Nathan Israel Department Store ( German : Kaufhaus Nathan Israel or Kaufhaus N. Israel ) was a department store in Berlin . The business was started in 1815 by Nathan Israel as a small second-hand store in the Molkenmarkt . By 1925 , it employed over 2,000 people and was a member of the Berlin Stock Exchange , and in the 1930s was one of the largest retail establishments in Europe . Because it was owned by Jews , the store was boycotted by the German government when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933 . It was ransacked during the Kristallnacht in 1938 and then handed over to a non-Jewish family by the Nazis . The descendants of the original owners began to receive compensation for their losses after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Nathan Israel Department Store