Antisemitic Children's Book Published by Julius Streicher: Der Giftpilz

Authors

Object ID

2012.1.546

Object Name

Book

Date

1-1-1938

Files

Content Warning

The Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection consists of images, documents, and artifacts related to the Holocaust. The collection contains materials that depict a number of topics that may be difficult for viewers to engage with, including: antisemitic descriptions, caricatures, and representation of Jewish people; Nazi imagery and ideology; descriptions and images of German ghettos; graphic images of the violence of the Holocaust; and the creation of the State of Israel. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

Hardcover book with green cover. Includes an illustration of a mushroom with a caricature Jewish face and a Star of David on its stem. Interior includes German text and colorful woodblock illustrations. English translation in collection (2012.1.547).>>

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Ernst Hiemer’s Der Giftpilz (The Poison Mushroom), published by Streicher, was another effort at indoctrinating school-age children in the ways of the Jew, utilizing Philipp Rupprecht’s illustrations to cement the idea that Jews were insidiously dangerous, in much the same way that good edible mushrooms were indistinguishable to the untutored eye from the poisonous variety or toadstool. Each chapter deals with a common stereotype of the Jew, accompanied by a Fips illustration. The Jew’s bent nose, fat lips, dirty ears, lice-ridden beard, and criminal eyes are the physiognomic manifestations of his thieving ways, his concern only for himself, his exploitative nature and endless capacity for tricking poor Germans, culminating in a willingness to deceive the German if it benefits him. Hiemer doesn’t fail to point out that Jews were Christ-killers. Hiemer is as well a self-professed authority on the Talmud and points out that Jews are discouraged from performing real work - only trade and usury - and making non-Jews his slaves. Thus, for the German, salvation comes only with resolving the Jewish question.

Dimensions

10 1/2 x 8 1/4"

Keywords

Mushroom, Poison, Star of David, Propaganda

Subcollection

Streicher, Propaganda

Recommended Citation

"Antisemitic Children's Book Published by Julius Streicher: Der Giftpilz" (1938). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2012.1.546.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1257