©Peter Sachs
Built in 1911, the building was run as the Sachs & Berlowitz textile department store until 1938, named after the first owners, who were also founding members of Weimar's Jewish community. From 1924, the department store was in the sole ownership of the married couple Israel and Lucie Berlowitz and their daughter Edith. They employed up to 80 staff. As early as March 16, 1933, the Weimar SA carried out an anti-Jewish boycott campaign. SA men carried signs with slogans such as "Germans, buy in German stores!" through the streets. In August 1938, the family was finally forced to sell their business as part of the so-called Aryanizations. The 70-year-old Israel Berlowitz was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp by the Gestapo and only released after he had also agreed to the sale of his home. As the proceeds from the sale - which were already set too low - were transferred to a blocked account, the family lost almost all of their assets. While Israel, Lucie and Edith Berlowitz managed to flee to Palestine, the family's elder daughter and her children were murdered in Latvia. The new owner, Hugo Oxen from Bochum, continued to run the textile store under his own name and advertised it in 1940 in a heartfelt advertisement with the slogan: "Shopping store for everyone in the heart of the Gau capital".