The Völkischer Beobachter (pronounced [ˈfœlkɪʃɐ bəˈʔoːbaxtɐ]; "Völkisch Observer") was the newspaper of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 25 December 1920.

[1] The paper was banned and ceased publication between November 1923, after Adolf Hitler's arrest for leading the unsuccessful Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, and February 1925, the approximate date of the relaunching of the Party.

The "fighting paper of the National Socialist movement of Greater Germany", or "Kampfblatt der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung Großdeutschlands" as it called itself, had its origin as the Münchener Beobachter, or "Munich Observer", an anti-Semitic semi-weekly scandal-oriented paper which in 1918 was acquired by the Thule Society with financial backing by Käthe Bierbaumer and, in August 1919, was renamed Völkischer Beobachter (see Völkisch and Völkisch movement).

Major Ernst Röhm, who was an early member of the German Workers' Party, forerunner of the Nazi Party, and Dietrich Eckart, one of Hitler's earliest mentors, persuaded Röhm’s commanding officer, Major General Franz Ritter von Epp, to provide the money from German Army funds for the paper to be purchased.

In 1921, Adolf Hitler, who had taken full control of the NSDAP earlier that year, acquired all shares in the company, making him the sole owner of the publication.

It sustained itself by selling non-interest-bearing promissory notes to party members and received loans and grants from wealthy patrons such as Helene Bechstein.

[6] During the Nazi rise to power, the newspaper reported general news but also party activities, presenting them as almost constant successes.