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| Before the War
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Though the massive gas-chamber killings of 1942 to 1944 are the most infamous aspect of the Holocaust, the Nazis had begun laying the foundations for their "final solution" to the Jewish question much earlier. As they were enacting statutes that robbed Jews of power, authority and basic human rights, they were also saturating the rest of the German population with propaganda – an information barrage that softened the target for the more vicious attack that was to follow. |
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The burning of the Reichstag in 1933 gave the Nazis an excuse to hunt down their opponents and establish Dachau, the first official concentration camp. Soon they passed the first of more than 40 separate laws that eventually removed all rights and citizenship from Germany's Jews, creating a façade of legality to justify the barbarism that would follow. |
Meanwhile, with publishers such as Julius Streicher eager to spread their message through newspapers and books, the Nazis eventually obliterated all evidence of opposition, leaving theirs as the single message to be consumed by a compliant audience.
Each successive step became easier as the juggernaut of the Holocaust lurched into being, well before the outbreak of war in 1939.
From the Collection
The John and Molly Holocaust Collection includes important evidence showing the development of the Holocaust and the paper trail that led to the deaths of millions.
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The Black Book
In 1946, the same year the Nazis faced trials for their war crimes, The Black Book laid out the evidence of the Holocaust, showing, much as a prosecutor would, that the Nazis' program of mass destruction had been carefully planned and deliberated.
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Der Giftpilz
Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher, publisher of the newspaper Der Sturmer, was also responsible for Der Giftpilz, or The Poison Mushroom. The illustrated collection of children's stories fabricated wild, hateful claims about the moral and physical characteristics of Jews.
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The Hitler Terror
In 1933, the same year Hitler became German chancellor, this forward-looking book, prepared by the World Committee for the Victims of German Fascism, raised alarm about what the Nazis were doing. It warned grimly and accurately about the terrible events that were to follow, including mass killings in concentration camps.
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Hail Hitler
This mocking, sarcastic book was published in London in 1934, with the purpose of using the Nazis' own words to ridicule them.
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Newspapers (translated from German)
As these sample stories from a Dresden newspaper show, full control of the media allowed the Nazis not only to be the news, but also to produce it.
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