"How the Boycott Was Enforced: Nazi Guards"
Times Wide World Photos
United States, active 1919–1941
1933
This gelatin silver photograph records Nazi stormtroopers enforcing a 1933 boycott of Jewish shops, the photographer aiming to document and publicize the organized intimidation on a city street.
You are immediately drawn to the swastika-topped placard and the cluster of uniformed men handing out papers on a narrow sidewalk, while anxious shopkeepers and onlookers crowd the frame against gleaming storefronts, conveying tension and coercion.
As circulated documentary photography, it makes visible how public ritual, signage, and paramilitary presence were used to normalize antisemitic policy and helped international audiences recognize the systematic nature of Nazi persecution.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
6 9/16 × 9" (16.7 × 22.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2161.2001
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
