Völkischer Beobachter
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One of the last editions of the Völkischer Beobachter (April 20, 1945) hails Adolf Hitler as "man of the century" on the occasion of his 56th birthday, ten days before his suicide. |
The
Völkischer Beobachter (
"Völkisch Observer") was the newspaper of the
National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) from
1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from
February 8,
1923.
The "fighting paper of the National Socialist movement of Greater Germany" (
Kampfblatt der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung Großdeutschlands) had its origin in the
Münchner Beobachter ("Munich Observer"), which in 1918 was acquired by the
Thule Society and in August 1919 was renamed
Völkischer Beobachter. The NSDAP purchased it in December 1920 on the initiative of
Dietrich Eckart, who became the first editor.
The circulation of the paper was initially about 8,000 but increased to 25,000 in autumn 1923 due to strong demand during the
Occupation of the Ruhr. In that year
Alfred Rosenberg became editor. With the prohibition of the NSDAP after the
Beer Hall Putsch of
November 9,
1923, the paper also had to cease publication, which resumed however on the party's refoundation on
February 26,
1925. The circulation rose along with the success of the Nazi movement, reaching more than 120,000 in
1931 and 1.7 million by
1944.
At the end of April
1945, a few days before the German
surrender in
World War II, the
Völkischer Beobachter ceased publication.
Das Schwarze KorpsVölkischer Beobachter newspapers can be acquired on
microfilm from
Mikropress.
