A VIEW LITTLE ANECDOTES

Take a moment and join us in our time journey with a few little anecdotes...

Gründerzeit

The economy booms, the process of industrialisation is on the horizon and Frankfurt needs a main station, which can live up to the expectations of this new era. On 18th August 1888 the Centralbahnhof - today’s Hauptbahnhof - is built on the grounds of the several small stations at the time. Simultaneously this gives the signal for the regulated development of the area with streets, squares, residential and commercial buildings. The Baseler Strasse emerges on the south side of the main station with wonderful buildings characterised by the style of the turn of the century.

The grand-scaled main station, the booming economy and the societal and cultural life provide for the influx of more and more visitors to Frankfurt. Vacancies for the prosperous guests are needed. Thus a good number of new hotels are built, among those the elegant houses Prinz Heinrich and National.

Before the Second World War

In 1936 the hotel Prinz Heinrich is one of more than 20 hotels around the area of the main station. It is managed by the director of the house Mr Westenberger. The 100 beds are with the 10 common bathrooms, running water and central heating are offered at a price from 3 Reichsmark per night. Breakfast costs 1.10 Mark and the menu for the dinner in the evening 2.20 Mark.

Meanwhile a man by the name of Curt Pfoh manages the hotel National just a few houses down the street.

The reconstruction

The bombs of the Second World War heavily devastated Frankfurt. Even though the area around the main station was less effected that the centre of the city, it is hard to believe that the people were able to build new things from scratch after almost everything was all but smouldering ashes. In the same way did Curt Pfoh, whose Hotel “National” had been destroyed during the war. He ventures a new beginning in the bombed building of the Hotel “Prinz Heinrich”. The ground floor and the facade are the only things of the building, which have remained standing. Curt Pfoh and his wife Lucie have compiled an art and antiquity collection and thus do not have to fight against the lack of money but rather the lack of material.

Josef Steiner, who has just been released as a prisoner of war, and who happens to be the former reception clerk of the “Parkhotel”, is put in place by Curt Pfoh after the reconstruction. The two inaugurate the new Hotel “National” with 10 beds on the ground floor, one bathroom and one wardrobe in the corridor on 20 July 1948 and just four weeks after the currency reform. Price per night: 7 German Marks.

Josef Steiner is everything in one person: Concierge, butler, heater, maid, chef and waiter.

The golden years

Travelling is still reserved for the wealthy, businessmen, politicians and a few sales representatives. Correspondingly the expectations in the Hotel “National” are high. The prices for the rooms are, as measured by the general quality of life, still very dear. The ratio of employees to guests is 1:2 and no guest carries his own baggage. Anyone, who would like to take a bath makes use of the service of the butler. Bathing in the princely tub costs 5 German Marks.

By the end of the 1950s the upper floors and the lobby are developed and furnished, the Green Parlour is added and upon request of the city of Frankfurt, arcades are to be put in place at the front of the building. At the time of the development of the area around the main station 50 odd years ago a protection of pedestrians seemed not to be necessary. Now at the times of increasing traffic a footpath is needed - for which the city requests the construction of arcades.

The hotelier Curt Pfoh dies in 1959. His wife, Lucie, officially takes over his role. However throughout her life she has ‘just’ been the wife of a hotelier and has never gained any experience in running a hotel. Hence she adopts more of a representative role than an actual responsible position. Every morning she commutes from her home in Kronberg and observes the madding crowd in her black leather chair, eats her lunch in the restaurant of the hotel and would later adjourn to the Green Parlour in order to check some bills and food vouchers. Josef Steier still manages all the business. She faces some of her guests disapproval. She just is a lady of the old style and does not want to gamble with the reputation of the hotel as a ‘house of first rank’.

With the beginning of backpack tourism in the 1970s, Lucie Pfoh seems irrevocably disenchanted with the signs of modernity. An American professor with shorts and a backpack is only allowed to his room thanks to the persuasion qualities of clerk Horst Tausch. In 1972 Lucie Pfoh dies from the consequences of a car accident. Her husband Curt had sorted the inheritance of the childless couple already before he died. The Hotel National passes on to the Wiesenhüttenstift, a charitable trust with the goal of caring for elderly citizens of Frankfurt. Under the leadership of Josef Steiner, the National is able to realise good profits and shall be run as a hotel - according to the last will - until 2002. The realised profits are to be transferred to the trust.

