Staging a boycott: photographs of the Nazi attack on Jewish-owned businesses in April 1933

On April 1, 1933, the Nazi regime staged the brutal state-organized blockade of Jewish-owned businesses as a peaceful boycott. At the time, attempts to influence public opinion only worked to a limited extent. Both domestic and international papers were reluctant to print photos that represented the Nazi perspective too clearly This article analyzes the photos taken that day, deconstructs the propaganda messages embedded in them, and reconstructs the violence of the Nazi regime’s first systematic assault against the Jews in Germany..