Nathan Israel Department Store

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Nathan Israel Department Store, 1900
Advertisement in: East and West. Illustrated monthly for all of Judaism , October 1912.
SA members in front of the department store during the boycott of the Jews on April 1, 1933
Stumbling blocks by the artist Gunter Demnig

The Nathan Israel department store was the oldest and largest department store in Berlin for some time .

history

The development of the department store goes back to the founding of the business of the Jewish goods dealer and second-hand dealer Nathan Israel (1782-1852) in Jüdenstrasse 18 directly in the center of Berlin on March 10, 1815. The Israelis were among the oldest Berlin families who already existed at the beginning of the reign Frederick the Great , came to Berlin in 1741 as protection Jews .

In 1818 the company relocated to Molkenmarkt  2. Nathan Israel expanded in 1843 and bought a building at Spandauer Straße 28, in the Nikolaiviertel opposite the Rotes Rathaus . When he died in 1848, it had developed into a four-story department store, which his sons Moritz (1830–1895) and Jacob (1823–1894) continued to run. Moritz Israel was later paid out and in 1888 acquired the Schulzendorf manor near Königs Wusterhausen . After Jacob Israel's early death, his son Berthold Israel (1868–1935) succeeded him and in 1899 began to renovate and expand the house. After all, the elegant department store took up a large part of the square between Spandauer, Königstrasse , Poststrasse and Probststrasse and offered goods on five to six floors. Israel already employed a thousand people in the 20th century and, with quality products, competed with Harrods department store in London. In 1928 further neighboring buildings were integrated for the last time, but without adapting them architecturally. In that year, N. Israel achieved an annual turnover of 34.5 million Reichsmarks and employed almost 2,000 people. New products from American temples of consumption such as light shafts, elevators, bold advertising, sales shows and special sales were quickly adapted. On the other hand, they did not have a branch on Kurfürstendamm in the west of Berlin.

In 1932 the goods were also offered by mail order . The goods that were offered in the multi-page mail order catalog were delivered free of charge within Berlin. Likewise, the delivery by was on delivery possible, and there was a right to exchange. The department store's customer service included a customer support service by trained staff, a telephone ordering service, fashion and home advice and advice on fabrics and patterns. Housing advice was carried out by "technical, artistic and economic employees". The department store's travel advisors put together recreational, sports, business and hiking trips. In the department store there was also a nursery in which the children were employed by state-certified kindergarten teachers from the Berlin Froebel Association.

  • ISRAEL department store, mail order catalog from 1932, title page

  • ISRAEL department store, mail order catalog from 1932, p. 24

  • Department store ISRAEL, shipping conditions

Jacob Israel and his son Berthold Israel and their families - as long as they did not have to emigrate or were murdered in the east - found their final resting place in the Jewish cemetery on Schönhauser Allee in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. Moritz Israel is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee (field M, hereditary burial 508).

The last owner of the department store and direct descendant of Nathan Israel, Wilfrid Israel (1899–1943), was forced to sell the company as part of the Aryanization ; on February 9, 1939, it went to Emil Koester AG , which belonged to the Jewish entrepreneur Jakob Michael , who had emigrated from Germany in 1931 , which was still unknown to the Nazi authorities at the time. Emigrated to England in 1939 , Wilfrid Israel was killed on June 1, 1943 on the way from Lisbon to London in a plane crash as a result of a bullet hit by the German Wehrmacht . In the same year, the department store building fell to rubble and ashes in the hail of bombs.

The company was known for its corporate ethos , its modern and exemplary synthesis of economic success and social responsibility. The company and its owners stood up for their employees in an extraordinary way, provided club rooms and made offers for leisure and further education in the form of lectures and language courses. A library and a boathouse in the Berlin area were open to all of the company's employees. The employees also benefited from an excellent pension scheme .

In 1925 the company founded the first private business school in Germany , the degrees of which were also recognized by public business schools. Between 1900 and 1914, the department store self-published yearbooks on various topics , which also contained a department store section with theaters and concert halls as well as information about the department store and a calendar .

