CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

AVITUS A. AGBOR Nazi Germany’s propaganda architecture was sophisticated, thorough, efficient and effective: with Fritzsche from the Ministry of Propaganda and Streicher from the informal sector, frequent broadcasts and publications percolated almost every corner of Germany. The mind-burgling question remains: how did millions of decent and level-headed Germans allow themselves to be brainwashed and enraged to the point that they unhesitatingly took part in the perpetration of one of mankind’s most heinous crimes? The propaganda machinery succeeded in the indoctrination of millions of Germans, and the Nazi elite was able to see to the systematic and widespread implementation of laws and policies that followed a simple but effective formula: first, identify; secondly, ostracise; thirdly, confiscate; fourthly, concentrate and lastly, annihilate. 2.4 The Tribunal’s verdict: conviction In view of the publications before the IMT, Nuremberg, Fritzsche was acquitted on all counts, including his participation as an instigator of the crimes over which Tribunal had jurisdiction. On the other hand, Streicher was acquitted on Count One, 54 but convicted on Count Two. His conviction for the latter was for having participated in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to perpetrate the crimes over which the Tribunal had jurisdiction. He participated through instigation. The Tribunal based its conviction on the ground that Streicher participated through his anti-Semitic literature published in Der Stürmer . The offensive, graphic and gory cartoons and messages appended thereto, played a significant role in building and fuelling anti-Jewish sentiments across Germany, with the overall consequence being the involvement of numerous Germans in the commission of hostilities against the Jews in Germany. In the Tribunal’s opinion, Streicher’s participation could be measured by the impact of his publications in Germany: “…[F]or his twenty-five years of speaking, writing, and preaching hatred of the Jews, Streicher was widely known as “Jew-Baiter Number One.” In his speeches and articles, week after week, month after month, he infected the German mind with the virus of anti-Semitism. and incited the German people to active persecution. Each issue of “ Der Sturmer”, which reached a circulation of 600,000 in 1935, was filled with such articles, often lewd and disgusting… Streicher had charge of the Jewish boycott of 1st April, 1933. He advocated the Nuremberg Decrees of 1935. He was responsible for the demolition on 10th August, 1938, of the Synagogue in Nuremberg. And on 10th November, 1938, he spoke publicly in support of the Jewish pogrom which was taking place at that time… Streicher’s incitement to murder and extermination at the time when Jews in the East were being killed under the most horrible conditions clearly constitutes persecution on political and racial grounds in connection with war crimes and constitutes a crime against humanity.”

54 Count One of the Indictment charged Julius Streicher for crimes against peace; and Count Two was for crimes against humanity. The Charter of the IMT, Nuremberg, defined the crime of crimes against peace and crimes against humanity in Article 6(a) and (c) respectively.

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