Goldschmidtâs âHouse of Coatsââwould be opening in a few days. Then a week later, on April 7, Alex announced, âThe remodeling of my House is complete. My new store will now be a special House of Coats. By concentrating on a single special line, I will be able to be even more competitive. My famous good quality, which was already inexpensive, will become even less expensive. The selection will be even greater! Grand Opening tomorrow, Tuesday, April 8, at 10:00 a.m.â
One week later, in an ad framed by images of bunnies, lambs, blooming lilies, hatching chicks, and romping children, Alex announced a âGreat Easter Sale At Very Low Pricesâ: âWe have received a brandnew shipping of the smartest spring and summer coats. The selection surpasses everything you have seen so far . . . every size, from Girlsâ and Teenagersâ coats to extra wide and long Ladiesâ coats in all modern fabrics. Come and see for yourself how competitive we are!â
By June, Alex was proclaiming that his exclusive stock included âFur coats, light-colored fleece coats, gabardine coats, leather coats, coats of English-style fabrics, Macintoshes, modern coats for travel and sport, practical, comfortable, durable, and inexpensive, in all sizes, extra large and extra long. Mantelhaus Goldschmidt is in a class of its own, the premiere house for coats in all of Northwest Germany!â
Alexâs customers, many of whom had patronized his House of Fashion for nearly two decades, faithfully followed him to his House of Coats. He encouraged their enthusiasm with a steady stream of hearty advertisements, demonstrating almost daily that here was a man who knew how to move the merchandise. Despite the effects of the worldwide Depression, business remained good.
But buried in the minutes of the same city council meeting that had granted Alex the authority to proceed with his new plan were six lines of testimony offering a chilling preview of the fate that was slouching toward the Mantelhaus and, indeed, toward all of Germany and the world beyond. One of the council members complained that Herr Goldschmidt had already been planning his renovations for some time and questioned why the city council should subsidize his business venture. This councilmember was Carl Röver, representing the National Socialist German Workersâ Party.
The Nazi Party had emerged from the ruins of German pride in the aftermath of Germanyâs defeat in 1918 and out of the desperation caused by the economic calamities of the early twenties, when runaway inflation rendered German currency practically worthless. On November 9, 1923, a thirty-four-year-old Austrian who had served as a corporal in the German army during the Great War and who, like Alex Goldschmidt, had been awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, attempted to foment a national revolution from the speaking platform of a beer hall in Munich. The putsch failed and the young revolutionary landed in jail, but Adolf Hitlerâs campaign for National Socialism had begun.
Within five years, bolstered by a relentless repetition of charges that the German armyâand by extension, Germany itselfâhad been âstabbed in the backâ by the âNovember criminalsâ who surrendered at the armistice, and by inveighing against the undue influence of Jews and Communists in the economic world order, the Nazi Party had won a small but committed group of followers. In the elections of 1928, the National Socialists attracted 9.8 percent of the vote in the state of Oldenburg, earning them a seat on the Oldenburg city council. The Nazis chose their regional leader, or Gauleiter , Herr Röver, to represent them. His vote against Alexâs plans in February 1930 was not enough to derail them. But his day would come soon enough.
Seven months later, in the elections of September 1930, the Nazis polled 27.3 percent of the Oldenburg state vote. In the ensuing
One week later, in an ad framed by images of bunnies, lambs, blooming lilies, hatching chicks, and romping children, Alex announced a âGreat Easter Sale At Very Low Pricesâ: âWe have received a brandnew shipping of the smartest spring and summer coats. The selection surpasses everything you have seen so far . . . every size, from Girlsâ and Teenagersâ coats to extra wide and long Ladiesâ coats in all modern fabrics. Come and see for yourself how competitive we are!â
By June, Alex was proclaiming that his exclusive stock included âFur coats, light-colored fleece coats, gabardine coats, leather coats, coats of English-style fabrics, Macintoshes, modern coats for travel and sport, practical, comfortable, durable, and inexpensive, in all sizes, extra large and extra long. Mantelhaus Goldschmidt is in a class of its own, the premiere house for coats in all of Northwest Germany!â
Alexâs customers, many of whom had patronized his House of Fashion for nearly two decades, faithfully followed him to his House of Coats. He encouraged their enthusiasm with a steady stream of hearty advertisements, demonstrating almost daily that here was a man who knew how to move the merchandise. Despite the effects of the worldwide Depression, business remained good.
But buried in the minutes of the same city council meeting that had granted Alex the authority to proceed with his new plan were six lines of testimony offering a chilling preview of the fate that was slouching toward the Mantelhaus and, indeed, toward all of Germany and the world beyond. One of the council members complained that Herr Goldschmidt had already been planning his renovations for some time and questioned why the city council should subsidize his business venture. This councilmember was Carl Röver, representing the National Socialist German Workersâ Party.
The Nazi Party had emerged from the ruins of German pride in the aftermath of Germanyâs defeat in 1918 and out of the desperation caused by the economic calamities of the early twenties, when runaway inflation rendered German currency practically worthless. On November 9, 1923, a thirty-four-year-old Austrian who had served as a corporal in the German army during the Great War and who, like Alex Goldschmidt, had been awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, attempted to foment a national revolution from the speaking platform of a beer hall in Munich. The putsch failed and the young revolutionary landed in jail, but Adolf Hitlerâs campaign for National Socialism had begun.
Within five years, bolstered by a relentless repetition of charges that the German armyâand by extension, Germany itselfâhad been âstabbed in the backâ by the âNovember criminalsâ who surrendered at the armistice, and by inveighing against the undue influence of Jews and Communists in the economic world order, the Nazi Party had won a small but committed group of followers. In the elections of 1928, the National Socialists attracted 9.8 percent of the vote in the state of Oldenburg, earning them a seat on the Oldenburg city council. The Nazis chose their regional leader, or Gauleiter , Herr Röver, to represent them. His vote against Alexâs plans in February 1930 was not enough to derail them. But his day would come soon enough.
Seven months later, in the elections of September 1930, the Nazis polled 27.3 percent of the Oldenburg state vote. In the ensuing
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