Nathan Israel Department Store Catalog

Authors

Object ID

2021.1.1

Object Name

Catalog

Date

Summer 1936

Files

Content Warning

The Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection consists of images, documents, and artifacts related to the Holocaust. The collection contains materials that depict a number of topics that may be difficult for viewers to engage with, including: antisemitic descriptions, caricatures, and representation of Jewish people; Nazi imagery and ideology; descriptions and images of German ghettos; graphic images of the violence of the Holocaust; and the creation of the State of Israel. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

[Cover]: “Sommer 1936” in top left; “N*ISRAEL” in bottom right; black and white photograph of woman with one arm raised and the other holding onto a string of nautical flags. [Interior]: unnumbered pages with drawings of merchandise

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Illustrated Summer 1936 catalog from the Kaufhaus N. Israel, the largest department store in Berlin, founded in 1815. Promoting the sale of swimwear, summer-wear clothing, shoes, suitcases, lounge chairs, etc. Nathan Israel was one of the largest retail establishments in Europe, run at this time by Wilfred Israel and his brother. Owned by Jews, the store was famously boycotted by Nazis when they came to power in 1933, photographs showing Nazis holding placards exhorting Germans (i.e., non-Jews) to not patronize Jewish-owned stores. Ransacked during Kristallnacht, Israel’s was then aryanized, sold in 1939 to Emil Koster AG, which was owned by a non-Jewish family, and reopened under a new name. Soon after this expropriation, Wilfred emigrated to England and here attempted contact with the underground. Having been successful in helping many of his Jewish employees emigrate, he organized, once in England, transport of children attempting to flee Europe. He died in 1943 when his plane was shot down by the Luftwaffe.

Dimensions

10 1/4 x 7 1/4"

Keywords

Kaufhaus N. Israel, Wilfred Israel, Nathan Israel, Emil Koster, Aryanization

Subcollection

Aryanization

Recommended Citation

"Nathan Israel Department Store Catalog" (1936). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2021.1.1.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1703