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[00:01]
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Insurance isn't one size fits all, and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit. That's why drivers have enjoyed Progressive's Name your price tool for years. With the Name your price tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they show you options that fit your budget enough. Hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates, and tinkering with coverages. Maybe you're picking out your very first policy, or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way, they make it simple to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises. Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be? Visit progressive.com and give the name your price tool a try. Take the stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law this episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more@accenture.com Spotify.
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Hello, I'm head of Programming Conor Boyle. Today we're whisking you away with a handpicked episode of Armchair Escapism. After a standout first season, Hotels with History is back. Produced by Intelligence Squared in partnership with Perrone International, this new season sees hosts Jules Perrone and Richard E. Grant travel further than ever to some of the world's most storied hotels. This season, you can stroll along white sand to the Copacabana palace. Watch the 1918 German Revolution unfold from the windows of Berlin's home, Hotel Adlon. And, of course, enjoy Richard's inimitable impersonations of Marlena Dietrich. In each episode, Richard and Jules check in to a different hotel, uncovering the unforgettable moments that took place within its walls and beyond its grounds, exploring how the tides of history transformed entire regions into the luxury destinations we know today. Now, over to Jules and Richard for Hotels with History.
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Today, our story begins in a square. We are standing in the middle of Parise Platz in Berlin, a square so important it feels less like a piece of architecture and more like a stage set for history. And what does any stage need? Its players. Diplomats, royals, celebrities, officers. All of them pass through, all of them aware they are being seen. To one side of this stage stands the Brandenburg Gate, its winged chariot looming above the scene, traffic threading through its vast columns. And just opposite, Hotel Adlon. For over a century, if you are ready to take your place on the world stage, the Adlon was the only place to go. After all, the most important part of any theatre is not the stage itself, but the dressing room. The place where alliances are formed, masks are adjusted, and the real drama begins long before the curtain rises. And from the Adlon in its original form, built on this mighty square, well, the performance could begin.
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Welcome to Hotels With History.
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I'm Jules Perrone.
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And I'm Richard E. Grant. We've been brought together by a shared fascination with what makes a legendary hotel and by the stories embedded in their walls.
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Because if you want to truly understand a city, you should start with its hotels.
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In every episode, we'll take you inside some of the world's most iconic and storied hotels.
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In today's episode, we're checking into Berlin's living room, more commonly known as Hotel Adlon. Kempinski.
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I don't know about you, Jules, but one thing I've learned from my travels is that no two nations do hospitality quite the same way. We've been to Lake Como with its show stopping Italian grandeur, the Wall of Astoria with that uniquely New York sense of lively pizazz. And now we find ourselves in Berlin and at the Adlorn, a hotel that has served generations of the city's most important guests to secure its place at the very heart of Berlin life. What exactly is German hospitality to you, Jules?
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Well, I think of impeccable order and a haven of innovation. A hotel experience that appears perfectly composed with just a hint of debauchery lurking beneath the surface. And above all, I think, of privacy, of discretion.
[05:09]
D
Indeed. And you only have to look to Berlin's most famous nightclub, Berghain, to see the legacy of these sensibilities. It is a place to unwind and enjoy a raucous night, all under the COVID of privacy and exclusivity. But to gently reassure our listeners, there was no berghain in the 19th century, and certainly none of its more adventurous dress code.
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Thankfully not. And in fact, there was also no Adlon either. Our story today begins with an absence and an enterprising man who looked at a fractured imperial society and saw an
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opportunity in the 19th century. Berlin is the epicenter of the Prussian state, an imperial capital of immense military and industrial power, and at its very heart, Parise Platz. This is no charming Square for a leisurely stroll. It is lined with aristocratic residences, embassies and institutions of state. Its architecture speaks of power with a capital P. To build here is to take part in the visual grammar of authority. And to arrive here is to boldly present yourself to Berlin society.
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But with all this power and influence concentrated in a single square, there is no obvious place for those vessels of power to gather. No Savoy, no Ritz. Instead, people scatter across smaller hotels and private salons. Berlin's movers and shakers need something more, something grander. And this is where Lorenz Adlon comes in.
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We've had a few unlikely entrepreneurs across this series. Jules and Lawrence Adlon is certainly one of them, one of nine children of a cobbler from Mainz. And yet he's the man who steps forward to answer that demand.
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Which is quite the leap, isn't it? Like many of the figures we've come across in the early days of these hotels, Adlon doesn't inherit his way into society, he works his way in.
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Exactly. He builds his reputation through hospitality, opening up coffee houses and restaurants all over the city, learning, quite literally how to serve Berlin's elite.
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And not just serve them, but shape their tastes. It's Adlon, for example, who. Whose cafe at the zoological gardens introduces Berliners to the world of Italian gelato, which up until that point had been a city only familiar with vanilla and chocolate ice.
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I would have loved to have seen the looks on their faces. Absolute astonishment.
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It isn't all fun and games with Adlon. Contemporary accounts paint a man of rigorous discipline, meticulous about hierarchy. And it is that understanding of imperial Berlin's obsession with power that lays the groundwork for his most important and fruitful patron, Kaiser Wilhelm ii.
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Ah, the last German emperor. Though of course he didn't know that at the time. Kaiser Wilhelm II is dissatisfied with the capital's existing hospitality. His nearby residence, the Stadtschloss, meaning city palace, is frequently described as cold and ill suited to modern comfort.
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And looking to the comparative luxuries of Paris and Vienna, cities so often compared with Berlin, the Kaiser is persuaded by Lorenz Adlon's promise of a new home for the city's elite. And just like that, the Hotel Adlon is given the green light to be built on Parise Platz.
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And this royal ascent is key to the Adlon's birth. The Kaiser personally overrules criticism of demolishing an aristocratic palace that stands on the proposed site. In its place, the hotel rises at one of Berlin's most prestigious addresses. Number one Unter den Linden, a brisk three minute walk from the Reichstag.
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It comes at an enormous cost, around 17 million gold marks. Construction begins in 1905 and is completed just two years later. And with that, the Adlon is cemented at the very center of Berlin society. Just in time for the 20th century to really get going.
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And my is there a roller coaster to come. The Adlan ushers in this new era with an opening that feels more like a coronation than a hotel launch. In late October 1907, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Empress Augusta Victoria attend in person to witness what is presented as a national achievement. In fact, anecdotes suggest the Kaiser rather dramatically insists on being the very first to cross the threshold.
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Such is the fanfare that sources can't even agree on the date of the official opening. The 23rd or 26th October. A rather extended celebration, I suspect.
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Well, I simply have to know what all the fuss is about. If you'll allow me to cross the threshold.
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By all means, but do prepare yourself. This is no ordinary hotel lobby, opening up into a vast, vertically expansive space punctuated by marble columns. And immediately the Adlon confronts its guests with a space to charged with an energy not unlike Parise Platz itself. This is not a private salon. This is where Berlin comes to be seen. And at the center, a rather famous fountain.
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Don't you find a fountain in a hotel just so classic?
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But this fountain isn't purely aesthetic. At the center of the Goethe Garden, surrounded by the hotel's restaurants and salons, stands a bronze Japanese themed elephant fountain.
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It draws water from the hotel's own well and its basin is lined entirely with blue mosaics. All at a cost equivalent to well over €200,000 today.
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Wow. And that's not all. The fountain also forms part of a concealed cooling system, circulating chilled water throughout the building. A technological luxury that perfectly sums up the Adlon's approach to comfort.
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Water is certainly no afterthought at this hotel. One of my favourite stories is the so called Throw Three Minute Promise. When Lawrence Adelon is trying to convince Kaiser Wilhelm to back the project, he makes an extraordinary claim that the bathtubs in the hotel could be filled with warm water in under three minutes.
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I'm not sure many bathtubs today can manage that, let alone in 1907.
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Well, I haven't said he succeeded yet. On the opening day, the Emperor takes out his watch and orders Adelon to put his money where his mouth is, making no effort to conceal quite how disappointed he will be if the promise isn't kept. And so, with hands trembling, Adalon turns on the tap. The crowd holds its breath. And with just a few seconds to spare, the bath is full.
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And it isn't just water. Where the Adalon innovates, it excels in communication, too. In a world that's hard to imagine now, hotels were filled with the constant ringing of bells. The Adlon replaces all of that with something entirely new. Optical signals.
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Yes. Above each room, paired red and green lamps respond to the press of a button. They glow softly and stay lit until service is complete. And those signals are relayed to a central control point, allowing staff to monitor and coordinate the entire hotel quietly and with precision.
