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{{For|the German-American painter|Theodore Kaufmann}}
<!-- Please do not remove or change this AfD message until the issue is settled -->
{{short description|American activist}}
{{Article for deletion/dated|page=Theodore N. Kaufman|timestamp=20110417032007|year=2011|month=April|day=17|substed=yes}}
{{Infobox person
<!-- For administrator use only: {{Old AfD multi|page=Theodore N. Kaufman|date=17 April 2011|result='''keep'''}} -->
| name = Theodore Newman Kaufman
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| image = Theodore Newman Kaufman circa 1940.png
| caption = Kaufman in 1941
|birth_name= Theodore Newman Kaufman
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|02|22}}
| birth_place = [[New York City]], New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1986|4|1|1910|2|22}}
| death_place = [[East Orange, New Jersey|East Orange]], New Jersey, U.S.
| other_names = Theodore Nathan Kaufmann
| occupation = Businessman and writer
| known_for = ''[[Germany Must Perish!]]''
| parents = [[Anton Kaufman]]
}}


'''Theodore Newman Kaufman''' (February 22, 1910 – April 1, 1986), sometimes given incorrectly as '''Theodore Nathan Kaufmann''',<ref name=argument>{{cite journal|last=Bytwerk|first=Randall|title=The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda|journal=Quarterly Journal of Speech|date=February 2005|volume=91|issue=1|doi=10.1080/00335630500157516|page=58|s2cid=144116639|quote=Kaufman's full name was Theodore Newman Kaufman. He published his book under the name Theodore N. Kaufman. The Nazis managed numerous variants of the spelling. The most interesting error was giving him the middle name ''Nathan.'' Sometimes, he became ''Nathan Kaufmann.'' The incorrect middle name was probably added to make the name sound more Jewish.}}</ref> was an [[American Jewish]] businessman and writer.
{{POV|date=April 2011}}
'''Theodore Newman Kaufman''', was born February 22 1910 in [[Manhattan]], [[New York]] and died October 1980 in East Orange, [[New Jersey]]). He was was an American businessman, but was best known as the author of ''[[Germany Must Perish!]]'',<ref>Argyle Press, Newark, N.J., Library of Congress Call No.: DD222.K3; http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Germany_Must_Perish</ref> a text he self-published in 1941 which called for the extinction of Germans and the redistribution of the German lands. The text was used in Nazi propaganda in the wartime era as support that American Jewish groups had support of the U.S. government.


In 1939, he published pamphlets as "chairman of the American Federation of Peace" that argued that Americans should be sterilized so that their children will no longer have to fight in foreign wars.<ref name=wars/><ref name=time/>
==Biography==
Theodore Kaufman was born in Manhattan, NY. His father, Dr. Anton Kaufman (1883-1943), had been a reporter for the ''Berlin Morgenzeitung'' in [[Berlin, Germany]] before immigrating to the [[USA]] in [[1905]]. Anton Kaufman was the publisher of the ''Newark Jewish Chronicle'' in the USA.


In 1941, he wrote and published ''[[Germany Must Perish!]]'' which called for the [[Human sterilization (surgical procedure)|sterilization]] of the [[German people]] and the redistribution of the German lands.<ref name=perish>{{cite book |author=Theodore Newman Kaufman |title=Germany Must Perish! |year=1941 |publisher=Argyle Press | url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Germany_Must_Perish }}</ref> The text was used extensively in [[Nazi propaganda]], often as a justification for the persecution of Jews and was specifically cited as a reason to round up the Jews of [[Hanover]], [[Germany]].<ref name=hanover/><ref>{{cite magazine |title=A Modest Proposal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vxg7AQAAIAAJ&q=Theodore+N.+Kaufman |quote=Startled readers wondered whether the strange book was a landmark, the first appearance of the [[Julius Streicher|Streicher]] mind in the US. Few recognized the name of the author, Theodore N. Kaufman. But in 1939 it had appeared as chairman of the American Federation of Peace ... |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date= March 24, 1941|access-date=2011-04-20 | last1=Hadden | first1=Briton | last2=Luce | first2=Henry Robinson }}</ref>
Theodore Kaufman's mother died in 1939. His three brothers were Herbert, Julian, and Leonard.<ref>''The Lewiston Daily Sun'', page 9, January 2, 1943</ref>


===Early Life and Career in Business===
==Early life==
He was born in [[Manhattan]], on February 22, 1910, to [[Anton Kaufman]] and Fannie Newman. His parents had married on March 14, 1909.<ref name=fannie>{{cite news |title=Mrs. Kaufman Services Today |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fydEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ELEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3709,4905307&dq=theodore+anton-kaufman&hl=en |quote=... Mrs Kaufman was the wife of Anton Kaufman editor and publisher ... Mrs Kaufman leaves four sons Theodore Herbert Julian and Leonard. |newspaper=[[Newark Sunday Call]] |date=February 19, 1939 |access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref> His father had been a reporter for the ''[[Berliner Morgen-Zeitung]]'' in [[Berlin]] before emigrating to the [[United States]] in 1905.<ref>{{cite news |title=Newark Publisher Is Killed In Fall. Anton Kaufman, Owner of Jewish Chronicle There, Plunges From Hotel Window |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0816F83B5D167B93C0A9178AD85F478485F9 |quote=Anton Kaufman, blind publisher of The Newark Jewish Chronicle and one of the most prominent leaders in Jewish affairs in New Jersey, lost his life early today in a fall from his eighth-floor room in the Robert Treat Hotel, here. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 2, 1943 |access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref> Theodore's three brothers were Herbert, Julian, and Leonard.<ref name=ap>{{cite news |title=Dr. Kaufman Killed in Eight Story Fall. Newark's Blind Jewish Publisher was Once a Reporter in Berlin. |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tJU0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=rWgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3223,196729&dq=theodore+kaufman+germany&hl=en |newspaper=[[Associated Press]] |date=January 2, 1943 |access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref>
Kaufman traveled widely as a young man, as far away as the Sahara Desert and Algeria<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884346,00.html Time Magazine], Mar. 24, 1941</ref>, which he spoke highly of in later interviews.


