Hitler’s First Anti-Semitic Letter On Display in L.A.
A letter typed and signed by Adolf Hitler in 1919, and thought to be his first written comments calling for the annihilation of the Jews, is now on display at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. The document, known as the Gemlich letter, was purchased by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for $150,000 and revealed to the public this past June.
Hitler was a soldier in the German army when he wrote the letter. After being wounded during World War I, he was assigned to a propaganda unit in Munich run by Karl Mayr. Mayr asked Hitler to write a response to one Adolf Gemlich’s request for a clarification on the army’s position on “the Jewish question.”
This first piece of written anti-Semitism by Hitler is believed to have established him as a radical rightist, helping him gain a political following and credibility as someone who could overthrow the Weimar Republic. The letter was found by American soldiers at the end of WWII in a Nazi Party archive in Nuremberg. It was held in private hands until its recent purchase by the Wiesenthal Center. Historians consider it the most important Holocaust document to date.
The key line of the letter is: “Its [the stripping of Jews of their rights] final aim, however, must be the uncompromising removal of the Jews altogether.” Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center, was quoted as saying that the letter is a warning about the dangers of dismissing people who may seem like a “nobody” or a “crazy.” Hier warned, “What Hitler said in 1919 sounded crazy too, but he did it and implemented it, and 6 million Jews paid with their lives.”
The price of acquiring the document was worth it, to Hier’s mind. It “set[s] the gold standard about man’s inhumanity to man,” he said.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
