Broken Threads: The Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industry in Germany and Austria

by Roberta S. Kremer (Editor)

Broken Threads tells the story of the destruction of the Jewish fashion industry under the Nazis.Jewish designers were very prominent in the fashion industry of 1930s Germany and Austria. The emergence of Konfektion, or ready-to-wear, and the development of the modern department store, with its innovative merchandising and lavish interior design, only emphasized this prominence. The Nazis came to see German high fashion as too heavily influenced by Jewish designers, manufacturers and merchandisers. These groups were targeted with a campaign of propaganda, boycotts, humiliation and Aryanization.Broken Threads chronicles this moment of cultural loss, detailing the rise of Jewish design and its destruction at the hands of the Nazis. Superbly illustrated with photographs and fashion plates from the collection of Claus Jahnke, Broken Threads explores this little-known part of fashion and of Nazi history.

Genres: History, Fashion

136 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2007

Reviews

[Tsuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read and a good companion publication to a 1999 Vancouver Holocaust Museum exhibit, juxtaposing the horrors of the holocaust with some of the fashions of the period through use of photographs, propaganda posters, and informational bits. Comprised of several essays surrounding the role of Jewish makers, entrepreneurs, and other facets of the textile and fashion industry of Germany and Austria, this book provides a launching point and discussion point surrounding the subject of Jewish people in the textile/retail/fashion industries in Germany and Austria from late 19th century into the early 20th. Cultural loss is typically lumped in with other horrors when discussing the holocaust/Nazi Germany, but this short exhibit-companion continues the discussion introduced through the exhibit.

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history on the fashion industry.