Department store Tietz in Mainz, after extensive modification work in 1897

In around 1930, approximately 330 companies in Mainz have Jewish owners. 46 % of the around 2,600 members of the Jewish communities are self-employed – and therefore also employers. Up until Aryanisation, the building that now houses the Kaufhof department store is home to a store of the company Leonhard Tietz AG. Jewish members of the board are already forced to leave the company in as early as 1933. At the same time, the company is renamed Westdeutsche Kaufhof AG. In 1938, the shareholders of the Tietz family are forced to sell their shares under market value. The building dating back to the late 19th century is destroyed in an air strike in 1942.