Brief von Frau Lieselotte I. Fessler aus den USA an Oberbürgermeister Schuster und an Ministerpräsident Mappus

May 19, 2010

Dear Oberbürgermeister Schuster, 
Dear Ministerpresident Mappus,

I wish to add my support for the possible plan to convert the Hotel Silber into a museum to remind the population of Stuttgart of the evil deeds of the Nazi era.

My father, Dr. mediz. Paul Ludwig Hecht, was aroused early in the morning of the Kristallnacht and taken into custody to be transported to Dachau. I, then a 14-year old girl, was sent to warn relatives elsewhere in Stuttgart of the danger of arbitrary arrest of Jewish men who had had a spotless, honorable record as citizens. Fortunately my father, who received injuries in the concentration camp, was released several weeks later in recognition of his distinguished military service in the German Medical Corps during world war I, that earned him several medals. A condition of his release was immediate departure from Germany.  I was left in charge of my two younger siblings and we were saved by a Kindertransport to England.  Eventually we were reunited with our parents in the United States. My paternal grandparents perished in the concentration camp Theresienstadt. My younger brother, now Professor Dr. Karl Theodor Hecht, a native-born Stuttgarter, joined the United States military forces as soon as he was old enough, faught in General Patton's army in Europe and searched for any surviving relatives. He rescued an aged, broken Jewish great-uncle who had been dumped in a Stuttgarter mental asylum after his concentration camp experiences.

In conclusion, I believe that it is meaningful that a memorial should be erected at the actualsite, the Silber Hotel, where Jews, such as my father, and other sufferers of Nazi torment were taken en route to concentration camps, rather than at some other, arbitrarily chosen location.

Sincerely,

Liselotte I. Fessler

Liselotte I. Fessler, Ph.D.,
Molecular Biology Institute and
MCDB Department,
Boyer Hall 459, UCLA,
611 E. Charles Young Drive,
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1570 USA