Jewish Businesses Research Articles

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover: A Reconsideration of Eight Assumptions About Jewish Family Businesses

This article presents data from a study of the family and educational backgrounds of forty-five Jewish sons in family-owned businesses in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It begins by considering the sources of stereotypes about sons in Jewish business families. The article then explores the process the author followed in confronting his own stereotypes formed in childhood and in changing those stereotypes on the basis of new information. Each assumption is compared with data from the interview study, and the discrepancies are discussed.

Gebr. Kaufmann. Ett judiskt "Kaufhaus" i Elberfeld

People recall very little, if anything of the Jewish “Kaufhäuser” (department stores) in Wuppertal. Therefore, I have attempted to describe such a Kaufhaus and I have chosen as an example the Gebrüder Kaufmann (1894–1936), a department store, vivid in my memory. Why the Jews, when the final restrictions to their civil rights were removed in 1870, created new commercial establishments, Warenhaus and Kaufhaus? This article also describes how Jewish youth was trained and how these department stores were funded, organized and managed. They came into existence at a good time, the economic trend being positive until 1914. Expansion was continuous but in 1914, the war caused a scarcity of consumer goods. The world-wide depression of 1929 hit Wuppertal hard, affecting industry and causing much unemployment. At the same time the emerging Nazi Party turned against Jewish businesses.

A Jewish Collaborator in Nazi Germany: The Strange Career of Georg Kareski, 1933–37

Hitler's takeover of power in January 1933 created a new and dangerous situation for German Jewry. Nazi policy developed gradually, but before the spring of 1933 was well advanced there could be little doubt that serious injury was intended toward the Jewish community. The “wildcat” anti-Semitic actions of undisciplined SA men were followed by the national boycott of Jewish businesses conducted on April 1. Legislative and administrative measures, preceded and accompanied by “unofficial” and “illegal” actions tending in the same direction, began the process that drove Jews from public employment, from medicine, law, and teaching, from cultural, political, and journalistic pursuits, and that severely hampered their economic activity in any form. Long before any sane observer could have glimpsed the outlines of the “final solution,” the leaders of the German Jewish community were faced with a situation demanding the utmost of their political and organizational talents. As a leading Jewish participant put it, the situation provided a classic case of Toynbee's “challenge” and “response.” To one German Jewish leader, Georg Kareski, it was a great and positive political opportunity.