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Fascinating, though perhaps not quite as otherworldly as the hotel's own internal postal system. The Adlon installs a pneumatic tube network, allowing messages to zip from reception straight up to the guest rooms. I must say, I rather like the idea of receiving one's post by tube.
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Likewise. And these innovations certainly catch the Kaiser's eye. At opening, the adalon boasts around 260 rooms and over 300 beds, with an unusually high number of bathrooms for the time, a figure that only grows when the adjacent Hotel Reichshof is absorbed, expanding the hotel to more than 300 rooms.
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The Adlon is soon established as the Kaiser's hotel of choice, with reports that he pays an annual retainer of 150,000 gold marks to keep suites permanently available.
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And so the Aidlon glows with imperial confidence. But as the current world order begins to tremble, can it survive?
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The outbreak of the First World War immediately disrupts the Adlon's raison d'.
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Etre.
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Once a place of continuity, hierarchy, and international recognition, this imperial stronghold suddenly finds itself adrift.
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British, French, and Russian guests vanish almost overnight, replaced instead by domestic elites and wartime officials. The Adlon's offerings do not cease, but they are noticeably restrained as imported goods become scarce, menus simplify, and the entertainment grows more modest.
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And when revolution finally comes crashing through the Brandenburg Gate in 1918, you might expect it to sweep the Adlon away with it. But no. Even as demonstrations erupt, street fighting breaks out, and workers and soldiers councils rise across the city, the Adlon endures. The Kaiser abdicates and flees. Yet the hotel carries on. There are no recorded disruptions to its service, no damage. It remains improbably untouched.
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My, my. We thought the Adlon was simply a vessel for imperial power, and yet it seems perfectly capable of standing on its own two feet.
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And in the fragile months that follow, the Adalon remains at the heart of diplomatic life. In May 1919, protesters demonstrating the peace terms march right past its doors, even as allied delegations are staying within the
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tension that square must have held. And the Adlon, it becomes so much more than a place to rest your head. A living witness to history.
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And a remarkable witness indeed. And as the Weimar Republic is established in 1919, its story is really only just beginning. Berlin is changed and is still changing. Political instability lingers, but the city begins to exude an extraordinary cultural vitality. The Adlon's role as a semi official diplomatic stage is cemented by its use by the German Foreign Office. Guest lists span royalty, diplomats, industrialists and cultural icons, from Thomas Edison and Henry Ford to Josephine Baker, Thomas Mann and Marlene Dietrich, all counting themselves as Adlon regulars.
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Quite the who's who. But even this glittering guest list can't distract from the economic troubles at hand. The end of the empire brings soaring inflation and dwindling fortunes. The hotel's core clientele, the imperial nobility, suddenly find themselves rather less wealthy and perhaps a touch less noble.
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And as the world he helped to build begins to disappear, Lorenz Adlong refuses to let it go. Even after the Kaiser's abdication, he refuses to remove the monarch's bust from one of the hotel's principal rooms.
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And that attachment to hierarchy follows him quite literally. He is known for repeatedly attempting to pass through the Brandenburg Gate central carriageway, a route traditionally reserved for nobility and high officials.
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In the years after 1918, he is involved in a number of accidents on
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Parise Platz, a man determined to keep his place no matter the consequences.
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And in the end, this behavior proves fatal. In 1921, Adlon is struck by a vehicle on Parisa Platz and dies. His son Louis takes charge. But it's Louis wife Hedda who truly reshapes the hotel's next chapter. Hedda Adlon pulls it out of a conservative past still rooted in the empire. She brings the spirit of the Roaring twenties into the Adlon. And before long, there is a party every night.
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About time. Artists, writers, scientists and entertainers all flow back into the city and by extension, to the Adlon. And once again, familiar sounds return to its great lobby. A babble of languages and world views softened, of course, by the constant burble of the fountain. But who's that? I can hear a young Swedish woman by the name of Greta Garbo. Let's hear how she described the city. Berlin. I will never forget when I arrived there, the smell of the city. A wonderful scent that contained everything you Feel it in your chest when it comes. But I could smell it long before we were actually in the city. It was as if I had smelled it once before.
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Quite the olfactory scene from a true fan of the podcast, the great Greta Garbo. Her story at this hotel sits somewhere between fact and myth, which in many ways makes it all the more revealing. She arrives at the Adlon in 1924 with the saga of Gusta Berling. She's beginning to be known beyond the borders of Sweden. And so she comes to Berlin to try her luck.
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A meeting is arranged, a dinner, a film screening. The Swedish director Morit Stiller presents her work to Louis B. Mayer, the head of Studio Metro Golden Mayer, who just happens to be in Berlin searching for new talent. And somewhere between the language barriers and rather awkward silences, a deal is struck. Garbo leaves with a contract from mgm, and with it, the beginning of a global career.
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All decided over dinner at the Adlon. Not bad for an evening's work.
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But what lingers is not just the deal, it's the myth. The story that she stood here in this hotel and declared, I want to be alone.
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Which she probably didn't.
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No, there's no record of her ever saying it here. In fact, she later insisted it was closer to I want to be let alone. But that almost doesn't matter, because the Adlon could offer something quite new. Privacy in full view of the world.
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It's almost a contradiction, really. The Adlon sits at the center of Parise Platz, unbelievably alive with happenings and spectacle. And yet it offers an oasis for the most famous of its guests.
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Greta isn't the only one to take advantage of that balance. Albert Einstein is a regular here. He even has a favourite room, using the hotel as a base between lectures and social engagements.
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And there's a rather silly story about Albert Einstein.
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Do tell, jules.
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A wealthy Mr. Bamberger of New York is determined to meet him. After several failed attempts, Einstein finally relents and they arrange to have tea at the Adlon. But that isn't quite far enough for Mr. Bamberger. He wants more. So he has a car brought round. And when they step outside, Einstein discovers it is filled to bursting with the entire Bamberger family. Einstein, somewhat shyly, takes a seat right at the very back.
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The very thought makes me cringe. Though I suppose who could resist the chance to ride alongside a genius? All the more reason to remain safely within the protective walls of the Atalon.
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Protective though they may be, those walls are not without their cracks. With its proximity to government and its eclectic guests, the Adlon becomes a gathering place for journalists and foreign correspondents.
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And those journalists are about to cover one of the darkest stories of the 20th century, the rise of the Nazi Party.
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During this ever darkening period, the Adlon once again becomes a key meeting point for diplomats and political figures, hosting discreet and at times clandestine discussions within its rooms. In the years leading up to the war, the hotel even earns the nickname Little Switzerland, a reference to neutrality in an increasingly divided world.
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Little Switzerland in the shadow of the Chancellery.
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Quite the contradiction and the irony of that nickname is not lost because the Adlon is quite literally within walking distance of the machinery of Nazi power. Hitler's chancellery sits barely a block away. The propaganda ministry run by Goebbels is around the corner. Yet Hitler himself is a rare sight at the Adlon. He prefers the nearby Hotel Kaiserhof for his meetings and inner circle, finding the Adlon's cosmopolitan international atmosphere rather less to
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his taste, which I think tells you something rather revealing. The Adlon, even in the darkest years, retains a quality that makes it incompatible with the narrow world Hitler is trying to build. It is too open, too international, too used to the world walking through its doors to ever be fully absorbed into the Nazi project.
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And as the situation escalates, one observer in particular keeps careful record. The American journalist William L. Shirer, reporting for cbs, becomes one of the most important chroniclers of Nazi Germany and his base.
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The Adlon Berlin Diary, the journal of A foreign correspondent, 1934-1941, stands as a remarkable account of journalists attempting to report truthfully under increasing censorship and surveillance. From his vantage point at the Adlon, he witnesses figures like Hitler and Chamberlain in the tense moments before the sellout of Czechoslovakia. It's a difficult read, knowing what is about to unfold. But far more troubling is the thought of a world in which it was never written at all.
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And all the more remarkable when you consider that the hotel itself is not beyond suspicion. The Gestapo maintains a constant presence within the Adlon. Agents are said to be disguised as maids and as porters, always watching.
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Well, if that is the case, why was his work not seized?
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We don't know for certain. It may be simply the inefficiencies of Nazi bureaucracy, or, as he rather wryly admits, his room was so cluttered they may not have had the patience to search it properly.
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I shall never look at a cluttered room the same way again.
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While mess wasn't the only way of evading Gestapo tampering, Sigrid Schulz, a brave correspondent, would place a fine thread across her desk before leaving her room. If it snapped, she knew someone had been inside. Absolutely ingenious. But no amount of ingenuity could keep out what came next.
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Because by the early 1940s, the danger is no longer hidden in corridors and behind closed doors. It is falling from the sky.
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And from his room at the Adlon, Shira witnesses it firsthand.
