Horcher (Berlin)

The Horcher restaurant in Berlin was one of the most famous restaurants in what was then the capital of the Reich between 1904 and 1944. In 1944, the family that ran the restaurant moved the restaurant to Madrid , where it still exists today.

history

The German Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World's Fair , the roof terrace restaurant of which was run by Otto Horcher

Hermann Göring and Bruno Loerzer around 1942

The Maxim’s in Paris , taken over by Horcher in 1940 after the German occupation of the city

The restaurant was opened in 1904 by the wine merchant Gustav Horcher (1873–1931) from Baden at Lutherstrasse 21 / corner of Augsburger Strasse (today: Martin-Luther-Strasse 12 / corner of Fuggerstrasse 17). After his death, his son Otto continued to run it. It was a small, intimate restaurant with nine tables and eight service staff. Fine cuisine was served. The specialties included the Horcher medallions and the faisan de presse , for the preparation of which the pheasant bones were turned through a press and the sauce was made from them, which was then flambéed at the table . Domenico Poncini was the head chef for many years. In 1920 the Scala was built on the property next door ( Lutherstrasse 22–24 , horseshoe numbering ; today: Martin-Luther-Strasse 14–18, orientation numbering ). In the 1920s, stars of the time such as Fritzi Massary , Richard Tauber , Franz Werfel and many others were regular guests.

In the 1930s, Otto Horcher had good connections right up to the top of the Nazi hierarchy. He was entrusted with catering on the roof terrace of the German pavilion designed by Albert Speer at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937. Speer was also a regular at the Berlin restaurant. At that time, the Horcher was already one of the preferred restaurants of Hermann Göring and many high-ranking officers of the Air Force such as Ernst Udet and Bruno Loerzer . When Austria was " annexed " to the German Reich in 1938, Horcher acquired the restaurant Die Drei Husaren in Vienna (1st district, Weihburggasse). After the German occupation of France , Horcher also took over the operation of the world-famous Maxim’s restaurant in Paris .

After the closure of all revue theaters and restaurants by a Goebbels decree on August 10, 1944, Horcher - allegedly with the help of Göring - relocated his Berlin restaurant to Madrid that same year, where it still exists today (Calle Alfonso XII No. 6, in the city center near the Retiro Park ). It was run by Otto's son Gustavo until 1975 and since then by his grandson Carlos, who is also head chef. Jean-Claude Bourgueil spent his apprenticeship years at the Horcher in Madrid from 1968 to 1970. Allegedly, this listener was for many decades a popular meeting place for Nazi figures like Otto Skorzeny living in Spain .

literature

Otto Horcher, caterer to the Third Reich . In: Gastronomica , 2007, No. 1 (winter), pp. 31-38, doi: 10.1525 / gfc.2007.7.1.31 , JSTOR 10.1525 / gfc.2007.7.1.31
Carl Falkman, Spill inte på Göring! - gastronomisk gesällvandring i trettiotalets Europa . Wiken, 1981. ISBN 9170240310 . Libris ( Swedish )

Web links

Recollections of Jean-Claude Bourgueil from his time at Horcher Madrid

Remarks

↑ On the Spanish-language website of the restaurant, under the heading Historia , other places are listed where Horcher restaurants are said to have existed in the past, including London (?), Tallinn , Riga and Lisbon , but Paris is missing. Potato pancakes , Wiener Schnitzel and Baumkuchen are still offered as specialties in the Horcher in Madrid .

[1] On the Spanish-language website of the restaurant, under the heading Historia , other places are listed where Horcher restaurants are said to have existed in the past, including London (?), Tallinn , Riga and Lisbon , but Paris is missing. Potato pancakes , Wiener Schnitzel and Baumkuchen are still offered as specialties in the Horcher in Madrid .