Muetzenfabrik

[Friedrich-Berthold]

He was Chris!. He was Chairman of the Association of the German Cap Industry and the UM really do kiss his arse! No doubt due to UM contributions on his behalf and his impeccable Party connections. When you say that his hats are ok, that could very well be due to his statements and ethos about affordability and a fair price for the consumer, maker and suppliers. If you disregard the blatent antisemitism within most of these articules, Hoffmann and his theories on fair trade are quite enlightening.
In terms of other well connected characters, it soon becomes apparent whilst browsing UM that there were a well celebrated group of appointed people that represented every facet of the German uniform industry. In some issues, there are photos of them at their annual assocation gatherings and functions all having a wonderful time and no doubt rubbing their collective hands together at the thought of raking in so much money from the Uniform industry. These are the movers and shakers of the industry, most of which are hardly if ever mentioned nowadays.
Hoffmann was just another small time hat maker as far as I was concerned until I got hold of the UM and I can count the mumber of Hoffmann marked schirmmutzen that I have seen on one hand.

Well said. Of course, in this instance there is the reality of these items in fact, as Ben has engaged us, and there is the odd, inverted and really besides the point reality purported by some in one part of the world about a tiny fraction of the existing group of caps that accidentally have endured into the present. Our dialogue here is going separate ways, really, which is all to the good. There is, on the one hand, the shop worn dead end of a superficial comparison of the objects as they seem to us now versus a historical examination into the context of same, that is, into the real meaning of these items. For those who these things are just a fetish and a kind of exclusive consumer item like a designer hand bag with some affiliation with total war etc, then this site and this thread are surely not the ideal place to be. For those, however, who have a genuine interest in the past, the evolution of Ben's scholarship for the well being of us all is a pretty remarkable feat. He has my admiration and respect.

Now comes the aw sh!t to the above. The blatant hatred of Jews in these articles cannot be extracted from Nazi ideas about the economy any more than you can can take hydrogen molecules from water and have it remain such. Especially in Berlin, the Nazi uniform trade had an overtly anti-Semitic mission, as Goebbels saw it, and who chose Assmann to be the Zeugmeister, as part of the Nazi conquest of red Berlin which was central to the consolidation of the NSDAP in northern Germany and to the seizure of national power in 1933. Read the article about Assmann also in UM. The ideas in these articles as to the eradication of free trade via the re institution of guild principles on a more or less Nazi basis while still somehow adjusting to mass production were and are deeply Nazi. The removal of the Lubstein premises to the vicinity of Alex was in fact in the wake of Kristallnacht, which further sped up the ethnic cleansing of what had been the largely Jewish textile trade in N.E. Berlin, i.e. in the vicinity of Alex.

In any case, this truth is important and makes us better understand the remnants of the past in front of us.

Thanks Ben for all your fine research and maybe elsewhere someone will have to re adjust the hit parade of headwear to better accord with what actually happened in the past versus what passes for truth especially on other websites. We here have set and will continue to set a higher standard.

[BenVK]

I find it interesting to compare the firms of Hoffmann and Holters. If we look at a uniform receipt for Holters we can see that a "mutze" cost 15 RM. I know not of an actual receipt from Hoffmann but in the UM, mention was made of retailing extramutzen for around 2 to 3 RM. That's quite a big difference in price!.
Holters is rarely mentioned in the UM and did not place any adverts as far as I have found. This could be a puzzling factor until one thinks about the nature and purpose of the publication. It was a trade magazine. Firms like Holters or other bespoke uniform outfitters would not have been given much attention by UM I think. Nor would Holters and other similar firms have felt the need to advertise there either. In every era, quality sells by word of mouth and hype so no need to spend money on advertisments. You want see many Gucci adverts in trade magazines!
It's very evident though that the "middle" brands like eReL Sonderklasse and Pekuro do publish a lot of adverts in the UM but that makes perfect sense since they were large scale trade suppliers to the uniform industry with distributer contracts in place and I'm also sure they must have contributed to the costs of the UM publication.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Sound analysis. Holters advertised in the rank lists of the Reichswehr. I will try to include this if I can get my Blackberry to take pictures. Holters was plainly a big Nazi, as well, and well connected to the regime. Thanks for your fine research and analysis. It is a credit to this site.

[BenVK]

Now comes the aw sh!t to the above. The blatant hatred of Jews in these articles cannot be extracted from Nazi ideas about the economy any more than you can can take hydrogen molecules from water and have it remain such.

