Renate von Metzler Room

The newspapers refer to her as a patron of the arts; the citizens of Frankfurt and members of the university know her as a benefactor, and the Hessian Regional Association of the German Multiple Sclerosis Society owes its existence to her commitment. She prefers to see herself as an “initiator” – and one can certainly accuse Renate von Mezler, who was born in 1941, of possessing initiatory tendencies. More


Trude Simonsohn Room

On several occasions Trude Simonsohn, born in 1921, narrowly escaped death at the hands of the National Socialists. Despite her terrible experiences in Gestapo prisons, in the Theresienstadt ghetto, and in Auschwitz concentration camp, in 1951 she returned to Germany, together with her husband Berthold Simonsohn (1912–1978), among other reasons to assist in rebuilding the Jewish community in Hamburg and later Frankfurt am Main. More


Mural by Georg Heck - Casino 1.812

In Seminar Room 1.812 in the Casino is a 3.5 by 5 metre mural that takes up almost the whole of the rear wall. The room's green painted walls harmonise with the tones in the picture. In the rural landscape, figures dressed in monochrome archaic garments appear to be bringing in the harvest while others play music. Presumably the scene is set in the early hours of the evening: yellowish streaks on the horizon suggest a sunset. We can see six figures in all, each placed in isolation. Two women carry baskets of fruit or vegetables while another sits on a wall playing a mandolin. A fourth woman carries a white dove on her left hand while with her right she embraces a small child who appears to be clutching her garments. Directly below the woman's feet begins a banderol with the following quotation from Hölderlin's poem "Menon's Lament for Diotima": Come! It was as a dream. For the bleeding wings are already healed; all hope, rejuvenated, lives on! In the background the tops of two trees are visible, their trunks hidden by a whitish wall. More


Image: The Casino building has been erected by Hans Poelzig as part of the IG Farben ensemble. Source: Werner Lott, Fritz Bauer Institut