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Berlin, Friday. Last night, the severest bombing yet, and the German papers are beside themselves. The Burson Zeitung calls our pilot visitors of last evening barbarians. And the headline is Crime of British on Berlin.
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According to the Nazis, only five people are killed, but the number of firebombs the British drop is considerable. Three fall in the yard of the Adlon, five in the garden of the embassy next door, and half a dozen in the garden of Dr. Goebbels himself.
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The Adalon's survival of the Second World War is almost miraculous. As Allied bombing devastates Berlin from 1943 onwards, reducing the city block by block, the hotel remains largely unscathed. By April 1945, as the Red army closes in, it is still standing, bricked up at ground level, but intact. While much of Berlin lies in rubble,
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Parts of the Adlon are turned into a field hospital as German forces make their last stand, wounded soldiers occupying the same suites that once hosted kings and diplomats. And yet, even through this, the hotel continues. Guests are still checked in. The restaurant still serves. Staff still wear their uniforms. The Adlon had been built to endure bomb shelters below, a vast reinforced brick wall erected around the lobby level to protect the function rooms from flying debris. And remarkably, it does.
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D
The Adlor may have survived the war, but as our listeners will know by now, it is often not war itself that brings these great hotels to their knees, but something much closer at hand.
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A fire. And not one started in anger or destruction, but quite the opposite.
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There's a certain irony to it. This great enduring hotel becomes a casualty of the very forces sent to Liberate Berlin. In May 1945, as the Red army completes its conquest of the city, soldiers descend into the Ailen's legendary wine cellar in search of celebration.
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And this is no ordinary cellar. A vast collection of rare vintages and historic wines numbering into the tens of thousands.
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Even more remarkable when you consider that wine had only recently become a marker of refinement in Berlin, being a more beer orientated type of place. That shift is driven in part by entrepreneurs like Bertolt Kapinski, who who popularises wine by the glass and turns it into a social habit. And by Adlon himself, whose upbringing in Mainz, one of Germany's great wine regions, gives him a natural instinct for it.
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And so Berlin's newfound penchant for wine fills the Adlon cellar. So extensive is the stock that during the war, when Germany is cut off from all sides, the hotel even operates as a wholesale supplier. By the end of the war, around 250,000 bottles still remain, a greatly reduced selection.
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Though I'm sure the Red army soldiers could find something for their palate, they certainly do.
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But in that moment of celebration, something goes terribly wrong. A fire breaks out in the cellar. Within hours, the Adlon is ablaze.
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The main building is destroyed, but one wing remains intact. And with typical German determination, staff take repairs into their own hands, patching it together with whatever materials they can find.
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By June 1945, just one month after the surrender, the Adlon waves no white flag. A restaurant opens on the first floor, decorated with gilded rococo chairs that Soviet soldiers had, shall we say, liberated from the Reich chancellery. By August, 16 rooms are available once again.
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But amidst all of this, the the Adlon family itself does not escape the chaos. Louis Adlon, son of Lorenz, the man who steered the hotel through two decades of turbulence, is arrested by Soviet troops at his home near Potsdam in April 1945. Mistaken for a German general because of his title of General Director, he does not survive. Louis Adlon dies on the journey home from a Soviet prison camp, never to see what becomes of his family's great
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creation, which gives Hedda's role in what comes next an even more poignant dimension. She will carry the Adlon's future alone. But that story comes a little later. On December 2, 1949, the Adlon is expropriated by the new East German state, the German Democratic Republic. No compensation is paid. The remaining wing is converted into a state owned hotel. And hotel Ghani Veb Adlon.
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Not the catchiest of names, no, but
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one that reflects a Soviet emphasis on collective ownership over private enterprise. And yet, despite becoming state property, the hotel retains certain traditions.
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Even into the 1960s, the hotel still employs pages and valets who unbelievably wear the original uniforms from the imperial era.
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In a newly divided city. Perhaps the weight of tradition proves harder to dismantle than the building itself. But it doesn't last. In 1984, the end finally comes. The East German politbure makes a fateful decision.
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The remaining wing is to be demolished. And that same year, the last physical trace of the original Adlon is dynamited. A hotel that had endured empire, war and division reduced to dust.
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But hang on a moment. If that's the case, why is it that if I travel to Berlin today, I can still stay at the Adlon?
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D
Ah, Jules, excellent detective work. Because the story of the Adlon does not end here. And as it happens, it brings us back to a name we've already heard. Do you remember Hedda Adlon?
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Yes, the woman who brought the Roaring Twenties into the hotel and who, as we now know, was left to carry its future alone.
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Exactly. Well, in 1957, Hedda shows extraordinary foresight. She sells the preemptive rights to the Adlon name and and the site itself to Kempinski ag, the prestigious German hotel group. But according to family accounts, the sale comes with a remarkable condition. The Kempinskis must promise that if the Berlin Wall ever comes down and the city is reunited, the Adlon will be rebuilt in its former glory.
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A prospect that must have felt almost unimaginable at the time.
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And yet, in 1989, the unimaginable happens. The Berlin Wall falls.
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Crowds flood the streets. Strangers embrace. A divided city begins at last to come back together. And with it, a promise made decades earlier suddenly comes due.
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In the euphoria of German reunification, as Berlin reimagines itself as the capital of a unified nation, a powerful desire emerges to reclaim the city's cultural and historical heritage. The stage is perfectly set for a new Addlon.
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The rebuilding undertaken between 1995 and 1997 by architects Patchka Klotz and partner, does not aim to recreate the original hotel in an archaeological sense. Instead, it seeks recognisability.
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And how do they achieve that?
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Through proportion and presence. Think back to the original Adlon. The roof lines, the scale, the height of the lobby. All. All carefully echoed. So the building reads as it once did on Parise Platz. But step inside and it is something entirely different. Just as with the original Adlon, the interior is the paradigm of modernity.
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And once again, just as the Kaiser was once enchanted by the promise of a three minute bath, the powers of the state come knocking. On 23 August 1997, German Federal President Roman Herzog arrives in full splendor.
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And with that, the Adlon becomes one of the very few hotels in history to have been opened twice by heads of state from entirely different political systems. It is, in a sense, living up to its nickname, Berlin's Little Switzerland.
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Once again, the Adlon becomes the unofficial state guest house of Berlin. Visiting dignitaries fill its rooms, drawn not only by its comfort, but by what the address itself represents. Stability, continuity, and a quiet kind of international legitimacy.
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And in the decades since, the names have only grown bigger. Among its most prominent guests are Elizabeth ii, whose repeated visits even led to the Royal Suite being renamed in her honour. And Barack Obama, whose stay and widely reported dinner with Chancellor Angela Merkel caused quite a stir.
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D
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at that tete a tete. But not everything here is a carefully choreographed moment of statecraft. Some listeners may remember an infamous moment in 2002 when a crowd of journalists and onlookers gathered below a certain hotel balcony.
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I do remember it. Michael Jackson, holding his nine month old son, Prince Michael ii, his face covered by a towel, briefly dangles the child over the balcony railing in front of thousands of shocked fans below. And here is the detail that makes the story from scandalous to almost surreal. Jackson was in Berlin specifically to accept an award for his philanthropic work with children.
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One imagines the award committee had mixed feelings about the timing. Momentary scandal aside, the contemporary Adelon has much more to offer than pageantry alone. Its culinary program, launched in 2000 with the opening of Restaurant Lorenz Adelon Estzima, ushers in a period of Michelin recognition. And if one star was not enough, it gains a second in 2011.
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The 2000s bring further additions. A covered entrance canopy in 2006, a terrace overlooking the Brandenburg Gate, and later, a dedicated SPA complex in 2012.
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And today, even though the Adlaw no longer stands in its original form, when you visit, you can still feel the symbolic weight it has been asked to carry. It is destroyed, erased, and consciously rebuilt, not because it was inevitable, but because Berlin chooses to recover it.
[33:27]
C
For a hotel to hold up a mirror to the 20th century while continually reshaping its own reflection is quite an achievement. The Adlon begins as the pinnacle of imperial ambition, becomes a vessel of cultural brilliance, and endures through reinvention.
[33:42]
D
This podcast is called Hotels with History, and the Adlon is certainly one of its most remarkable examples. A story of hospitality and power played out on one of the most visible stages in Europe.
[33:54]
C
So, Richard, if you stepped onto that stage, what role do you think you'd play?
[33:58]
D
In a place like the Adlon? I suspect one doesn't choose the role, it rather chooses you.
[34:04]
C
I think that's exactly it. So that's the end of this episode of Hotels with History, with me, Jules
[34:10]
D
Perrone and me, Richard Egrart.
[34:12]
C
Thank you for exploring the Adlon with us. And see, see you next time.
[34:24]
B
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Hotels with History, produced by Intelligence Squared in partnership with Peron. If you enjoyed it, just search Hotels With History wherever you're listening to this podcast and follow the show so you don't miss an episode.
[34:40]
D
Foreign.
[34:45]
E
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Summary6 min read