He attended [[Malcolm X Shabazz High School|South Side High School]] in [[Newark, New Jersey]], and graduated around 1928.<ref>{{cite book |author=William B. Helmreich |title=The Enduring Community. The Jews of Newark and Metrowest |year=1999 |publisher= [[Transaction Publishers]] | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4oTbp8gv_usC&q=Kaufman |isbn=1-56000-392-8 }}</ref>
Eventually settling down in the business world, Kaufman was the owner of a small advertising and ticket agency in [[South Orange, New Jersey]]. He was an advertiser and published the ''New Jersey Legal Record''. As of 1941, he ran a successful theater ticket agency in Newark, New Jersey<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884346,00.html Time Magazine], Mar. 24, 1941</ref>. Kaufman founded the Argyle Press of Newark, New Jersey, USA, in order to self-publish his political sentiments.


In 1934, he was arrested along with his blind father, [[Anton Kaufman]], for the robbery of Sandor Alexander Balint of [[Budapest]]. Balint had developed a process to increase the aging of wine. The Kaufmans had purchased this formula from Balint, but later came to believe that the formula was "worthless".<ref name=wine1>{{cite news |title=3 Essex Deputy Sheriffs and Publisher and Son Accused of Robbing Hungarian |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/06/16/archives/5-seized-for-theft-in-wine-aging-suit-3-essex-deputy-sheriffs-and.html |quote=Five men, three of them court attendants at the Essex County Court House, were arrested today on charges of robbery preferred by Sandor Alexander Balint of Budapest, Hungary, in a dispute involving a supposed secret formula for maturing wines rapidly. ... Anton Kaufman, who is blind, was paroled, and his son was released in $2000 bail by Acting Judge Arthur Connelly in Police Court today for a hearing next ...|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 16, 1934 |access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref><ref name=wine2>{{cite news |title=Essex Deputy Sheriffs, Seized in Alleged Robbery, to Get a Hearing Friday |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/06/17/archives/3-officials-paroled-in-wine-aging-case-essex-deputy-sheriffs-seized.html |quote=Three deputy sheriffs were arraigned here today in the First Criminal Court before Acting Judge Arthur Connolly. They are charged with aiding in the alleged robbery of Sandor Alexander Balint of Budapest, Hungary, possessor of a formula for aging wine quickly. Balint previously had brought about the arrest of Anton Kaufman, publisher of the Jewish Chronicle, and his son, Theodore. ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 17, 1934 |access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref> Theodore Kaufman's mother died in 1939.<ref name=ap/>
===Politics and Political Influence in The United States===


Kaufman traveled to the [[Sahara Desert]] and wrote: "you look at the horizon all day long and feel that you are staring at eternity." In [[Biskra]] he met [[Clare Sheridan]].<ref name=time>{{cite magazine |title=A Modest Proposal |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884346,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615031627/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884346,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2008 |quote=No Nazi, Theodore Newman Kaufman, 31, is a Manhattan-born Jew who has been an advertising man, once published the New Jersey Legal Record, now runs a successful theatre ticket agency in Newark, N. J. Widely traveled, he is especially fond of the Sahara Desert, where, he says, "you look at the horizon all day long and feel that you are staring at eternity." In Biskra he frequented the Algerian salon of Winston Churchill's cousin, sculptress Clare Sheridan (Arab Interlude). Germany Must Perish! is his first book. "Strictly a one-man job" (he claims he has no organization, no help, no backers), it was worked on for four months. Then he founded the Argyle Press to publish it. ...|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=March 24, 1941 |access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref>
Kaufman, was politically a radical pacifist, and wanted to end all future political conflicts in Europe, having an extreme belief to do so. In 1939, under the auspice of the "American Federation of Peace", an unknown entity of which he was the president and probably only member, he addressed the 1939 Congress of the United States and demanded, firstly, that the United States would refrain from involvement in any future wars in Europe and, secondly, all Americans should be sterilized so that their offspring would not become "murderous monsters".<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884346,00.html Time Magazine], Mar. 24, 1941</ref>


Kaufman became the owner of a small [[advertising agency]] and [[ticket agency]] in [[South Orange, New Jersey]].<ref name=time/> He published the ''New Jersey Legal Record''.<ref name=time/> Kaufman founded the Argyle Press of [[Newark, New Jersey]] to publish his political pamphlets.<ref name=time/>
Kaufman was reportedly friends with Roosevelt speech writer [[Sam Rosenman]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} The German press of the time misinterpreted this to mean Kaufman was an FDR adviser himself, which was not true.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} Kaufman was a rogue political actor, and had neither the contacts he claimed to have within the White House and US Congress, nor the influence in the American public sphere. Regardless, some historical revisionists have used his publication as evidence of an alleged conspiracy of the so-called world Jewry against Germany.


