Georg Karg (August 2, 1888 - November 27, 1972 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) was a German businessman in the department store industry.
[1] After rising in the employ of the Hermann Tietz Department Stores,[2][3] Karg took over the company when it was Aryanized, that is forcibly transferred to non-Jewish owners under the Nazis.
This made him "one of the best-paid department store managers in Germany" and in 1931 he could afford to turn down a lucrative offer from the Karstadt Group of 500,000 Reichsmarks in annual salary.
However, massive payment difficulties were created only by the National Socialists’ “Jewish boycotts,” the flood of anti-Semitic hostility, and the politically induced department store crisis in the spring of 1933.
[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] After Reich Economics Minister Kurt Schmitt convinced Hitler to stop nationalizing or closing down department stores, the banks in the creditor consortium founded the Hertie Kaufhaus-Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft m.b.H.
At the same time, Georg Karg was appointed managing director of Hertie GmbH together with the banks’ confidant, Trabart von der Tann.
[8][9][11] On July 29, 1933, the bank consortium forced the immediate resignation of Hugo Zwillenberg as a personally liable partner by amending the articles of association of Hermann Tietz General Partnership, which the company owners had to sign.
According to Bähr and Köhler, the company assets were valued to the detriment of the Tietz family in the course of the settlement agreement, and Hertie management reported a capital deficit of approximately 29 million Reichsmarks.
The Tietz family’s lawyers were able to negotiate concessions worth around 2.5 million Reichsmarks and an exemption from the Reich Flight Tax in the settlement agreement.