Episode Summary: Hotels with History | The Adlon, Berlin

Podcast: Intelligence Squared
Hosts: Jules Perrone & Richard E. Grant
Release Date: July 28, 2026
Episode Theme:
This episode of "Hotels with History" explores the extraordinary life of Berlin’s Hotel Adlon—a hotel that has served as a microcosm of German and European history. The hosts trace its rise from imperial luxury to destruction and rebirth, revealing how the Adlon mirrored the political, cultural, and social currents of 20th and 21st century Berlin.

Main Theme Overview

The Adlon stands as both a witness and a participant in Europe’s tumultuous 20th century—surviving empire, war, division, and ultimately symbolizing reunification. Through stories of royal guests, technological innovation, and moments of world-changing drama, Jules and Richard uncover how the Adlon became a stage for power, diplomacy, and reinvention.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Significance of Place

The episode opens in Pariser Platz, Berlin, opposite the Brandenburg Gate, positioning the Adlon as central to the visual and social grammar of the city.
Quote (Jules, 02:30):

“This is no ordinary square. It feels less like a piece of architecture and more like a stage set for history... And just opposite, Hotel Adlon. For over a century, if you are ready to take your place on the world stage, the Adlon was the only place to go.”

2. Origins: Vision, Ambition, and Innovation (05:46–13:15)

Lorenz Adlon, from humble beginnings, builds his reputation by catering to Berlin's elite and shaping their tastes.
Convincing Kaiser Wilhelm II to sponsor an unprecedented hotel, Lorenz Adlon offers both technological marvels (rapidly filling bathtubs, in-room call lights, pneumatic tubes) and cultural sophistication.
The Adlon opens in 1907 to imperial fanfare; its technology and opulence mark a new era.
Quote (Richard, 11:26):

“On the opening day, the Emperor takes out his watch… and with just a few seconds to spare, the bath is full.”
Adlon introduces innovations such as a cooling system and optical service signals, revolutionizing hospitality.

3. Surviving Upheaval: War, Revolution, and Reinvention (13:27–19:11)

WWI brings disruption; international guests disappear overnight, but the hotel adapts.
The Adlon survives the 1918 German Revolution untouched, continuing as a hub for the new diplomatic and cultural elite.
Adlon as a stage for the Weimar Republic’s vibrancy; famed guests include Thomas Edison, Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, and Greta Garbo.
Quote (Jules, 15:00):

“The Adlon’s role as a semi-official diplomatic stage is cemented by its use by the German Foreign Office.”
Greta Garbo’s visit and the myth-making around her stay symbolize the hotel’s blend of privacy and spectacle.

4. The Nazi Period and Survival through WWII (20:13–24:47)

In the 1930s and '40s, the Adlon becomes a hub for diplomats and journalists, earning the nickname "Little Switzerland" for its internationalism amid Nazi rigidity.
Despite being near the Nazi nerve center, Hitler avoids it; foreign correspondents like William L. Shirer use the hotel as a vantage point:
Quote (Richard, 21:11):

“Even in the darkest years, [the Adlon] retains a quality... too open, too international... to ever be fully absorbed into the Nazi project.”
The hotel survives the Allied bombings virtually untouched and serves as a field hospital and oasis of order amid chaos.
Its luck ends not in war, but in a tragic, accidental fire set by victorious Red Army soldiers celebrating in the cellars:
Quote (Richard, 25:03):

“There's a certain irony to it. This great enduring hotel becomes a casualty of the very forces sent to liberate Berlin.”

5. Postwar, Expropriation, and Demolition (26:57–28:45)

The hotel limps on as a state institution in East Germany, maintaining vestiges of imperial tradition into the ’60s.
In 1984, the last remaining wing of the original Adlon is demolished by the East German regime.
Quote (Jules, 28:18):

“In a newly divided city. Perhaps the weight of tradition proves harder to dismantle than the building itself. But it doesn't last.… The last physical trace of the original Adlon is dynamited.”

6. Rebirth: Memory, Promise, and Modern Identity (29:10–33:09)

Hedda Adlon, widow of Louis and a progressive leader during the Weimar years, sells the rights and name to Kempinski with the condition that if Berlin is reunited, Adlon must be rebuilt in its glory.
After the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, the hotel is reconstructed—not as an exact replica, but as a fitting echo of its former elegance.
The new Adlon opens in 1997, officiated by Germany’s president—making it one of the few hotels opened twice by heads of state.
Quote (Richard, 31:06):

“It is, in a sense, living up to its nickname, Berlin’s Little Switzerland.”
The Adlon resumes its tradition as host to major world leaders (Queen Elizabeth II, Barack Obama) and cements its place in Berlin’s new narrative.
The infamous "Michael Jackson balcony incident" is recalled as a symbol of the hotel's strange place in pop culture memory (32:11).