I'm glad actualy that the "aw shit" comment came because as soon as I wrote that if we disregard the jewish slander in the UM, I knew I was making a misstake. The comments about the Jews and if I've understood correctly? their production of "shoddy" goods in the inter war period is what fuels the whole push and purpose of UM to regain the traditions of the handcrafts, place pride back into the clothing and uniform industry, make everything affordable as possible whilst maintaining high standards of workmanship and a fair wages to all the workers and suppilers within the industry. It's therefore quite easy to understand the wave of support for such ideas and the movement despite the underlaying evil motives behind them all. Who would have known at the time though? If I had been a mutzenmacher in the 1920's, I would no doubt have welcomed all this new passionate drive, opportunity and patronism with open arms.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The "Jewish" aspect was seen more in the import of American style merchandising, Five and Dime stores, Woolworth's, cut throat competition as well as the fact that Berlin's Jewish population grew enormously as did that of Vienna in the last third of the 19th century. Both cities were totally made over, and the rise of Jewish department stores (Tietz) and the like represented a threat to old style retail and small owners (cap makers...). Caps were also worn by the socialists and the reds, which added an additional dimension to the issue. Also, Jews could well have operated outside of the guild system in the interwar period, as the latter went into decline. Of course, the hoo haa about quality may have only been an excuse to tar goods sold by Jews as being inferior, when likely they were not. Also, Ben, I am certain that you do not adhere to any racist ideas, but others who read these sites do and they should go their sites to feel good about themselves. Our site is for the study of the past, and you have helped us all greatly to learn a great deal more and I am grateful that you have taken the time for this signal accomplishment. Of course, the Nazis were a huge boon to those who had lost out because of the inflation, the civilianization and the depression in the era 1919-1933. Cap making for uniform oriented cap makers represented a huge source of profits, about which these people made no bones. They also made no bones of the blatant attempt to de legitimize the modernizers, i.e. department stores and bargain basement goods for a wider consumer population, all that posed a threat to an old way of doing business.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

A pleasing discovery. The Holters establishment shop sign!

This article is on different advertising methods of firms whose premises were NOT in the vicinity of the OKW, that is, the Tirpitzufer and Bendlerblock.
The shop window was a kind of dummy shop to lure persons to the actual work shop elsewhere, and the sign for Holters was also intended to direct officers to the locale, which, if I recall, was in the Taunzienstrasse near the Zoo, or in the government district near the Wilhelmstrasse. The address is on the bill for the SS uniform enclosed here. In any case, the article is about advertising in Berlin to street traffic.

[BenVK]

I realise that these observations can be boring which is probably why only a few of us contribute to the thread but I care not. I like to get them written down before my feeble brain forgets the chain of thought!

Recently a rather large light went off in my brain. It was around the time of the "no fly zone" agreed upon over Lybia by the UN.
UN/UM, age old questions, history forever repeating itself, etc.

The emphasis of the UM in the 1930's publications suggests that the influence of the Jewish industry has effected the quality and tradition of German clothing etc along with all the other social impacts that were hated and victimised.

There is so much similarity going on outside my doorstep and everyone's doorstep right now and has been for years that I can truly relate to that social state of mind. For example, if we're talking about the clothing and textiles trade, Britain doesn't have one anymore, it's extinct! Cheap clothing from China and the Far East has killed it and the wordwide designer brands are constantly battling against replicas items that have completely flooded the market. Saturday morning markets are full of inferior knock off goods for a fraction of the price of the real thing. There are no quality contriol, very little import regulations or rescritions and fair wages to the makers of the items is non existent because we don't even know who they are or where they are. Welsh Rugby shirts are being made in sweat shops in India, designer leather handbags are made in Indonesia and although we're all angry about the fact that our industry has gone forever, we all still buy all these cheap, "shoddy" goods. The same can be said of the of rise of the Tesco style superstores, they kill local industry and small entrepreneurs and are hated with a passion.

I can't help but respect the craftsmen in Germany in the inter war years, their plight was a righteous one in theory. Like everything of the period, it was however, twisted by the desires of the few.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Globalization as we interpret it today is little different from the impact of the social upheaval caused by the industrial revolution, and especially the second industrial revolution, the rise of modern cities, and consumerism which all began seriously in the 2d half of the 19th century. So, the discourse of the present has its roots in the past to be sure. Once upon a time, it was the Germans who flooded Britain with cheap goods of inferior make which were a threat to British manufactures, which did not respond adequately to the 2d industrial revolution. I read too much economic history a long time ago. Never enjoyed it at the time, really, but is explains a lot, really.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Of course, this analysis above includes little about high tech fore head pressure reduction systems, and might seem beside the point when one attends a big US militaria fair or posts on the maroon power website. Had I invented the high tech fore head pressure reduction system, I could retire and I would have struck it big.....

[BenVK]

I need some frischluft, too many thoughts running through my tiny brain tonight!

Have a look at this articule FB. I'd love to know what is being said about us Brits!