In October 1946 Julian Streicher fell through a trapdoor. Today there are many who perhaps could or should follow him.
From 1946:
Julius Streicher, the foul-mouthed propagandist who taught Germany to hate, was hanged at dawn today for crimes against humanity.
The 61-year-old former schoolteacher, once called “Jew-Baiter Number One,” mounted the gallows with defiance. “Heil Hitler!” he cried, before the trap fell and his poisonous voice was silenced forever.
The International Military Tribunal found him guilty of helping to pave the way for the slaughter of Europe’s Jews through years of vicious incitement in his newspaper, Der Stürmer. Though he never led troops or signed orders for mass murder, the judges ruled that his words were weapons and that he must pay the ultimate penalty.
THE MAN BEHIND THE HATRED
Streicher was born in Bavaria in 1885. He worked as a village schoolmaster, but after Germany’s defeat in the Great War, he drifted into extremist politics. He joined paramilitary groups, shouting for vengeance and spreading lies about the Jews, whom he blamed for the country’s misfortunes.
His rise came swiftly. In 1923 he marched alongside Adolf Hitler in the Munich Putsch, sharing the dock when the coup failed. When Hitler took power ten years later, Streicher was rewarded with the post of Gauleiter of Franconia, ruling Nuremberg like a petty tyrant.
Corruption and vice eventually undid him. Even his fellow Nazis were disgusted by his greed and excesses. In 1940 he was stripped of office, yet he kept publishing his newspaper, the paper that became the voice of Nazi hatred.
DER STÜRMER: A PAPER DRENCHED IN BLOOD
Week after week, Der Stürmer spewed its bile. It carried grotesque cartoons portraying Jews as vermin. It invented crimes, lurid tales of “ritual murder” and “conspiracies”, designed to inflame the mob. On every issue the slogan screamed: “The Jews are our misfortune!”
No German could escape it. Copies were pasted in public showcases, where even those too poor to buy a paper were forced to read its lies.
At Nuremberg, prosecutors laid bare its effect. “Without Streicher,” said the Chief Prosecutor, “the Holocaust would not have found so many willing hands.”
THE TRIAL: WORDS AS CRIMES
In court, Streicher cut a grotesque figure, blustering one moment, whining the next. He claimed to be nothing more than a journalist, insisting he had never fired a shot nor signed a death warrant.
The judges were unmoved. “He poisoned the German mind,” their verdict declared. “Through him, millions learned to see their neighbours not as human beings but as vermin to be destroyed.”
His sentence: death by hanging.
THE END OF A HATE-MONGER
The executions began in the early hours. One by one, the condemned Nazis were led to the gallows erected inside the prison gymnasium.
Streicher was the sixth to die. Witnesses say he walked briskly, his eyes wild. Mounting the platform, he glared at his captors and barked: “Heil Hitler!” Then the trap was sprung, and with it ended the life of a man who used the printed page to summon mass murder.
WORLD REACTS
News of Streicher’s death has been met with grim satisfaction across Europe. In London, Jewish leaders described it as “a fitting end for the man who gave voice to the poison that killed six million.” American commentators called it “a victory for the principle that words, when used to call for slaughter, are deeds.”
The Times of London remarked: “Streicher showed how low a man can sink when he trades in hatred. This justice, though long delayed, is complete.”
1946: STREICHER HANGED FOR HATE
Nuremberg, Wednesday
Julius Streicher, the Nazi who taught Germany to hate, was hanged at dawn today for crimes against humanity.
He never commanded troops, but through his newspaper Der Stürmer he filled the air with poison: grotesque lies about Jews, calls for their exclusion, and cheers when the killings began. The judges ruled that words can be crimes when they summon mass hatred.
2025: THE LESSON STILL STANDS
Hate does not always wear a uniform now. It streams through social media, talk shows, and “patriotic” campaigns. The message, however, is familiar: find a group to blame, strip them of dignity, and tell the public they are the nation’s misfortune.
Modern propagandists may claim they are “just asking questions” or “telling it like it is,” but the methods are the same:
- Scapegoating minorities for social and economic problems.
- Dehumanising language that paints people as invaders, criminals, or threats.
- Repetition of falsehoods until lies sound like truth.
History shows where such rhetoric can lead. Streicher did not gas anyone himself. He simply prepared the ground so others would believe it was necessary.
WHAT LINKS THEN AND NOW?
1946: Public showcases displayed Der Stürmer so no one could avoid its bile.
2025: Algorithms push inflammatory content to millions, rewarding outrage with clicks.
1946: Streicher claimed free speech as his defence.
2025: Today’s hate merchants make the same claim, ignoring that incitement corrodes liberty rather than protects it.
1946: “The Jews are our misfortune!” screamed from every issue.
2025: Variations abound: “They’re taking our jobs,” “They’re changing our culture,” “They don’t belong here.”
THE WARNING
Streicher’s gallows was a symbol: words can kill when left unchecked. Modern societies need not wait for such horrors to repeat. Calling out lies, challenging scapegoating, and defending human dignity are the barriers that keep hate from becoming policy and policy from becoming atrocity.
Some Of The Modern Day Julian Streicher’s
Good…. Arrest them and send them to The Hague. pic.twitter.com/l9aHGfsEl6
— Earth Hippy 🌎🕊️💚 (@hippyygoat) August 1, 2025
The list goes on and on and on. Spreading hate and incitement is now normal. Personally, I do not agree with capital punishment, but if I did and was put in charge, I would be extremely busy.
