Berlin’s first hospitality address, the hotel Adlon, at the history heavy prestigious address Unter den Linden considers its history a valuable asset. A daring exhibition about it is currently on display on the first floor of the hotel. It shows the great importance of a luxury hotel for the ruling classes.
Stephan Interthal is a general manager with guts. His history exhibition at the Adlon presents 100 years of history of the Adlon, then and today Berlin’s first address.
It shows the great importance of a luxury hotel for the ruling classes. First the Emperor, who opened it. Aristocrats and nobility, shrewed businessmen and international celebrities provieded the right ‘business mix’. But later the picture changed. For the first time a hotel talks openly about its role during the Hitler regime and the NS-times, when it was regarded as one of the playgrounds of the Nazis.
This makes the exhibition 1907-2007 much more than a collection of nice artifacts and collectibles of a hotel. It is a bold statement concerning the role the hotel has played during the time of fascist Germany, when it was regarded a meeting point of the Hitler regime. Completely destroyed in 1945, it remained a silent testimony of this bygone era for decades until it was reopened under the wings of Germany’s flagship hotel company Kempinski.
Ever since the kitchen at the Adlon was the heart of the matter. The Adlon’s first guest and most loyal patron was the Emperor Wilhelm II. He demanded no one put a foot in the door before him and treated the hotel as one of his palaces. He paid an annual retainer of 75,000 EUR to guarantee rooms for his personal guests as required. If his bill exceeded this amount he made up the difference, but if the sum was unused the hotel made a profit. The superior technology of the hotel fascinated him. He would play with the light switches or turn the hot water on just to check it was still working.
The Emperor enjoyed the fancy amenities of the hotel as much as the high society of the outgoing Belle Epoque. The swinging twenties were another high time at the Adlon.
Before and during World War 2 the new rulers enjoyed the hotel. Not always to the taste of all the other guests.
The end of an era. During the Russian occupation of Berlin in 1945, the Adlon was destroyed. It remained a myth for decades. Today it glitters again, rebuilt - a synonym for “good old Berlin” and the new capital of Germany. With the blessing of the Adlon family, who had refused to lend their name to another property unless re-built on the original site, a new Hotel Adlon opened on 23 August 1997.
