Language:
German
Year of publication:
2018
Titel der Quelle:
Jahrbuch des Simon-Dubnow-Instituts
Angaben zur Quelle:
17 (2018) 601-628
Keywords:
Fur trade History
;
Jewish businesspeople History
Abstract:
Up until World War II, the fur trade was one of Leipzig’s most prosperous economic sectors, integrating the city into a global production and trading network and establishing it as a major trading place for this “soft gold” alongside London and New York. In this context, Jewish entrepreneurs played a significant role, for it is estimated that up to 75 percent of the fur trading houses in Leipzig were owned by Jewish families. Consequently, this industry suffered severely under the Nazi regime, was later nationalized under communist rule, and dissolved completely after the reunification of Germany in 1990. Nevertheless, the memory of the fur city is still cherished today and has become inseparably linked to the memory of Jewish life, both in Leipzig’s commemorative culture and scholarly research. This literature survey tries to reconstruct the development of this close nexus by showing how research on the Jewish protagonists evolved out of the fur industry’s own prewar publications, which tried to establish a common self-concept based on historical narratives. It also illuminates how some key publications shaped Leipzig’s culture of remembrance after 1990 and how this standardization of a historical narrative might today be misleading.
Note:
With an English abstract.
DOI:
10.13109/9783666370809.601
URL:
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