Felix Adlon is a descendant of a well-known hotel dynasty – but not their inheritance. He wants to change that now. A conversation about family values, Nazis in hotel rooms and a legendary establishment that he wants to take back with a lawsuit.
Interviewed by
Thomas Fromm and Lea Hampel
Felix Adlon, 54, sits with his wife Nina, an opera singer, at their home in Austria’s Wachau region. They want to talk about a hotel that is more than 600 kilometers away in Berlin. Because Adlon, whom his wife sometimes calls “Felice” during the interview, is the great-great-grandson of the Adlon builder, Lorenz Adlon, and he has a problem: he’s only ever a guest in this luxury hotel that bears his name. His family was expropriated three times, he claims. Once under Hitler, then by the Soviets, finally by the federal government.