==Life during World War II==
===Mass Sterilization===
Kaufman was a radical intent on preventing American involvement in future wars in Europe.<ref name=passive>{{cite book|last=Kaufman|first=Theodore|title=Passive Purchase|year=1939|publisher=American Federation of Peace|location=Newark, NJ}}</ref> In 1939, under the auspices of the "American Federation of Peace", an unknown entity of which he was the president and probably only member,<ref name=argument2>{{cite journal|last=Bytwerk|first=Randall|title=The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda|journal=Quarterly Journal of Speech|date=February 2005|volume=91|issue=1|doi=10.1080/00335630500157516|pages=42–44|s2cid=144116639}}</ref> Kaufman produced several publications. One pamphlet, titled "Passive Purchase" advocated the establishment of a two-week period during which Americans would curtail their spending in order to demonstrate [[United States non-interventionism|public opposition to American intervention in European conflicts]]. In a section of the pamphlet on the American Federation of Peace's beliefs, Kaufman advocated for "the strongest possible military defense of the United States" and stated that "by keeping absolutely aloof from foreign wars and entanglements the American People face a truly great future."<ref name=passive/> That same year, the group also issued publications with more contentious messages, one of which read:<ref name="wars">{{cite magazine |title=Slick Stuff |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772239,00.html#ixzz1JzmPKfBD |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308055447/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772239,00.html#ixzz1JzmPKfBD |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 8, 2008 |quote=To peaceful folk all over the U. S. last week went a series of curdling injunctions to keep America out of World War II. Black type, slick paper, photographs of horribly wounded and starved victims of war were the propaganda materials of the American Federation of Peace. ... |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=October 23, 1939 |access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref>
In 1939, he demanded mass sterilization in the United States; two years later he shifted his focus to the forced, mass-sterilization, through castration, of all German men under 65 and the sterilization of most German women under 45. This would eliminate "inbred Germanism", proposed Kaufman, thus solving a great deal of humanity's problems. He also promoted the distribution of Germany's lands among its neighboring countries. His effort was spearheaded by the self-publication of the book [http://www.ihr.org/books/kaufman/perish.html Germany Must Perish!] which was met with little public awareness in the U.S. (except for negative reviews in Time magazine.)


<blockquote>A possible plea to Congress. ... Have Us All Sterilized! ... If You Plan On Sending Us To A Foreign War ... Spare Us Any Possibility Of Ever Bringing Children Into This World — Into This Country Of Ours!</blockquote>
"Since Germans are the perennial disturbers of the world's peace," says the book, "they must be dealt with like any homicidal criminals. But it is unnecessary to put the whole German nation to the sword. It is more humane to sterilize them. The army groups, as organized units, would be the easiest and quickest to deal with. Taking 20,000 surgeons as an arbitrary number and on the assumption that each will perform a minimum of 25 operations daily, it would take no more than one month, at the maximum, to complete their sterilization. . . . The balance of the male civilian population of Germany could be treated within three months. Inasmuch as sterilization of women needs somewhat more time, it may be computed that the entire female population of Germany could be sterilized within a period of three years or less." The normal yearly death rate is two per cent. Thus, "in the span of two generations" there would be no Germans left.


[[File:GermanyMustPerish2.jpg|250px|left|thumb|Map showing Kaufman's proposed dismemberment of Germany (and Austria).]]
===Germany Must Perish===
In late [[1940]], Kaufman began writing "Germany Must Perish", a 104-page booklet that was published in early [[1941]] and which inspired anger in [[Germany]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} According to a March 24, 1941, Time magazine review, Kaufman founded Argyle Press because, "he did not want to be edited." According to Kaufman, the publishing was "Strictly a one-man job". He claimed he has no organization, no help, and no backers. He indicated that the book took him four months to complete.


Two years later he shifted his focus to the forced mass-sterilization of all German men under 65 and the sterilization of most German women under 45. This would eliminate "inbred Germanism," he proposed, thus solving a great deal of humanity's problems. He also promoted the distribution of Germany's lands among the neighboring countries. His effort was spearheaded by the self-publication of the book ''[[Germany Must Perish!]]''<ref name=time/>
An advertisement in the New York Times, stated that the book was released to the public on March 1, 1941, which Kaufman also promoted by mailing a miniature black cardboard coffin with a hinged lid to reviewers. Inside the coffin was a card proclaiming, "Read GERMANY MUST PERISH! Tomorrow you will receive your copy."


: "Since Germans are the perennial disturbers of the world's peace ... they must be dealt with like any homicidal criminals. But it is unnecessary to put the whole German nation to the sword. It is more humane to sterilize them. The army groups, as organized units, would be the easiest and quickest to deal with. ... The population of Germany, excluding conquered and annexed territories, is about 70,000,000, almost equally divided between male and female. To achieve the purpose of German extinction it would be necessary to only sterilize some 48,000,000 -- a figure which excludes, because of their limited power to procreate, males over 60 years of age, and females over 45. ... Taking 20,000 surgeons as an arbitrary number and on the assumption that each will perform a minimum of 25 operations daily, it would take no more than one month, at the maximum, to complete their sterilization. ... The balance of the male civilian population of Germany could be treated within three months. Inasmuch as sterilization of women needs somewhat more time, it may be computed that the entire female population of Germany could be sterilized within a period of three years or less. Complete sterilization of both sexes, and not only one, is to be considered necessary in view of the present German doctrine that so much as one drop of true German blood constitutes a German. Of course, after complete sterilization, there will cease to be a birth rate in Germany. At the normal death rate of 2 per cent per annum, German life will diminish at the rate of 1,500,000 yearly. Accordingly in the span of two generations that which cost millions of lives and centuries of useless effort, namely, the elimination of Germanism and its carriers, will have been an accomplished fact. By virtue of its loss of self-perpetuation German Will will have atrophied and German power reduced to negligible importance."<ref name=perish/>
The premise of the book was removing Germany's threat forever from the world stage:


