Persecuted, “Aryanized,” Compensated?

The Hermann Tietz family business was one of the pioneers of the German department store industry. After the National Socialist takeover, the Jewish owners were forced to give up their company. Hermann Tietz became Hertie.

The troubled past of this major department store brand of the West German "Economic Miracle" lay in the dark for a long time. In this study, Johannes Bähr and Ingo Köhler shed light on the anti-Semitic agitation against the owners of the Hermann Tietz Group, the "Aryanization" of their company assets, the fate of the Tietz family after their ousting from the company and the development of the Hertie Group up to the disputes over restitution and compensation in the immediate post-war years. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including previously inaccessible documents, a detailed picture emerges of a department store history caught between the poles of persecution, loss and responsibility.