7. Max Reger's last day - 4


4. Hotel Hentschel

On March 22 1915, Max Reger sent a postcard to his friend Hans von Ohlendorff (Susanne Popp (ed. 2005): page 221). This card was also found on the Max Reger Home Page, unfortunately temporarily off-line. The card is reproduced here below:

Hotel Hentschel "an der Promenade"

It seems as if the building stands free from neighbouring buildings, but this is clearly a retouche, as will become clear below. The front is divided into 5 parts on this photo. The leftmost part probably never existed, since none of the photo's show this part (see all(!) photo's below).
As to its location: the indication of the address is: "an der Promenade". This is not, as could have been expected, the Promenade Straße (where Hugo Riemann lived on number 11-III) nor at a corner of that street. An indication is given by the fact that, before WW I, the Leipzig Ring was also called the "Promenade". After seeing through hundreds of old photos, it was just luck that I found the photo below:

Roßstraße with Hotel Hentschel far right

On the far right is Hotel Hentschel. The data of the photo mention it as being a view from the Roßplatz, the address of the Hotel being given as "Roßstraße 1-3" (not Roßplatz 1, where Hotel "zum grünen Baum" was located). The photo above is very old and was probably taken at the last years of the 19th century. The building in the middle was demolished in the first decade of the 20th century and replaced by a building with a typical Jugendstil-front with the address "Roßplatz 12-13" (see the picture below. The large new building was erected for the Knaur-firm ("Knaur Tuche") as its "Stammhaus".

"Knaur Tuche Stammhaus with Hotel Hentschel to the right

Below a view of the pre-WWII Roßplatz with Hotel Hentschel clearly visible to the right of the "Knaur Tuche Stammhaus". The (still standing) Europahaus serves as reference for determining the present location.

Hotel Hentschel to the right of the "Knaur Tuche Stammhaus"

The best picture known of Hotel Hentschel is in the Reger-photobook of Erich H. Müller v. Asow (1944, table 72). This is the most direct reference to Hotel Hentschel in a book about Max Reger. However, the address was not given in the explanations to the tables.

Hotel Hentschel

Interestingly, Reger himself (in a letter to Henri Hinrichsen from Edition Peters, dated March 16, 1907) mentiones the place were the hotel was ("Roßplatz"), but not provided the exact address. That was obviously not necessary, as the Roßstraße crosses the Talstraße (were Hinrichsen lived). Lauterbach and Kuhn also had their office at the Roßstraße.
The exact address of Hotel Hentschel was: Roßstraße 1-3; bordering Roßplatz 12-13 (Knaur).

In later years, when Reger did not have a house in Leipzig anymore, he also received guests in the Hotel (such as Henri Hinrichsen). Of the interior of the coffee-room, some old photo's exist (see below).

Hotel Hentschel, Coffee-room Hotel Hentschel, Coffee-room

A birds-eye view from the West (1909, see below) shows the new Town Hall (somewhat left and above of the center) and an indication (yellow arrow above) of where Hotel Hentschel stood. The Roßplatz was very large, it went from somewhere left of the yellow arrow towards the right up to and beyond the circular building (the Völkerschlacht-Panorama), seen on the photo above the tower of the new Town Hall and somewhat below the base of the yellow arrow. The yellow arrow belowpoints to the location of Cafe Hannes in the Grassistraß.

From Grassistraße 12 to Hotel Hentschel, Straube and Reger, feeling very il, went with a carriage.

Birds-eye view from the west, black arrow indicating location of Hotel Hentschel above left

The location of the Roßstraße may be found on a pre-WWII web-map.
After 1945, the "Roßstraße" was re-named into Aug. Schmidt-Straße. The location can be found on a recent web-map. The neighbouring "Seeburgstraße" may serve as a reference-guide.

The bombings of Dec 4, 1943 destroyed large parts of the old town of Leipzig and also Hotel Hentschel, which was a total loss. The location is shown below, the black arrow indicating the place where the hotel once stood. The remains of the "Knaur-Tuche Stammhaus" are still recognizable.

Hotel Hentschel destroyed

After WWII, a large building block was erected on the premises of the former Hotel (Leipzig still contains a Roßstraße: in Leipzig-Liebertwolkwitz).

The location of the former Hotel Hentschel nowadays

Present day Leipzig has no memory as to the location where Max Reger died. No monument or table helps to remember the place where Max Reger died, so very alone.