Although Kaufman's book had a minimal impact in the United States, it gained attention in [[Nazi Germany]], where propagandists used it as evidence of an international Jewish plan to destroy the German people. On July 24, 1941, the Nazi Party's newspaper, ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]'', published a front-page article on the book titled: "The Product of Criminal Jewish Sadism: Roosevelt Demands the Sterilization of the German People." The newspaper alleged that Kaufman was a close ally of [[Samuel Irving Rosenman]], an advisor to [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] and that: "Given the close relationship of the writer to the White House, this monstrous war program can be seen as a synthesis of genuine Talmudic hatred and Roosevelt's views on foreign policy."<ref name=argument2/> At the time, the German leadership was engaged in a propaganda campaign designed to rally popular support for the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]]. [[Antisemitism]] in general, and Kaufman's ideas in particular, became a focus of this campaign.<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Richard J.|title=The Third Reich at War, 1939-1945|url=https://archive.org/details/thirdreichatwar00evan_0|url-access=registration|year=2009|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-59420-206-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/thirdreichatwar00evan_0/page/244 244–245]|author-link=Richard J. Evans|quote=In the weeks following the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the Nazi leadership thus thought it necessary to launch a propaganda offensive designed to win the retrospective approval of the German people. ...Much play was made in this campaign with a pamphlet by the American Theodore N. Kaufman}}</ref>
::"Since the fang’s poison and its deadly power rests not in the body but in the war psyche of the Germans, one can ensure the prosperity and security of mankind only by finally extinguishing this soul and the rotten body that houses it, removing it finally from the world. There is no other choice: Germany must perish!"


Nazi Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] read the book in early August and immediately grasped its value, writing in [[Goebbels Diaries|his diary]]: "This Jew did a real service for the enemy [German] side. Had he written this book for us, he could not have made it any better."<ref name=argument2/> Under Goebbels' direction, ''Germany Must Perish!'' continued to receive significant media attention in Germany. Portions of the book were read on national radio, and Goebbels ordered the printing of five million copies of a pamphlet that summarized Kaufman's ideas. {{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}
::"Not only must there be no more German wars in fact, there must not even remain the slightest possibility of one ever again occurring. A final halt to German aggression, not a temporary cessation, must be the goal of the present struggle... [Germany] must be prepared to pay a Total Penalty. And there is one, and only one, such Total Penalty: Germany must perish forever! In fact -- not in fancy."
[[File:Der Jude Kaufman übertrumpft!.jpg|thumb|Kaufman was condemned on this August 1942 edition of the Nazi [[wall newspaper]] ''[[Parole der Woche]]'']]
Nazi propaganda often used Kaufman's pamphlet as a justification for the persecution of Jews. When the Nazis required German Jews to wear a [[yellow badge]] on their clothing on September 1, 1941, they published a flyer explaining to the [[Germans|German people]] that those individuals wearing the star were conspiring to implement Kaufman's plan for the destruction of Germany.<ref name=argument2/> When the Jews of [[Hanover]] were forced from their homes on September 8, 1941, German authorities cited Kaufman's book as one of the reasons.<ref name=hanover>{{cite news |title=Jews of Hanover Forced from Homes. Mayor Cites American Book, 'Germany Must Perish' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/09/09/archives/jews-of-hanover-forced-from-homes-mayor-cites-american-book-germany.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 9, 1941 |access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref><ref name=latest/> Kaufman responded by saying:<ref name="latest">{{cite news |title=Hanover Jews Victims of Latest Oppression |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kxhlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vW4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1522,728722&dq=theodore+kaufman+newark&hl=en |newspaper=[[Associated Press]] |date=September 9, 1941 |access-date=2011-04-20 }}</ref>


<blockquote>This is just a flimsy pretext for another of the innate cruelties of the German people ... I don't think it was my book that prompted this barbarity. They employed every possible German cruelty against the Jews long before my book was published.</blockquote>
The book's back dust jacket contained excerpts from purported reviews of the book. One blurb reads, "A PLAN FOR PERMANENT PEACE AMONG CIVILIZED NATIONS! --New York Times." In reality, the Times never published a full review of the book. The quotation is the entirety, plus an exclamation point, of a one-line summary of Germany Must Perish! published in "Latest Books Received" section of the paper. <ref>Anonymous. "Latest Books Received." New York Times. March 16 1941. p. BR29.</ref>


The [[Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Nazi propaganda ministry]] continued to publish pamphlets, posters and flyers on Kaufman's ideas through the end of the war, and also urged newspapers and public speakers to remind Germans of Kaufman's book. Kaufman's last major appearance in Nazi propaganda occurred in late 1944, when a five-page section on him was included in the widely published booklet ''Never!'', which described a number of alleged plots to destroy Germany.<ref name=argument2/> Randall Bytwerk, an historian of communications at [[Calvin College]], concluded that "[a] German at the time could not have missed encountering" propaganda about Kaufman.<ref name=argument2/>
In the words of the 1945 Journal of Modern History, the book was intended to be "little more than self-indulgence in dire vituperation by a man who sees Germany as the sole cause of the world's woes."<ref>What They Would Do about Germany, Donald F. Lach, The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 17, No. 3. (Sep., 1945), pp. 227-243.</ref>


His final publication through Argyle Press was the March 1942 brochure titled "No More German Wars! Being an outline for their permanent cessation". It contained no more writing on the sterilization of Germans or discussion of German land distribution, but made very moderate proposals for democratic re-education of the German population.
==Impact on Nazi Germany Politics==


