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Emelia Conte
CAS 137H, Section 005
Professor Lori Bedell
12 October 2014
Wer Ist Der Giftpilz?
In 1938, a year before the outbreak of World War II, Nazi Germany was already well into
their persecution of Jews, known as the Holocaust. As the movement grew, the Nazi Party aimed
to raise a new generation that shared their ideals, which they partially did through Julius
Streicher, publisher of the anti-sematic newspaper Der Stürmer. In addition to newspaper,
Streicher published a children’s book called Der Giftpilz, translated in English to The Poisonous
Mushroom, as propaganda to convince children of the dangers of the Jewish people (Mills).
Ultimately, the book was successful in brainwashing children through its careful illustration,
embodiment of ethos, logos, and pathos, use of allegory, unique style, and applicable delivery.
As soon as children open Der Giftpilz, the illustration of a young boy and his mother in
the forest helps them connect with the characters who will tell them how to think. The illustrator
does not show the German boy’s entire face, giving him an anonymity that ensures each child
can associate him with a cousin, a best friend, or even a brother. Additionally, the mother’s face
gives children a sense of security as they prepare to read the book; she is not scolding the boy,
Franz, nor does she look even remotely angry, and this reassures children that they can trust
whatever the kind-hearted woman tells them as they read. Moreover, the color choices for the
photograph are very telling of the nature of the words to come. Primarily, subdued greens and
warm browns are used to convey a sense of relaxation to the child, ensuring them that there is
nothing outwardly scary or evil about the upcoming tale. However, although there is a sedative
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feel in the color choices of the forest scene, the sky is not a typical cheery blue; instead, the
illustrator chooses to paint the cloudless sky with an alarming red-orange hue, which seems
somewhat out of place in the serenity of the forest. In this way, the illustrator parallels the
message of Der Giftpilz; even if it seems as though all is well, danger still lurks.
The author’s first task is to establish ethos for the basis of his criticism using the mother
figure. It is natural that children look up to their parents, and the author of Der Giftpilz uses this
basic concept to ensure that children will adopt his point of view. When the story begins, the
mother warns her child about the presence of both good and bad mushrooms. Here, the mother
begins to establish her credibility as she proves that she is trying to look after her child and keep
him safe from harm. Because all children see their mothers as protectors, young readers are
convinced that Franz’s mother is just like their own mothers and are guaranteed that placing their
trust in her is not a mistake. Once a sense of ethos is established and associated with Franz’s
mother, the author can speak through her to validate the opinions he wishes to express.
Before establishing a pathetic appeal, the author first uses logical appeal to create an
association needed to establish a powerful metaphor about the dangers of Jews. Franz’s mother
explains to Franz that there are good mushrooms and good people and bad mushrooms and bad
people. From a very young age, children understand the concept of good and bad and can fairly
easily differentiate between the two. Therefore, the existence of the opposing ideas of good and
bad make sense to a child, as evidenced by Franz’s enthusiastic confirmation of his mother’s
lesson. Once the author establishes this idea, he continues his appeal to logos by connecting the
bad, poisonous mushrooms to the Jewish people. In a rational progression of thoughts, the
mother skillfully transforms the bad mushroom into “the poisonous mushroom[s] of mankind,”
who both she and Franz believe are the Jews (“The Poisonous”). Because of the pre-established
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ethos of the mother and the logos behind the establishment of the idea of the poisonous Jew,
children are more likely to believe the conclusion that the Jews are indeed “der Giftpilz.”
Once the author has established the idea of the Jew as a poisonous mushroom, pathetic
appeals are then invoked to instill a sense of urgency, hatred, and fear to children and parents
who read Der Giftpilz. The use of the emotionally loaded and unsympathetic term “poison” to
describe the Jewish people makes German children feel isolated from them. Everyone knows that
poison kills, and even Franz says of the consumption of poisonous mushrooms that “One may
even die!” (“The Poisonous”). Therefore, upon reading the term poison in association with Jews,
German children become fearful of and potentially even hateful toward those who try to do them
ill-will. The use of the terms “destroy” and “kill” later in the narrative also serve this purpose;
because children understand that killing and destruction are morally wrong behaviors, they
associate these terms with negative feelings and, by the transitive property, associate those who
destroy and kill with the same negative emotions. Later in the story, Franz’s mother tells him that
not all non-Jews know about the “misery and distress, illness and death” that the Jews bring, this
time not only instilling a sense of hatred for Jews, but also a sense of fear and pity for those who
are not yet aware of the true nature of the Jews (“The Poisonous”). Children are generally
altruistic beings, so upon hearing that their fellow classmates may not know about these horrible
dangers, they experience a sense of urgency and are motivated by fear to spread the Nazi ideals
to their friends to keep them safe from harm.
