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Photo credit: John Graves Collection, Alexandria, Virginia.
Photo on left: Attracting customers to its branches in Berlin and elsewhere in Germany, the Wertheim department stores were among the
many Jewish-owned businesses flourishing for decades before the rise of the Third Reich. A souvenir book commemorating the 1927
opening of its renovated Leipziger Platz location depicted palatial interiors, enhanced with fountains, mosaics, paintings, murals and
sculptures.
He has now published his findings in both German and English
in “Fashion Metropolis Berlin 1836-1939: The Story of
the Rise and Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industry.”
From the mid 1830s many Jewish tailors living in Galicia, in
western Ukraine, and Poznan, a city in western Poland, escaped
local pogroms by moving to Berlin, which had just eased
restrictions on Jewish businesses. At that time, clothes were
traditionally made to fit just one person, but that was about
to change. Four men in particular — Valentin Manheimer,
Herrmann Gerson, Rudolph Hertzog and David Leib Levin
— were the first to grasp the significance of mass-producing
and retailing clothing to standard sizes, and thus ready-to-wear
(in German Konfektion and in French prêt-à-porter), was born
— invented by Jewish Berliners.
By the middle of the 19th century, some 100 Jewish clothing
firms existed around Hausvogteiplatz (literally: Square of the
Governor’s Residence) in central Berlin’s Mitte district. The area
soon attracted many more companies, as the location was well
connected to transport, thereby enabling export all over Europe.
By the 1890s the square had grown into a thriving hub for
ready-made clothing manufacturers, furs, fabric and accessory
suppliers. Jews dominated the industry, owning 371, or 85% of
all women’s fashion businesses, reaping the rewards of soaring
exports of “Berlin chic” and basking in worldwide prestige.
Berlin: A Magnet for Glamour
At the turn of the 20th century, the large, Jewish-owned
department stores of Tietz, Nathan Israel, and Wertheim were
established, adding to the luster of Berlin as a magnet for
worshippers of sophistication and glamour. Fashion, mainly
in coats and dresses, was one of the largest industries in Berlin,
offering jobs to 90,000 tailors and seamstresses, many of whom
worked from home.
After World War I, the “Roaring 20s” witnessed the
emergence of young, modern designers whose fresh approach
to design was shown off in stylish fashion magazines such as
Photo credit: Roz McNulty, www.rozdigital.com.
Pictures from the Claus Jahnke Collection in Uwe Westphal’s
“Fashion Metropolis Berlin” evidence the revolution in ready-towear
that occurred in Germany after World War I. For its 1928
summer line, the Nathan Israel department store advertised chic
apparel produced in a wide variety of materials, inspired by the
latest Paris styles. Journalist Franz Hessel observed: “The spirit of
fashion had become less dramatic, more democratic and therefore
more elegant.”
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