He enlisted in the US Army in [[New Mexico]] on April 24, 1942.<ref>Theodore N. Kaufman in the U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946.</ref> During this time he was also placed at [[Camp Ritchie]] because of his linguistic abilities, thus making him one of many [[Ritchie Boys]]. His three brothers also served.
In Germany, the book was cited by Nazi Party politicians as justification for their assaults on German Jews. When the Jews of [[Hanover]] were forced from their homes on September 8, 1941, German authorities cited Kaufman's book as one of the reasons.<ref name=NYT>"[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E12FB3B5B147B93CBA91782D85F458485F9 Jews of Hanover Forced from Homes.]" ''New York Times''. September 9, 1941. p. 4.</ref>


{{blockquote|Few Americans have ever heard of a prominent fellow-citizen named Kaufmann ... In Germany every child has known of him for a long time. Germans are so well informed about Mr. Kaufmann that the mere mention of his name recalls what he stands for. In one of his recent artlcles Dr. Goebbels wrote, "Thanks to the Jew Kaufmann, we Germans know only too well what to expect in case of defeat."<ref>{{cite news |author=Argus |title=Behind Enemy Lines |url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F349981%2Fkaufman%2Fthe%2520nation.pdf |newspaper=[[The Nation]] |page=510 |date=November 14, 1942|volume=155|issue=20|access-date=2011-04-19 }}</ref>|''[[The Nation]]'', November 14, 1942}}
The Nazi Party claimed that the writings represented official US policy. In a press conference called by the Reich government on 23 July 1941, a representative of the German Foreign Ministry said: 'We know that Roosevelt dictated individual chapters himself. This programme of annihilation of Roosevelt's deserves the sharpest possible repudiation. It really is a programme of Roosevelt's policy.' <ref>Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Vol. 29 (1981), pp. 615-30, here p. 619.</ref> Following this claim, the Nazi daily newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter, ran the story on 24 July 1941 under the headline: 'Roosevelt demands the sterilization of the German people.'<ref>Benz, 'Judenvernichtung', pp. 615-16.</ref> The publication date of the book, which actually had been at the beginning of 1941, was manipulated to place it just after the signature of the Anglo-American Atlantic Charter in August, to give it a further appearance of being official Allied policy, 'the cornerstone of thousand-year-long Jewish plans for world domination'.<ref>Wolfgang Diewerge, Das Kriegsziel der Weltplutokratie "The war aims of the world plutocracy". "Deutschland muß sterben" (German publication of "Germany must Perish") (Berlin, 1941), p. 8 cited in Benz, 'Judenvernichtung', p. 623.</ref>


Kaufman married the former Jean Siris in a civil ceremony on November 23, 1942, in Harris County, Texas.<ref>Texas County Marriage Records.</ref>
Having made it to the highest echelons within the Nazi Party<ref>"The Jewish Declaration of War Against the Nazis", Berel Lang, The Antioch Review, Vol. 64, No. 2, Spring, 2006; http://www.jstor.org/pss/4614991</ref>, and spurring a great deal of Nazi propaganda, it became the constructive basis of the so-called "[[Kaufman Plan]]". This was was alleged in Germany to be a conspiracy among American Jews, in cooperation with the U.S. government, for the planned extinction of the German people.


==Kaufman Post WWII==
==Post-war years and death==
After World War II, Kaufman disappeared entirely from public life. [[Berel Lang]], a visiting professor of philosophy and letters at [[Wesleyan University]], failed to locate Kaufman in the records of the city of Newark and in other sources.<ref name=Lang>{{cite journal|last=Lang|first=Berel|title=The Jewish "Declaration of War" against the Nazis|journal=[[Antioch Review]]|date=Spring 2006|volume=64|issue=2|pages=363–373|doi=10.2307/4614991|jstor=4614991}}</ref>
Kaufman disappeared from public around September 1941. His final publication through Argyle Press was the March 1942 brochure titled "No More German Wars! Being an outline for their permanent cessation". It contained no hints regarding the sterilization of Germany, nor discussed German land distribution, but made ​​very moderate proposals for democratic re-education of the German population. Even behind the Allied war aims remained Kaufman's new demands far back, so Germany was only the return of occupied territories demanded by territorial concessions was not more talk. The work received no reported attention in the press.


Kaufman and his wife appear in the Montclair, New Jersey Directory in 1947. He is listed as being in the painted textile business at 50 Church Street, [[Montclair, New Jersey|Montclair]].<ref>Montclair City Directory, 1947</ref> From 1949 through 1981, the Kaufmans sold "Charcrust Broil-It" barbecue seasoning powder from their home in East Orange, NJ. <ref>Youngstown Vindicator 20 Feb 1957</ref><ref>Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, Vol 659, 1952</ref><ref>Sarasota Herald-Tribune 26 Feb 1981</ref>
==Kaufman's writings==
* Life Liberty Pursuit of Happiness - Where? In The Graves of European Battle Fields? Theodore N. Kaufman, American Federation of Peace, Newark, NJ, undated


He died in April 1986 in [[East Orange, New Jersey]].{{cn|date=July 2023}}
* A Will and Way to Peace: Passive Purchase. Theodore N. Kaufman, American Federation of Peace, Newark, NJ, 1939


==Writings==
* Theodore N. Kaufman: Must Perish! Germany, Argyle Press, Newark, NJ, 1941, 104-page brochure
* "Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness - Where? In the Graves of European Battle Fields?" Newark, NJ: [[American Federation of Peace]] (c. 1938–1942)
* ''[[iarchive:dudeman5685_yahoo_PPW|A Will and Way to Peace: Passive Purchase.]]'' Newark, NJ: [[American Federation of Peace]] (1939). 10-page pamphlet.
* ''[[Germany Must Perish!]]'' Newark, NJ: [[Argyle Press]] (1941). 104-page brochure.
* [[iarchive:NMGW2_201403|''No More German Wars! Being An Outline For Their Permanent Cessation''.]] Newark, NJ: [[Argyle Press]] (1942). 16-page brochure.


