HAVE GERMAN WILL TRAVEL Bierhalle

WO KANN MAN IN MUNCHEN ESSEN UND TRINKEN? HOFBRAUHAUS , the Hofbrauhaus, were converted into large beer halls, restaurants, and entertainment centers with large cavernous meeting rooms for weddings, concerts, and plays. In the period after World War One, the beer halls of became swept up in the chaotic politics of the period. In the period just before World In War One, lived in Munich and reportedly visited the Hofbrauhaus on a regular basis. 1919, the Munich Communist government set up headquarters in the famous beer hall, and in 1920 and the National Socialists held their first meeting in the Festsaal, the Festival Room, on the third floor.

The Hofbrauhaus in Munich was one of the beer halls used by the Nazi Party to declare policies and hold functions. On February 24, 1920, Adolf Hitler proclaimed the twenty-five theses of the National Socialist program at the Hofbrauhaus, which reconstituted the German Workers' Party as the National 2 Socialist German Workers' Party, known as the Nazi Party. [IJ[ l Hundreds of tourists visit these sites, including the Hofbrauhaus in Munich every year. One author claims that some of the first violent attacks 3 on Jews took place at the Hofbrauhaus. l l While it is true that some of Hitler's earliest oratorical attacks on Jews took place from the rostrum of the famous beer hall, there is no evidence that direct physical 4 attacks on Jews took place in the Hofbrauhaus. l l

Hitler's experiences with the Hofbrauhaus were limited to political events and the commemorations; the infamous "" of 1923 took place in the Bi.irgerbraukeller beer hall, which used to stand on the east side ofthe city. Since Hitler did not drink alcohol, eat red meat, or smoke, the beer hall was not his scene. His favorite restaurant in Munich was an Italian restaurant, Osteria (now Osteria Italiana), near Munich's famed Ludwig-Maximillians University. Before he turned to politics, one of Hitler's watercolors was of the Hofbrauhaus 5 (http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2011/04/a_thumbnail_his.php) _l l Of course, since it is over 400 years old, the Hofbrauhaus was also visited several times by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John F. Kennedy, and the American author Thomas Wolfe, but these famous visitors, or the vast 400 plus 4 years ofHofbrauhaus history, are rarely mentioned by the tour guides_CJ can be found Munich: H ofbrauhaus & History - Beer, The Gasth~ culture carried to extreme 6,000-capacity beer hall Culture, & Politics by J effrey S. Gaab in Mun ich's Hofbrauhaus, the 400 years ago by Duke Wilhelm IV and now (Peter Lang, 2006) explores the most founded by the Bavarian Ministry of Finance. popular city in via the histo­ administered ry of its Hofbrauhaus and oth er beer h alls to provide a fascinating history of The Hofbrauhaus: Estafullshed.in • .: Munich. As Gaab notes, the city's slo­ 1589, the world's most.famous beer·:· i 4 000 and is the city's, •.-·.;, · gan i s "a cosmopolitan city with a hall seats 1 gest per'm'anent tourist attraction. :·• e heart of that city still rar h eart," and "th The singing, food and peer give it tti~} beats in the Hofbrauhaus am Platzl." Okt~bertest feeling. • · Gaab t races more than eight cen turies of the history of Munich, w hich will mark its 850th anniversary in 2008, and the more than four centuries of the history of its famous Hofbrauhaus, which will mark its 420th anniversary in 2009. Gaab notes that "It is impossi­ ble to understand the history of Munich, as well as the city's continuing popularity, without discussing its beer culture." He also discusses the opening of HB halls in Tokyo,Japan; Las Vegas, "Nevada; and Newport, Kentucky. Aside from conveying an understanding of Munich 's his­ tory, Gaab explains h ow the Hofbrauhaus has become "a symbol of Bavarian culture throughout the world." In so doing, h e successfully shows how both help us understand German history and culture.