A large poster issued by the Municipality of the city of Novi Sącz (Neu Sandez, Poland) announcing the separation ...

A large poster issued by the Municipality of the city of Novi Sącz (Neu Sandez, Poland) announcing the separation of meat supply between Jewish and German stores. February, 1940

A large poster issued by the Municipality of the city of Novi Sącz (Neu Sandez, Poland) announcing the separation of meat supply between Jewish and German stores - signed by Dr. Hein, the municipal commissar. One of the first regulations introduced in Poland under the Nazi occupation. February 22, 1940. In German and Polish.

According to the directive, Wehrmacht soldiers, police officers, and German civilians would be able to purchase meat and sausages only from specific sources. Non-Jewish Polish residents of the city were to be divided into areas, with each area directed to certain pre-designated stores for meat supply. The Jewish population was directed to a limited number of Jewish butcher shops, and their access to food supplies was deliberately restricted.

The poster details the following:

"From March 1, 1940, the meat supply in our city will be regulated as follows: 1. German Wehrmacht, police, gendarmerie, and officials of the German civil authorities, as they belong to a community kitchen, will purchase their meat and sausage products from the Unitas butchers' community. 2. Independent Germans and ethnic Germans will purchase meat and sausages from the German Meat Bank... 5. The following Jewish shops are designated for the Jewish population; distribution there will also be carried out according to affiliation to the Jewish butcher shops... 6. Meat and sausage products can only be sold in limited quantities as determined by the city's administration according to control tickets." The poster also specifies the distribution of meat to the Polish population and the permitted store opening hours. 

In the second part of the poster, a detailed list of shops and their owners, who are non-Jews supplying meat, appears alongside a list of Jewish butcher shops that will supply meat exclusively to Jews. The list includes 62 Jewish meat suppliers, among them: Levi, Mandel, Hirsch, Koren, Langer, and many others.

The restriction of food supply to Jews was part of a broader policy aimed at weakening the Jewish community and pushing it socially and economically to the margins, even before the establishment of ghettos and the deportation to concentration camps. Many Jewish businesses were confiscated and handed over to "Aryans" (non-Jews) as part of the Aryanization policy. Jews were forced to use food coupons, but the coupons allowed them to purchase only basic products in minimal quantities. In many cities, special stores were opened for Jews only, where prices were higher and the stock was often very scarce. Jews were forbidden to purchase food from non-Jewish stores or butchers. This law was rigorously enforced by the Nazi authorities, and Jews who violated it and attempted to purchase food by alternative means risked their lives. The purpose of these restrictions was not only economic suppression but also humiliation and cultural eradication. In the eyes of the Nazis, meat – a basic food – became a symbol of the separation between "Aryan superiority" and "Jewish inferiority." Part of the policy was to force Jews to feel completely dependent on the Nazi authorities for their survival.

64x47 cm. Fold marks. Good condition.