Before the war, a large number of Jewish salesmen were pioneers in modernisation of their businesses. The maintenance of family roots was essential to keep running a family business. Jewish merchants mostly worked as shoemakers, furriers and in the area of clothing industry.
In 1855, Stanislas Bonn opened the store selling furniture products. The family business was very popular and moved to the Rue Philippe in 1926. However, the German occupation made Jewish life in Luxembourg difficult. Some had a chance to flee but others like brothers Robert and Raoul Bonn were captured and deported.
The department store “Sternberg” was founded in 1910 by two Jewish brothers Louis and Max Sternberg located at the corner of the street “Rue du Fossé.” It sold everything from hardware goods to toys. In 1940, the Nazis confiscated the Sternberg shop and turned into the “Hansa Kaufhaus” - a shop with different products. In 1941, Louis Sternberg assumed the presidency of the Jewish Consistory and accompanied the chief rabbi Robert Serebrenik to the meeting with Adolf Eichmann in Berlin. Sternberg left Luxembourg in October 1941 and was replaced by Alfred Oppenheimer as a President of Jewish Consistory.