The palatial Hotel Adlon, located only steps east of the famous Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, Germany, has a fascinating history. Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) – Second German Television – aired a three-part family saga early last year about the hotel, its owners, and its guests (some fictional characters are also included). The series covers the period between the last German Empire and the Berlin Wall.

Hotel Adlon’s beginnings

In 1905, Lorenz Adlon, a successful wine merchant and coffee shop owner, purchased a prime piece of land in the heart of Berlin. The property was located next to the British Embassy in the Wilhelmstrasse and faced the French and American Embassies on Pariser Platz. Important government offices stood only blocks away. Lorenz Adlon chose this desirable location to build an opulent hotel. It opened on 23 October 1907. Its address was Unter den Linden 1. Hotel Adlon soon became one of Europe’s most renowned establishments.

Hotel Adlon’s famous guests

The Adlon quickly became the social center of Berlin. Inside, its accommodations were the most up-to-date in all of Germany at the time. The hotel offered hot and cold running water and had its own electricity-generating power plant. In the hotel’s early years, many of the rich and famous, including Emperor Willhem II, the Tsar of Russia, the Maharajah of Patiala, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Herbert Hoover, John D. Rockefeller, Enrico Caruso, Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo frequented it.

Hotel Adlon, 1926
(Bundesarchiv photo)

Hotel Adlon during World War II

But when Hitler came to power in 1933, the Adlon gradually lost its international clientele. It continued to operate throughout World War II, having added a bomb shelter and a brick wall to protect its guest from flying debris. During the final days of the Battle for Berlin, parts of the hotel were converted to a field hospital. However, on the night of 2 May 1945, after all fighting had ceased already, a fire engulfed the Hotel Adlon. Intoxicated Russian soldiers had started the fire in the hotel’s wine cellar. The inferno destroyed most of the building. Only one wing survived.

Also read about the post World War II history of the Hotel Adlon at http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/hotel-adlon-part-2/

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.