Jews in the fur trade?

First of all, this is not an antisemitic posting. I’m just curious of the how’s and why’s of so much early involvement by the Jewish community in the fur trade. Lots of furriers in small shops in NY. Out west HEGoldberg co was a major wild fur buyer since 1912. Just curious what the circumstances were to draw so many Jews into the trade.

Of course the irony of Israel banning fur is not lost on me.

A 1940’s furrier in London:

Montreal Fur trade in the glory days was dominated by Jewish Furriers.
A lot of Jews came to North America from Russia where fur was always dominant trade.

In much of Europe, Jews were banned from owning land. They became merchants.

If I had to guess the same reason they trafficked in diamonds, finances, and other goods.

Thomas Sowell has explained it many times as middlemen minorities. The jews in particular living in and alongside Christians were free to pursue financial activity denied the Christians due to the Church's absolute ban on usury. This gave them access to funds for speculation on the fur trade and fur can be high end commodities.

The oldest boy lives in St. Paul his first condo was the old fur center then a farmers market close to CHS field where the St.Paul Saints play. They had old photos in the hallway of the sorting process.

There were a number of Jewish fur buyers in Minnesota pre 1976, I’m not sure after.

Osky

That would be an interesting study. Lots of Greeks as well. Like others said, perhaps it was "just business" and being community minded, merchants/traders was an easy direction to move. In Louisville, KY, Christian immigrants from what's now Lebanon worked as ag/vegetable merchants on "haymarket" street. I put Haymarket in quotes because not only is it a real street, but a reference point that many cities had for a central point of farmers bringing goods to sell. Good question. The drive of an immigrant, not knowing the language, culture, and figuring out how to not only survive but thrive through hard work is the essence of America.

there was money to be made
that or to keep their wife happy that is really all their is to it
well some of both.

my grandfather was born a Jew in Chicago in the 20s
after WWII Navy he met my grandmother at a USO dance she was working in Chicago during the war first at Zenith making radios then in the office at Montgomery wards

almost any Jewish custom or tradition fits into money to be made and more often keeping the wife happy.

my grandmother , not a jew (Danish and Icelandic Lutheran) , thus my dad , uncle , aunt and our lineage despite how Hitler counted it we are not jews.

if your mother is not a jew you are not a jew , "keeping the wife happy" , sons need to marry Jewish women or get them to convert so that their kids can be Jews and keep his mother happy

as already pointed out because in Europe they could often not own land and because of the need to walk to temple they typically lived in cities

in that time period you live or died by the quality of your coat , it was a prized possession you wouldn't dare leave it any where (reference men and women tying to get their coats from the coat check at the dance hall fire in Berlin in the worst post WWII loss of life event)

many came from Russia or places that later became USSR as did my family so they knew fur , knew people needed it , they knew margins , needed some trade, and you could hire the unmarried women and some married women to sew for you.

all adds up to good business

Sold my first fur to Bill Schaefer., he knew fur and treated me fair.

I sold raw fur directly to Becker & Becker Fur Co as well as Feiner & Son located at 1211 Chestnut Philly. That was 1984-1986. Must be gone now, ‘possums 5.00 nose count, coon 24.00 fox 55.00 . Market crashed the following year. Was still learning the ropes then and only had a few dozen of each species. The old Jewish guy must have been 90, he loved grading raw fur, brought back memories for him, as I doubt they saw much raw fur come into their coat salon.

Israel banned fur?

Yeah, about 3 years ago. An exception was made for the fur hats that some of the observant jews wear. I think they're mostly sable.

There is a traditional fur hat the Jewish people wear and it’s very spendy funny they would ban what’s a big part of their culture.

There are exceptions for religious and educational articles.

My family having been in the Fur Buisness since the 20's and all out of NYC I have never met a Major NYC player in my life that was not Jewish. They were the Fur Buisness!

In the South, many Jewish families were in the clothing business.

Why couldn't Jews own land?

Youd have to be careful a bird or squirrel didnt make a nest in that thing,lol.

I'm sure there was no rational reason for the prohibition, other than anti-Semitism.

And cotton brokers. Basically anything in finance or needing finance.

Krantmans in Marshalltown Iowa.
The other mentioned fur buyers were also Jewish.
5 buyers in a town of aprox 25,000, and that is just the big guys.

Gervich is the only business left and they deal in new and used steel.
Schwartz has a different name now, Not sure if any family is still involved. Deal in Coiled Steel now.

