Detail

The Hotel Silber in Stuttgart was used by the police for more than half a century and was the headquarters of the Gestapo for Württemberg and Hohenzollern. Since 2018, Hotel Silber, an annex of the House of History Baden-Württemberg, has been a place of historical and political education and a meeting place. The learning centre emerged from a civic engagement project. Today, democratic values, fundamental and human rights are conveyed at this former site of Nazi terror through permanent and temporary exhibitions and a wide range of educational opportunities and events.

The permanent exhibition deals with the perpetrators and their victims and with the institution of the police and its role under three different political systems.

From 1928, the Hotel Silber was the headquarters of the Political Police, which operated throughout the country. After the Nazi seizure of power, the Political Police willingly participated in the establishment of the dictatorship. During the Nazi dictatorship, the Hotel Silber was the headquarters of the Gestapo for Württemberg and Hohenzollern. It was from here that political opponents were surveilled and persecuted, the deportation of the Jewish community was organised and the repression of forced labourers was carried out.

After 1945, the Hotel Silber continued to be the police headquarters, now of the District Criminal Investigation Department. Some of the Gestapo officers who had previously been dismissed returned to work in the police force. The exhibition shows a history of continuity and discontinuity in the treatment of minorities and in law enforcement. It also looks at how members of the police force saw themselves under democracy and dictatorship. Original artefacts, documents, images and media provide a nuanced picture of the perpetrators and the consequences of their actions.

At Hotel Silber, learning about history is made possible through a differentiated programme for groups and classes from all types of schools. The permanent exhibitions on the police, the Gestapo and persecution make this place of remembrance particularly important as a place of extra-curricular learning.

In addition to a general guided tour of Hotel Silber, the place of remembrance offers various tours focussing on different topics.

In workshops for youth groups and schools, participants actively engage with the historical site and the permanent exhibition. Working in small groups, they gain a deeper understanding of issues such as the exclusion and racist persecution of individuals and groups, the suppression of resistance and the organisation of genocide.

The place of remembrance offers guided tours and workshops for groups of police officers on the role of the police in democratic and dictatorial systems, using the history of the region as an example, as well as the scope of action that officers have and had, the structures and mechanisms of discrimination and exclusion, and the continuities and disruptions from 1928 to the present.