Behrens, Henry van de Velde, August Endell, Bruno Taut, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Hermann Muthesius, Karl Scheffler, Walter Curt Behrendt, Fritz Stahl, Alfred Lichtwark, Heinrich Schliepmann amongst others. Brian Ladd called it “the crown jewel of the main shopping street." The store did not survive World War II. In March 1943 it was damaged by three exploding bombs, and its final destruction was caused by a fire started by a phosphorus bomb. The ruins were cleared away in 1955–56 to make way for a border strip demarcating the Russian sector of Berlin. The Nazi period: persecution and Aryanization When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the Wertheim department store, was targeted for persecution because, like Tietz, it was owned by a Jewish family. The company was Aryanized—that is, forcibly transferred to non-Jewish owners. Jewish employees were forced from their positions by government mandate. The Wertheim family attempted to avoid losing control of the company by making Georg's wife, Ursula, the principal shareholder, since she was considered "Aryan" under Nazi law. In the end this was unsuccessful, even though they divorced to keep the shares in purely "Aryan" hands. The family was forced to sell all their shares at reduced prices to "Aryans" and in 1939 the store was renamed AWAG, an acronym for Allgemeine Warenhandelsgesellschaft A.G. (General Retailing Corporation). The Werheim family fled Nazi Germany. Wertheim stores Stralsund (1875; general goods, rebuilt 1903/1904, Expanded 1927/1928, 1948 converted to HO-Warenhaus Konsument, 1991 Horten-Konsument, 1996 closed) Rostock (opened 1881, new build 1903, closed 1945, from 1991 Hertie, 1995 closed, demolished 2000) Berlin, Rosenthaler Straße (1885 first fashion store, new build 1903–1905), Berlin, Oranienstraße (1894–1913) Berlin, Oranienburger Straße (1909–1914, today Kunsthaus Tacheles) Berlin, Leipziger Straße (1897–1944) Berlin, Columbushaus am Potsdamer Platz (1945–1948) Berlin, Moritzplatz (1913–1945) Berlin, Königstraße (1911–1945) Berlin, Schloßstraße (Berlin-Steglitz)|Schloßstraße (1952–2009) Berlin, Kurfürstendamm (1971–2008) Converted to Karstadt Bochum (1958–1986, 1988/1989) Breslau, ulica Świdnicka|Schweidnitzer Straße (1930–1944, today a Renoma store) Essen, Kettwiger Straße (1964–1986) Essen-Steele (1972–1979) Hannover, Kröpcke-Center (closed in 1981) Hannover, Raschplatz (closed in June 1979) Kaiserslautern, Stiftsplatz (closed) Post-war The new owner Karstadt operated under the Wertheim name. The flagship store was on the Kurfürstendamm. It was built in 1969–71 and was converted to a Karstadt in 2008. The other store was on the Schloßstraße in the Steglitz district. It was demolished in 2009 for construction of a new shopping center. The Wertheim family filed claims to