Joan and Henry Katz Lecture in Judaic Studies - "The Rise and Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industry, Berlin 1836 – 1939"

Fairfield University Faculty, Administrators, & Staff!

Please join the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies for the Joan and Henry Katz Lecture in Judaic Studies - "The Rise and Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industry, Berlin 1836 – 1939  delivered by Uwe Westphal from his home in Berlin, Germany.

During the early twentieth century, seventy-eight percent of the fashion houses in Berlin were owned by Jewish business owners who exported their high-end garments internationally. The modern looks they created influenced the arts, theater, and films, with movie stars like Marlene Dietrich helping to promote the styles they created. Following the rise of the Nazi party in 1933, 2,700 Berlin Jewish fashion companies were confiscated, and Aryanized, some department store owners, and designers found safety in the United States, while thousands of seamstresses and many designers and gallery owners were eventually imprisoned and murdered. According to Westphal, a "wall of silence" in the German fashion industry regarding the impact of Nazism on modern fashion still exists today.

Please register at https://fairfield.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FLHImvlkTKW71tObKtNylg