The Hotel Silber features various displays about how the Gestapo was organized in Stuttgart and includes internal documents from the time, such as death warrants for opponents and investigative files. (John Vandiver/Stars and Stripes)
Hotel Silber looks like other buildings in downtown Stuttgart that managed to escape complete destruction during the allied bombing campaign in World War II.
The century-plus-old structure at Karlsplatz is in an area home to swanky shops, boutiques and plenty of foot traffic. It’s easy to stroll past the building and be unaware of its history.
But on city streets in Germany, reminders of its Nazi past are always around, often in plain sight.
Whether it’s the small brass plaques embedded in sidewalks dedicated to the millions of victims of the Nazi regime or memorials in parks that once served as deportation hubs, history has a way of rushing back.
Such is the case with Hotel Silber, the Gestapo’s regional headquarters, where secret police launched their investigations into political opponents, Jews, gay people and anyone else deemed unacceptable.
The building functioned as a hotel from around 1875 until 1919 and was partly damaged during WWII bombing. It was almost erased from memory as part of recent redevelopment plans for the area.
But in 2008, an initiative by residents formed to prevent the building from being bulldozed. Having walked past it countless times, I finally decided to look inside.
Entrance to the museum is free. The exhibit deals with the history of the Gestapo in Stuttgart and has a variety of original documents, such as death warrants of political enemies, photos from the period and background on how the secret police was organized.
This is an up-close look at some of the markings carved into the cell door on display at the Hotel Silber museum in Stuttgart, which is focused on the role of the Gestapo during the Nazi era. (John Vandiver/Stars and Stripes)
A steel door that was used to lock prisoners in cells is exhibited at the Hotel Silber museum in Stuttgart. The door is covered in scratch marks made by prisoners held during the Nazi period. (John Vandiver/Stars and Stripes)
The most attention-grabbing relic is a scratched-up steel cell door from the time, which has names and dates carved into it by people who were imprisoned at the site.
One of the more notable figures to spend time locked up was Hans Scholl, who along with his sister Sophie was part of the White Rose resistance movement. The siblings were executed by the Nazis in 1943 in Munich for treason.
The museum, unfortunately, doesn’t have displays in English, but an English audio guide helps visitors make sense of what they are seeing. It doesn’t offer a wide-ranging look at the Nazis during WWII but is instead focused on the role the local Gestapo had in targeting the regime’s enemies.
The exhibit is quite small and takes only about 30 minutes to walk through. Still, I found my visit to be a worthwhile reminder of past atrocities that seem so unthinkable in Germany today.
Hotel Silber in downtown Stuttgart was the regional headquarters for the Gestapo during the Nazi era in Germany. Today, there is a small museum inside focused on the Gestapo’s role in targeting political opponents of the regime and the area’s Jewish community. (John Vandiver/Stars and Stripes)
Hotel Silber
Address: 10 Dorotheenstrasse, Stuttgart
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
Cost: Free
Information: Phone: 0711 2124040; Online: geschichtsort-hotel-silber.de
