[Roman Vishniac and his daughter Mara, Wertheim department store, Berlin]

This photograph was taken in the newly installed Fotoautomat (photo booth) located in the flagship Wertheim department store in Berlin. Wertheim was among the largest and most well-known department stores in prewar Germany. The chain’s innovative flagship location on Leipziger Platz was constructed in 1896, featuring 83 elevators and a glass-roofed atrium. Jewish owned, the Wertheim chain was a target of early Nazi boycotts. Mandatory “Aryanization” policies soon followed, forcing an end to the businesses that had been built by the Wertheim family over several decades. The Berlin store was severely damaged during World War II, and later situated in the no man’s land between West and East Berlin.