Völkischer Beobachter Front Pages: May 1943

Background: This page is part of a larger project to trace the history of World War II as reflected in the headlines of the Völkischer Beobachter, the Nazi Party’s daily newspaper.

May 1943 was a month of relative calm. The shock of Stalingrad was past. The Germans retreated from North Africa. Germans could hope things were going well, although the headlines that Italy and Finland were resolved to fight to the end might have raised questions. There were regular stories about submarine warfare, but it made only the headline of 31 May. The Allies had developed effective strategies to sink enemy submarines.

There was a noticable increase in anti-Semitism during the month, part of a broad campaign that reached its peak in May 1943. For details, see Goebbels’s article “The War and the Jews”

Völkischer Beobachter: May 1943

	1 May 1943 Dr. Ley Announced the Slogan for 1 May 1943 “Work for the Future of Our People is Our Honor” The “Day of Labor” as a Sign of Our Faith in Victory
	2 May 1943 No Issue
	3 May 1943 Night Attacks on Women and Children Costly Terror Attacks In Ten Nights the British Lost 233 Bombers and 1600 Trained Crew
	4 May 1943 Staff Chief Viktor Lutze Dead
	5 May 1943 Moscow Demands a “Polish Government” Obedient to the Soviets England Fears Stalin’s Anger Emigrants Threated with a Press Muzzle
	6 May 1943 Soviet Jews in London Mock the Victims of Katyn Banquets and Medals for the Mass Murderers
	7 May 1943 The Duce’s Word — Italy’s Word Powerful Affirmation of Italy’s Military Determination Mussolini’s Unshakable Confidence: “We Will Win!”
	8 May 1943 The Führer Bids Farewell to Viktor Lutze “The Co-Founder of a Greater German Reich Supported by a True People’s Community” Solemn Party Memorial in the Reich Chancellery
	9 May 1943 Jewish Fears in England Jewish Conference “Against Rising Anti-Semitism” Laws to Protect the Profiteering Hyenas
	10 May 1943 Day of the Army and the Empire Italy’s Will to Victory Is Unbreakable Minister Teruzzi: “We will fight to the Last Breath and to the Last Drop of Blood!”
	11 May 1943 The Führer Opens the 4th Winter War Relief Campaign for the German Red Cross “I Expect that the Homeland Will Surpass Itself” The German People’s Debt of Honor to the Front
	12 May 1943 Stalin’s Methods Serve World Jewry 40,000 Polish Jews Released as Agitators Non-Jewish Prisoners Get a Shot in the Back of the Neck or Starvation
	13 May 1943 Flood of Anti-Semitic Letters in the London Press Letter of an English Sailor: “To the Day when There Are No More Jews!” This is an interesting headline. In material given to Nazi speakers the sailor is quoted as saying: “The sooner Hitler destroys those five million Jews, the better off the world will be.” The VB, like other newspapers, removed the reference to five million.
	14 May 1943 Honorable End to the Heroic Battle in North Africa The Führer to General von Arnim: “A Particular Page of Honor in German Military History”
	15 May 1943 The Axis is Proud of Its African Fighters Rome: “Today We Believe More Than Ever in Victory”
	16 May 1943 Why the Dough Boys and Tommies Bled North Africa To Be under the Jewish Star Wall Street Vultures Greedy for New Business
	17 May 1943 Following the Secret Orders of World Jewry Giraud’s Thugs at Work Their First “Popular” Action: Deposing the Bey of Tunis
	18 May 1943 Finland Determined to Fight to the Last Statement by Minister President Linkomies and Marshal Mannerheim
	19 May 1943 Realization of Plutocratic War Aims Jewish and American Reign of Terror in Tunis Arrests, Kidnappings, and Executions
	20 May 1943 Powerful Results of Rationalization Funk on the Reserves of Our War Economy “What Is Necessary Must Be Done Reasonably”
	21 May 1943 Roosevelt’s Goal: World Dictatorship through Hunger Europe to Be Dependent on American Grain Jews Food Conference Reveals the Fiasco of the Plutocratic Distribution System
	22 May 1943 England as Moscow’s Puppet Small Peoples Only Victims of Slaughter in the Jewish War
	23 May 1943 Under Pressure from Awakening Peoples Dissolution of the Komintern — But Only for Appearance’s Sake Moscow’s Order to Communist Parties: Continue Subversion!
	24 May 1943 The Third Internationale’s Trick “It Is Only a Tactical Means to World Revolution” Jewish Shouts of Triumph Betray the Strategy
	25 May 1943 International Food Bank — A Dream of Jewish World Exploitation People’s Daily Bread is to be Subject to Stock Speculation
	26 May 1943 Pirate War According to the “Baralong” Method British Murder Crew of the “Santa Irene” English U-Boat Fires on Portuguese Freighter and its Lifeboats For the Baralong affair, see this German propaganda pamphlet.
	27 May 1943 Terrible Fate of 60,000 Kidnapped Estonians Mistreatment, Starvation, Murder The Terror System Bolshevism Wants to Bring to Europe
	28 May 1943 The Führer Honors Japan’s Great Naval Hero The Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for Admiral Yamamoto
	29 May 1943 After Weeks of Soviet Preparations Soviet Attack at Kuban Broken with Heavy Losses In Two Days 50 Enemy Tanks and 90 Planes Destroyed — Attacks into the Center of Enemy Preparations
	30 May 1943 The Guilt of the Aerial Gangsters Everything Will Be Repaid on the Day of Reckoning
	31 May 1943 Attacks on Enemy Convoys Continue 15 Ships of 90,000 BRT Tons Sunk in the Atlantic Enemy Loses Five PT Boats in the English Channe l This was one of the last U-Boat headlines, since by this time the Allies had developed effective ways to deal with the U-Boat threat.