Adolf Jandorf

[5] After an apprenticeship in a small manufacturing business in Bad Mergentheim from 1884 to 1887, in 1890, he went to the USA, to track down his eldest brother whom he found working as a streetcar conductor in New York City.

Contrary to the agreement, he identified the store on the company sign and stationery as his supposed property, namely as A. Jandorf & Co., Hamburger Engros Lager.

The department store on the Weinberg was a five-story steel skeleton building, faced with a clearly structured natural stone facade, and could be flexibly designed inside.

Jandorf initially remained in the background, and it was not until September 1906 that he contributed the main share with 1,921,000 marks, with Deutsche Bank providing the loan financing.

The architect Johann Emil Schaudt planned the design with five stories and a matter-of-fact, sober facade made of Franconian shell limestone.

KaDeWe offered in addition to the sale of goods in 120 departments: "hairdressing salons for ladies and gentlemen, the travel agency, the exchange office, refreshment and tea rooms, as well as photographic studio and lending library".

On March 27, 1907, after an advertising campaign in the daily newspapers with, for the first time, large-format graphics in Art Nouveau style by August Hajduk, the opening took place.

In August 1907, King Chulalongkorn, Rama V of Siam, and his entourage spent two days shopping in the Kaufhaus des Westens, dining lavishly in the Fürstenzimmer and spending a total of 250,000 marks.

[10] The Prussian Department Store Act of June 18, 1900, imposed additional taxes on all commercial enterprises that offered more than two of four arbitrarily determined groups of goods and had a turnover of more than 400,000 marks.

In 1932, a year before the Nazi dictatorship, 25% of German merchants in the retail trade were of Jewish origin, while the proportion of department store owners was 79%.

[11] In response, Oscar Tietz founded the Association of German Department Stores in February 1903, and Jandorf took a seat on the executive committee.

The Berlin police opened a file on Jandorf, collecting negative rumors and devaluing gifts and donations to social institutions such as the German Association for Children's Asylums or the court theaters in Gotha and Detmold.

In April 1916, during the First World War, police chief Traugott von Jagow [de] demanded in a memo that Jandorf be called up for military service in order to "wash away with his blood at least a small part of the heavy guilt which he has incurred, if not legally, then at least morally."

The request had been preceded by the sale of inferior military boots to the Austrian army, which had been committed without Jandorf's knowledge by two merchants from a consortium of suppliers who were not members of the company.

Throughout his life, Jandorf received no official recognition of his services from the Prussian state; a Cross of Merit for War Aid was revoked at Jagow's instigation.

KaDeWe: Our Time Is Now (ARD)[18][19] Adolf Jandorf ist ‚der Typ des modernen, sehnigen, widerstandskräftigen Selfmademan von einer kolossalen Energie, verbunden mit schneller Auffassungsgabe und leichter Anpassungsfähigkeit in seinen geschäftlichen Entschlüssen.

(Adolf Jandorf is the type of modern, sinewy, resilient self-made man with colossal energy, combined with a quick grasp and easy adaptability in his business decisions.Bienenfleiß und Emsigkeit, Selbstdisziplin und Ehrgeiz, das waren auch die zutreffenden Attribute für den erfolgreichen Kaufmann Adolf Jandorf.