I asked Shem about his history.

Josesph was his great Uncle. He was a fur and wool buyer He was here in Marshalltown prior to 1917 he brought Shem's father, uncle, aunt and Grandmother here during the Bolshevik rebellion. He sent boat tickets and money to pay the smugglers. (I think life was pretty hard on Jewish people in Russia at this time)

His family's leaving Russia was pretty harry. At a road checkpoint they were hiding in hay Stack on a horse drawn wagon (the driver was paid to smuggle them out) the guards poked their bayonets into the hay stack several times Fortunate for them they missed all four of them.

The two brothers worked for Joseph until he died then they bought the business from his wife.
They bought fur until about 1950 or so then moved the business to 18th Ave and continued in the wool business for a few more years.

After they moved to 18th Ave, Shem's Dad handled the Steel business, The Uncle The Scrap, And Shem the auto parts.
(You can still see the Krantman name on that building too)

He also said there were at least 3 more places buying fur at that time, Freemans, Schwartz, Gervich. Schwartz and Gervich were and are in the Steel business. I am not sure what Freemans primary business was.


He remembered his father going on buying trips and getting home late and Mother being worried as a small child in the mid 40s He also remembered the fur being worked in the basement of the 2nd ave building and going down in the freight elevator and seeing the guys and the fur.

Next Time I see him we will talk more, I had a great time visiting with him.

Shem Died before I had a chance to set down with him again. My Loss.

Oshman and Sons in Mankato Minnesota were Jewish, bought fur until the late 80's I think!

Not sure why but the steel and scrap business used to go hand in hand with the fur business. I sold to Roger at Pacific fur years ago. He was upstairs at Pacific Steel and Recycling. Sell your scrap downstairs and then pack your furs upstairs to sell them.

I believe Leo Lewin from Z&L Trading Corp. ( tannery ) is a Jew from Russian decent. Great guy to deal with.

And why did NAFA go under?

Nafa went under because they lent money to the producers that couldn't make money at market prices. Something Groeny junior didn't learn from Groeny senior at DePaul.

Jews were involved in the fur trade, importing fur from Britain, since at least 400BC. There are records of Joseph of Arimethea buying fur and tin near Cornwall, from 50 some BC on.

Keith

FINANCING mink ranchers.

Was it just the mink ranchers that stiffed NAFA or did trappers not pay their advances back either.

A good friend of mine lives in the same building and tells me about these pictures. Humorous.

It certainly happened but my guess is it was pennies vs dollars in the end effect.

anyone recall the name of the Jewish business that sell the oils from NJ?

The amount of money trappers owed from prior advances was less than 1% of the CMB and American Legend debt, also the independent mink farms the NAFA financed. So I don't think that what little wildfur advances given out would burn them to much.

When I was a kid one that I sold to was Berhman and somewhere along the way it became Berhman and Buckskin if any remember.

Osky

So., by jews guess you mean Jewish people?

As stated above in most nations Jews were not allowed to own land or even property. They lived in "ghettos" which was the name for their communities like in Warsaw etc. These were not slums for the most part as we know them. In many countries or regions Jews were denied or had great difficulty securing credit or working with the banks and thus they developed their own financial system which in most cases was very successful.

Bryce

How many baby sharks are financed by old war horse sharks in the fur industry?

I use the term shark to symbolize a predator.

I wonder where the saying "I got Jewed" came from?

That would be an anti-Semitic expression Boco. The proper way to describe that action is you got "gypped".

It may be,just wondering where and why it originated
Maybe antisemitism itself got started when a lot of people got gypped by jews back in the day?Just wondering.

Grew up knowing that you always tried to "Jew" someone down when you were buying a car or anything like that. I was an adult before I realized the word originated with the Jewish people and was slang. It was just a common everyday word.

Grew up in a small town in Eastern NC. We had no faiths other than Methodist and Baptist. ,no Catholic, Jews, or any Protestant faith except Baptist and Methodist.

I was familiar with the term “Jew”. It was a verb, not a noun.

I was being tongue-in-cheek. Getting "gypped" would be a racial slur against the gypsies.

OK I see where you went there,
Gypped by a Jew or Jewed by a Gyp,lol.

I'm pretty sure I am the only Jewish trapper on the planet. My family can't quite figure out why I love trapping, hunting , guns and conservatives.. lol

We had one in our community. He bought and ran the local BBQ joint, pork BBQ. And it was great BBQ no less.

