On April 1, 1933, during the boycott of Jewish shops called for by Goebbels, SA members eagerly posted boycott notices and planted themselves in front of Jewish shops to intimidate the owners and their customers. Even old, established businesses such as the Tietz department store were caught up in this action. Founded in 1882 by the German-Jewish businessman Hermann Tietz (1837–1907), it was the second largest department store in Berlin (after Wertheim). Another member of the Tietz family also founded the department store chain Kaufhof.

One of the signs featured in this famous photograph conveys a message in both German and English: “Germans, defend yourselves against Jewish atrocity propaganda—buy only at German shops!” According to the Nazis, the boycott was a reaction to negative foreign (Jewish) press reports about the new regime. Here, both the word choice and the bilingual message reflect the so-called official justification for the boycott.