Payagen 1 Cristom Payagen November 17th, 2013 English 1103 Tonya Wertz-Orbaugh The Boycott of Jewish Businesses in 1933

My research on the Boycott of Jewish Businesses in 1933 began with my interest in business. I plan on being an entrepreneur so I thought that this would be an interesting topic since it might be related to my field of study. What is interesting about this topic is that this marked the beginning of the Nazi partys reign against the Jewish citizens in Germany. I found four sources on the boycott of Jewish business: an article in the newspaper Voelkischer Beobachter published on March 29th, 1933, a YouTube video, uploaded by the alias Skoblin, titled 1933 Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses, an online article titled Boycott of Jewish Business by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), and an online timeline by the History Place. According to USHMMs article, Jewish citizens accounted for approximately one percent of the German population. About one-sixth of those Jews served in the German army during World War I. Jews even held important positions in the government during World War I and were devastated when Germany lost the war. It was clear that these German Jews loved Germany, a place that they considered their home. Germany was even a country that accepted and encouraged the marriage between Jews and non-Jews. When Adolf Hitler became chancellor in 1933, he instantaneously attempted to take away the rights of all Jews in Germany. What surprised me about this is that a majority of these Jews loved their country. Germanys rich culture pumped throughout their blood;

Payagen 2 however, this did not stop Hitler from shunning them and targeting all Jews for the cause of Germanys economic downfall and suffering. What was once a country of interaction between all groups quickly became a country divided. On March 29th, 1933, Voelkischer Beobachter was distributed publicly informing all Germans about the boycott of Jewish Businesses. The newspaper article essentially told all Germans that they should not do business with Jewish shops, Jewish Lawyers, Jewish doctors, or buy any Jewish goods. It even read this: The Action Committees are responsible for making sure that the boycott will not affect innocent persons, but will hit the guilty all the harder. This boycott against Jewish businesses was to be enforced on April 1st, 1933. What I found interesting is that USHMM claims for this boycott to be both a reprisal and an act of revenge against the Jews for allegedly releasing Gruelpropaganda (atrocity stories) to foreign journalists and the international press. I have not been able to find any valid evidence of Gruelpropaganda, which leads me to believe that this was yet another scheme in order to accuse the Jews of any wrongdoings against Germany. With Germany already beginning to believe Adolf Hitler and his theories against the Jews, people began to believe these reports (which were most likely false). One thing that really irritated me about the Voelkischer Beobachter article was the fact that the Nazis claimed that this boycott was to prevent the innocent from being affected; however, all this boycott was doing was affecting the innocent while protecting the Nazi partys own self-interest. This might be easier said than done but if the NonJewish citizens understood that Jews werent the only people who fought and participated in World War I for Germany, then I think the Holocaust could have been prevented entirely.

Payagen 3 I wanted to believe that this boycott was not true; however, after watching Skoblins YouTube video, it was very clear that Jewish businesses werent welcomed in Germany. Stars of David were drawn on all Jewish businesses. Signs were posted next to Jewish businesses saying Dont Buy from Jews (Kauf nicht bei Juden), The Jews are our misfortune (Die Juden sind unser Ungluck) and other atrocious phrases. Nazis drove also drove around Germany chanting phrases while other Germans would follow along. I assumed that these phrases were meant to tell others to buy from German businesses. It was clear that other Germans agreed with this new boycott or else they wouldnt be chanting with the Nazi officers and officials on patrol. Even though the boycott was the beginning of the German Jews downfall, something that amazed me was learning that this act was unsuccessful and was repealed within three days of the boycott. USHMMs article says that the boycott was unsuccessful because even the Non-Jewish Germans ignored the boycott and continued purchasing Jewish goods, going to Jewish Doctors, and going to Jewish businesses. Despite the clear vandalism and acts of violence against Jewish property, people in Germany continued to support these Jewish businesses. This was shocking to me because I already assumed that Hitler sold Germany his idea that all Jews were disgusting and putrid monsters that shouldnt be trusted. With the information that German citizens were the ones blatantly ignoring the boycott, this told me that it was clear that Non-Jewish Germans were not fully sold on the idea of a Non-Jewish society. I wish that both of my sources told me more about why German citizens continued to purchase goods and services from Jewish businesses instead of boycotting them like they were told. That topic would have interested me, as an aspiring entrepreneur, because I really want to

Payagen 4 know what made these Jewish businesses more desirable as opposed to a German product. Even though the boycott of German businesses was over, immediately followed by it were a numerous amount of laws that attacked Jews and their rights; rights which were similar to what the boycott was trying to prevent Jews from doing, and that was to own a business. Based on the History Place and its timeline, Jews were prohibited from serving as patent lawyers, doctors, dentists, university professors and journalists. By preventing the Jews from doing this, it essentially achieved the same goal of the boycott against Jewish businesses. Other laws also included the banning of Jews from all entertainment activities such as theatre, prevention of government employment by all Non-Aryans and their spouses, and the limit of Jewish children in public schools. Even though the boycott of Jewish businesses wasnt successful, it lead to multiple laws against the Jewish which essentially began Adolf Hitlers reign during World War II. This is a forgotten event in world history because it didnt seem as important at first; however, its failure drove Hitler to a more aggressive approach of forcing his beliefs down Germanys throat and thats what made him so powerful. The failure of boycotting Jewish businesses could potentially be the main cause of the most devastating event in world history, the Holocaust.

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Works Cited 1. "1933 Nazi Boycott of Jewish Businesses." YouTube. YouTube, 12 Sept. 2009. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh95Ijf5BjI>. 2. "Alpha History: Nazi Germany." Alpha History: Nazi Germany. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. <http://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/boycott-of-jewishbusinesses-1933/>. 3. "The Boycott of Jewish Businesses." The Boycott of Jewish Businesses. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007693>. 4. "The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline: April 1, 1933 - Nazi Boycott of Jewish Shops." The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline: April 1, 1933 - Nazi Boycott of Jewish Shops. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/boycott.htm>.