The across the street neighbor was Catholic, she was first generation Czech. Two of her sons and a couple grandchildren lived next to her all good baptists as were all of those generations. Many who were deacons at the church I grew up in.

Gyp more often meant a young female hound, cur or feist. B itch was the word for one that had produced a litter but wasn't said in polite company.

Buddy tried to up on fur to Sy Gorwitz he replies “first of all, I don’t like your expression and secondly I offered you a fair price!” That was a humbling experience

Quite a bit of Winnipeg's fur trade was worked by the Jewish people during the hay day. Canada had many immigration policies going against them after the 1930 depression. The Russian revolution went against many of them trying to get out of the countries at the time.
Ever wonder why there are extra long sleeved shirts......those were made to hide the German tattoos with their numbers, those were the survivors of the camps.
The female owning stuff ie buildings is why many bankruptcies there is still brick and mortar left after the lawyers take what-ever.

Make's sense the Jewish people were all about the fur business, they started out making coats out of camel hides, lol.

I liked Roger. Good guy. He liked my cats also. Miss seeing him at our sales.
I have a black cap he donated and I won with orange and yellow flames along both sides from PACIFIC, steel, hides, furs, recycling. Spokane.
Anyone remember Rogers last name?

Yes, they learned well from the Babylonians...

A lot of our furriers are Jewish. The local furriers who made me a number of beautifully crafted garments are Jewish, and their skills are amazing, especially how they can remodel old garments into new things. Here's a nice wild mink hat they made for a friend this winter. Those mink were pretty small, and not the best fur possible (just their minnow trap bycatch). That friend couldn't believe it was the same mink they'd given me to take to the tannery.



Interestingly, many of the younger fur buyers here nowadays are Muslim. The man who currently offers the best prices for marten in Russia is Muslim and openly and blatantly antisemitic according to his posts in the social media. Yet I'm certain that all tails from the marten he buys eventually end up in Israel, to be turned into shtreimels.

I'm pretty sure it was Roger Scheuer. my spellling is probably wrong. Wissmiss will know. She knows everything. Almost.

That is a beautiful hat Tatiana! A lot of talent.

When I started trapping again in the early 80s many of the fur buyers in our area were Jewish. We had very large state association autions and many participated. As stated above the garment and fur industry in New York was the hub of the fur industry in the USA and those businessess were mainly Jewish owned and ran. Yes the may have learned centuries ago how to handle fur or hides but so did not many other ethnic groups. Many natons did not allow Jews to own property and thus the became merchants and financial business owners.

Bryce

Yes it was. I worked for Roger for two years in the fur room and worked in the hide room and scrap in the off season.

There had been a history of land always being taken from the Jews.

My grandfather immigrated to the US The Germans took his grandparents property the Russians took his parents property

One of my trapping mentors was jewish , He has passed on a few years back, We took our furs one year to an auction and he was ahead of my lot ,When he got his bid slips he turned to me and my brother and said Im not selling at this price, load my furs up. So my brother and I loaded the truck back up with his furs and ours . We traveled back home about a 3 hour drive one way. He was tight with his money and knew his fur grades.

Thanks for showing items from abroad. Those small mink have some of the best ratio of under fur /guard hair.( examples here are Maine maritime coastals and Hudson bay lowland mink)
With 90% of Turkey being Muslim and all the tanneries being there now having moved from Greece a few years ago....now shocking news they are demanding marten

Wow they are Muslims in Turkey. I guess that explains those Mosques in Istanbul. With that 25% inflation, I bet they like U.S. dollars. What happen to all the tanneries in Kastoria?

Our mink are pretty uniform throughout their range, predictably, because they're an introduced species. Yakutian mink are different, they're glossier and darker, a dark mahogany with a cherry tinge, but they are a relatively recent introduction so there may be some ranch mink blood in them.


Interesting. But it's not just the tanneries I think. There's very little information on what's been going since it's mostly private deals within their diasporas going past all auctions, but you are probably right that those muslim buyers have connections primarily with Turkey. That would explain the irrational antisemitism, too. I know however that a lot of the marten the turks buy is already tanned. This includes smuggled furs. This was in the news about a year and a half ago, a couple of tourists were caught in Istanbul with 1200 undeclared "sable skins". You can see that all these skins are not sable but tanned baum marten, already without tails.