7. Legacy: More Than a Building (33:09–33:54)

The hosts reflect on the Adlon as a mirror of 20th-century history: constructed, destroyed, and consciously chosen for rebirth.
The hotel's layered identity—imperial grandeur, cultural vessel, and symbol of reunified Germany—provides a unique window into Berlin’s heart.

Notable Quotes & Moments

On the role of discretion in German hospitality (Jules, 04:52):

“A hotel experience that appears perfectly composed, with just a hint of debauchery lurking beneath the surface. And above all, I think, of privacy, of discretion.”
On Greta Garbo’s myth and reality (Richard, 18:43):

“The story that she stood here in this hotel and declared, ‘I want to be alone.' Which she probably didn’t.”
(Jules points out her real words were probably “I want to be let alone.”)
On the duality of the Adlon (Jules, 18:59):

“The Adlon sits at the center of Pariser Platz, unbelievably alive with happenings and spectacle. And yet it offers an oasis for the most famous of its guests.”
On surviving history (Richard, 33:26):

“When you visit, you can still feel the symbolic weight it has been asked to carry. It is destroyed, erased, and consciously rebuilt, not because it was inevitable, but because Berlin chooses to recover it.”
On what it means to be part of the Adlon’s story (Richard, 33:58):

“In a place like the Adlon? I suspect one doesn’t choose the role, it rather chooses you.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

Origins and Early Years: 05:46–13:15
WWI and Weimar Renaissance: 13:27–19:11
The Nazi Era and WWII: 20:13–24:47
Postwar Fate and Demolition: 26:57–28:45
The Hotel’s Rebirth and Contemporary Legacy: 29:10–33:09
Reflections and Closing Thoughts: 33:26–34:11

Conclusion

Through evocative storytelling, Jules Perrone and Richard E. Grant guide listeners through the Adlon’s metamorphosis: from imperial monument to cultural nerve center, through war, ruin, and phoenix-like resurrection. The Adlon’s story, told with wit and insight, underscores how "hotels with history" reveal the ambitions, anxieties, and aspirations of cities themselves. For Berlin, the Adlon remains its living room—open to the world, indelibly marked by the past, and always ready for its next act.

