Mark A. Meyer

Dear Dr. Schuster:

                   I am the grandson of Abraham Rimpel of Stuttgart, a shoe
store owner, who was murdered in Dachau, and the nephew of his daughter,
Rosa ?Rita? Rimpel, who was driven to and murdered in Poland. My mother,
Ottilie Rimpel was born in Cannstatt and raised and educated in Stuttgart
before being thrown out of school because she was Jewish. Besides my
grandfather and aunt, many members my family who lived in or near Stuttgart
were murdered by the Nazis, including aunts, uncles and cousins.

                   I am most distressed to learn that the City of Stuttgart
plans to sell the property and buildings on Dorotheenstrasse, including the
building known as the Hotel Silber, the former headquarters of the Gestapo,
which would be destined for demolition.  As you know, from this building,
plans were made for the deportation of Jews from the region, as well as for
systematic torture and debasement of the Jewish citizens of Stuttgart. I
understand that a coalition of organizations have suggested that the Hotel
Silber be preserved as a documentation center for the history of the Nazi
period.  They are correct. No such sale should occur.

                   Indeed, I cannot understand how a building of such
historic significance would even be considered for demolition.  It would be
a historic and cultural crime to demolish a structure of such importance.  I
recall visiting Dachau with my mother in 1987 and being shocked that it had
been virtually stripped bare and was more a park than a former concentration
camp. The absence of the structures in Dachau removed the sense of evil and
left a rather banal impression. It is not just for Germany to remember the
evils of the Holocaust ? it is Germany?s obligation to its victims to
continue to teach those evils to the rest of the world. You cannot do this
effectively if you destroy the historic structures in which these evils were
perpetrated.

                   I urge you to save the Hotel Silber as a reminder of the
malevolence and immorality of a nation gone mad.

                   Sincerely yours,

                   Mark A. Meyer