Lot 1000
German Propaganda Book - Der Giftpilz. Ein Stuermerbuch fuer Jung und Alt. Nuremberg: Verlag der Stürmer, 1938, 10½" x 8¼", 64pp. Pictorial covers over linen boards, which are worn; page 51/52 is present but separated and page 53/54 is missing; 17 full-page, vivid illustrations by the Nazi artist Fips, most with grotesque depictions of Jewish men. The book was published by Julius Streicher, who published propaganda in his newspapers ("Der Stuermer" and "Fraenkische Tageszeitung") and in books such as this one to incite the German people to hatred and persecution of the Jews and to what he hoped would be their extermination as a race. After the war, he was tried at Nuremberg, convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged on October 16, 1946. The Allies destroyed many copies of Der Giftpilz; consequently, it is rare today.
Seventeen short stories present and reinforce, time after time, the idea that Jewish people are bad, and that good German children should hate them. An interesting sub-text is that children should "teach" their parents this awful truth ("I'm finding out that one can learn even from you children," a mother admits). Thematically, the book is organized around an anti-semitic attack on three fronts: physical appearance, religious beliefs, and moral values. In the first chapter, a young boy picks mushrooms with his mother, who explains to him that there are good and bad people, just as there are edible and poisonous mushrooms, that the Jews are a "poison" within Germany, the Devil in human form and that they pose a threat not only to German survival, but to the survival of the world.
Some of the chapters have a decidedly pornographic slant, such as "What Hans and Else Experienced With a Stranger" and "Inge's Visit to A Jewish Doctor." Other chapters include: "How to Tell A Jew," "How a German Peasant was Driven from House and Farm," "How Jewish Traders Cheat," How Jews Torment Animals," and the last chapter: "Without Solving the Jewish Question No Salvation for Mankind." The image of the Jewish monster perpetrating misfortune is presented at the end of each episode in the form of a short poem, which capsulizes the specific immoral act allegedly committed by a Jew, connects all Jews to the Devil, and serves to warn the reader against the ever-present Jewish threat.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 4,000.
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