The ‘Hotel Silber’ was used by the police for more than half a century. During the Weimar Republic, it housed parts of the Stuttgart police headquarters. During the Nazi era, the ‘Hotel Silber’ was the headquarters of the Württemberg Gestapo. The Stuttgart criminal investigation department was based in the centrally located building until 1984. At the former site of Nazi terror, a place of historical and political learning and encounter was created as a citizen participation project. The exhibitions, events and projects at the ‘Hotel Silber’ deal with perpetrators and their victims, with the police as an institution and its role in three political systems.
The permanent exhibition on the police, Gestapo and persecution examines the history of the police in the building. It shows continuities and ruptures in their treatment of minorities and in criminal prosecution, but also the self-image of police officers in democracy and dictatorship. Why did the transition from the Weimar Republic to Nazi rule go so smoothly? Who was sent from the ‘Hotel Silber’ to occupied territories during the Second World War and was responsible for mass murders there? Which groups of people remained in the police's sights after 1945? Original objects, documents, images and media convey a differentiated picture of the perpetrators and show the consequences of their actions for the victims. The permanent exhibition is free to visit.
The current special exhibition ‘Gestapo on trial. The prosecution of Nazi criminals’ sheds light on the difficult and cumbersome process of coming to terms with the deeds of the Secret State Police under National Socialism: although the Gestapo was involved in almost all Nazi crimes, only a few employees had to answer for them in court. The exhibition looks at who was put on trial and who was not, who was sent to prison and who was able to live on unmolested despite their atrocities. The exhibition shows why criminal prosecution in the Federal Republic was so slow. It also looks at the impact of prominent trials such as the Auschwitz trial. These triggered social discussions about how to deal with the Nazi past: Is the enforcement of the law paramount? Or should it be weighed against ‘social peace’ in the country of the perpetrators and a line drawn? How long after the offence does atonement make sense? Admission to the special exhibition costs 2 euros (concessions 1 euro).
Events and guided tours on the themes of the permanent and special exhibition are organised regularly at the ‘Hotel Silber’.
