April Boycott

   Following the Nazi “seizure of power” in January 1933, the Sturmabteilung (SA) intensified its violence against the Jews of Germany. As the news reached Jewish communities outside of Germany about the physical violence and the arbitrary incarceration of Jews in the “wild camps,” concern was raised about the safety of German Jewry. In the United States, leaders of the American Jewish Congress, in conjunction with other concerned Jewish and non-Jewish groups, attempted to organize a boycott of German goods in retaliation for the Nazi excesses.

   See World Jewish Congress.

   In response to the threat, the Nazis organized a boycott of Jewish establishments on 1 April 1933. The boycott lasted one day because the government feared that to prolong it would harm Germany’s image in the international community as well as its economy. Overall, the German public displayed little enthusiasm for the boycott and patronized Jewish business establishments despite the presence of SA storm troopers guarding the entrance to the stores.