Völkischer Beobachter

In Nazi Germany the Völkischer Beobachter was the official national newspaper of the NSDAP from 1920 to 1933, and the major daily newspaper of the Nazi regime until the end of the war in 1945. The title is usually translated as “People’s Observer”, because völkisch is derived from Volk, the German word for 'people' (which, however, can also mean 'nation', 'tribe', or 'race'). Neither this translation nor the sometimes used 'racialist' or 'folkish' are satisfactory because they do not convey the implied mystical quality.

Its first publisher was Dietrich Eckhart, who died shortly after being freed from prison in 1923. Max Ammann, an early Nazi, became the party's business manager and head of its publishing house, and the following year, Eher Verlag took control of the newspaper. He became president of the Reich Association of German Newspaper Publishers, establishing Nazi control over the industry, and reaping very large financial rewards.

There were additional specialized and often more propagandist Nazi newspapers, such as Der Stürmer, Julius Streicher's especially antisemitic and sensationalist publication, and Das Schwarze Korps, the weekly organ of the SS.