Volkischer Beobachter (The National Observer), a Collection of Nazi-German newspapers, the Munich edition, 1935-1945 | Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

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Collection Overview

Title: Volkischer Beobachter (The National Observer), a Collection of Nazi-German newspapers, the Munich edition, 1935-1945

Predominant Dates:1943 -- 1945

ID: RG-76/RG-76

Primary Creator: Central Publishing House of the NSDAP

Extent: 2.0 Boxes

Arrangement: Newspapers are arranged chronologically in to sub Record Groups as assigned by the processor

Languages: German

Abstract

This is a selected Collection of the publication named Voelkischer Beobachter (The National Observer), an official press organ of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). It is the Munich edition of Voelkischer Beobachter.

Our repository has incomplete issues of the period between 1935 and 1945. The more completed is the period between 1943 and 1945.

Voelkischer Beobachter (the National Observer) was the newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party) from 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from 8 February 1923. For twenty-five years it formed part of the official public face of the Nazi party

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 Chase Bauduin and Dietrich Eckart, who became the first editors. In 1921, Adolf Hitler acquired all shares in the company, making him the sole owner of the publication.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This Record Group, RG-76, Volkischer Beobachter (the National Observer) is a collection of the official press organ of the National Socialists. It comprises seven collections, arranged by the years of publication, namely RG-76.01 relates to 1935; RG-76.02 relates to 1937; RG-76.03 relates 1938; RG-76.04 relates to 1940; RG-76.05 relates to 1943; RG-76.06 relates to 1944 and RG-76.07 relates to 1945; The Collections for the years 1943 -- 1945 are more complete than the others. All periodicals are digitized.

Collection Historical Note

This Collection is part of the Anton Karl Papers (RG-59). The Anton Karl Papers is a number of not necessarily related collections, except for the same Creator, namely him and his family. The collection of one the main Nazi periodicals, Voelkischer Beobachter, poses significant historical interest and owing to this criterion is also presented as the record group of its own.

Völkischer Beobachter, (German: “the National Observer”), daily newspaper published by the Nazi Party in Germany from the 1920s until the fall of the Third Reich in 1945. The paper was originally founded in 1887 as a four-page Munich weekly, the Münchner Beobachter. It had become a daily anti-Semitic gossip sheet with a circulation of about 7,000 when it was bought by Adolph Hitler in 1923 to serve as the propaganda organ of his National Socialist German Workers’ Party. In 1941 its circulation had passed 1.1 million.

Publication of the Völkischer Beobachter was suspended three times in the early 1920s by the Weimar Republic authorities because of anti-Semitic articles and attacks on government policies and officials. After the third suspension it resumed publication as a weekly in 1925 and became a daily again a month later. Hitler had made Alfred Rosenberg its editor, and the latter continued the anti-Semitic thrust of the paper while making it a forum for Hitler and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. The Völkischer Beobachter launched Berlin and South German editions in 1930, and in 1933 the paper opened a new editorial and printing headquarters in Berlin. A Vienna edition began to appear following Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938. Foreign correspondents and diplomats from the rest of the world followed it for indications of Nazi policy shifts and propaganda objectives, making allowances for its usual exaggeration and hyperbole.

Subject/Index Terms

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Sub-Collection:

[Sub-Collection 1: RG-76.01, Volkischer Beobachter, 1935, 1935],
[Sub-Collection 2: RG-76.02, Volkischer Beobachter, 1937, September 1937],
[Sub-Collection 3: RG-76.03, Volkischer Beobachter, 1938],
[All]

Sub-Collection 1: RG-76.01, Volkischer Beobachter, 1935, 1935

The Government of Nazi Germany announces general military conscription and the establishment of the new German Army, comprising the ground forces, the navy and the air force. Nazi-German re-militarization has began. This Announcement is dated by March 16, 1935

Subject/Index Terms:: Voelkischer Beobachter, Nazi periodicals; Voelkischer Beobachter, editorial articles; Voelkischer Beobachter, program articles; Voelkischer Beobachter, governmental announcements; Re-militarization of Nazi Germany, 1935 -- 1939; General conscription to the German Armed Forces, March 1935; Re-organization of the German Army began, 1935; Ground forces, navy and air force are created in Nazi Germany, 1935; Nazi Germany violates the provision of the Paris Peace Conference by launching the Re-armament; Nazi Government of Germany, appeals to German people, 1933 -- 1945; Strategic and tactical structure of the rebuilding of the German Army, 1935; Periodicals, German; Periodicals, Nazi; Germany (1933 -- 1939); Geopolitical situation in Europe, 1933 -- 1939; Berlin (Germany); Documents in German language

Creators:: Voelkischer Beobachter (People's Observer, a German wartime newspaper) (1933-1945); Voelkischer Beobachter, editorial board and contributors (1920 -- 1925)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 1: RG-76.01.01, Volkischer Beobachter March 16, 1935, 16 March 1935

An issue of the Voelkischer Beobachter periodical, the German newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, from March 16, 1935. In this issue, it is announced that Germany will re-organize and rebuild its armed forces, an action that is in direct violation with the Treaty of Versailles, signed by Germany after the First World War. This issue states that the military is strictly for protecting Germany’s people, not for expansion or war. This was one of the first of many public lies and violations Germany would be responsible for coming up to the Second World War.

Subject/Index Terms:: Berlin (Germany); Documents in German language; German, language; Narratives in German language; General conscription to the German Armed Forces, March 1935; Geopolitical situation in Europe, 1933 -- 1939; Germany (1933 -- 1939); Ground forces, navy and air force are created in Nazi Germany, 1935; Nazi Germany violates the provision of the Paris Peace Conference by launching the Re-armament; Nazi Government of Germany, appeals to German people, 1933 -- 1945; Government of Nazi Germany (1933-1945); Periodicals, German; German political appeals in the German periodicals, 1920s -- 1940s; Periodicals, Nazi; Re-militarization of Nazi Germany, 1935 -- 1939; Re-organization of the German Army began, 1935; Strategic and tactical structure of the rebuilding of the German Army, 1935; Voelkischer Beobachter, editorial articles; Voelkischer Beobachter, governmental announcements; Voelkischer Beobachter, Nazi periodicals; Voelkischer Beobachter, program articles; Political and economic plans of Nazi Germany, 1935

Creators:: Voelkischer Beobachter (People's Observer, a German wartime newspaper) (1933-1945); Voelkischer Beobachter, editorial board and contributors (1920 -- 1925)