03 Telling the story of this place

You are looking at one of the few photos of this building in the Nazi period, taken in 1936. Called the EL-DE Haus, this building is where you are right now.

Take a look around. Nearby is another reference to the building: on the wall to the left of the window.

In 1941, the Gestapo used this letter to summon Cölestina Schneider to the ‘local office building’ at ‘Appellhofplatz 23/25 (corner of Elisenstraße)’ – meaning the EL-DE Haus.

She was to appear for questioning in Room 44 on the second floor. This room is directly above the one you are in right now. In 1941, it was an office of Work Area II for ‘researching and combating opponents’.

We do not know why Cölestina Schneider was summoned in 1941.

However, we know that when interrogated she was 65 years old, married, and had two sons. Three years later, in October 1944, the Gestapo deported her and over 80 other Jews to Theresienstadt, where she was murdered just two months later.

What do you think the Gestapo officials did in their offices?

You can select multiples answers.

All the answers are correct. The officials in Room 44, for example, were responsible for ‘Communism and Marxism’ and primarily monitored, interrogated, and imprisoned Communists and Social Democrats.

Other exhibits in this room can also tell us stories related to the building and bear witness to the violence that took place here.

If you want to learn more about what happened in the offices, turn to the prominent red document beside the window and swipe left. Otherwise, just keep scrolling.

Protective custody order against Wilhelm (Willi) Tuchscherer, 1936

The Gestapo issued this document here at the EL-DE Haus. With ‘protective custody’, they could arbitrarily and autonomously send people to concentration camps, as in the case of the Communist Willi Tuchscherer, who was brought to the Esterwegen concentration camp. The events leading up to this action also unfolded at the EL-DE Haus: Willi Tuchscherer was interrogated several times in the offices and imprisoned in the basement.

‘At first, they just used words, offering cigarettes, in a conventional manner. And when that didn’t work, then with truncheons. And this they did mostly in the basement. But I think they also punched people in the face upstairs in the office.’

Willi Tuchscherer, 1987

The Gestapo used not only the basement prison for carrying out abuse, but also committed acts of violence in the offices. In addition, the officers organised many crimes from their desks. They used the entire EL-DE Haus for this purpose: from what is now the cloakroom on the ground floor to the attic.

What interests you about the history of this place?

You can select multiple answers.

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Later we will tell you more about a central crime that the Gestapo organised from here. Keep this topic in mind when, on the second floor, the exhibition deals with the persecution of Jews.

Credits:

1. EL-DE-Haus © NS-DOK; 2. Summons for Colestine Schneider, née Levy, 4 August 1941 © NS-DOK; 3. Protective custody order against Wilhelm (Willi) Tuchscherer, 1936 © Private property of the Tuchscherer family; 4. Willi Tuchscherer © Private property of Peter Tuchscherer

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