The anti-Jewish boycott

The Third Reich launches its first nationwide act of anti-Jewish discrimination

Anti-Semitic violence and calls to boycott Jewish businesses were nothing new in Germany, but their frequency and intensity increased sharply after 1933. They were now also widened to include the harassment of Jewish doctors and hotel guests and even sometimes ended in kidnap and murder. Their incidence was reported in the foreign press, and Jewish organizations discussed countermeasures such as a boycott of German goods. This “Jewish incitement of atrocities and boycotts” against Germany was in turn used as a pretext to stage a counter-boycott as a “defensive action”.

1 April 1933 saw armed SA men set up signs outside shops, banks, doctors’ surgeries and law firms throughout Germany that were owned and run by Jews. They even wrote on shop windows: “Don’t buy from Jews!” Whilst resolute Germans who wanted to continue with their usual business were often prevented from entering shops and other establishments, there were also many instances of vandalism. SA bully boys ejected business owners from their premises and beat them up. Many Germans watched the events passively; demonstrations of solidarity with the victims were rare. Despite this lack of active support for the boycott, Nazi spokesmen claimed that the state had organized the boycott to direct growing popular anger towards Jews in a controlled manner.