Georg Wertheim (11 February 1857 in Stralsund – 31 December 1939 in Berlin) was a Jewish German merchant and founder of the popular Wertheim chain of department stores.
Early years
Wertheim grew up in Stralsund. After being an apprentice at Wolff and Apolant, Wertheim along with his brother Hugo, took over in 1876 their parents' (Abraham and Ida Wertheim) haberdashery, founded in 1875.
Georg Wertheim was born into a Jewish family in Stralsund, Germany, in 1857. Although he converted to Christianity in 1906, the Nazi regime still classified him as Jewish under the Nuremberg Laws implemented in 1935. Despite his conversion, Wertheim faced persecution during the Nazi era, leading to the forced transfer (“Aryanization”) of his department store chain to non-Jewish ownership.
The two brothers quickly brought new ideas into the shop: customers were allowed to replace goods, the price of a good was no longer debatable but reliable, and purchases were made strictly with cash. This concept was successful, and after the opening of another branch in Rostock, the first branch in Berlin (Rosenthaler Straße) was founded in 1885.
Wertheim quickly realised the changing demand of the growing city in the period of industrialisation and in 1890 opened the first real department store on Moritzplatz/Oranienstraße in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The shop floor was more generous in size and permitted more elaborate presentation of products for sale, products were put on display, and longer runs allowed lower prices.