Difficult years

In the 1970s the construction of the underground system starts at the forecourt of the main station. The access to the hotel is only possible over the back side. The number of guests is - similiar to all other hotels in the area of the main station - disastrously low. In 1973 the Pfohs decide to sell eight precious Venetian glasses with a total value of 30.000 German Marks in order to be able to pay the salaries at the end of the year. Nevertheless even in these difficult years, the National is home to many important people: Richard von Weizsäcker, later to become Federal President, modestly travels from the airport to the hotel by bus. Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, the big old lady of the FDP, rigorously and exclusively demands room 327. At that time the hotel has representatives in New York, Tokyo, Brussels and Zurich sparking interest in the National and getting international guests enthused about the charming hotel. When in 1978 Renate Derlon commences her work as the matron of the National, the hotel finds itself on the way of recovery. On New Year’s Eve in 1979 Josef Steier and his staff are finally able to enjoy a glass of success: The National transfers a small profit to the Wiesenhüttenstift. Things are looking up again. However Josef Steiner is a canny man and, therefore, one Piccolo for four managers and the director himself has to be enough to celebrate the success.

The times of change

The 1980s are the decade of modernisation. While the Deutsche Post still shows its trainees the old-fashioned hand-plugged telephone system, the National installs a modern system of the Nixdorf company at the turn of the years of 1984 and 1985. At the same time more and more rooms are fitted with their own bathrooms, an additional conference room and a hotel bar are incorporated as well. The hotel accommodates itself more and more to to the influx of the rising numbers in businessmen and visitors of the various trade fairs. The precious paintings and antiques of the house are still an essential part of the ambience, but some of it dubiously vanish into thin air and the insurance premiums become bigger and bigger. The majority of it is, therefore, stored and brought into safety. A few pieces would later be auctioned for the sake of the trust. Marius Müller-Westernhagen, Nadja Tiller and Walter Giller, Joachim Gauck, Manfred Stolpe, Matthias Wissmann and Erhard Eppler live and hold conferences in the National in the 1980s and the 1990s. The National Association of the Christian Democrats appreciates the location of the Green Parlour on the ground floor: The cables of the TV stations can be placed right through the windows into the broadcasting van. Generally at this time the National witnesses a lot of policy-making. In the run-up to the vote of no confidence against chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the high ranks of the SPD regularly hold emergency sessions in the hotel, without the public or the press. Josef Steier - the soul of the National since its reopening after the end of the war - dies in March 1991.

The National under new direction

In the mid 1990s the city of Frankfurt am Main as the responsible body behind the Wiesenhüttenstift decides to lease the house. The gentlemen Lemler and Schwarzbart by then have already directed the neighbouring hotels Continental and Wiesbaden (today Colour).

Their application as experienced hoteliers satisfies the trust. They have been the tenants since 1995 and have further pressed ahead with the modernisation of the hotel. Above all the main focus remains to preserve the ambience and the style of a house of highest rank.

Thank you

Without Renate Derlon’s and Horst Tausch’s knowledge and commitment this chronicle would not have been possible.

Renate Derlon was the matron of the Hotel National from 1978 to 1998. Today she tells us with a little smirk of how she had applied to a position in the National already in 1968 and how Lucie Pfoh treated her rather disrespectfully. As a result she would start her work at the hotel ten years later. The training of young people had always been a special concern to her. She always wanted to educate them to become self-motivated entrepreneurs rather than pure wage-receivers.

Under her buying syndicates were common place: If there was need for soap or new bedding, Renate Derlon would pick up the handset and would arrange things with the neighbouring hotels in order to achieve the best possible conditions.

oday Renate Derlon enjoys her retirement in the Frankfurt district of Sachsenhausen. And whenever her various interest allow her to spare some time, she makes regular visits to the Hotel National.

Horst Tausch has worked at the reception of the hotel since 1970. Through clever persuasion he has been able to put three thieves to rout. Merely the first one was reasonably successful and was able to capture a small amount of money.