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.