It's Them or Us: Killing the Jews in Nazi Propaganda1 - Bytwerk

Nazi Symbolic Violence 18
Since Nazi propaganda maintained that Jews viewed Gentiles as animals rather than
fellow human beings, such photographs suggested corresponding violence toward
Gentiles.
At the same time, caricatures showed varieties of Nazi violence against Jews.
Some examples were abstract. Two months after the Nazi takeover, a Stürmer
cartoon had the arm of the Ministry of Education hauling a Jewish teacher out of the
classroom.
“Free the schools from the corruption of the Jewish spirit” (1933)
Such cartoons did not necessarily imply physical violence against Jews — but
neither did they suggest gentle methods.
Five months after Hitler’s takeover, Der Stürmer carried the most ominous
caricature I have found during the early years of the Third Reich. With a rising
swastika sun in the background, a personification of Germany pushes a Jew
(representing all Jews) off a cliff (see page 1). The consequences would, of course be
fatal, but Germany is acting only in self-­‐defense, doing to the Jews what the Jews
were attempting to do to Germany.