, Flickr, CC-BY 2.0.
Julius Streicher Joins the Nazi Party
So Streicher cut a deal. He offered to bring his personal followers over to the Nazi Party if he could run its newspaper and hold a senior position in the party. In 1922, he coalesced his followers behind the Nazi Party, effusively supporting Hitler. The following year, he participated in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.
The failed attempt by the Nazis to take over the state of Bavaria landed many of the leaders in trouble, but prison sentences were notoriously lax. Hitler served only nine months, and Streicher, literally in the front row with Hitler during the march, was merely banned from teaching. However, his participation in the attempted coup made him a Nazi hero.
From the 1920s to 1930s, Streicher rose to prominence in the party even as he made enemies with other leaders, including Hermann Goering.
Related: The Churchill Club: The Inspiring Teenage Rebellion Against Hitler
A shrine to Julius Streicher after release from prison. US National Archives and Records Administration photo.
Despite his friction with other Nazis, Streicher held a senior party position for most of the 1930s and early 1940s. Like the rest of the senior Nazis, he enriched himself by aggressively stealing Jewish property or buying businesses during coerced sales.
And, also like other leaders, Streicher built a personal collection of seized materials. But where most leaders collected art, jewelry, and other valuables, Streicher ordered police and troops seizing Jewish property to bring him all the pornography they discovered. “For research.”
After the Allied victory in World War II, Streicher attempted to hide but was quickly discovered and sent to Nuremberg to stand trial. Two researchers working for the prosecution, Joseph Maier and Sander Jaari, said, “Streicher was without a doubt the dirtiest man in Nuremberg. His collection of pornographic literature was the largest we have ever seen.”
A couple reads the antisemitic newspaper Der Sturmer in Germany, 1935. Photo by Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, via United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Imagine having a porn collection so immense that other Nazis labeled you the “dirty old man” of the prison and it was a topic of conversation during your trial for crimes against humanity.
Unfortunately for Streicher, the ultimate judgment at Nuremberg found that he bore significant responsibility for the Holocaust since his propaganda and lobbying helped lead to the “Final Solution.” He was executed by hanging in October 1946.
No word on what happened to his porn collection.
Read Next: How Hitler Staged a False-Flag Operation to Justify the Invasion of Poland, Starting World War II
Logan Nye is a former Army airborne journalist and military history detachment member. He’s now a freelance writer interested in military history, technology, and culture, as well as video games. You can find more of his work at LoganNye.com.
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