So what is your alternative? How can one prevent people “enjoying” the building or pointing at it?
What happens to all the other buildings the Nazis were responsible for?
People have suggested a lot of uses that don’t risk giving people a daily feeling that the Nazis gave them an asset. Power stations, storage, any of the kind of buildings we don’t form positive emotional connections to, unlike homes, or cultural stages, or places filled with happy consumer goods. Or it could be something more directly countering the risk of forming positive attachment to the building like a museum.
There doesn’t need to be a single rule for all buildings. Case-by-case, in context. Like asbestos.
Zoning things with thoughtfulness so that people don’t risk feeling they were gifted something by the Nazis isn’t the hardest ask of reconciling the crimes of the Nazis. It’s pretty passive. It’s “Don’t put a mall in Auschwitz” not “Everyone has to get up out of bed earlier.”
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Putting a power station near the centre of Hamburg is unlikely, I could see it as a storage facility I suppose, but I don’t see how that is a signal difference to a hotel which would, according to the renders, make an effort to change its appearance slightly.
There are already several museums in that area, nonetheless no matter how or what collection is curated it is still going to be historical artefacts inside what was a Nazi building, if the people who are pointing at the building with pride are praising the evil methods, won’t they act the same if there are artefacts to point at too?
The difference is that storage facilities don’t market themselves the same way a hotel does. A hotel is trying to convince you they have a great building, they will never market themselves as “Fascists built us, but we put nice curtains on top.”
I honestly DGAF how hard it is to not actively do a stupid/evil thing, for some people.
There is no absolute need to use random Nazi shit for anything. People feel the need because they want to make money, with a pre-made asset.
As a kindness, people are suggesting ways that the hideous associations are lessened in impact, and are met with confusion that they’re not just allowed to do anything they wanted.
It’s like letting a kid stay up an extra half hour, and then hearing, “Well, why should there even be a bedtime?”
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True, they use phrases like “look how well protected your assets are - the RAF couldn’t damage the building” – this is intentionally facetious.
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