Der Untermensch

Berlin: Nordland Verlag, [1942]. A vicious piece of Nazi propaganda, in which German Aryans are contrasted with the “untermensch,” or “sub-human,” a category encompassing Jews, Slavs, the feeble-minded, etc. Photographs portray Germans as clean, healthy, industrious and the creators of high culture whereas Jews and others from Eastern Europe are depicted as dysgenic, dirty, bestial, lazy, and living in squalor. Other photographs depict noble German art and architecture juxtaposed with the degenerate art of the Jew. The final six pages of photographs show mutilated and murdered Germans and warn of the need to defend Europe from the hordes of untermenschen. The book was published by SS publishing house Nordland and widely distributed in Germany. It was translated into Greek, French, Dutch, Danish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Czech and seven other languages.

The term “untermenschen” was purportedly coined by the American racial theorist Lothrop Stoddard from his book The Revolt Against Civilization: The Menace of the Under-man (1922). It was adopted by the Germans following the German translation of Stoddard’s book.

Stapled, photo-illustrated, large-format wrappers (13 ¼” x 10 ¼”), [52] p., primarily photographs. In German. Light edgewear, faint soiling and foxing to rear wrapper. Item #9995

Price: $950.00