Hotels thrive on the names of the illustrious guests who’ve graced the premises in the years gone by. The guest lists of the top hotels often read like who’s who of modern history, invariably containing famous names as well as infamous ones. And they don’t come much more infamous than Adolf Hitler.

Before the Third Reich crumbled, a visit from Adolf Hitler was a great honour for hotels in many parts of Europe. They would get decked out in Nazi Flags and Swatikas for the occasion. But which one did Furher like best? And did all hotels like him?.

In the 1930’s there were number of grand hotels in Berlin deemed fit to host the Nazi ruler. Some would later be reduced to rubble when the Third Reich crumbled under the relentless downpour of Allied bombs. One of those was The Excelsior, opened in 1908. Located on Askanischen Platz, across the street from Anhalter Bahnof, it was one of the most modern and biggest hotels in the world. This colossus had 600 rooms, 9 restaurants, an underground tunnel connecting the hotel to the station over the road. Hotel guest could even buy their train tickets at The Excelsior. It was alleged that this hotel was the initial choice of the Nazi party leadership to host Adolf Hitler on the eve of assumption of power. The hotel’s Director- Curt Eischer, not a great supporter of the Nazi movement is said to have turned down the honour.

This honour ultimately went to The Kaiserhof – a grand hotel which played a significant role in the German’s pre war history in the 1870’s. It was here, for instance, the founding of Lufthansa was negotiated in 1926 as a result of the merger between two airline companies. Junker Luftverehr and Aero Lloyd. Then, in 1932, the hotel played host to Nazi Leaders as they plotted the rise of Hitler to power. Three years later Hermann Goring, who was a political and military leader celebrated his marraiage here. In 1936 is the was chosen as the official hotel of the Olympic Games. Like the Excelsior it was blown to smithereens in the final days of the Third Reich.

Then of course there was The Adlon. In the days leading up to World War II, it was known as the playground for diplomats. I was also called as ‘little Switzerland’. When the Russians swarmed into Berlin in 1945, the hotel was destroyed but has since risen like a Phoenix from the Ashes. Now a Kempinski hotel, The Adlon serves as a reminder of a glorious Berlin days gone by.

In Munich in the hotel Vier Jahreszeiten (today Kempinski) the infamous Thule Society was founded- an aristocratic club devoted to extreme nationalism and considered a precursor of the Nazi Party. The emblem ‘Swastika’ was conceptualised here. The Walterspiel brothers, owners of the hotel were members of the Thule Society.

Hitler favoured the hotel Deutscger Hof in Numberg, where he would take a large room on the first floor and watch the marching columns out on the streets. In 1936, the hotel added an extension which included a special Fuhrer balcony.

In Weimar, he would stay at the Hotel Elephant and could often been seen greeting crowds and viewing marching columns from outside the entrance.

In Obersalzberg, Hitler’s famous mountain vacation retreat, he frequented the Hotel Zum Turken and Hotel Platterhof.

In Vienna, Hitler made his grand entry into the city he had known so many years earlier as a down and out tramp. As a half starved day labourer, he had been shovelling snow off the pavement outside the entrance of the Hotel Imperial and respectfully removing the cap for the wealthy. When he returned as the Fuhrer, Hitler entered the Royal Suite and delivered a speech to a rapturous crowd from the suite’s balcony on 14th March 1938.The General Manager, Stefen Plank who over the preceding years was a fierce opponent of the Nazis and declared as a ‘friend of the Jews’. He deliberately found some good excuses not to give the Royal Suite for the night. Hitler was given a smaller & very modest room. Soon Plank was in trouble and imprisoned by the Nazi secret police.

On the southern coast of Gdansk bay, in the Baltic Sea ( Poland) lies the Grand Hotel, which was frequented by Hitler. He launched an artillery bombardment of the Polish positions. Hitler arrived at the Grand Hotel later that month and stayed for 2 nights. From the first floor suite he peered through his binoculars as German warships systematically destroyed the polish fleet out in the choppy seas of the bay.

Culpability for the rise of Nazism and the subsequent horrors of the World War II can certainly not be pinned on modern generation. But the stories of the past, no matter how unpleasant to the modern psyche must be told. Lest we forget.

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