On art hotels in Germany

I refer to the article Art hotels latest rage in Germany published in The Jakarta Post on March 16, 1996. A hardly known specialty due to its historical background, is the former Berlin residence of Graf (Count) von Panwitz, the wealthy advocate and private lawyer in international law to Emperor William II, (Kaiser Wilhelm II) of Germany.

The mansion on Beethoven Strasse 3, in the suburb of Grunewald, Berlin, was built in 1910. The interior was such that squares in the wall paneling could accommodate the then world best painting collection in private hands. Classical paintings -- by Rubens, Cesanne, Michelangelo, etc. -- were decoratively and discretely on display over all three of the building's floors.

Kaiser Wilhelm personally consecrated the completed building in 1911. Graf von Panwitz is internationally known for the kaiser's treaty to swap then German colonial Sansibar (East Africa) for the island of Helgoland in the German North Sea. A good deal, because it is still German territory, which Sansibar would not be any more.

The count's wife was known to be the kaiser's mistress. Until 1989, the building served as an insider's retreat for VIP's seeking first-class accommodation in Berlin. For a price, one could stay in the rooms where the German kaiser was said to have stayed over night.

From 1945 to 1989, the then hotel manager/owner, a Mr. Gerhuis, a post-World War II confident (and presumably also a pre-World War II confident) of the Allies displayed the photographs of his VIP hotel guests near the reception. J.F. Kennedy was on display next to Stalin, Eisenhower, Roosevelt and Kissinger. Altogether there was three square meters of photographs.

Romy Schneider made her last film on the hotel premises, titled: Rueckkehr nach San Souci. Herr Gerhuis died in 1988, when his much younger wife from Tel Aviv offered the place to me for DM 3 million, in communist besieged West-Berlin.

A year later, in 1989, and after the end of the Berlin Wall. "Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten" bought the old mansion on five acres from her for DM 30 million. With the cold war tension over, the price was suddenly tenfold.

When I went again to the place to stay overnight in 1992, the hotel was closed, and I bumped into Karl Lagerfeld who had just been contracted to refurbish its interior.

It is refreshing to note that a leading East Asian paper takes an interest in Central European events. With the promising Asia- Europe Meeting in Bangkok in March 1996, the bilateral cultural exchanges may increase between East Asia and Europe.

FRANZ THEODORE SCHINEIS

Antara Media

Sydney, Australia