Career
Born in Nuremberg, Rupprecht emigrated to Argentina in 1920 after World War I, where he worked as a waiter and a cowboy on a cattle ranch. He returned to Nuremberg around 1924, and was hired by the Fränkische Tagespost, a newspaper linked to the German Social Democrats. When he was dispatched to cover the second Luppe-Streicher trial with instructions to draw a caricature of Julius Streicher, he instead drew caricatures of Nuremberg"s mayor, Hermann Luppe, and a prominent Nuremberg Jew also involved in the trial.
The cartoons were published by Der Stürmer in December 1925, and Rupprecht was hired by the paper.
With the exception of 1927, he was Der Stürmer"s sole regular cartoonist under the pen-name of "Fips" until February 2, 1945, when the last edition of Der Stürmer appeared, drawing thousands of antisemitic caricatures. His style changed during the course of his career, but his caricatures always depicted Jews as short, fat, ugly, unshaven, drooling, sexually perverted, bent-nosed, and with piglike eyes.
Among his other works were illustrations for two antisemitic children"s books published by Stürmer Verlag: Trau keinem Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jud auf seinem Eid ("Don"t Trust a Fox in a Green Pasture Or a Jew Upon His Oath") (1936), and Der Giftpilz ("The Poisonous Mushroom") (1938). At the beginning of World World War II, Rupprecht served in the Kriegsmarine, but was released from service because of his value to wartime Nazi propaganda.
Rupprecht’s career came to an end with the defeat of the Nazis in World World War World War II He was put on trial in 1945 and sentenced to six years hard labour.
On 23 October 1950 he was released from the prison in Eichstätt. Until his death he lived and worked in Munich and Starnberg as a painter and decorator. He died on 4 April 1975 in Munich, aged 74.