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
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
Night Attacks on Women and Children
Costly Terror Attacks
In Ten Nights the British Lost 233 Bombers and 1600 Trained Crew
Staff Chief Viktor Lutze Dead
Moscow Demands a “Polish Government” Obedient to the Soviets
England Fears Stalin’s Anger
Emigrants Threated with a Press Muzzle
Soviet Jews in London Mock the Victims of Katyn
Banquets and Medals for the Mass Murderers
The Duce’s Word — Italy’s Word
Powerful Affirmation of Italy’s Military Determination
Mussolini’s Unshakable Confidence: “We Will Win!”
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
Jewish Fears in England
Jewish Conference “Against Rising Anti-Semitism”
Laws to Protect the Profiteering Hyenas
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!”
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
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
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.
Honorable End to the Heroic Battle in North Africa
The Führer to General von Arnim: “A Particular Page of Honor in German Military History”
The Axis is Proud of Its African Fighters
Rome: “Today We Believe More Than Ever in Victory”
Why the Dough Boys and Tommies Bled
North Africa To Be under the Jewish Star
Wall Street Vultures Greedy for New Business
Following the Secret Orders of World Jewry
Giraud’s Thugs at Work
Their First “Popular” Action:
Deposing the Bey of Tunis
Finland Determined to Fight to the Last
Statement by Minister President Linkomies and Marshal Mannerheim
Realization of Plutocratic War Aims
Jewish and American Reign of Terror in Tunis
Arrests, Kidnappings, and Executions
Powerful Results of Rationalization
Funk on the Reserves of Our War Economy
“What Is Necessary Must Be Done Reasonably”
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
England as Moscow’s Puppet
Small Peoples Only Victims of Slaughter in the Jewish War
Under Pressure from Awakening Peoples
Dissolution of the Komintern — But Only for Appearance’s Sake
Moscow’s Order to Communist Parties: Continue Subversion!
The Third Internationale’s Trick
“It Is Only a Tactical Means to World Revolution”
Jewish Shouts of Triumph Betray the Strategy
International Food Bank — A Dream of Jewish World Exploitation
People’s Daily Bread is to be Subject to Stock Speculation
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.
Terrible Fate of 60,000 Kidnapped Estonians
Mistreatment, Starvation, Murder
The Terror System Bolshevism Wants to Bring to Europe
The Führer Honors Japan’s Great Naval Hero
The Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for Admiral Yamamoto
The article to the top left reports the sinking of the Bismarck.
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
The Guilt of the Aerial Gangsters
Everything Will Be Repaid on the Day of Reckoning
Attacks on Enemy Convoys Continue
15 Ships of 90,000 BRT Tons Sunk in the Atlantic
Enemy Loses Five PT Boats in the English Channel
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.