Wertheim

It was only a short bus ride from Bettina’s affluent neighborhood to the expensive shopping district on Leipzigerstrasse. Wertheim was the largest department store in the world, even the Kaiser shopped here before the war. It had been built  efore the turn of the century and the front had been remodeled just a few years ago, in 1925.
Anton grabbed my hand as we mounted the imposing stairs. Massive pillars supported each of the four arches at the Leipzigerstrasse entrance and I felt as tiny as an ant. I knew I was meant to feel rich and important to be able to shop in such a grand building, but I felt rather sheepish. I’d been once with Bettina, but had no money to buy anything then. Today would be different.

Many department stores were bright, clean and stocked more than one would ever need, but I picked Wertheim because Herr Wertheim treated his workers fairly. Also because he was Jewish. I was aware of no formal boycott of the store, but I knew that the strident Nazis and their quieter but no less anti-Semitic supporters voted with their pocketbooks and spurned Jewish-owned businesses.

Photo from preussenweb.de/berlin3.htm