Julius Streicher was one of the most infamous figures of the Nazi regime, known less for military or political strategy than for the relentless, venomous propaganda he produced. Born on February 12, 1885, in Fleinhousen, then part of the German Empire, he was the ninth child of a primary school teacher. He worked as a teacher himself from 1904 and was known for a short temper and dictatorial demeanor.
In 1909, Streicher was transferred to Nuremberg, where he married Kunigunda Roth in 1913. The couple had two sons. When the First World War broke out in July 1914, Streicher enlisted in the German army, serving in the Sixth Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. Despite several reports of poor behavior in his military record, he became a lieutenant and was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross.
Germany’s defeat in 1918 and the turmoil that followed drove Streicher into radical politics. He blamed Jews for the country’s collapse and began to develop the fierce anti-Semitic rhetoric that would define his career. In 1922, he joined the Nazi Party as one of its earliest members, holding membership number 17. He later described hearing Adolf Hitler speak in Munich as a transformative experience, saying, “This man spoke as a messenger from heaven at a time when the gates of hell were opening to pull down everything.”
In 1923, Streicher founded the violently anti-Semitic newspaper *Der Stürmer*, meaning “The Attacker.” He used it to build deep hatred against Jews. That same year, he took part in the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch. As a result, he was suspended from his teaching post and spent the following years leading a local organization of the outlawed Nazi Party. After Hitler’s release from prison, he named Streicher Gauleiter, or district leader, of Franconia.
Between 1924 and 1932, Streicher held a seat in the Bavarian Parliament. This position gave him parliamentary immunity, which helped protect him from efforts to silence his racist message. In *Der Stürmer*, he claimed Jews were responsible for Germany’s depression, unemployment, and inflation. He also accused them of being white slavers responsible for over 90 percent of the prostitutes in the country.
After the Nazis came to power in January 1933, Streicher helped organize the one-day boycott of Jewish businesses on April 1, 1933. This was the first nationwide planned action against Jews. Streicher’s newspaper reached a peak circulation of 600,000 in 1935. Its slogan was “The Jews are our misfortune.” The publication was known for its combination of anti-Semitism and pornographic obsessions, often focusing on the alleged sexual violation of German women by Jews.
Streicher’s portrayal of Jews as subhuman and evil played a critical role in their dehumanization in the eyes of ordinary Germans. He was widely known as “Jew-Baiter Number One.” His rhetoric was so extreme that it drew criticism even within the Nazi Party. In one speech, he claimed that the semen of a Jew was a foreign protein that would poison the soul of an Aryan woman and that she would no longer give birth to Aryan children.
His publishing firm made him a multi-millionaire and also released anti-Semitic books for children, which were used to indoctrinate German youth into Nazi racial ideology. Despite his close association with Hitler, Streicher was often viewed as volatile and mercurial by other officials. His reckless ambition and self-enrichment, largely from property seized from Jews during Aryanization efforts, made him enemies.
Streicher also attacked those he considered insufficiently hostile toward Jews, including Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Between 1935 and the end of the war, more than 6,500 people were denounced in *Der Stürmer* for not being anti-Semitic enough. Hitler protected Streicher, calling the newspaper his favorite and ensuring each issue was displayed in public cases known as Stürmerkästen.
In August 1938, Streicher ordered the destruction of the Grand Synagogue of Nuremberg, claiming he disapproved of its architectural design. During the Kristallnacht riots in November 1938, 11 people were murdered in Nuremberg alone. Jews in Streicher’s district were forced to sell their properties to him or his associates, often for less than 10 percent of their actual value.
An investigative commission later looked into Streicher’s corruption. The commission was not disturbed by the fact that Jews had been robbed and murdered, but rather that Streicher had enriched himself in a way deemed inappropriate for a Nazi official. He was also charged with spreading untrue stories about Hermann Göring, including claims that Göring was impotent and that his daughter was the product of artificial insemination. Göring retaliated by spreading word that Streicher was a sexual deviant who raped political prisoners.
In February 1940, Streicher was brought before the Supreme Party Court and judged unsuitable for leadership. He was stripped of his party offices and withdrew from public view. However, Hitler remained committed to him and allowed him to keep the title of Gauleiter and the associated uniform. Streicher continued to live on his estate, Streicherhof, near Nuremberg.
Even after his political downfall, Streicher continued to call for the annihilation of the Jewish people. In May 1939, he wrote, “The Jews in Russia must be killed. They must be exterminated root and branch.” In other articles, he called Jews a germ, a pest, and a parasite that must be destroyed. In December 1941, he wrote that the only way to end the danger of Jewish blood was “the extermination of that people whose father is the devil.”
Streicher’s wife Kunigunda died in 1943 after 30 years of marriage. In early 1945, he married his former secretary, Adele. He later said that because of her, he decided not to commit suicide. In May 1945, he surrendered to Allied forces. He was arrested on May 23, 1945, in the Alps, where he had been presenting himself as a painter named Sailor.
The arrest was carried out by American soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division, led by Major Henry Plitt, who had Jewish roots. At the time, information circulated that the greatest Jew-baiter had been arrested by a Jew. During interrogation, Streicher gave the impression of being mentally confused.
Streicher was tried at the Nuremberg Trials on charges of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. During the trial, he displayed his flair for courtroom theatrics, answering questions with tirades against Jews, the Allies, and the court itself. He was frequently silenced by court officers. He was largely shunned by the other defendants and had the lowest IQ among them.
A former American guard recalled that Streicher would do exercises on the floor, flush the toilet, and wash his face with the toilet water. He became known as the “dirty old man” of the prison. Streicher also claimed he had been mistreated by Allied soldiers, saying they burned him with cigarettes, made him kiss the feet of Black soldiers, and beat him with a bullwhip. He also complained that all his judges were Jews.
Most of the evidence against Streicher came from his own speeches and articles. Prosecutors argued that his propaganda made him an accessory to murder. Streicher claimed to have known nothing about the Holocaust, saying he was merely a nature lover who wanted foreigners out of his country. But evidence showed he received reports and photographs of Jews being slaughtered in the east and continued his propaganda until February 1945.
On October 1, 1946, the International Military Tribunal acquitted Streicher of crimes against peace but found him guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death by hanging. Göring, his arch-nemesis, committed suicide hours before execution. Streicher did not have that option.
He was executed on October 16, 1946, by American Army Sergeant John C. Woods, who had no documented pre-war experience as a hangman. The executions were poorly carried out. The drop was insufficient to snap the necks of the condemned, resulting in death by strangulation that in some cases lasted several minutes. The trap door was also too small, causing head injuries.
At the bottom of the scaffold, Streicher shouted, “Heil Hitler.” When asked if he had any last words, he shouted, “The Bolsheviks will hang you one day, Purim Fest 1946,” alluding to the Jewish festival of Purim. As the black hood was lowered over his head, his muffled voice was heard to say, “Adele, my dear wife.” Then the trap door opened.
Streicher went down kicking and could be heard groaning under the scaffold. His convulsions lasted 15 minutes before he died. His corpse was cremated and the ashes scattered in the Wenzbach, a small tributary of the river Isar. Sergeant Woods later insisted he had performed all executions correctly and said he was proud of his work. Another soldier involved said, “It was a pleasure doing it. I would do it all over again.”
There were no tears shed for Julius Streicher.