About the collection
Our collection includes all objects of department store culture, especially concerning the history of the department stores Wertheim and Tietz, but also all other department stores, e.g., Karstadt, Schocken, and Jahndorf. The collection is not limited in time or location, i.e., the department stores of the more recent past, e.g., Centrum department stores, Hertie, and Kaufhof, are also of interest. Since with the decline of the department store group “Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof” many department stores are currently being closed, contemporary objects are also taken into the collection.
Call for objects
In department stores, goods are sold that usually come from other producers. Supposedly, hardly any memorabilia is preserved. However, this is not true. The collection objects we are looking for can be very different: Images of the department stores on postcards, old advertising stamps of the department stores, carrier bags with the logo of the department stores, objects from the sales rooms, shop windows or the facilities of the department stores, advertising materials or other own brochures, newspaper clippings with reports about the department stores or documents, e.g., contracts, delivery bills, receipts. If you wish to donate such items to our association, please contact us.
Sealing Stamp by A. Wertheim G.m.b.H.
Sealing stamps were used to seal letters until about 1945. By tearing open the letters, these stamps have mostly been damaged or completely destroyed, so that not many copies exist today.
| Sealing Stamp by A. Wertheim G.m.b.H. Location: Stralsund, Rostock, Berlin Date: around 1900 Material: Paper, grey/white, embossed Dimension: 4 cm (diameter) |
Share of Leonhard Tietz AG with a nominal value of 100 Reichsmark
Leonhard Tietz AG was founded on March 17, 1905. From 1909, the shares were traded at the Berlin Stock Exchange, where they were first listed on June 2, 1909. A stamp was affixed to the exhibit desplayed below, according to which the subscription right 1928/29 was exercised on January 18, 1929. The perforation on the Tietz emblem indicates the cancellation of the share.
| Share of Leonhard Tietz AG with a nominal value of 100 Reichsmark Location: Köln Date: 17.01.1923 Material: Paper, green/black/white, embossed Dimension: 29,8 x 21 cm (Width x Height) |
Recreation home for female employees of Leonhard Tietz AG
In 1911, the recreation home for female employees of Leonhard Tietz AG opened built as a Swedish wooden construction style. The general representative of Leonhard Tietz AG, Max Grünbaum, who had built a summer house in Daun in today’s Philosophenweg (in the same wooden construction style), was crucial for the construction of the recreation home. During the Second World War, the property was used as a military hospital, then as an accommodation facility, most recently as the Hotel “Anna Maria”. Due to a major fire in October 2007, the main house was completely destroyed and is now only a ruin.
| Postcard – Recreation home for female employees of Leonhard Tietz AG Location: Daun, Eifel Date: 1914 Material: Cardboard, black/white Dimension: 14 x 9 cm (Width x Height) |
| Recreation home for female employees of Leonhard Tietz AG Location: Daun, Eifel Date: 2021 Material: Digital photo by M. Klotz Rear view of one of the annexes |
After the expropriation of the Jewish owners of Leonhard Tietz AG, the “Erholungsheim für weibliche Angestellte der Leonhard Tietz AG” was incorporated into the “Ferienheime für Handel und Industrie” of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kaufmanns-Erholungsheime E. V. (German Association for Merchants’ Recreation Homes). As can be seen, the name “Leonhard-Tietz-Heim” continued to be used, probably for reasons of popularity. The brochure contains information about the region and the home, how to get there, board rates and admission requirements, and an excerpt from the house rules. Throughout the brochure there are advertisements of regional companies and institutions.
| Brochure – Das Eifel-Heim (Leonhard-Tietz-Heim) in Daun Location: Daun, Eifel Date: 1933 Material: Cardboard, Paper, 26 pages Dimension: 15,2 x 10,8 cm (Width x Height) |
Brochure – Das Eifel-Heim (Leonhard-Tietz-Heim) in Daun
