Despite the recent order of the Reich Minister of Economy that no partiality be shown non-Jewish shops during Christmas shopping, the boycott movement against Jewish merchants has assumed major proportions in various sections of Germany and is still being continued.
In many towns, tradesmen were not only boycotted but their shops were attacked as well. In Worms, Jewish stores were plastered with yellow placards warning that “He who buys from a Jew is a traitor!” In the same town, boycott pickets stood in front of all Jewish establishments and threatened non-Jews who would have entered them.
In Herford, blazing fireworks were hurled at Jewish shops. Here too there were pickets, many of them uniformed storm troopers. Jewish stores were forced to close many hours before their scheduled time.
ARTISANS CIRCULARIZED
In other towns, groups of Hitler Youths formed themselves into impromptu choirs and posted themselves in front of certain shops, chanting, “He who buys from Jews is a traitor!” over and over again.
In Bielefeld, a textile center in western Germany, master artisans received a circular from the Artisans’ Chamber which read as follows:
Master Artisan: Drive your wife from your home when she thoughtlessly buys from Jews. Employes of artisan organizations who buy from Jews are to be dismissed at once.”
In the same town a festival held by Jewish youths was attacked. The entrance to the hall where the celebration was to take place was blocked by Hitler Youths, who knocked down many of those attempting to enter the hall and threatened others. Police, who refused to intervene, arrived on the scene an hour after the disturbance had begun.
“NEIGHBORLY LOVE”
In Nuremberg, the Frankische Tageszeitung ran a headline reading: “No Christmas shopping from Jews! Show that you are a German!”
The same newspaper also reported that a family which was feeding the child of a poverty-stricken neighbor discontinued its
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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.