In June 1862, the satirist Julius Stettenheim published in Hamburg a four-page lampoon with the title “The Jew-Eater – Hope you Like it!” It contained a caricature and a seven-stanza poem entitled “Mad Spook of a Summer Night’s Dream.” The pamphlet was carried round on poles, proclaimed by its bearers throughout the city, and sold for a Schilling. It was a satirical answer to a letter by Wilhelm Marr, published by the “Courier on the Weser” (June 13, 1862, no. 161). A Bremen friend of Marr had implored him to support the cause of Jewish emancipation. Marr refused and instead published the book, Der Judenspiegel [A Mirror to the Jews] on June 22, 1862. This publication unleashed a storm of indignation in Hamburg’s political life. Marr had to answer to the Democratic Club and the Association for the Advancement of the Freedom of Conscience, both of which he belonged to. Finally, he agreed to resign his seat on the Association’s board of directors.

After studying at the University of Berlin, Julius Stettenheim returned to his native town Hamburg where, from 1862 onward, he published a satirical paper, the Hamburger Wespen [Hamburg wasps]. Later, in Berlin, he was a collaborator on the Kladderadatsch [the unholy mess] and editor of Wippchen [silly joke], a supplement to the Kleines Journal [little journal], which were to make him famous. He had completed his apprenticeship between 1847 and 1852 on Mephistopheles, a satirical newspaper edited by Wilhelm Marr, and therefore owed a debt of gratitude to him. Both men, despite the controversy of 1862, continued their friendly relations.