Israeli Consulate Moving Near Infamous Munich Nazi Site

Posted: 12:06 pm, February 17, 2014 by MunichNOW News

The Führerbau in Munich - on the Arcisstr. -- photo: dpa

MUNICH — (MunichNOW News) The Israeli General Consulate in Munich has finally found permanent premises that sources say is likely next door to the former Nazi Party headquarters.

The building is the former Nazi headquarters in Munich — photo: dpa

The building’s location is virtually back-to-back with the so-called Führerbau that the Nazis built as a representation venue for Adolf Hitler, sources tell Süddeutsche Zeitung. Directly next door, built on the ruins of Nazi Party headquarters, is the new Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, which will give a detailed history of the Nazi regime when it opens in the fall.

The contract for the building being rented out by the state of Bavaria has not yet been signed, but should be within a matter of weeks.

While establishing Israeli General Consulate offices here is deeply symbolic, the situation will not be unfamiliar to consulate staffers because their present location looks out onto former Gestapo headquarters. But as former General Consul Tibor Shalev Schlosser once said, nothing remained of that except a plaque: “The murderers and their craziness aren’t here anymore, but I, an Israeli diplomat from the same side as their victims, am here today and I represent my country. That’s a statement too.”

The Israeli Consulate in Munich opened in 2011 in temporary quarters. The search for something permanent proved more difficult than anticipated. The Israelis wanted an attractive, affordable, functional building in a central location that was easy to protect. This premises apparently fulfills those requirements.

A particularly symbolic day for the move would be Nov. 9, the anniversary of the violent anti-Jewish attacks on Kristallnacht in 1938. That is also the day the neighboring Munich Documentation Center is due to open.

This article is from the Süddeutsche Zeitung via Worldcrunch