April 20, 2010

Ministerpraesident
Stefan Mappus
Staatsministerium Baden-Württemberg
Richard-Wagner-Str.15
70184 Stuttgart
Germany

Dear Mr. Mappus:

I recently learned from friends in Germany that in 1976 the city of Stuttgart sold the building known as the “Hotel Silber,” the former headquarters of the Gestapo in Stuttgart, and that now the building’s demolition is being proposed in order to facilitate the commercial expansion of the Breuninger department store.  Insofar as the state of Baden-Württemberg has any legal authority in the matter, I urge you to undertake whatever action lies within your power to prevent this demolition and to preserve this historic structure. 

I am an American historian with many professional interests in the history of Germany.  Although it hardly seems necessary, I would like to point out that if the study of the past is to be meaningful to young people today, the evidence that has come down to us from that past – including its darkest periods – must consist of more than documents and images.   The building on Dorotheenstrasse is a uniquely powerful and important reminder of such a dark time in Germany’s recent past.  

Rather than facilitate the expansion of the already considerable Breuninger commercial empire, the interests of the future would be better served by conserving this building as a memorial to the Nazi period.  I understand that a coalition of groups has proposed that the site be used as a documentation and educational center to teach young people what transpired at that time in Germany and in Stuttgart.  This strikes me as a most appropriate use for this historic structure.   

Again, I urge you to do whatever lies within your legal power to save the “Hotel Silber.”

Sincerely yours,

Michael G. Baylor

Professor of History