US anti-Nazi boycott stamp with a Star of David and a Nazi wolf

Poster stamp encouraging the boycott of Nazi products, issued in the United States during the boycott movement between May 1933 and October 1941. Unlike many others issued during the boycott, this stamp makes a distinction between Nazis and Germany as a whole. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg. The Nazi’s increasing targeting of Jews led the small, but militant, Jewish War Veterans of the United States (JWV) to hold a parade in New York City and launch the first boycott of German goods in the United States on March 23. Other organizations, including the American Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee, soon followed with large protest rallies. In reaction to the negative international press on April 1, the German Nazis instigated a one-day nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses and professionals. Soon after, anti-Jewish decrees were passed that restricted every aspect of Jewish life in Germany. On April 10, 1933, the JWV opened a boycott office in New York City, where they printed placards, seals, and letters. The JWV also began a stamp campaign on May 21, and the other organizations followed suit. The U.S. Post Office banned their use on the exterior of mail—due to their resemblance to postage stamps—so the JWV encouraged their use on the correspondence instead. The boycott movement in America never gained a popular following, and the U.S. Department of State opposed it entirely. By 1941, American enthusiasm for the boycott movement had waned, and the widespread efforts by the larger organizations ceased in October, shortly before the United States entered the war.