Wilhelm Stapel | |
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| Born | 27 October 1882 Kalbe, Germany |
| Died | 1 June 1954 |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen (PhD) |
| Known for | Pro-Nazi theologian |
Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Stapel (27 October 1882 – 1 June 1954), was a German Protestant and nationalist essayist. He was the editor of the influential antisemitic monthly magazine Deutsches Volkstum from 1919 until its shutdown by the Nazis in 1938.
While holding cultural anti-semitic thesis that diverged from the racialist Nazi doctrines, and advocating for less harmful measures to be taken against Jews, Stapel nonetheless collaborated with many Nazi institutions and official figures. He spoke vehemently against the anti-Nazi Confessing Church of Martin Niemöller and Karl Barth, and defended the policy of Reich Bishop Ludwig Müller. At the same time Stapel was committed to the policy of Reichsminister of Church Affairs (Reichskirchenminister) Hanns Kerrl, to whom he served as an advisor.
After 1945, Stapel despised the new German Federal Republic and, in 1949, called for a boycott of the Bundestag elections. He died in Hamburg in 1954 at the age of 71, largely unnoticed from the public.