Thierschstraße 41: Hitler the Lodger, a Jewish Landlord, and a Restitution Problem

Abstract

Paul Hoser Thierschstraße 41 Hitler the Lodger, a Jewish Landlord, and a Restitution Problem From the Barracks to a Rented Room Adolf Hitler was discharged from the army on March 31, 1920. Up until this point, he had received his army pay and allowances, plus free lodging and meals.1 He had even chosen not to apply for any benefits to which he might have been entitled.2 It is not known for certain how he supported himself during the subsequent months of 1920. With his discharge into civilian life came a change of address in Munich: Hitler moved from the barracks to a rented room. On May 1, 1920, he moved out of the 2nd Infantry Regiment’s barracks at Lothstraße 29 and into Thierschstraße 41 in the Lehel district of the city.3 He moved into a room on the second floor of this house, which was otherwise occupied by the businessman Ernst Reichert and his wife Maria. The room had been allocated to him by the housing office.4 Hitler was 1 See Volker Ullrich, Adolf Hitler. Biographie, vol. 1: Die Jahre des Aufstiegs 1889–1939, Frankfurt a. M. 2013, p. 109; Othmar Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren. Hitlers prägende Jahre im deutschen Militär 1918–1920, Paderborn 2013, pp. 163–65, 177–78, and Thomas Weber, Wie Adolf Hitler zum Nazi wurde. Vom unpolitischen Soldaten zum Autor von “Mein Kampf,” Berlin 2016, pp. 262–63. The present English version of this article was shortened by Paul Hoser. It was originally published in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 65 (2017), pp. 131–61. 2 See Ernst Deuerlein, Hitlers Eintritt in die Politik und die Reichswehr, in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 7 (1959), pp. 177–227, here p. 182; a facsimile of Hitler’s wartime personnel roster is reprinted on p. 190. 3 On life in the barracks, see Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Weg begann in München 1913–1923, expanded new edition, Munich 2000, p. 217; and on his move to Thierschstraße 41, Archive of the Institute for Contemporary History (Archiv des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte; henceforth: IfZ Archive ), ZS-287, fol. 2, “Protokoll der Unterredung von Georg Franz[-Willing] mit Antonie Reichert, 20.6.1952.” A facsimile of the registration form is reprinted in Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Weg, p. 21, with no source information. 4 IfZ Archive, ZS-287, fols. 2, 4, “Protokoll der Unterredung von Georg Franz[-Willing] mit Antonie Reichert, 20.6.1952.” According to Hermann Esser, it was Joseph Berchtold, as of 1923 the leader of the “Hitler Shock Troops” that later became the SS, who found the room for Hitler. Berchtold’s parents lived next door at No. 39. It is possible that Hitler was tipped off about the 124 Paul Hoser formally registered as the tenant of Maria Reichert’s father, valet Anton Dachs, who was still alive, and whose apartment was opposite that of his daughter.5 After his death, the apartment passed to his widow Karolina. The best-known account of Hitler’s rented room and its furnishings comes from Ernst Hanfstaengl, who had met him in the winter of 1922: The room that he occupied as the tenant of a Frau Reichert was clean and tidy, if somewhat small and cramped and not exactly lavishly furnished. The floor was covered with cheap, worn linoleum and a few small, threadbare rugs. Against the wall opposite the bed, whose bedposts partially obstructed the window, stood a chair and table, as well as some bare wooden shelving housing Hitler’s treasured books.6 Hitler was given breakfast by his landlords, and he read the newspapers while he ate. He generally came home late and got up late the next day.7 At lunchtime, he would go to the Party office in the Sterneckerbräu. He usually ate there, in some other cheap restaurant, or in the public soup kitchen on Theresienstraße.8 The offices of the Münchener Beobachter had been located at Thierschstraße 15 since October 15, 1919.9 Renamed the Völkischer Beobachter on January 3, 1920, the paper was acquired by the publishing house Franz Eher Nachf. on December room by Berchtold, and...