Julius Streicher

Streicher got married in 1913 to Kunigunde Roth, who was a baker’s daughter. They were blessed with two sons – Lothar and Elmar – from their marriage.

In May 1945, Streicher married his former secretary, Adele Tappe.

He was captured by the US Forces on May 1945. Streicher was executed on October 16, 1946 by International Military Tribune, Nuremberg.

Julius Streicher was born on 12th February 1885, to Friedrich Streicher and Anna nee Weiss, in the town of Fleinhausen in Bavaria. His father worked as an elementary school teacher.

He followed in his father’s footsteps and began working as an elementary school teacher at the beginning of his career. In 1914, he joined the German army. By the year 1918, he was promoted to the post of lieutenant and had been awarded the Iron Cross.

After Germany was defeated in World War I, Streicher took to radical politics by enlisting his name in ‘Schutz-und-Trutz Bund’, a group that focused on working against the Bavarian republic. After being involved with this group, he began exhibiting anti-Semitic traits, which would later inevitably develop into a vicious propaganda.

Next, he co-founded the German Socialist Party called ‘Deutschsozialistische Partei’. However, its claim to follow socialist ideals was just a façade and they were actually focused towards were the spread of anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitic movement.

Perhaps the biggest role of Streicher in promoting the cause of intolerance against the Jews was his anti-Semitic newspaper called ‘Der Stürmer’. This newspaper promoted the feelings of hatred towards the Jewish people in the minds of Nazi Germans.

His attempts to influence the German mass in the most negative manner led to his suspension from teaching. He spent the next few years as the leader of local Nazi Party which operated outside of legal boundaries.

Streicher enjoyed a position at the Bavarian Parliament between the years 1924 to 1932. As soon as Hitler got out of jail, he made him the district leader or ‘Gauleiter’ of the then Middle Franconia.

He admitted that he was transformed after hearing Hitler speak at Munich in 1921. After he had joined forces with his new-found mentor and his Nazi Party, he had helped to almost double the strength of the party by adding his pool of supporters to it.

He had marched alongside Hitler in the Beer Hall Putsch and also braved the bullets of the police force in Munich. This act led Hitler to confess that he trusted him completely and that Hitler believed that he would go on to become one of his few confidants.