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Transcript136 lines

[00:01]
A
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[01:27]
B
Hello, I'm head of Programming Conor Boyle. Today we're whisking you away with a handpicked episode of Armchair Escapism. After a standout first season, Hotels with History is back. Produced by Intelligence Squared in partnership with Perrone International, this new season sees hosts Jules Perrone and Richard E. Grant travel further than ever to some of the world's most storied hotels. This season, you can stroll along white sand to the Copacabana palace. Watch the 1918 German Revolution unfold from the windows of Berlin's home, Hotel Adlon. And, of course, enjoy Richard's inimitable impersonations of Marlena Dietrich. In each episode, Richard and Jules check in to a different hotel, uncovering the unforgettable moments that took place within its walls and beyond its grounds, exploring how the tides of history transformed entire regions into the luxury destinations we know today. Now, over to Jules and Richard for Hotels with History.
[02:31]
C
Today, our story begins in a square. We are standing in the middle of Parise Platz in Berlin, a square so important it feels less like a piece of architecture and more like a stage set for history. And what does any stage need? Its players. Diplomats, royals, celebrities, officers. All of them pass through, all of them aware they are being seen. To one side of this stage stands the Brandenburg Gate, its winged chariot looming above the scene, traffic threading through its vast columns. And just opposite, Hotel Adlon. For over a century, if you are ready to take your place on the world stage, the Adlon was the only place to go. After all, the most important part of any theatre is not the stage itself, but the dressing room. The place where alliances are formed, masks are adjusted, and the real drama begins long before the curtain rises. And from the Adlon in its original form, built on this mighty square, well, the performance could begin.
[03:49]
D
Welcome to Hotels With History.
[03:52]
C
I'm Jules Perrone.
[03:53]
D
And I'm Richard E. Grant. We've been brought together by a shared fascination with what makes a legendary hotel and by the stories embedded in their walls.
[04:03]
C
Because if you want to truly understand a city, you should start with its hotels.
[04:07]
D
In every episode, we'll take you inside some of the world's most iconic and storied hotels.
[04:13]
C
In today's episode, we're checking into Berlin's living room, more commonly known as Hotel Adlon. Kempinski.
[04:22]
D
I don't know about you, Jules, but one thing I've learned from my travels is that no two nations do hospitality quite the same way. We've been to Lake Como with its show stopping Italian grandeur, the Wall of Astoria with that uniquely New York sense of lively pizazz. And now we find ourselves in Berlin and at the Adlorn, a hotel that has served generations of the city's most important guests to secure its place at the very heart of Berlin life. What exactly is German hospitality to you, Jules?
[04:52]
C
Well, I think of impeccable order and a haven of innovation. A hotel experience that appears perfectly composed with just a hint of debauchery lurking beneath the surface. And above all, I think, of privacy, of discretion.
[05:09]
D
Indeed. And you only have to look to Berlin's most famous nightclub, Berghain, to see the legacy of these sensibilities. It is a place to unwind and enjoy a raucous night, all under the COVID of privacy and exclusivity. But to gently reassure our listeners, there was no berghain in the 19th century, and certainly none of its more adventurous dress code.
[05:33]
C
Thankfully not. And in fact, there was also no Adlon either. Our story today begins with an absence and an enterprising man who looked at a fractured imperial society and saw an
[05:47]
D
opportunity in the 19th century. Berlin is the epicenter of the Prussian state, an imperial capital of immense military and industrial power, and at its very heart, Parise Platz. This is no charming Square for a leisurely stroll. It is lined with aristocratic residences, embassies and institutions of state. Its architecture speaks of power with a capital P. To build here is to take part in the visual grammar of authority. And to arrive here is to boldly present yourself to Berlin society.
[06:20]
C
But with all this power and influence concentrated in a single square, there is no obvious place for those vessels of power to gather. No Savoy, no Ritz. Instead, people scatter across smaller hotels and private salons. Berlin's movers and shakers need something more, something grander. And this is where Lorenz Adlon comes in.
[06:43]
D
We've had a few unlikely entrepreneurs across this series. Jules and Lawrence Adlon is certainly one of them, one of nine children of a cobbler from Mainz. And yet he's the man who steps forward to answer that demand.
[06:57]
C
Which is quite the leap, isn't it? Like many of the figures we've come across in the early days of these hotels, Adlon doesn't inherit his way into society, he works his way in.
[07:07]
D
Exactly. He builds his reputation through hospitality, opening up coffee houses and restaurants all over the city, learning, quite literally how to serve Berlin's elite.
[07:18]
C
And not just serve them, but shape their tastes. It's Adlon, for example, who. Whose cafe at the zoological gardens introduces Berliners to the world of Italian gelato, which up until that point had been a city only familiar with vanilla and chocolate ice.
[07:35]
D
I would have loved to have seen the looks on their faces. Absolute astonishment.
[07:39]
C
It isn't all fun and games with Adlon. Contemporary accounts paint a man of rigorous discipline, meticulous about hierarchy. And it is that understanding of imperial Berlin's obsession with power that lays the groundwork for his most important and fruitful patron, Kaiser Wilhelm ii.
[07:58]
D
Ah, the last German emperor. Though of course he didn't know that at the time. Kaiser Wilhelm II is dissatisfied with the capital's existing hospitality. His nearby residence, the Stadtschloss, meaning city palace, is frequently described as cold and ill suited to modern comfort.
[08:15]
C
And looking to the comparative luxuries of Paris and Vienna, cities so often compared with Berlin, the Kaiser is persuaded by Lorenz Adlon's promise of a new home for the city's elite. And just like that, the Hotel Adlon is given the green light to be built on Parise Platz.
[08:33]
D
And this royal ascent is key to the Adlon's birth. The Kaiser personally overrules criticism of demolishing an aristocratic palace that stands on the proposed site. In its place, the hotel rises at one of Berlin's most prestigious addresses. Number one Unter den Linden, a brisk three minute walk from the Reichstag.
[08:54]
C
It comes at an enormous cost, around 17 million gold marks. Construction begins in 1905 and is completed just two years later. And with that, the Adlon is cemented at the very center of Berlin society. Just in time for the 20th century to really get going.
[09:14]
D
And my is there a roller coaster to come. The Adlan ushers in this new era with an opening that feels more like a coronation than a hotel launch. In late October 1907, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Empress Augusta Victoria attend in person to witness what is presented as a national achievement. In fact, anecdotes suggest the Kaiser rather dramatically insists on being the very first to cross the threshold.
[09:41]
C
Such is the fanfare that sources can't even agree on the date of the official opening. The 23rd or 26th October. A rather extended celebration, I suspect.
[09:51]
D
Well, I simply have to know what all the fuss is about. If you'll allow me to cross the threshold.
[09:57]
C
By all means, but do prepare yourself. This is no ordinary hotel lobby, opening up into a vast, vertically expansive space punctuated by marble columns. And immediately the Adlon confronts its guests with a space to charged with an energy not unlike Parise Platz itself. This is not a private salon. This is where Berlin comes to be seen. And at the center, a rather famous fountain.
[10:24]
D
Don't you find a fountain in a hotel just so classic?
[10:28]
C
But this fountain isn't purely aesthetic. At the center of the Goethe Garden, surrounded by the hotel's restaurants and salons, stands a bronze Japanese themed elephant fountain.
[10:39]
D
It draws water from the hotel's own well and its basin is lined entirely with blue mosaics. All at a cost equivalent to well over €200,000 today.
[10:50]
C
Wow. And that's not all. The fountain also forms part of a concealed cooling system, circulating chilled water throughout the building. A technological luxury that perfectly sums up the Adlon's approach to comfort.
[11:03]
D
Water is certainly no afterthought at this hotel. One of my favourite stories is the so called Throw Three Minute Promise. When Lawrence Adelon is trying to convince Kaiser Wilhelm to back the project, he makes an extraordinary claim that the bathtubs in the hotel could be filled with warm water in under three minutes.
[11:22]
C
I'm not sure many bathtubs today can manage that, let alone in 1907.
[11:26]
D
Well, I haven't said he succeeded yet. On the opening day, the Emperor takes out his watch and orders Adelon to put his money where his mouth is, making no effort to conceal quite how disappointed he will be if the promise isn't kept. And so, with hands trembling, Adalon turns on the tap. The crowd holds its breath. And with just a few seconds to spare, the bath is full.
[11:51]
C
And it isn't just water. Where the Adalon innovates, it excels in communication, too. In a world that's hard to imagine now, hotels were filled with the constant ringing of bells. The Adlon replaces all of that with something entirely new. Optical signals.
[12:07]
D
Yes. Above each room, paired red and green lamps respond to the press of a button. They glow softly and stay lit until service is complete. And those signals are relayed to a central control point, allowing staff to monitor and coordinate the entire hotel quietly and with precision.
[12:27]
C
Fascinating, though perhaps not quite as otherworldly as the hotel's own internal postal system. The Adlon installs a pneumatic tube network, allowing messages to zip from reception straight up to the guest rooms. I must say, I rather like the idea of receiving one's post by tube.
[12:44]
D
