Tietz Department Store (Elberfeld)

[1] The building was designed by Wilhelm Kreis, one of the leading architects of the time, who also designed the Bismarck Tower in Wuppertal, on behalf of Leonhard Tietz AG as a multi-department store based on the French model.

[3] The immense variety of goods under one roof offered the population of the time a completely new shopping experience.

Prior to this, a first branch existed on Herzogstrasse from 1885, which was considered Germany's first department store.

[3] In 1933, Georg Karg, the new non-Jewish owner, changed the company's name to "Hertie Department Stores" as an abbreviation of Hermann Tietz.

Oscar Tietz's son-in-law, Hugo Zwillenberg was arrested by the Gestapo in 1938, imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for three weeks after which he and emigrated to the Netherlands.