Today, two stumbling blocks by the artist Gunter Demnig on the pavement at Spandauer and at the corner of Rathausstrasse are reminiscent of the Nathan Israel department store and the heir Wilfrid Israel.

Writings edited by N. Israel

  • Gustav Meinecke: The German colonies . A contribution to the history and ethnology of the German overseas possessions. Edited from official sources. In addition to an appendix, events in China in 1900. Berlin 1901.
  • Hermann Müller-Bohn: Our imperial house . Berlin 1902.
  • Georg Belitz, F. Eitzenhardt: Germany at sea . A look back at the development of sailing and rowing as well as the war and merchant fleet. Berlin 1903.
  • Conrad Alberti : Greater Berlin . Berlin 1904.
  • Eugen Zabel : A trip around the world. Theater of War - World's Fair . Berlin 1905.
  • A. Baumgart: Jubiläums-Fest-March , Mr. Franz Nowarra on the occasion of the day of remembrance (April 1, 1905) of his 25 years of activity i. Dedicated to the home of N. Israel Berlin in friendly esteem. 1905.
  • Benno Jacobson: The theater . Berlin 1906.
  • A. Pabst: The education in the XX. Century . Berlin 1907.
  • Siegfried Hartmann, Rudolf Kreuschner, Karl Bröckelmann: Below and above the earth . Berlin 1908.
  • Theodor Kappstein: Leading Spirits of the Present . Berlin 1909.
  • Thorwald Andersen u. a .: The woman and her world . Berlin 1910.
  • From sedan chair to airplane . Berlin 1911.
  • Hygiene through the ages . Berlin 1912.
  • The woman in the century of energy 1813–1913 . Berlin 1913.
  • Work and rest . Berlin 1914.
  • Best German quality goods . Mail order catalog N. Israel, Berlin 1932.

literature

  • HG Reissner: The History of Kaufhaus N. Israel and of Wilfrid Israel . In: Year Book Leo Baeck Institute , 1958, pp. 227-256.
  • Rosemarie Koehler, Ulrich Kratz-Whan: The Jewish Cemetery Schönhauser Allee . Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-7759-0340-2 , pp.?.
  • Regina Borgmann u. a. (Arrangement): The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery. A tour of selected tombs , ed. from the Jewish Community of Berlin. Berlin 2011, p.?.
  • Other writings: Dessa, A Tribute to Kaufhaus N. Israel 1815-1939 , Switzerland: Deborah Petroz-Abeles, 2003. - See further under: http://www.gazettr.com/gazettr_build/map/story/wiki6865222#sthash. 1BAVAxTE.dpuf
  • DESSA : Stones of Pride. Homage to the N. Israel department store, Berlin . With an essay by Holt Meyer, German / English, Hentrich and Hentrich, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-95565-112-1 .
  • Martin Mende: The fate of the Israel family and their department store - Königstraße 7-14 corner Spandauer Straße , in: Mitteilungen des Verein für die Geschichte Berlins 108, 2012, p. 106ff.

Web links

Commons : Nathan Israel Department Store  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ HG Reissner: The History of Kaufhaus N. Israel and of Wilfrid Israel . In: Year Book , Leo Baeck Institute, 1958, p. 239.
  2. ↑ Jan Whitaker: Wunderwelt department store . Gerstenberg, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8369-2745-1 , p. 31.
  3. ^ HG Reissner: The History of Kaufhaus N. Israel and of Wilfrid Israel . In: Year Book , Leo Baeck Institute, 1958, p. 240.
  4. ↑ Hans Jaeger:  Michael, Jakob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 425 f. ( Digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Arne Schöfert: Department Store Israel - Album 1901 "The German colonies" . In: Reichskolonialamt.de, accessed December 8, 2019.
  6. ↑ Book accompanying the exhibition: DESSA - Kaufhaus Nathan Israel 1815–1939 - An artist explores history , October 4, 2015 to March 31, 2016, Mitte Museum, Pankstrasse 47, 13357 Berlin.

Coordinates: 52 ° 31'5 "  N , 13 ° 24'25.6"  E