History of August Stern & Cie.

Around 1910, some years before the death of the founder, Louis Stern, his son Philipp, with his business partner August Samuelsdorff, took over as head of the banking house. Until the end of the 1920s, Philipp Stern lived with his family in an apartment above the business premises. In 1938, in the course of the systematic expropriation of Jewish businesses by the National Socialists, the company was seized by the regime and sold below value to non-Jewish proprietors. It continued to operate until the 1960s under the name of Mertins & Co. Attempts by the Stern family to re-establish their ownership after 1945 failed.