„Der Stürmer“ und seine Leser. Ein analoges antisemitisches Netzwerk

Book presentation with Dr. Melanie Wager (Nuremberg)

"How could this happen?" is one of the most frequently asked questions when dealing with the National Socialist dictatorship. For many years, attempts to explain it were based on the idea of "all-powerful" Nazi propaganda and "seduced" Germans. Even 100 years after the publication of the first issue of the most famous, radical anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda paper "Der Stürmer", its readership is considered a prime example of successful "brainwashing". Melanie Wager refutes this assumption: using historical sources, she shows the effect of the popular mass medium in a hitherto unknown dimension - away from the indoctrinated, largely passive readership to the conscious interaction of the readers with the "Stürmer" editors.

Melanie Wager is a research assistant at the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg.