The boycott of German goods and services is most effective in the United States, it is established in a survey, “Germany’s Fight for International Trade,” by a writer who signs himself “Albrecht Forstmann,” but is known to be one of the closest collaborators of Chancellor Hitler’s deputy, Rudolph Hess.
Reviews and references to the book in German newspapers have been prohibited because it reveals differences of opinion in the cabinet and shows that beliefs held in high circles clash with Nazi economic principles.
The book aims to disprove the economic theories of Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, Minister of Economics and head of the Reichsbank. Among the proposals it advocates are devaluation of the mark, reduction of wages and increase in hours of labor to permit German manufacturers to compensate for higher cost of raw materials.
Surveying the effects of the anti-Nazi boycott, the book states that in the United States the boycott is so strong “that certain German commodities cannot be sold there despite slumping prices.” It emphasizes that the movement has “a strong Jewish shade, although not in every State.”
“As far as the United States is concerned,” the book continues, “the boycott is mostly an expression of antipathy of the American population, inspired chiefly by reports of American correspondents stationed in Berlin.”
After the United States, the boycott is most effective in South Africa, Holland, Poland and the Baltic states, the survey shows.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