==See also==
* Theodore N. Kaufman: No more German wars! Being an outline for their permanent cessation. Argyle Press, Newark, NJ, 1942, 16-page brochure
* [[Herschel Grynszpan]], used as the excuse for [[Kristallnacht]]

* [[Noel Ignatiev]]
==Review==
[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884346-1,00.html Books: A Modest Proposal, Monday, Mar. 24, 1941, Time Magazine Online]


==References==
==References==
Line 70: Line 83:


==External links==
==External links==
* {{cite web|last=Bytwerk|first=Randall|url=https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/|title=German Propaganda Archive|access-date=12 July 2011|publisher=Calvin College}} Includes translations and images of several German propaganda publications that reference Kaufman.
{{Commons category}}
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c11443 Kaufman Portrait] Kaufman's portrait photo at the U.S. Library of Congress
* Germany Must Perish [http://www.ihr.org/books/kaufman/perish.html Electronic Book, Germany Must Perish]


{{good article}}
==See Also==
* [[Germany Must Perish]]


{{Authority control}}


[[de:Theodore Newman Kaufman]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufman, Theodore N.}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American anti–World War II activists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American pamphleteers]]
[[Category:American people of German-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Anti-German sentiment in the United States]]
[[Category:Incitement to genocide]]
[[Category:Malcolm X Shabazz High School alumni]]
[[Category:Ritchie Boys]]
[[Category:Writers from Newark, New Jersey]]

Latest revision as of 14:59, 10 October 2024

For the German-American painter, see Theodore Kaufmann.
Theodore Newman Kaufman
Kaufman in 1941
Born
Theodore Newman Kaufman

(1910-02-22)February 22, 1910
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 1, 1986(1986-04-01) (aged 76)
East Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Other namesTheodore Nathan Kaufmann
Occupation(s)Businessman and writer
Known forGermany Must Perish!
ParentAnton Kaufman

Theodore Newman Kaufman (February 22, 1910 – April 1, 1986), sometimes given incorrectly as Theodore Nathan Kaufmann,[1] was an American Jewish businessman and writer.

In 1939, he published pamphlets as "chairman of the American Federation of Peace" that argued that Americans should be sterilized so that their children will no longer have to fight in foreign wars.[2][3]

In 1941, he wrote and published Germany Must Perish! which called for the sterilization of the German people and the redistribution of the German lands.[4] The text was used extensively in Nazi propaganda, often as a justification for the persecution of Jews and was specifically cited as a reason to round up the Jews of Hanover, Germany.[5][6]

Early life

[edit]

He was born in Manhattan, on February 22, 1910, to Anton Kaufman and Fannie Newman. His parents had married on March 14, 1909.[7] His father had been a reporter for the Berliner Morgen-Zeitung in Berlin before emigrating to the United States in 1905.[8] Theodore's three brothers were Herbert, Julian, and Leonard.[9]

He attended South Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, and graduated around 1928.[10]

In 1934, he was arrested along with his blind father, Anton Kaufman, for the robbery of Sandor Alexander Balint of Budapest. Balint had developed a process to increase the aging of wine. The Kaufmans had purchased this formula from Balint, but later came to believe that the formula was "worthless".[11][12] Theodore Kaufman's mother died in 1939.[9]

Kaufman traveled to the Sahara Desert and wrote: "you look at the horizon all day long and feel that you are staring at eternity." In Biskra he met Clare Sheridan.[3]

Kaufman became the owner of a small advertising agency and ticket agency in South Orange, New Jersey.[3] He published the New Jersey Legal Record.[3] Kaufman founded the Argyle Press of Newark, New Jersey to publish his political pamphlets.[3]

Life during World War II

[edit]

Kaufman was a radical intent on preventing American involvement in future wars in Europe.[13] In 1939, under the auspices of the "American Federation of Peace", an unknown entity of which he was the president and probably only member,[14] Kaufman produced several publications. One pamphlet, titled "Passive Purchase" advocated the establishment of a two-week period during which Americans would curtail their spending in order to demonstrate public opposition to American intervention in European conflicts. In a section of the pamphlet on the American Federation of Peace's beliefs, Kaufman advocated for "the strongest possible military defense of the United States" and stated that "by keeping absolutely aloof from foreign wars and entanglements the American People face a truly great future."[13] That same year, the group also issued publications with more contentious messages, one of which read:[2]

A possible plea to Congress. ... Have Us All Sterilized! ... If You Plan On Sending Us To A Foreign War ... Spare Us Any Possibility Of Ever Bringing Children Into This World — Into This Country Of Ours!

Map showing Kaufman's proposed dismemberment of Germany (and Austria).

