German Studies Faculty Publications German Studies 2013 Kosher Seductions: Jewish Women as Employees and Consumers in German Department Stores Kerry Wallach Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/gerfac Part of the German Language and Literature Commons, and the History of Gender Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Recommended Citation Wallach, Kerry. “Kosher Seductions: Jewish Women as Employees and Consumers in German Department Stores.” In Das Berliner Warenhaus: Geschichte und Diskurse/The Berlin Department Store: History and Discourse, eds. Godela Weiss-Sussex and Ulrike Zitzlsperger, 117-137. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2013. This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/gerfac/19 This open access book chapter is brought to you by The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The Cupola. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Kosher Seductions: Jewish Women as Employees and Consumers in German Department Stores Abstract Department stores have long been associated with the trope of seducing female consumers, at least since the publication of Emile Zola’s novel Au bonheur des dames in 1883. This fictionalized portrayal of the Parisian department store Bon Marche, which has exerted considerable influence among early chroniclers of department store culture, identifies store owners as men who build ‘temples’ for prospective customers, and who use inebriating tactics to encourage them to enter and spend money.