7150 - Julius Streicher (2) Documents Signed at Nuremberg, Seeking Testimony on Kristallnacht and Concentration Camp Prisoners

Julius Streicher (2) Documents Signed at Nuremberg, Seeking Testimony on Kristallnacht and Concentration Camp Prisoners Two witness applications signed by Julius Streicher while preparing his Nuremberg defense, affixed back-to-back on a single cardstock sheet: - Partly-printed DS, in English, one page, 7.75 x 12.25, November 25, 1945. Document headed, "The International Military Tribunal, Defendant's Application for Summons for Witness." Streicher and his defense lawyer request testimony from "Fritz Herrwerth," explaining: "This witness was present in the night of 9 November 1938 at the conversation which took place between the SA Obergruppenfuehrer von Obernitz and me concerning the proposed demonstration against the Jews. He immediately informed his wife hereof. The witness knows further that when those events were discussed in Pleikershof I was again enraged at the events of that time and got very excited about the acts of the SS. Herrwerth will also remember that in spring 1939 the editor Fink came to my garden in the Cramer-Klett Strasse and accused himself of having made untrue statements to the Police with regard to my part in the acquisition of shares of the Kohn Bank." Signed at the conclusion in pencil by Julius Streicher, and countersigned by his defense attorney. - Partly-printed DS, in German, one page, 7.75 x 12.25, November 25, 1945. Document headed, "The International Military Tribunal, Defendant's Application for Summons for Witness." Streicher and his defense lawyer request testimony from "Senior Detective Superintendent Otto," explaining (translated): "This witness should testify that I yearly took about 20 to 30 former members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and of the Social-Democratic Labor Party of Germany (SDP) out of concentration camps. Through this I incurred the displeasure of the highest leaders of the Gestapo in Berlin, and it was suggested to me that I no longer free so many prisoners from the concentration camps. Otto will also know that I was reproached for this by the highest Party court, and criticized for unpatriotic conduct and economic sabotage, especially since I put such former members of the KPD to work and into armament industries at that." Signed at the conclusion in pencil by Julius Streicher, and countersigned by his defense attorney. Accompanied by a contemporary English translation. Backed by lightweight cardstock and in fine condition, with a band of toning across the top of the second document. These paired applications reveal the defensive strategy Streicher pursued at Nuremberg: to separate himself personally from specific acts of violence and repression while portraying himself as, at times, a moderating influence within the Nazi system. In the Herrwerth application, however, Streicher’s own language places him in direct discussion with an SA Obergruppenführer on the night of November 9, 1938, concerning the “proposed demonstration against the Jews”—an extraordinary admission of proximity to the events of Kristallnacht even as he sought testimony that he later condemned the violence and blamed excesses on the SS. His additional reference to the Kohn Bank likewise touches on the broader issue of Aryanization and the forced transfer of Jewish property, matters that had already figured prominently in the corruption proceedings that ended his tenure as Gauleiter of Franconia in 1940. The second application advances a different line of defense, with Streicher claiming that he repeatedly secured the release of Communist and Social Democratic prisoners from concentration camps despite objections from the Gestapo and Nazi Party authorities. Rather than demonstrating opposition to the regime itself, the episode is more revealing of the competing jurisdictions and personal power struggles within the Nazi state, in which regional Party leaders could clash with Himmler’s increasingly centralized police apparatus. Taken together, the two documents show Streicher attempting to recast his record as one of resistance to brutality and occasional leniency, even as his own statements situate him firmly within the political and administrative machinery of Nazi persecution. Streicher was ultimately convicted of crimes against humanity by the International Military Tribunal and sentenced to death; he was executed by hanging at Nuremberg on October 16, 1946.