Two years later he shifted his focus to the forced mass-sterilization of all German men under 65 and the sterilization of most German women under 45. This would eliminate "inbred Germanism," he proposed, thus solving a great deal of humanity's problems. He also promoted the distribution of Germany's lands among the neighboring countries. His effort was spearheaded by the self-publication of the book Germany Must Perish![3]

"Since Germans are the perennial disturbers of the world's peace ... they must be dealt with like any homicidal criminals. But it is unnecessary to put the whole German nation to the sword. It is more humane to sterilize them. The army groups, as organized units, would be the easiest and quickest to deal with. ... The population of Germany, excluding conquered and annexed territories, is about 70,000,000, almost equally divided between male and female. To achieve the purpose of German extinction it would be necessary to only sterilize some 48,000,000 -- a figure which excludes, because of their limited power to procreate, males over 60 years of age, and females over 45. ... Taking 20,000 surgeons as an arbitrary number and on the assumption that each will perform a minimum of 25 operations daily, it would take no more than one month, at the maximum, to complete their sterilization. ... The balance of the male civilian population of Germany could be treated within three months. Inasmuch as sterilization of women needs somewhat more time, it may be computed that the entire female population of Germany could be sterilized within a period of three years or less. Complete sterilization of both sexes, and not only one, is to be considered necessary in view of the present German doctrine that so much as one drop of true German blood constitutes a German. Of course, after complete sterilization, there will cease to be a birth rate in Germany. At the normal death rate of 2 per cent per annum, German life will diminish at the rate of 1,500,000 yearly. Accordingly in the span of two generations that which cost millions of lives and centuries of useless effort, namely, the elimination of Germanism and its carriers, will have been an accomplished fact. By virtue of its loss of self-perpetuation German Will will have atrophied and German power reduced to negligible importance."[4]

Although Kaufman's book had a minimal impact in the United States, it gained attention in Nazi Germany, where propagandists used it as evidence of an international Jewish plan to destroy the German people. On July 24, 1941, the Nazi Party's newspaper, Völkischer Beobachter, published a front-page article on the book titled: "The Product of Criminal Jewish Sadism: Roosevelt Demands the Sterilization of the German People." The newspaper alleged that Kaufman was a close ally of Samuel Irving Rosenman, an advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and that: "Given the close relationship of the writer to the White House, this monstrous war program can be seen as a synthesis of genuine Talmudic hatred and Roosevelt's views on foreign policy."[14] At the time, the German leadership was engaged in a propaganda campaign designed to rally popular support for the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Antisemitism in general, and Kaufman's ideas in particular, became a focus of this campaign.[15]

Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels read the book in early August and immediately grasped its value, writing in his diary: "This Jew did a real service for the enemy [German] side. Had he written this book for us, he could not have made it any better."[14] Under Goebbels' direction, Germany Must Perish! continued to receive significant media attention in Germany. Portions of the book were read on national radio, and Goebbels ordered the printing of five million copies of a pamphlet that summarized Kaufman's ideas. [citation needed]

Kaufman was condemned on this August 1942 edition of the Nazi wall newspaper Parole der Woche

Nazi propaganda often used Kaufman's pamphlet as a justification for the persecution of Jews. When the Nazis required German Jews to wear a yellow badge on their clothing on September 1, 1941, they published a flyer explaining to the German people that those individuals wearing the star were conspiring to implement Kaufman's plan for the destruction of Germany.[14] When the Jews of Hanover were forced from their homes on September 8, 1941, German authorities cited Kaufman's book as one of the reasons.[5][16] Kaufman responded by saying:[16]

This is just a flimsy pretext for another of the innate cruelties of the German people ... I don't think it was my book that prompted this barbarity. They employed every possible German cruelty against the Jews long before my book was published.

The Nazi propaganda ministry continued to publish pamphlets, posters and flyers on Kaufman's ideas through the end of the war, and also urged newspapers and public speakers to remind Germans of Kaufman's book. Kaufman's last major appearance in Nazi propaganda occurred in late 1944, when a five-page section on him was included in the widely published booklet Never!, which described a number of alleged plots to destroy Germany.[14] Randall Bytwerk, an historian of communications at Calvin College, concluded that "[a] German at the time could not have missed encountering" propaganda about Kaufman.[14]

His final publication through Argyle Press was the March 1942 brochure titled "No More German Wars! Being an outline for their permanent cessation". It contained no more writing on the sterilization of Germans or discussion of German land distribution, but made very moderate proposals for democratic re-education of the German population.

He enlisted in the US Army in New Mexico on April 24, 1942.[17] During this time he was also placed at Camp Ritchie because of his linguistic abilities, thus making him one of many Ritchie Boys. His three brothers also served.

Few Americans have ever heard of a prominent fellow-citizen named Kaufmann ... In Germany every child has known of him for a long time. Germans are so well informed about Mr. Kaufmann that the mere mention of his name recalls what he stands for. In one of his recent artlcles Dr. Goebbels wrote, "Thanks to the Jew Kaufmann, we Germans know only too well what to expect in case of defeat."[18]

— The Nation, November 14, 1942

Kaufman married the former Jean Siris in a civil ceremony on November 23, 1942, in Harris County, Texas.[19]

Post-war years and death

[edit]

After World War II, Kaufman disappeared entirely from public life. Berel Lang, a visiting professor of philosophy and letters at Wesleyan University, failed to locate Kaufman in the records of the city of Newark and in other sources.[20]

Kaufman and his wife appear in the Montclair, New Jersey Directory in 1947. He is listed as being in the painted textile business at 50 Church Street, Montclair.[21] From 1949 through 1981, the Kaufmans sold "Charcrust Broil-It" barbecue seasoning powder from their home in East Orange, NJ. [22][23][24]

He died in April 1986 in East Orange, New Jersey.[citation needed]

