View source for Germany Must Perish!

{{Short description|1941 anti-German book by Theodore N. Kaufman}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox book
| name       = Germany Must Perish!
| image      = Germany Must Perish! cover.jpg
| caption    = First-edition cover
| author     = [[Theodore N. Kaufman]]
| country    = United States
| publisher  = [[Argyle Press]]
| pub_date   = {{start date|df=y|1941|02|28}}
| media_type = Print (hardback and paperback)
| pages      = 104
| oclc       = 11425880
| dewey      = 914.3<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ClassifyDemo?owi=11425880|title=OCLC Classify|website=classify.oclc.org|access-date=14 Feb 2022}}</ref>
| language   = English
}}
'''''Germany Must Perish!''''' is a 104-page book written by [[Theodore N. Kaufman]], which he self-published in 1941 in the [[United States]]. The book advocated [[genocide]] through the sterilization of all [[Germans]] and the territorial dismemberment of Germany, believing that this would achieve world peace. 

Kaufman founded the Argyle Press in [[Newark, New Jersey]], United States, in order to publish this book. He was the sole proprietor of the Argyle Press, which is not known to have published any other works.

The [[Nazi Party]] used the book, written by a [[Jews|Jewish]] author, to support their argument that Jews were [[Jewish war conspiracy theory|plotting against their country]].<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|title=Jews of Hanover Forced from Homes. Mayor Cites American Book, 'Germany Must Perish'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/09/09/archives/jews-of-hanover-forced-from-homes-mayor-cites-american-book-germany.html|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=September 9, 1941|access-date=April 19, 2011 }}</ref>{{sfn|Benesch|2008|p=505}}

==Contents==
Kaufman advocated the mass extermination of the German people through [[forced sterilization]] and the territorial dismemberment of Germany after an Allied victory in [[World War II]].<ref name=Lombardo />

Kaufman summarized ''Germany Must Perish!'' in advertisements in ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[New York Post]]'' as: "A dynamic volume outlining a plan for the extinction of Germany and containing a map showing possible dissection and apportionment of its territory."<ref>''New York Post'', Friday, February 28, 1941, p. 22</ref> Kaufman defended his plan for the "sterilization of all Germans" in an interview published in the September 26, 1941, issue of ''The Canadian Jewish Chronicle'':<ref>{{cite news|author=Harold U. Ribalow|author-link=Harold U. Ribalow|title=Hitler Will Be Nothing But A Rosebud Says Author 'Germany Must Perish!'. One Man's Plan For Peace Forever|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rPJOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gkwDAAAAIBAJ&dq=theodore-kaufman%20germany%20must%20perish&pg=2325%2C5306|newspaper=The Canadian Jewish Chronicle|page=5|date=September 26, 1941|access-date=December 4, 2011}}</ref>
[[File:GermanyMustPerish2.jpg|thumb|Map showing Kaufman's proposed dismemberment of Germany (and Austria)]]

{{quote|I believe that the Jews have a mission in life. They must see to it that the nations of the world get together in one vast federation. "Union Now" is the beginning of this. Slowly but surely the world will develop into a paradise. We will have perpetual peace. And the Jews will do the most to bring about this confederation, because they have the most to gain. But how can you get peace if Germany exists? The only way to win an eternal peace is to make the punishment of waging war more horrible than war itself. Human beings are penalized for murder, aren't they? Well, Germany starts all the wars of magnitude. Let us sterilize all Germans and wars of world domination will come to an end!}}
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==Reception==
===In the United States===
Although self-published, the book received considerable attention. [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] magazine published a review in its 24 March issue that compared the book to [[Jonathan Swift]]'s 1729 satirical essay ''[[A Modest Proposal]]'', which proposed reducing the population pressure in Ireland by the cannibalistic consumption of poor Irish infants. However, the ''Time'' essay recognized that Kaufman's work was not satirical; it described the book as the "enshrinement of a single sensational idea". "Since Germans are the perennial disturbers of the world's peace, says the book, they must be dealt with like any homicidal criminals. But it is unnecessary to put the whole German nation to the sword. It is more humane to sterilize them."<ref name=rev>{{cite news|title=A Modest Proposal|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884346,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615031627/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884346,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 15, 2008|work=Time magazine|date=March 24, 1941|access-date=April 19, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Modest Proposal (review from ''Time'' magazine)|url=http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/k/kaufman.theodore.nathan/press/time-review-perish-194103|website=The Nizkor Project|access-date=September 27, 2014|archive-date=November 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114111503/http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/k/kaufman.theodore.nathan/press/time-review-perish-194103|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to one study, reviews in the United States "reflected an odd combination of straight reporting and skepticism".<ref name=Lang>[[Berel Lang]], ''Philosophical Witnessing: The Holocaust as Presence'' ([[University Press of New England]]: 2009), pp. 130–131, 135</ref> Kaufman's second and more moderate pamphlet, "No More German Wars" published in 1942, was ignored in both the U.S. and Germany.<ref name=Lang/>

