“Buying German” Campaigns

German Store Front

Anything foreign was considered dangerous to Nazi Germany and foreign fashion and goods were included. To remove the foreign influence from fashion and the economy, the Nazi regime pushed and encouraged a “buy German” campaign to not only strengthen their ideology but their economy as well. In buying only German goods, the Nazis saw this as strengthening their ideology because it encouraged the buying of products made by Aryan hands and businesses thus pushing out Jewish businesses. Economically, buying German made products would support German businesses and industry.

'Buy German' propaganda poster - source
translation: “Hitler is building. Help him. Buy German goods.”

Another Propaganda Poster pushing for Buying German Goods. - source 

The main weaknesses to this campaign were that Germany lacked various natural resources necessary to support this campaign successfully. In fact, many natural fiber garments and raw materials had to be imported because Germany lacked those resources themselves. Reliant on imports, that was the first nail in their “buy German” campaign coffin. Attitude was another. Lacking natural fibers, synthetics were produced instead that were much cheaper than their natural counterparts. As a mark of cheaper goods, synthetic fibers were not popular products among the wealthy. To make this “buy German” campaign possible, the wealthy needed to accept that synthetic products were not a mark of the lower class or low end products. This change of attitude was an uphill climb and another reason why the “buy German” campaign was not a success even with a great deal of propaganda.
Nationalism was a key component in the 'buy German' campaign which fell onto German housewives.

Jewish store front branded to remind Aryans not to do business there

Jewish store front boarded up and marked

According to Pamela Swett, housewives in Nazi Germany were considered key consumers who needed to buy the German products to make this campaign work. Unfortunately, this did not necessarily make their lives any easier because they had to buy sometimes inferior products. These women also had to preserve what they had as much as they possibly could. One essential item they had to preserve was soap.


German Housewives at work  . . .

In the end, the “buy German” campaign was a flop as many German women continued to buy and shop as usual. Since it was considered patriotic to buy German goods and services, buying German was encouraged with heavy advertising but many simply did not. An example would be the wives of many top Nazi leaders. Magda Goebbels was a frequent customer of Jewish owned fashion houses. Does this mean then they were not patriotic? No, not necessarily. More than anything, this reveals that German women at this time were concerned in making their homes tick and getting their 'bang for their buck'. For German women, the home was their castle and their responsibility. If managing the home efficiently was their main occupation, then buying the best possible products  (preferable German goods but lets be realistic here) was their patriotic duty first and foremost.


Sources and Further Reading

Dirix, Emmanuelle and Charlotte Fiell. 1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook. London: Goodman Fiell, 2013.

Guenther, Irene. Nazi Chic?: Fashioning Women in the Third Reich. New York: Berg, 2004.

Guenther, Irene. “Fashioning Women in the Third Reich”, in Life and Times in Nazi Germany edited by Lisa Pine. New York: Bloomsbury, 2016.


Swett, Pamela. Selling Under the Swastika: Advertising and Consumer Culture in Nazi Germany. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014.


Images from the German Propaganda Archive managed by Calvin College. See links under posters for respective sources.