Likewise. And these innovations certainly catch the Kaiser's eye. At opening, the adalon boasts around 260 rooms and over 300 beds, with an unusually high number of bathrooms for the time, a figure that only grows when the adjacent Hotel Reichshof is absorbed, expanding the hotel to more than 300 rooms.
[13:04]
C
The Adlon is soon established as the Kaiser's hotel of choice, with reports that he pays an annual retainer of 150,000 gold marks to keep suites permanently available.
[13:15]
D
And so the Aidlon glows with imperial confidence. But as the current world order begins to tremble, can it survive?
[13:28]
C
The outbreak of the First World War immediately disrupts the Adlon's raison d'.
[13:32]
D
Etre.
[13:33]
C
Once a place of continuity, hierarchy, and international recognition, this imperial stronghold suddenly finds itself adrift.
[13:42]
D
British, French, and Russian guests vanish almost overnight, replaced instead by domestic elites and wartime officials. The Adlon's offerings do not cease, but they are noticeably restrained as imported goods become scarce, menus simplify, and the entertainment grows more modest.
[14:01]
C
And when revolution finally comes crashing through the Brandenburg Gate in 1918, you might expect it to sweep the Adlon away with it. But no. Even as demonstrations erupt, street fighting breaks out, and workers and soldiers councils rise across the city, the Adlon endures. The Kaiser abdicates and flees. Yet the hotel carries on. There are no recorded disruptions to its service, no damage. It remains improbably untouched.
[14:30]
D
My, my. We thought the Adlon was simply a vessel for imperial power, and yet it seems perfectly capable of standing on its own two feet.
[14:39]
C
And in the fragile months that follow, the Adalon remains at the heart of diplomatic life. In May 1919, protesters demonstrating the peace terms march right past its doors, even as allied delegations are staying within the
[14:52]
D
tension that square must have held. And the Adlon, it becomes so much more than a place to rest your head. A living witness to history.
[15:00]
C
And a remarkable witness indeed. And as the Weimar Republic is established in 1919, its story is really only just beginning. Berlin is changed and is still changing. Political instability lingers, but the city begins to exude an extraordinary cultural vitality. The Adlon's role as a semi official diplomatic stage is cemented by its use by the German Foreign Office. Guest lists span royalty, diplomats, industrialists and cultural icons, from Thomas Edison and Henry Ford to Josephine Baker, Thomas Mann and Marlene Dietrich, all counting themselves as Adlon regulars.
[15:39]
D
Quite the who's who. But even this glittering guest list can't distract from the economic troubles at hand. The end of the empire brings soaring inflation and dwindling fortunes. The hotel's core clientele, the imperial nobility, suddenly find themselves rather less wealthy and perhaps a touch less noble.
[15:58]
C
And as the world he helped to build begins to disappear, Lorenz Adlong refuses to let it go. Even after the Kaiser's abdication, he refuses to remove the monarch's bust from one of the hotel's principal rooms.
[16:10]
D
And that attachment to hierarchy follows him quite literally. He is known for repeatedly attempting to pass through the Brandenburg Gate central carriageway, a route traditionally reserved for nobility and high officials.
[16:23]
C
In the years after 1918, he is involved in a number of accidents on
[16:28]
D
Parise Platz, a man determined to keep his place no matter the consequences.
[16:33]
C
And in the end, this behavior proves fatal. In 1921, Adlon is struck by a vehicle on Parisa Platz and dies. His son Louis takes charge. But it's Louis wife Hedda who truly reshapes the hotel's next chapter. Hedda Adlon pulls it out of a conservative past still rooted in the empire. She brings the spirit of the Roaring twenties into the Adlon. And before long, there is a party every night.
[17:00]
D
About time. Artists, writers, scientists and entertainers all flow back into the city and by extension, to the Adlon. And once again, familiar sounds return to its great lobby. A babble of languages and world views softened, of course, by the constant burble of the fountain. But who's that? I can hear a young Swedish woman by the name of Greta Garbo. Let's hear how she described the city. Berlin. I will never forget when I arrived there, the smell of the city. A wonderful scent that contained everything you Feel it in your chest when it comes. But I could smell it long before we were actually in the city. It was as if I had smelled it once before.
[17:42]
C
Quite the olfactory scene from a true fan of the podcast, the great Greta Garbo. Her story at this hotel sits somewhere between fact and myth, which in many ways makes it all the more revealing. She arrives at the Adlon in 1924 with the saga of Gusta Berling. She's beginning to be known beyond the borders of Sweden. And so she comes to Berlin to try her luck.
[18:05]
D
A meeting is arranged, a dinner, a film screening. The Swedish director Morit Stiller presents her work to Louis B. Mayer, the head of Studio Metro Golden Mayer, who just happens to be in Berlin searching for new talent. And somewhere between the language barriers and rather awkward silences, a deal is struck. Garbo leaves with a contract from mgm, and with it, the beginning of a global career.
[18:30]
C
All decided over dinner at the Adlon. Not bad for an evening's work.
[18:35]
D
But what lingers is not just the deal, it's the myth. The story that she stood here in this hotel and declared, I want to be alone.
[18:44]
C
Which she probably didn't.
[18:45]
D
No, there's no record of her ever saying it here. In fact, she later insisted it was closer to I want to be let alone. But that almost doesn't matter, because the Adlon could offer something quite new. Privacy in full view of the world.
[19:00]
C
It's almost a contradiction, really. The Adlon sits at the center of Parise Platz, unbelievably alive with happenings and spectacle. And yet it offers an oasis for the most famous of its guests.
[19:11]
D
Greta isn't the only one to take advantage of that balance. Albert Einstein is a regular here. He even has a favourite room, using the hotel as a base between lectures and social engagements.
[19:22]
C
And there's a rather silly story about Albert Einstein.
[19:25]
D
Do tell, jules.
[19:26]
C
A wealthy Mr. Bamberger of New York is determined to meet him. After several failed attempts, Einstein finally relents and they arrange to have tea at the Adlon. But that isn't quite far enough for Mr. Bamberger. He wants more. So he has a car brought round. And when they step outside, Einstein discovers it is filled to bursting with the entire Bamberger family. Einstein, somewhat shyly, takes a seat right at the very back.
[19:52]
D
The very thought makes me cringe. Though I suppose who could resist the chance to ride alongside a genius? All the more reason to remain safely within the protective walls of the Atalon.
[20:02]
C
Protective though they may be, those walls are not without their cracks. With its proximity to government and its eclectic guests, the Adlon becomes a gathering place for journalists and foreign correspondents.
[20:13]
D
And those journalists are about to cover one of the darkest stories of the 20th century, the rise of the Nazi Party.
[20:20]
C
During this ever darkening period, the Adlon once again becomes a key meeting point for diplomats and political figures, hosting discreet and at times clandestine discussions within its rooms. In the years leading up to the war, the hotel even earns the nickname Little Switzerland, a reference to neutrality in an increasingly divided world.
[20:40]
D
Little Switzerland in the shadow of the Chancellery.
[20:43]
C
Quite the contradiction and the irony of that nickname is not lost because the Adlon is quite literally within walking distance of the machinery of Nazi power. Hitler's chancellery sits barely a block away. The propaganda ministry run by Goebbels is around the corner. Yet Hitler himself is a rare sight at the Adlon. He prefers the nearby Hotel Kaiserhof for his meetings and inner circle, finding the Adlon's cosmopolitan international atmosphere rather less to
[21:11]
D
his taste, which I think tells you something rather revealing. The Adlon, even in the darkest years, retains a quality that makes it incompatible with the narrow world Hitler is trying to build. It is too open, too international, too used to the world walking through its doors to ever be fully absorbed into the Nazi project.
[21:31]
C
And as the situation escalates, one observer in particular keeps careful record. The American journalist William L. Shirer, reporting for cbs, becomes one of the most important chroniclers of Nazi Germany and his base.
[21:46]
D
The Adlon Berlin Diary, the journal of A foreign correspondent, 1934-1941, stands as a remarkable account of journalists attempting to report truthfully under increasing censorship and surveillance. From his vantage point at the Adlon, he witnesses figures like Hitler and Chamberlain in the tense moments before the sellout of Czechoslovakia. It's a difficult read, knowing what is about to unfold. But far more troubling is the thought of a world in which it was never written at all.
[22:15]
C
And all the more remarkable when you consider that the hotel itself is not beyond suspicion. The Gestapo maintains a constant presence within the Adlon. Agents are said to be disguised as maids and as porters, always watching.
[22:30]
D
Well, if that is the case, why was his work not seized?
[22:33]
C
We don't know for certain. It may be simply the inefficiencies of Nazi bureaucracy, or, as he rather wryly admits, his room was so cluttered they may not have had the patience to search it properly.
[22:44]
D
I shall never look at a cluttered room the same way again.
[22:47]
C
While mess wasn't the only way of evading Gestapo tampering, Sigrid Schulz, a brave correspondent, would place a fine thread across her desk before leaving her room. If it snapped, she knew someone had been inside. Absolutely ingenious. But no amount of ingenuity could keep out what came next.
[23:05]
D
Because by the early 1940s, the danger is no longer hidden in corridors and behind closed doors. It is falling from the sky.
[23:12]
C
And from his room at the Adlon, Shira witnesses it firsthand.
[23:16]
D
Berlin, Friday. Last night, the severest bombing yet, and the German papers are beside themselves. The Burson Zeitung calls our pilot visitors of last evening barbarians. And the headline is Crime of British on Berlin.
[23:33]
C