An advertisement in ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated that the book was released to the public on March 1, 1941. Kaufman also promoted the book by mailing a miniature black cardboard coffin with a hinged lid to reviewers.<ref>Anonymous. Advertisement for ''Germany Must Perish!''. ''New York Times''. March 1, 1941. p. 13</ref> Inside the coffin was a card proclaiming, "Read GERMANY MUST PERISH! Tomorrow you will receive your copy."<ref name=rev/><ref name=Lombardo>{{cite book |last=Lombardo |first=Paul A. |author-link1=Paul A. Lombardo |date=2010 |title=Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court and Buck v. Bell |location=Baltimore, MD |publisher=Johns Hopkins UP |pages=228, 236 |edition=paperback |isbn=978-0-8018-9824-2}}</ref>

The book's dust jacket contained excerpts from reviews of the book. One [[blurb]] read: "A Plan For Permanent Peace Among Civilized Nations! -- New York Times."<ref>"Latest Books Received." ''New York Times''. March 16, 1941. p. BR29</ref>

Kaufman's book was cited by a prominent Jewish-American trial lawyer, [[Louis Nizer]].<ref name=Nizer>{{cite book |last=Nizer |first=Louis |date=1944 |title=What To Do With Germany |url=https://archive.org/details/whattodowithgerm00nizerich |location=Chicago |publisher=Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. |pages=3–5, 205}}</ref> In his 1944 book ''What To Do With Germany'', Nizer accepted the collective punishment of Germans and considered, though ultimately rejected, their mass "eugenic sterilization".<ref name=Nizer />

In 1945, a Jewish journalist wrote an article claiming that the book was "little more than self-indulgence in dire vituperation by a man who sees Germany as the sole cause of the world's woes".<ref>[[Donald F. Lach]], "What They Would Do about Germany", ''[[Journal of Modern History]]'', Vol. 17, No. 3. (September 1945), pp. 227-243</ref>

===In Germany===
Kaufman was a Manhattan-born Jew and his advocacy of genocide attracted great attention in Germany.<ref name=rev/> The book was denounced in Germany as an "orgy of Jewish hatred", and it was seen as inspired by United States President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt's]] supposed polemical anti-German agitation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nazis Attack Roosevelt|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/07/24/87646724.pdf|access-date=September 27, 2014|work=New York Times|date=July 24, 1941}}</ref> American journalist [[Howard K. Smith]] was in Germany when ''Germany Must Perish!'' became known. He wrote:<ref>Howard K. Smith, ''Last Train from Berlin'' (London: Phoenix Pr., 1942), p. 134</ref>
{{quote|No man has ever done so irresponsible a disservice to the cause his nation is fighting and suffering for than Nathan Kaufman. His half-baked brochure provided the Nazis with one of the best light artillery pieces they have, for, used as the Nazis used it, it served to bolster up that terror which forces Germans who dislike the Nazis to support, fight and die to keep Nazism alive ...}}

In September 1941, [[Julius Streicher]] published an essay in ''[[Der Stürmer]]'' that called Kaufman's book "the crazy thinking of [an] insane Jewish brain". He quoted Kaufman at length and then commented: "By destroying the German people, the Jew wants to stop up the spring from which, since the beginning, the world has always found its creative blood, the source of all that is beautiful, good and noble."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Streicher|first1=Julius|title=The Battle with the Devil|url=https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/ds15.htm|website=German Propaganda Archive|publisher=[[Calvin University]]|access-date=September 27, 2014}}</ref> [[Joseph Goebbels]] also gave a radio address from Berlin warning Germans of "plans 'for sterilization of our entire population under 60 years' of age".<ref name=Lombardo /> These concerns were echoed by [[Adolf Hitler]] himself after the US entered World War II; he claimed mass sterilization of German male youth was a "primary" American goal.<ref name=Lombardo />

