an event in cooperation with the Liszt-Institut, Ungarisches Kulturzentrum Stuttgart
and the Israelitische Religionsgemeinschaft Württembergs
as part of the Jüdische Kulturwochen Stuttgart 2025

+++++ The event will be held in German. +++++

Thursday, 13 November, 7 pm

Reading
Pali Meller: „Papierküsse. Briefe eines jüdischen Vaters aus der Haft 1942/43“
(„Paper Kisses: Letters from a Jewish Father in Prison, 1942/43“)

Introduction by Anja Krämer, Director of the Weissenhof Museum in the Le Corbusier House
Texts read by Tobias Keil

Pali Meller (1902–1943) was a Hungarian architect. As a construction manager, he was involved in the Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart in 1927. Immediately after completing his studies, he began working in the office of Dutch architect Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud in Rotterdam. When Oud was commissioned to design five terraced houses for the famous Stuttgart Werkbund exhibition ‘Die Wohnung’ (The Apartment), he sent Meller to the site. These houses can still be seen today in the Weissenhofsiedlung.

In 1930, Pali Meller moved to Berlin and started a family with the dancer Petronella Colpa. She died in an accident in 1935, after which Meller raised his two children alone. Although he was of Jewish descent, he initially remained unmolested even after the National Socialists came to power. In 1942, he was denounced and sentenced to six years in prison.

From prison, he wrote 24 letters to his children Paul and Barbara. In 2012, they were published by Klett-Cotta under the title „Papierküsse“ („Paper Kisses“). With wordplay and great affection, Meller attempts to fulfil his role as a father from afar. He died of tuberculosis in prison in 1943.

In the reading, the humorous and heart-wrenching letters from prison are supplemented by several letters from the construction period of the Weissenhofsiedlung.

Admission free

We kindly request registration.

Location
Liszt-Institut, Ungarisches Kulturzentrum Stuttgart
Christophstraße 7
70178 Stuttgart

Buchcover © Klett-Cotta Verlag

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