13.11.2025
READING
Pali Meller: „Papierküsse“ (Paper Kisses)
13.11.2025

an event in cooperation with the Liszt-Institut, Ungarisches Kulturzentrum Stuttgart
and the Israelitische Religionsgemeinschaft Württembergs

as part of the Jüdische Kulturwochen Stuttgart 2025

Klett-Cotta Verlag_Pali Meller_Papierküsse

+++++ 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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29.-30.11.
2025
Bauhaus Dessau 100 visits Stuttgart
Pop-up presentation and guided tours
29.-30.11.
2025

Saturday, November 29, and Sunday, November 30, 2025

Bauhaus Dessau 100 visits Stuttgart
Pop-up presentation and guided tours

100 years ago, the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau: The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation is celebrating this major anniversary from September 2025 to December 2026 together with numerous partners. Under the motto “To the Substance”, the focus will be on modern and contemporary materials.

On Saturday, November 29, and Sunday, November 30, parts of a mobile pop-up presentation from Dessau will stop at the Weissenhof Workshop in the Mies van der Rohe House.

Glass, steel, brick: all these materials of modern architecture continue to have a decisive influence on the structure and character of buildings today. Dr. Dorothea Roos, head of the construction department at the Bauhaus Dessau, will give a brief overview of the building materials used at the Bauhaus and other buildings in Dessau during short guided tours. This will be followed by a short tour of selected houses in the Weissenhof Estate. You will learn about the building materials and techniques used here, such as the “Feifel Zickzack” system.

GUIDED TOURS
Sat, November 29, and Sun, November 30, 2025
at 11 am, 2 pm, and 4 pm each day
with Dr. Dorothea Roos (Bauhaus Dessau, Head of the Construction Department) and Inken Gaukel or Anja Krämer (Weissenhof Museum in the Le Corbusier House, Museum Director)
approx. 45 minutes, no registration required, free of charge
Meeting point: Weissenhof Workshop in the Mies van der Rohe House (Am Weissenhof 20, 70193 Stuttgart)

POP-UP PRESENTATION on materials at the Bauhaus Dessau
Saturday, November 29, and Sunday, November 30, 2025
11 am–5 pm each day
free admission
Location: Weissenhof Workshop in the Mies van der Rohe House (Am Weissenhof 20, 70193 Stuttgart)

 

an event in cooperation with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

10.10.2025
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State inaugurates WahreWunderBänke in Stuttgart
10.10.2025

Press release from the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing

Together with the state capital Stuttgart, the Minister for Regional Development and Housing, Nicole Razavi MdL, inaugurated two WahreWunderBänke (TrueWonderBenches) on 10 October near the world-famous houses designed by Le Corbusier.

Land weiht WahreWunderBänke in Stuttgart ein

© LAD im RPS / I. Gaukel

The new information units draw attention to the entire World Heritage Site in Baden-Württemberg.

Minister Razavi said:

‘The WahreWunderBänke in the Weissenhofsiedlung invite visitors to experience Le Corbusier’s unique architecture. The benches are eye-catching, a place to rest and a source of information all in one.’

Dr Alexandra Sußmann, Mayor for Social Affairs, Health and Integration of the City of Stuttgart, said:

‘The city is grateful to the state for drawing additional attention to Stuttgart’s world cultural heritage, the Le Corbusier houses, with the two “WahreWunderBänke”. The state initiative draws attention to the formative architectural influence and high cultural value of the two houses and the Weissenhofsiedlung, which attract tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world every year.’

Prof. Dr Claus Wolf, President of the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments in the Stuttgart Regional Council, emphasised:

‘UNESCO World Heritage Sites are monuments that have universal significance for all of humanity. That is why the World Heritage title is both an honour and an obligation, which the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments is happy to accept. The new multifunctional benches are a great help in this regard, as they are ideal places for communicating the World Heritage concept.’

WahreWunderBänke

The information boards integrated into the WahreWunderBänke each contain a map with a rough spatial location of all seven World Heritage Sites in the state, an overview text on the World Heritage family in Baden-Württemberg, a text on the specific World Heritage Site and a link to the film “Die sieben Welterbewunder Baden-Württemberg” (The Seven World Heritage Wonders of Baden-Württemberg). Benches have already been inaugurated on the monastery island of Reichenau, near Maulbronn Monastery, at the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes in Osterburken, Buchen and Walldürn, in Baden-Baden and near the Pile Dwellings in Uhldingen.

State’s World Heritage Concept supports UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The WahreWunderBänke are part of the Baden-Württemberg World Heritage Concept. With this concept, the state government supports the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Baden-Württemberg. The aim is to preserve the cultural and architectural heritage together, to network it and to make it more accessible to the public. To this end, measures and products are being developed that can be implemented at all World Heritage Sites. These include an image film, an exhibition and a brochure.

WahreWunderBänke can be installed at all World Heritage Sites in Baden-Württemberg as a sign of solidarity between the sites and as an attractive recognition symbol. The neighbouring municipalities of a World Heritage Site can contact the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments in the Stuttgart Regional Council with a location proposal.

There are seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Baden-Württemberg: the Cistercian monastery in Maulbronn (since 1993), the monastery island of Reichenau (2000), the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes (2005), the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps (2011), the two Le Corbusier houses in Stuttgart’s Weissenhofsiedlung (2016), the Caves and Ice Age Art of the Swabian Alb in the Ach and Lone valleys (2017) and Baden-Baden, under the title “Great Spa Towns of Europe” (2021). All seven World Heritage Sites in the state are characterised by their exceptional universal value, authenticity and uniqueness and are part of the priceless and irreplaceable heritage of all humanity.

Further information

Further information on World Heritage sites in Baden-Württemberg and on the film and brochure “Die sieben Welterbewunder Baden-Württemberg” can be found at www.welterbe-bw.de.