A late 1800s postcard from a hotel called the Kölner Hof, in Frankfurt, Germany. Even if you can’t read German, you can tell from the Jewish caricatures that the Kölner Hof didn’t welcome Jewish guests.
A late 1800s postcard from a hotel called the Kölner Hof, in Frankfurt, Germany. Even if you can’t read German, you can tell from the Jewish caricatures that the Kölner Hof didn’t welcome Jewish guests.
Hyannis, Massachusetts. This part of the country has never been known to be all that friendly to Jewish people. Mrs. Wagoner’s boarding house for “Restricted Clientele” was no different.
Brownsville, Tennessee. “A warm Christian atmosphere.” Now, I have quite a few Christian friends, and they all welcome me as a Jewish person. That’s what I would call a “warm Christian atmosphere,” but of course this hotel had a different perspective.
This hatred was nationwide, as evidenced by this postcard for Premiere Motel in Albuquerque, boasting “Select Clientele.
This card from 1970 is a stark reminder that nothing we’re talking about is ancient history. I was in college in 1970. (Note another AAA logo on this card.)
Gregory Beach, northern Michigan. This isn’t dated but, based on the picture, I’m estimating the 1940s. “Positively no Jews.”
The Park Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It strikes me as painfully ironic to see the American flag flying so proudly over the hotel, whose discriminatory practices feel anything but American.
Lake Luzerne, New York, 1942. “Selected Christian Clientele”
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The Reef, in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, 1968. Imagine being a Jewish person in the military, during the height of the Vietnam war. You’re risking your life in combat, and you see this postcard advocating, “Pray for Peace,” in the same breath as it says, “Restricted clientele.” Despite your sacrifice, you’re not welcome here.
Miami Beach, Florida, 1941. This is before the United States officially enters the war, but it’s no secret at this time that Jewish people are being rounded up in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Like much of the United States, the Park Lane Apartment hotel is saying, “We don’t want them here, either.”
Oakland, CA, in 1929, as far “out west” as you can get. And this one isn’t just a hotel—it’s an entire residential district that’s “restricted.”
Pompano Beach, Florida, 1964. Another “pray for peace” postmark, but what gets me on this postcard—and you’ll see it on many of them—is the AAA, American Hotel Association, and Quality Court logos. They’re boasting about meeting all these associations’ standards: no pets and no Jews. And you know these organizations had to know that their names were being associated with these hateful practices.
New York and New Jersey are two places you would expect Jewish people to be welcomed pretty much anywhere, but that wasn’t the case. This postcard, from a hotel in New York in 1946, hits me especially hard. My mother grew up in Yonkers, just down the road, and her brother, my Uncle Jerry, was killed in action in 1944 while serving in the U.S. Army’s 26th Infantry Division fighting for the United States. For them to see that, in spite of everything, they weren’t considered “good enough” in their own hometown breaks my heart.
“Exclusive but not expensive,” in downtown Tucson.
Another one proudly boasting the AAA logo. These organizations, just like the Germans and all the others who supported the Nazis as they rose to power, are what I call “willing participants in hate.”