German business directories 1920s

[taffinnorfol]

My grandfather, George Nicholas Lionda, was an Ottoman merchant witha business in London around the time of Ww1. He is believed to have moved to Germany in the early 1920s and relocated his business, importing African, Greek and oriental goods.
Does anyone have any idea where / how I can find information about businesses in Germany in the 1920s (preferably in English!).

[dot.hawkes]

Your best plan is to study the sites related to Germanic Genealogy and see what you can pick up as being published or available to search online. There is an Anglo-German Family History Society based in the UK (just google Anglo-german FHS) but this is a fairly good link to give you some avenues to persue:
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/ESE/dschwaben .html

[taffinnorfol]

Thanks dot. hawkes - I'll give it a go!

[NikkiB]

Taffin - it's a long shot and will probably turn out to be completely irrelevant anyway, but have you considered that George's name may originally have been the Greek version Giorgios??? Therefore, once he moved to Germany he may have changed it to Georg.
Incidentally, if you google your grandfathers name it comes up with a former graduate of Brasenose College Oxford, I believe from Melbourne. May be a relative???

[taffinnorfol]

Hi NikkiB, Thanks again! My contacts in Greece tell me that the translation from the Greek alphabet throws up some interesting variations - the most likely origin is Georgios Nikolaos Liondas or Liontas (or loads of other variations including Leonidas - he of the Spartans!). The other interesting thing is that the Greeks used the middle name, in the case of first born, to denote the name of the father, hence Georgios, son of Nikolaos Liondas.
Incidentally and to make you smile, George / Giorgios appears to have been a dirty devil, because he spawned my father whilst living with another lady in London and having already having had a child with her!!! I've only just found out that I have a cousin! Oddly, there are Liondas in every city where we know he's been!!! Who needs viagra???!!!
I'll check out the Google lead - I had not spotted it so thanks!