In the course of 1941, the Nazi leadership initiated the physical extermination of European Jewry.

After systematic shootings of Jews in Poland and individual large-scale evacuations of Jews to Poland had already taken place in 1939/40, the planned deportation of Jews from the territory of the Reich to the East began in the fall of 1941, centrally controlled from Berlin. The numerous organizational issues involved were the subject of the reported „Wannsee Conference“ of 20 January 1942.

After the city of Paderborn had Plexiglas plaques with information on the history of the buildings installed on various listed buildings at the end of the 1990s, the GCJZ initiated such a plaque for the former Steinberg & Grünebaum department store at Rathausplatz 7 in 2001. After experiencing marginalization in the city, Ludwig Grünebaum’s imprisonment in the Buchenwald concentration camp and the forced expropriation of their business, the members of the family were able to flee to the USA between 1937 and 1939 in time to avoid deportation by the National Socialists.

In the 2023/2024 school year, class 10a of Paderborn's Reismann-Gymnasium dealt with the topic of „anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination in OWL – then and now“. One result is a memorial plaque (pictures) on the school building on Reismannweg, developed with the support of the city archives and the Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit (GCJZ). The memorial plaque commemorates twelve Jewish pupils in the years 1933 - 1937 who were forced to leave the former Reismann Oberrealschule.

Julius Metzger was born on February 11, 1846 in Wachbach near Bad Mergentheim. After studying for three years (1861 - 1864) at the Esslingen Teachers' College, he was initially employed in the Jewish congregations in Jebenhausen and Kochendorf. From 1871 to 1908, he was a teacher and prayer leader in the Jewish congregation in Cannstatt. He died in Stuttgart in 1921. Julius Metzger found his final resting place in the Israelite section of the Prague cemetery.  

Founded in Ulm in 1879, the company moved into a new factory building in Schützenstraße in 1899. The owners of the company were Ludwig Bernheim and his son Max. In August 1900, Ludwig Bernheim's son-in-law Theodor Wolff joined the company as a further partner.

The founder of the department store K. M. Fechheimer & Co. was the merchant Koppel Mayer Fechheimer (1799-1885) from Mitwitz (district of Kronach). His son Samuel Fechheimer (1841-1890) moved the company to Coburg, where it was entered in the commercial register on January 12, 1876. In 1893, the company acquired the property at Spitalstraße 12.

The department store's product range included manufactured and fashion goods, women's and children's clothing and lingerie. As a supplier to the Coburg ducal court, the company enjoyed an excellent reputation in Coburg.

Julius Auspitzer was born in Vienna on November 20, 1853. His parents were Samson Salomon Auspitzer, born on December 3, 1816 in Nikolsburg (M hren) and Jeanette Goldberger de Buda, born on March 24, 1821  in Alt-Ofen, (Hungary). Julius Auspitzer was married to Helene Auspitzer, née Heller, born on June 25, 1863 in Bratislava (Preßburg). Her parents were Moritz Heller, born on June 24, 1836 and Friederike Heller, née Rosenberg, born in 1844.

The Jewish merchant and trained master tailor Simon (called Sally) Lennhoff (1871–1943) was posthumously honored on October 22, 1987. A 32-metre-long pedestrian passageway from Marktstrasse 8 to the parking lot of the Soltau City Service Centre has borne his name ever since - the Sally Lennhoff Walkway.

Sally Lennhoff and his family were victims of National Socialist persecution. His business was destroyed during the Kristallnacht in November 1938. He was later deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where he died on November 26 or 27, 1943 as a result of mistreatment.