Even more interestingly, the author uses biblical allegories to demonize Jews. The Jewish
people, although not Christians, still worship God. However, the last line of Der Giftpilz calls a
Jew “the Devil in human form” (“The Poisonous”). By referring to Jews as the Devil, the author
completely twists their accepted ideological beliefs, effectively calling Jews out as hypocrites to
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distance them from all ties to anything pure and good. This more sophisticated analysis certainly
appeals to parents who may read this book to children. On a more basic level, most children
understand the concept of the Devil as the embodiment of evil. Because of this conception, the
metaphor drawn between Jews and the Devil effectively scares children into fearing the Jews for
all the reasons that they fear the Devil, drawing them deeper into Nazi ideals.
Because Der Giftpilz is written as a children’s book, its style remains relatively
simplistic; however, the use of simple sentences ensures that children do not lose their trains of
thought throughout the book. Children generally have a difficult time focusing, so the author is
truly challenged as he attempts to convince children to hate millions of people who they do not
know in just a few short sentences. However, the author speaks clearly, quickly, and bluntly in
the traditional German manner to keep the children’s attention, and refuses to coddle them with
wishy-washy terms. Instead, his stylistic choices attempt to engage both the child and their
parents with careful diction that inspires pathetic appeal, simple statements of logos, and an
acknowledgement of hypocrisy through allegory while maintaining a familiar storybook format.
Although Der Giftpilz is a children’s book, its delivery is similar to an informational
pamphlet. This is not surprising since the author, Ernst Hiemer, was second in command to
Julius Streicher and was probably well trained in writing informative articles published in the
anti-sematic newspaper Der Stürmer (Bytwerk). However, the informative voice is not
distracting in conveying the author’s message; because the information is coming from a German
mother, who would likely have an instructive tone when attempting to warn her child of the
dangers of the world, the piece gains an authenticity among children, effectively adding to its
persuasive power.
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Although the Nazi campaign to rid the world of Jews ultimately failed, Der Giftpilz was
successful in instilling fear and hatred into children and adults through its use of ethos, logos,
pathos, allegory, style, and delivery. In its prime during the Holocaust, this piece, along with
many other forms of Nazi propaganda, inspired at least 8 million German children to join
organizations like Hitler Youth, which taught children about the superiority of the German
lineage over the Jewish heritage (“Hitler”). Der Giftpilz is only the first installment of a not so
multi-faceted view of Jewish culture, and its topical structure allows for a setup of even more
appeals to prejudice throughout the seventeen chapter book. Despite the fact that hatred cannot
be condoned, Nazi Germany effectively showed the world that a “poisonous mushroom” does
exist; it is one who hates irrationally and treats others unjustly.
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Works Cited
Bytwerk, Randall L. "Anti-Semitic Children’s Stories." Anti-Semitic Children’s Stories. Calvin
Minds in the Making, 2011. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://research.calvin.edu/germanpropaganda-archive/pudel.htm>.
"Hitler Youth." Historical Boys' Uniforms. Historic Boys' Uniform, 15 Nov. 1998. Web. 2 Oct.
2014. <http://histclo.com/youth/youth/org/nat/hitler/hitler.htm>.
Mills, Mary. "Propaganda & Children during the Hitler Years." The Nizkor Project. The Nizkor
Project, n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/mills-mary/mills00.html>.
"The Poisonous Mushroom, by Der Stürmer 1938." Unity of Nobility. Unity of Nobility-News
for White Europeans, 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2014.
<http://unityofnobility.com/2013/03/05/the-poisonous-mushroom-by-der-stuermer1938/>.