On the initiative of Bartholomäus Schmid, head of the "Arisierungsstelle" (Aryanization Office), and guild master Konrad Schalk, and with the support of the Staatskommissar in der Privatwirtschaft (State Commissar for Private Industry) Walter Rafelsberger and the Reichskommissar für die Wiedervereinigung Österreichs mit dem Deutschen Reich (Reich Commissar for the Reunification of Austria with the German Reich) Josef Bürckel, the Einkaufs- und Treuhandgenossenschaft (Purchasing and Trustee Cooperative – ETG) was founded on 5 August 1938 at Schwedenplatz 2 in Vienna's 1st district. According to its articles of association, its object was to "promote the Aryanization of the watch and jewellery business" and it was responsible specifically for the takeover and sale of the stocks of liquidated businesses. At the constituting general meeting, the watchmakers Konrad Schalk and Josef Weishäupl were elected as chairman and deputy chairman, and Fritz Langauer as managing director of the cooperative. The meeting nominated Bartholomäus Schmid, Stefan Saghy, head of the Oberaufsicht der kommissarischen Verwalter in der Uhren- und Juwelenbranche (Superintendance of the Temporary Administrators in the Watch and Jewellery Trade), and the jewellery and watch wholesaler to form the supervisory board, to be chaired by Schmid. In addition, Rafelsberger seconded Franz Mauritz, deputy head of the handicrafts department of the Vermögensverkehrsstelle (VVSt) (Property Transaction Office) to the ETG supervisory board. He was replaced in February 1939 by Arnold Kött, who in turn was succeeded at the end of 1939 by Fridolin Puhr. The watchmaker Stefan Saghy and Josef Weishäupl were responsible for transferring liquidated stocks to the ETG depot, supported from November 1938 by the Gestapo officer Rudolf Gruber. Before they were resold, they were evaluated twice by sworn ETG assessors: the lower valuation determined the liquidation value and the second the higher resale value. The difference was credited to the ETG.

Items from liquidated stocks were reserved exclusively for members of the ETG. According to § 3 of the articles of association, "any authorized jeweller, goldsmith, silversmith, watchmaker, engraver, precious-stone cutter, gold or precious stone retailer of Aryan origins" was eligible for membership. This also applied to Aryans from other sections, "insofar as they were willing to promote the objects and purposes of the cooperative". By the end of 1939, the cooperative had over 350 members who had at that time acquired goods worth over 3 million Reichsmarks. At least until the end of 1941 the total revenue increased significantly. In January 1942 the ETG suspended operations after it had completed the disposal of the liquidated stocks. In accordance with § 26 of the articles of association, the net profit of around 1 million Reichsmarks was paid to the VVSt. The final liquidation of the ETG was postponed until after the end of the Second World War and it was to continue to exist merely for "charitable" purposes, such as the collection of alarm clocks and watches for conscripted soldiers. According to the managing director Othmar Kober, the large customer and goods records in the ETG offices were burned at the end of the war. As the only body of its type in the entire Reich, the ETG was the main centre for handling stocks liquidated during the Aryanization of the Viennese watch and jewellery sector. If the Aryanization Office marked a business for liquidation, the ETG took over its inventory and was responsible for their resale and distribution among the members. Some institutions, however, were able to avail themselves directly of the expropriated assets, as illustrated by the case of Alexander Grosz, from whose possessions the Wiener Uhrenmuseum acquired seventy watches and clocks marked for liquidation. In 2003 the Vienna Restitution Commission decided that forty of the items should be restituted to Grosz's legal successors. The restitution was effected in 2013.