Writings

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Bytwerk, Randall (February 2005). "The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda". Quarterly Journal of Speech. 91 (1): 58. doi:10.1080/00335630500157516. S2CID 144116639. Kaufman's full name was Theodore Newman Kaufman. He published his book under the name Theodore N. Kaufman. The Nazis managed numerous variants of the spelling. The most interesting error was giving him the middle name Nathan. Sometimes, he became Nathan Kaufmann. The incorrect middle name was probably added to make the name sound more Jewish.
  2. ^ a b "Slick Stuff". Time. October 23, 1939. Archived from the original on March 8, 2008. Retrieved 2011-04-19. To peaceful folk all over the U. S. last week went a series of curdling injunctions to keep America out of World War II. Black type, slick paper, photographs of horribly wounded and starved victims of war were the propaganda materials of the American Federation of Peace. ...
  3. ^ a b c d e f "A Modest Proposal". Time. March 24, 1941. Archived from the original on June 15, 2008. Retrieved 2011-04-19. No Nazi, Theodore Newman Kaufman, 31, is a Manhattan-born Jew who has been an advertising man, once published the New Jersey Legal Record, now runs a successful theatre ticket agency in Newark, N. J. Widely traveled, he is especially fond of the Sahara Desert, where, he says, "you look at the horizon all day long and feel that you are staring at eternity." In Biskra he frequented the Algerian salon of Winston Churchill's cousin, sculptress Clare Sheridan (Arab Interlude). Germany Must Perish! is his first book. "Strictly a one-man job" (he claims he has no organization, no help, no backers), it was worked on for four months. Then he founded the Argyle Press to publish it. ...
  4. ^ a b Theodore Newman Kaufman (1941). Germany Must Perish!. Argyle Press.
  5. ^ a b "Jews of Hanover Forced from Homes. Mayor Cites American Book, 'Germany Must Perish'". The New York Times. September 9, 1941. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  6. ^ Hadden, Briton; Luce, Henry Robinson (March 24, 1941). "A Modest Proposal". Time. Retrieved 2011-04-20. Startled readers wondered whether the strange book was a landmark, the first appearance of the Streicher mind in the US. Few recognized the name of the author, Theodore N. Kaufman. But in 1939 it had appeared as chairman of the American Federation of Peace ...
  7. ^ "Mrs. Kaufman Services Today". Newark Sunday Call. February 19, 1939. Retrieved 2011-04-19. ... Mrs Kaufman was the wife of Anton Kaufman editor and publisher ... Mrs Kaufman leaves four sons Theodore Herbert Julian and Leonard.
  8. ^ "Newark Publisher Is Killed In Fall. Anton Kaufman, Owner of Jewish Chronicle There, Plunges From Hotel Window". The New York Times. January 2, 1943. Retrieved 2011-04-19. Anton Kaufman, blind publisher of The Newark Jewish Chronicle and one of the most prominent leaders in Jewish affairs in New Jersey, lost his life early today in a fall from his eighth-floor room in the Robert Treat Hotel, here.
  9. ^ a b "Dr. Kaufman Killed in Eight Story Fall. Newark's Blind Jewish Publisher was Once a Reporter in Berlin". Associated Press. January 2, 1943. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  10. ^ William B. Helmreich (1999). The Enduring Community. The Jews of Newark and Metrowest. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1-56000-392-8.
  11. ^ "3 Essex Deputy Sheriffs and Publisher and Son Accused of Robbing Hungarian". The New York Times. June 16, 1934. Retrieved 2011-04-19. Five men, three of them court attendants at the Essex County Court House, were arrested today on charges of robbery preferred by Sandor Alexander Balint of Budapest, Hungary, in a dispute involving a supposed secret formula for maturing wines rapidly. ... Anton Kaufman, who is blind, was paroled, and his son was released in $2000 bail by Acting Judge Arthur Connelly in Police Court today for a hearing next ...
  12. ^ "Essex Deputy Sheriffs, Seized in Alleged Robbery, to Get a Hearing Friday". The New York Times. June 17, 1934. Retrieved 2011-04-19. Three deputy sheriffs were arraigned here today in the First Criminal Court before Acting Judge Arthur Connolly. They are charged with aiding in the alleged robbery of Sandor Alexander Balint of Budapest, Hungary, possessor of a formula for aging wine quickly. Balint previously had brought about the arrest of Anton Kaufman, publisher of the Jewish Chronicle, and his son, Theodore. ...
  13. ^ a b Kaufman, Theodore (1939). Passive Purchase. Newark, NJ: American Federation of Peace.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Bytwerk, Randall (February 2005). "The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda". Quarterly Journal of Speech. 91 (1): 42–44. doi:10.1080/00335630500157516. S2CID 144116639.
  15. ^ Evans, Richard J. (2009). The Third Reich at War, 1939-1945. Penguin. pp. 244–245. ISBN 978-1-59420-206-3. In the weeks following the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the Nazi leadership thus thought it necessary to launch a propaganda offensive designed to win the retrospective approval of the German people. ...Much play was made in this campaign with a pamphlet by the American Theodore N. Kaufman
  16. ^ a b "Hanover Jews Victims of Latest Oppression". Associated Press. September 9, 1941. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
  17. ^ Theodore N. Kaufman in the U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946.
  18. ^ Argus (November 14, 1942). "Behind Enemy Lines" (PDF). The Nation. Vol. 155, no. 20. p. 510. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  19. ^ Texas County Marriage Records.
  20. ^ Lang, Berel (Spring 2006). "The Jewish "Declaration of War" against the Nazis". Antioch Review. 64 (2): 363–373. doi:10.2307/4614991. JSTOR 4614991.
  21. ^ Montclair City Directory, 1947
  22. ^ Youngstown Vindicator 20 Feb 1957
  23. ^ Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, Vol 659, 1952
  24. ^ Sarasota Herald-Tribune 26 Feb 1981
[edit]
  • Bytwerk, Randall. "German Propaganda Archive". Calvin College. Retrieved 12 July 2011. Includes translations and images of several German propaganda publications that reference Kaufman.

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