100 years Klamroth House

The house was built as early as 1910 to 1911 by the Berlin architect Hermann Muthesius on behalf of the Halberstadt commercial councillor Kurt Klamroth. The architecture and interior design of the English-style country house already attracted a great deal of national attention at that time. From the 1950s until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the house was operated by the State Trade Organization (HO) as the “Weißes Roß” hotel.

25 years Parkhotel Unter den Linden

In 1992/93, the entire complex was restored according to original designs and converted into a hotel with 80 beds and sophisticated gastronomy. The reconstruction of the house was carried out according to the aspects of preservation-reconstruction-integration. The sandstone used for the facade can also be found in the round arches of the house.

The focal point and architectural gem on the ground floor is undoubtedly the original wood-paneled hallway with white coffered ceiling and a massive sandstone fireplace. After its completion, the bent floor plan was considered an absolutely successful and much-appreciated experiment by the architect. The color and design of the furnishings match the shapes in style. The dining room is characterized by a festive stucco ceiling, high windows and color-coordinated pastel shades. Somewhat more intense colors and design accents in wood characterize the two social rooms.

During the season, the terrace extends the existing seating capacity of the restaurant. Sensibly, the modernized kitchen found its place again in the same place as 80 years ago. The guest rooms on the upper floors of the main house all bear the architect’s signature: Round arches, closets, balconies and bay windows make each one an individual experience.

Archive images of the architect

1912

View from the garden

Main entrance

Front view

Men’s room

Sandstone fireplace

Kitchen

History

1911

The Klamroth family moved into their newly built house with a landscaped garden and a plot of land of almost 3000 m².

1944

Hans-Georg Klamroth and Bernhard Klamroth are imprisoned as a result of their involvement in the Stauffenberg assassination of Adolf Hitler and executed in August. The Halberstadt family came under suspicion of complicity and faced persecution by the Gestapo. Thus, they were forced to leave their home domicile.

1945

Shortly after the bombing of Halberstadt, 130 people move into the villa, having been made homeless by the destruction of their homes. Among the new residents is Frau Schade, formerly Frau von Brudersdorf. She was the operator of the Hotel Weißes Roß, which, located near the municipal theatre, was destroyed down to its foundation walls.

1947

For the first time, Mrs Schade receives payment from strangers for overnight stays – the origin of the start of a hotel business

1949

Shortly after the founding of the two German states, the state trade organisation moves into the house and from that day on runs a hotel and restaurant business under the name “HO Hotel Weißes Roß”. The Klamroth villa is a so-called trust property because, due to the aforementioned involvement of two family members in the assassination and the corresponding legislation of the GDR, it was not expropriated, but the family was recognised as “resistance fighters”.

1990

Shortly after the opening of the border, the Heidelberg lawyer Sabine Klamroth and her cousin Klaus make the decision to continue the hotel business. Necessary renovations and the addition of another wing containing only guest rooms require an investment volume of 12.8 million DM.

1994

The house wins the façade competition of the city of Halberstadt after a successful redesign with the likewise new address Klamrothstraße 2.

1996

Sabine and Klaus Klamroth sell their birthplace to the current owners and make sure that the new buyers continue it in their spirit: family and owner-managed.

2011

The house celebrates its 100th birthday.

2021

Partners Frank Butzke and Sven-Holger Eick celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Parkhotel.

Wibke Bruhns

“My father’s country”

History of a German Family

Wibke Bruhns

The journalist Wibke Bruhns “discovers” her father. For a long time she was unable to write about it. In her book “Meines Vaters Land” (My Father’s Land), Wibke Bruhns has put the fate of her family and especially her father on paper.

A report about the presentness of the past. A German family between the Empire and the capitulation in 1945. A father sentenced to death by the Nazis for high treason. In the 1970s, a television documentary about the 20th of July confronts the journalist Wibke Bruhns with pictures of her unknown father. This became the beginning of a unique investigation into her own history. The result is a moving family epic!

The “Haus Klamroth” in Halberstadt (today the Parkhotel Unter den Linden), is the setting for the report and the author’s childhood home.

On 26 August 1944, the Abwehr officer Hans-Georg Klamroth was executed in Plötzensee, a few days earlier his son-in-law Bernhard. Both 20th July conspirators were sentenced to death by hanging by Roland Freisler’s People’s Court for high treason and treason against the country.

Both men belong to the family

The men belong to the family of Wibke Bruhns, who was born in Halberstadt in 1938: Hans-Georg is her father, Bernhard her brother-in-law. She was six years old at the time of the executions.

It was not until 1979 that the well-known journalist became consciously aware of her father – in a TV documentary about the assassins of 20 July. But it is only after the death of her mother Else that Wibke Bruhns can recount the whole family drama. For her parents had a major marital crisis in the time before the assassination attempt of 20 July 1944.

Back to Halberstadt

Wibke Bruhns sets out to find her “strange” father and the fate of her family. She returns to Halberstadt, where her ancestors, the Klamroths, lived for generations and ran an agricultural business. During her research, she finds countless photos, letters and diaries documenting the fate of her family. In “Meines Vaters Land – Geschichte einer deutschen Familie” (My Father’s Land – History of a German Family), Wibke Bruhns tells the fascinating story of an upper middle-class family from the Empire to the capitulation in 1945. The moving fate of the Klamroth family in Halberstadt is reminiscent of that of the Buddenbrooks in many facets.