This carte de visite portrait is truly special. The photograph features an impeccably dressed beautiful little girl posing alongside her beautiful porcelain doll. This charming child looks at the camera with confidence. The photograph actually captures her magnetism and spunk. The photographer of this image is Hermann Tietz and the studio was located in Berlin, Germany. Preliminary research indicates that Hermann Tietz is actually “Waarenhaus Hermann Tietz” which is a department store. Apparently, the department store had an in-store photography studio. Hermann Tietz was a German merchant. He was of the Jewish faith and born in 1837 near Posen and died in Berlin in 1907. Tietz invented the concept of a department store chain. The first store opened in Gera, Germany in 1882. It was opened by his nephew Oskar Tietz. After successfully opening stores in small towns including Erfurt, Rostock and Wismar; Tietz opened a large branch store in Berlin (1911). Stores followed in Leipzger (1900), Alexanderlatz (1904), and Hamburg (1912). By the time 1927 arrived, the Tietz chain included ten stores and 13,000 employees. Nazi Germany seized the department store chain, along with other Jewish owned businesses. The government found new owners to replace the Tietz family who fled the country in 1938. The store took on the name “Hertie Department Stores” because it was a less Jewish sounding name. It actually was an abbreviated version of Hermann Tietz’s name. The department store existed until 1909 when it closed due to bankruptcy.