When the Jews of [[Hanover]] were evicted on September 8, 1941, the local authorities cited Kaufman's book as one of the reasons.<ref name=NYT/> Kaufman responded:<ref>{{cite news|title=Hanover Jews Victims of Latest Oppression|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kxhlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vW4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1522,728722&dq=theodore+kaufman+newark&hl=en|newspaper=[[Associated Press]]|date=September 9, 1941|access-date=April 20, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Unknown Title|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/09/09/87665415.pdf|access-date=September 27, 2014|work=New York Times|date=September 9, 1941}}</ref>
{{quote|This is just a flimsy pretext for another of the innate cruelties of the German people ... I don't think it was my book that prompted this barbarity. They employed every possible German cruelty against the Jews long before my book was published.}}

The book appeared in many pieces of [[Nazism|Nazi]] propaganda. The ''[[Parole der Woche]]''{{'s}} weekly wall newspaper included it as evidence that the Allies' war aims included the destruction of Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/parolederwoche.htm|title=Parole der Woche|first=Randall|last=Bytwerk|website=research.calvin.edu}}</ref> The pamphlet "The War Goal of World Plutocracy" detailed the contents of the book, although with some omissions from the text that it quoted.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/kriegsziel.htm|title=War Aims of World Plutocracy|first=Randall|last=Bytwerk|website=research.calvin.edu}}</ref> It was used in 1944 in a pamphlet, "Never!", which described Kaufman's importance:<ref>{{cite web|last1=Goitsch|first1=Heinrich|title=Never!|url=http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/niemals.htm|website=German Propaganda Archive|publisher=Calvin University|access-date=September 27, 2014}} The use of quotation marks for the last sentence of this quotation is unexplained.</ref>
{{quote|The Jewish president of the American Federation of Peace is no anonymous individual, no fanatic rejected by world Jewry, no mentally ill crackpot, but rather a leading and widely known Jewish personality in the United States. He belongs to the so-called Roosevelt Brain Trust, which provides intellectual and political education and advice to the American President. "It is therefore beyond question that his book and its demand that 'Germany must perish' corresponds to the official opinion of the leading circles of world plutocracy."}}

At his [[Nuremberg trial]], Julius Streicher cited Kaufman's book in his defense, claiming his anger at Jews was prompted by ''Germany Must Perish!''.<ref name=Lombardo /> The German philosopher and historian [[Ernst Nolte]] argues that the German reaction to ''Germany Must Perish!'' supports his contention that World War II was a genuine response to German fears of a worldwide Jewish plot.<ref>Nolte, Ernst "Between Myth and Revisionism", pages 17-38 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'', edited by H.W. Koch (NY: St. Martin's Press, 1985), pp. 27-28</ref>

==See also==
*[[Germania est delenda]]
*''[[Germany is Our Problem]]''
*[[Society for the Prevention of World War III]]
*''[[Your Job in Germany]]''
*[[Morgenthau Plan]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last1=Benesch |first1=Susan|author-link=Susan Benesch |title=Vile Crime or Inalienable Right: Defining Incitement to Genocide |journal=[[Virginia Journal of International Law]] |date=2008 |volume=48 |issue=3 |ssrn=1121926|url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1121926 |language=en}}
*Randall Bytwerk, "The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda," ''[[Quarterly Journal of Speech]]'', 91 (2005), pp.&nbsp;37–62
*[[Jeffrey Herf]], ''The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust'', Harvard University Press, 2006, pp.&nbsp;110–115

==External links==
{{wikisource}}

;Text
*''[https://archive.org/details/dudeman5685_yahoo_GMP Germany must perish! ]'' Newark, N.J., Argyle Press 1941 (probable first edition)
*''[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002603775 Germany must perish! ]'' Newark, N.J. : Argyle Press c1941 (apparently the second or later ed. published by Kaufman)

;Propaganda
*"[http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/kriegsziel.htm The War Goal of World Plutocracy]" A September 1941 pamphlet by Wolfgang Diewerge
*"[http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/zeichnen.htm When you see this symbol...]" Cover illustration and excerpts from a November 1941 flyer
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1941 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:American political books]]
[[Category:Anti-German sentiment in the United States]]
[[Category:Ethnic cleansing of Germans]]
[[Category:Eugenics books]]
[[Category:Incitement to genocide]]
[[Category:Sterilization (medicine)]]
[[Category:Self-published books]]
[[Category:World War II propaganda]]
[[Category:Compulsory sterilization]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of Nazi Germany]]