Use Restrictions

The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Antisemitic American Nazi propaganda newsletters and photos, C0347, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Donor is unknown

Processing Information

Processing completed by Meghan Glasbrenner in September 2023. Finding aid completed by Meghan Glasbrenner in September 2023.

Historical Information

The Nazi Party relied heavily on propaganda to build public support, with much of it centered on antisemitism as the central theme, drawing on centuries of anti-Jewish prejudice in Europe. To more effectively reach different audiences the party's propagandists conducted informal public opinion research to then use in creating films, posters, and news publications targeted at these specific needs, concerns, and existing prejudices. These propaganda materials were targeted both within Germany and internationally, including within the United States. Those which were authorized by the German Nazi party included the New York based German Library of Information, which provided the "German perspective" on the war in Europe in their "Facts in Review" newsletters. In reality these publications heavily sanitized the atrocities being carried out and downplayed the party's antisemitic policies and positions. Additionally, the Anti-Komintern (also spelled Anti-Comintern) focused on anti-Soviet and anti-communist propaganda, such as in their "News Service" newsletters, by connecting it as part of the "International Jewish Conspiracy".

Additionally, organized groups like the Friends of New Germany, created with support from the German counsel in New York City in 1933 and dismantled in late 1935, and the German American Bund, formed in New York by first and second generation German-Americans in 1936, sought to build support for a Nazi party within the United States. The Friends of New Germany is a possible publication source for the "Die Volkswarcht" newsletters as their propaganda was heavily and overtly antisemitic and centered largely around New York businesses and politics. Antisemitic Nazi ideologies were also spread within the United States through independent news publications, such as "American Bulletin" (subtitled "The White Man's Viewpoint"), a weekly antisemitic newsletter published starting in 1935 by New Yorker Henry Curtiss.

Scope and Content

Content warning: These materials are strongly antisemitic and white supremacist.

Fifteen antisemitic propaganda newsletters and flyers, in both German and English, and two collage photographs. All materials were created for distribution to American audiences by United States based affiliates or supporters of the German Nazi party. Newsletter titles include 7 editions of "Die Volkswacht," 2 editions of "Facts in Review," 1 edition of "News Service", and 1 edition of "American Bulletin", as well as several flyers and independent publications, some of which include excerpted sections of longer antisemitic writings.

Arrangement

This is a single folder collection.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center also holds other materials on Germany and the Nazi Party in World War II, such as in the Henry O. Lampe papers.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds extensive materials related to both the Holocaust and the antisemitism, including a collection of Nazi party propaganda.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Antisemitism
• German American Bund
• German Library of Information (New York, N.Y.)
• Hate speech
• Nazi propaganda
• Nazis
• Propaganda