Jewish Cattle Traders in the German Countryside, 1919-1939: Economic Trust and Antisemitic Violence

by Stefanie Fischer, Wallstein Verlag (Other)

Overview

Jewish Cattle Traders in the German Countryside, 1919–1939, explores the social and economic networks in which this group operated and the informal but durable bonds between Jewish cattle traders and farmers that not even incessant Nazi attacks could break.

Stefanie Fischer combines approaches from social history, economic history, and sociology to challenge the longstanding cliché of the shady Jewish cattle dealer. By focusing on trust and social connections rather than analyzing economic trends, Fischer exposes the myriad inconsistencies that riddled the process of expelling the Jews from Germany.

Jewish Cattle Traders in the German Countryside, 1919–1939, examines the complexities of relations between Jews and non-Jews who were engaged in economic and social exchange. In the process, Fischer challenges previous understandings of everyday life under Nazi rule and discovers new ways in which Jewish agency acted as a critical force throughout the exclusionary processes that took place in Hitler's Germany.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253068729
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	03/05/2024
Pages:	374
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stefanie Fischer is a research associate at the Centre for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University, Berlin. She specializes in the history of Jews in Europe in the modern period and in the study of Holocaust. Fischer is author (with Wünschmann) of Oberbrechen: A German Village Confronts its Nazi Past.
Jeremiah Riemer taught comparative politics at several universities in the United States and Germany between 1981 and 2012. Since 1996 he has translated more than a dozen books and numerous scholarly articles on history, politics, psychology, architecture, and Jewish studies. His most recent translation was In Hitler's Munich: Jews, the Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism by Michael Brenner.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. "The Cattle Trade Was Firmly in the Hands of Jews?": A Social History of Cattle Trading Businesses in the Weimar Germany
2. "The Cattle Business, It's All about Trust": The Role of Trust in Private Cattle Trading Relationships in Weimar Germany
3. Constituting Trust by Official Authority
4. Destroying Relationships of Trust by Force: The Ouster of Jews from the Cattle Trade under the Nazi Reign of Violence
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Persons
Index of Places
Index of Subjects

Editorial Reviews

"Stefanie Fischer's book is a model of creative and nuanced history writing. Relying on an impressive body of hitherto unknown primary sources, Fischer shows that midst in the exploding violent Antisemitism of the Third Reich trust relationships between Jewish cattle dealers and non-Jewish customers never ceased. Her book is a milestone in the historiography of Jewish life in the German countryside, an enormously stimulating study—a must-read for all students of modern German history, Jewish history, and Holocaust history."—Thomas Kühne, Strassler Professor of Holocaust History at Clark University

"Persuasively argued and based on meticulous research this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Jewish history, the history of Antisemitism and the economic history of twentieth- century Germany. Unlike most studies, it focuses on a rural area and provides the first in-depth analysis of relations between Jewish cattle traders and their clients, mostly Christian peasants. Combining a mastery of a wide range of sources with great theoretical sophistication, the book offers a thought-provoking analysis of how bonds of trust are made and unmade, how prejudices and violence are checked and unleashed. It is a major achievement that will shape scholarship for years to come."—Till van Rahden, Université de Montréal

"Stefanie Fischer's scholarship is both striking and convincing. She insightfully shows the everyday life in Nazi Germany as well as the will to survive. By operating with the category of trust she has introduced a key term to historiography. This is a highly innovative, outstanding study of Jewish life in the Third Reich."—Michael Wildt, Humboldt University of Berlin

"Stefanie Fischer's study sheds light on a little known aspect of German-Jewish and German history, the story of rural Jewish cattle dealers, including their business and social relationships with their customers and neighbors. Using archival sources as well as interviews with the children of Jews and non-Jews, she demonstrates how these relationships worked, but also how they deteriorated and could include violence after 1932. This is an important analysis of economic and social history that offers penetrating insights into the relationships in the German countryside."—Marion Kaplan, Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History, New York University

"Jewish Cattle Traders in the German Countryside, 1919–1939 offers much more than the history of the destruction of the Jewish cattle dealers in one specific region. By using archival material from various different archives, family estates as well as interviews, Stefanie Fischer's research draws a very complex picture of the interaction between Jews and non-Jews in the countryside. The result is a piece of historiography which will set new standards."—Wolfgang Benz, Emeritus Director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technical University of Berlin

From the Publisher