Hook (profession)

A Hake , also Hoke , sometimes Hok (plural: hook ) was a natural person in northern Germany who did commercial business (businessman). He acquired certain commodities and resold them with a trading margin in order to make a profit on the sale .

Hooks were specialized merchants who were only allowed to trade in butter, herrings, cod, eel, cheese, bacon and other salted goods, as well as tar, oil, lights and soap. They differed in their specialization in certain commodities from the shopkeepers , who were reserved for example the sale of coffee, sugar, spices and tobacco in packages. Responsibility for other ranges of goods (millet, groats, iron, steel, salt, tobacco in rolls) were negotiable between Haken and shopkeepers.

Since early modern times, hooks could unite in hook guilds or hook offices. Such an association, at the head of which was usually an Altermann , sometimes existed in northern German cities until the compulsory guilds were lifted and the freedom of trade was introduced in the 19th century.

literature

• Richard Wossidlo and Hermann Teuchert : Mecklenburg dictionary. Volume 3: G to jüütsch. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1996. [Reprint. der Ausg. Berlin, 1961.] ISBN 3-529-04800-3 . Sp. 373-374.