According to the Nazis, only five people are killed, but the number of firebombs the British drop is considerable. Three fall in the yard of the Adlon, five in the garden of the embassy next door, and half a dozen in the garden of Dr. Goebbels himself.
[23:48]
D
The Adalon's survival of the Second World War is almost miraculous. As Allied bombing devastates Berlin from 1943 onwards, reducing the city block by block, the hotel remains largely unscathed. By April 1945, as the Red army closes in, it is still standing, bricked up at ground level, but intact. While much of Berlin lies in rubble,
[24:16]
C
Parts of the Adlon are turned into a field hospital as German forces make their last stand, wounded soldiers occupying the same suites that once hosted kings and diplomats. And yet, even through this, the hotel continues. Guests are still checked in. The restaurant still serves. Staff still wear their uniforms. The Adlon had been built to endure bomb shelters below, a vast reinforced brick wall erected around the lobby level to protect the function rooms from flying debris. And remarkably, it does.
[24:48]
D
The Adlor may have survived the war, but as our listeners will know by now, it is often not war itself that brings these great hotels to their knees, but something much closer at hand.
[24:58]
C
A fire. And not one started in anger or destruction, but quite the opposite.
[25:04]
D
There's a certain irony to it. This great enduring hotel becomes a casualty of the very forces sent to Liberate Berlin. In May 1945, as the Red army completes its conquest of the city, soldiers descend into the Ailen's legendary wine cellar in search of celebration.
[25:20]
C
And this is no ordinary cellar. A vast collection of rare vintages and historic wines numbering into the tens of thousands.
[25:29]
D
Even more remarkable when you consider that wine had only recently become a marker of refinement in Berlin, being a more beer orientated type of place. That shift is driven in part by entrepreneurs like Bertolt Kapinski, who who popularises wine by the glass and turns it into a social habit. And by Adlon himself, whose upbringing in Mainz, one of Germany's great wine regions, gives him a natural instinct for it.
[25:55]
C
And so Berlin's newfound penchant for wine fills the Adlon cellar. So extensive is the stock that during the war, when Germany is cut off from all sides, the hotel even operates as a wholesale supplier. By the end of the war, around 250,000 bottles still remain, a greatly reduced selection.
[26:14]
D
Though I'm sure the Red army soldiers could find something for their palate, they certainly do.
[26:18]
C
But in that moment of celebration, something goes terribly wrong. A fire breaks out in the cellar. Within hours, the Adlon is ablaze.
[26:27]
D
The main building is destroyed, but one wing remains intact. And with typical German determination, staff take repairs into their own hands, patching it together with whatever materials they can find.
[26:39]
C
By June 1945, just one month after the surrender, the Adlon waves no white flag. A restaurant opens on the first floor, decorated with gilded rococo chairs that Soviet soldiers had, shall we say, liberated from the Reich chancellery. By August, 16 rooms are available once again.
[26:57]
D
But amidst all of this, the the Adlon family itself does not escape the chaos. Louis Adlon, son of Lorenz, the man who steered the hotel through two decades of turbulence, is arrested by Soviet troops at his home near Potsdam in April 1945. Mistaken for a German general because of his title of General Director, he does not survive. Louis Adlon dies on the journey home from a Soviet prison camp, never to see what becomes of his family's great
[27:26]
C
creation, which gives Hedda's role in what comes next an even more poignant dimension. She will carry the Adlon's future alone. But that story comes a little later. On December 2, 1949, the Adlon is expropriated by the new East German state, the German Democratic Republic. No compensation is paid. The remaining wing is converted into a state owned hotel. And hotel Ghani Veb Adlon.
[27:57]
D
Not the catchiest of names, no, but
[28:00]
C
one that reflects a Soviet emphasis on collective ownership over private enterprise. And yet, despite becoming state property, the hotel retains certain traditions.
[28:10]
D
Even into the 1960s, the hotel still employs pages and valets who unbelievably wear the original uniforms from the imperial era.
[28:19]
C
In a newly divided city. Perhaps the weight of tradition proves harder to dismantle than the building itself. But it doesn't last. In 1984, the end finally comes. The East German politbure makes a fateful decision.
[28:33]
D
The remaining wing is to be demolished. And that same year, the last physical trace of the original Adlon is dynamited. A hotel that had endured empire, war and division reduced to dust.
[28:46]
C
But hang on a moment. If that's the case, why is it that if I travel to Berlin today, I can still stay at the Adlon?
[28:53]
D
Ah, Jules, excellent detective work. Because the story of the Adlon does not end here. And as it happens, it brings us back to a name we've already heard. Do you remember Hedda Adlon?
[29:05]
C
Yes, the woman who brought the Roaring Twenties into the hotel and who, as we now know, was left to carry its future alone.
[29:11]
D
Exactly. Well, in 1957, Hedda shows extraordinary foresight. She sells the preemptive rights to the Adlon name and and the site itself to Kempinski ag, the prestigious German hotel group. But according to family accounts, the sale comes with a remarkable condition. The Kempinskis must promise that if the Berlin Wall ever comes down and the city is reunited, the Adlon will be rebuilt in its former glory.
[29:40]
C
A prospect that must have felt almost unimaginable at the time.
[29:44]
D
And yet, in 1989, the unimaginable happens. The Berlin Wall falls.
[29:50]
C
Crowds flood the streets. Strangers embrace. A divided city begins at last to come back together. And with it, a promise made decades earlier suddenly comes due.
[30:01]
D
In the euphoria of German reunification, as Berlin reimagines itself as the capital of a unified nation, a powerful desire emerges to reclaim the city's cultural and historical heritage. The stage is perfectly set for a new Addlon.
[30:17]
C
The rebuilding undertaken between 1995 and 1997 by architects Patchka Klotz and partner, does not aim to recreate the original hotel in an archaeological sense. Instead, it seeks recognisability.
[30:31]
D
And how do they achieve that?
[30:33]
C
Through proportion and presence. Think back to the original Adlon. The roof lines, the scale, the height of the lobby. All. All carefully echoed. So the building reads as it once did on Parise Platz. But step inside and it is something entirely different. Just as with the original Adlon, the interior is the paradigm of modernity.
[30:52]
D
And once again, just as the Kaiser was once enchanted by the promise of a three minute bath, the powers of the state come knocking. On 23 August 1997, German Federal President Roman Herzog arrives in full splendor.
[31:07]
C
And with that, the Adlon becomes one of the very few hotels in history to have been opened twice by heads of state from entirely different political systems. It is, in a sense, living up to its nickname, Berlin's Little Switzerland.
[31:21]
D
Once again, the Adlon becomes the unofficial state guest house of Berlin. Visiting dignitaries fill its rooms, drawn not only by its comfort, but by what the address itself represents. Stability, continuity, and a quiet kind of international legitimacy.
[31:37]
C
And in the decades since, the names have only grown bigger. Among its most prominent guests are Elizabeth ii, whose repeated visits even led to the Royal Suite being renamed in her honour. And Barack Obama, whose stay and widely reported dinner with Chancellor Angela Merkel caused quite a stir.
[31:55]
D
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at that tete a tete. But not everything here is a carefully choreographed moment of statecraft. Some listeners may remember an infamous moment in 2002 when a crowd of journalists and onlookers gathered below a certain hotel balcony.
[32:12]
C
I do remember it. Michael Jackson, holding his nine month old son, Prince Michael ii, his face covered by a towel, briefly dangles the child over the balcony railing in front of thousands of shocked fans below. And here is the detail that makes the story from scandalous to almost surreal. Jackson was in Berlin specifically to accept an award for his philanthropic work with children.
[32:35]
D
One imagines the award committee had mixed feelings about the timing. Momentary scandal aside, the contemporary Adelon has much more to offer than pageantry alone. Its culinary program, launched in 2000 with the opening of Restaurant Lorenz Adelon Estzima, ushers in a period of Michelin recognition. And if one star was not enough, it gains a second in 2011.
[32:58]
C
The 2000s bring further additions. A covered entrance canopy in 2006, a terrace overlooking the Brandenburg Gate, and later, a dedicated SPA complex in 2012.
[33:09]
D
And today, even though the Adlaw no longer stands in its original form, when you visit, you can still feel the symbolic weight it has been asked to carry. It is destroyed, erased, and consciously rebuilt, not because it was inevitable, but because Berlin chooses to recover it.
[33:27]
C
For a hotel to hold up a mirror to the 20th century while continually reshaping its own reflection is quite an achievement. The Adlon begins as the pinnacle of imperial ambition, becomes a vessel of cultural brilliance, and endures through reinvention.
[33:42]
D
This podcast is called Hotels with History, and the Adlon is certainly one of its most remarkable examples. A story of hospitality and power played out on one of the most visible stages in Europe.
[33:54]
C
So, Richard, if you stepped onto that stage, what role do you think you'd play?
[33:58]
D
In a place like the Adlon? I suspect one doesn't choose the role, it rather chooses you.
[34:04]
C
I think that's exactly it. So that's the end of this episode of Hotels with History, with me, Jules
[34:10]
D
Perrone and me, Richard Egrart.
[34:12]
C
Thank you for exploring the Adlon with us. And see, see you next time.
[34:24]
B
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Hotels with History, produced by Intelligence Squared in partnership with Peron. If you enjoyed it, just search Hotels With History wherever you're listening to this podcast and follow the show so you don't miss an episode.
[34:40]
D
Foreign.
[34:45]
E
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