Streicher, Julius (y

`ly

s shtrī`khər), 1885–1946, German National Socialist (Nazi) leader. An early party member, originally a schoolteacher, he aired his sadistic and anti-Semitic mania in his periodical, Der Stürmer. Streicher was also the host of the yearly Nazi party congresses at Nuremberg and, after 1933, was gauleiter (district leader) of Franconia. He was convicted at the Nuremberg war crimes trial and was hanged.

Streicher, Julius

(born Feb. 22, 1885, Fleinhausen, Ger.—died Oct. 16, 1946, Nürnberg, W.Ger.) German Nazi demagogue and politician. He joined the Nazi Party in 1921 and became a friend of Adolf Hitler. In 1923 he founded the anti-Semitic weekly Der Stürmer, which provided a focus for Hitler's racial policies. As one of the most virulent advocates of persecution of the Jews, Streicher initiated the campaign that led to the passage of the Nürnberg Laws in 1935. He was appointed gauleiter (district leader) of Franconia, but his sadistic excesses alienated party officials, and he was stripped of his posts in 1940; he remained editor of Der Stürmer, however, owing to Hitler's protection. In 1945 he was arrested by the Allies, prosecuted at the Nürnberg trials, and hanged as a war criminal.