Did Julius Streicher say at the Nuremberg Trials that he was only doing what Martin Luther told us to do?

Answer 1

A:At his trial, Streicher said, "Anti-Semitic publications have existed in Germany for centuries. A book I had, written by Dr. Martin Luther, was, for instance, confiscated. Dr. Martin Luther would very probably sit in my place in the defendants' dock today, if this book had been taken into consideration by the Prosecution. In the book 'The Jews and Their Lies', Dr. Martin Luther writes that the Jews are a serpent's brood and one should burn down their synagogues and destroy them . . . ." [my emphasis]

So, yes, Streicher was attempting to pass the blame for his own actions on to Martin Luther, but of course Streicher and his Nazi colleagues went far beyond burning and destroying synagogues. Wrong as Luther was, he never proposed the extermination of the Jews.

Answer 2

Yes, Julius Streicher, a Nazi propagandist, made a reference to Martin Luther at the Nuremberg Trials in an attempt to defend his actions. Streicher claimed that he was only following Luther's anti-Semitic teachings when promoting hatred against Jews in Nazi Germany.