the function of the hotel was the "face value" bit, I should imagine they struggle for custom from the well connected who, as you point out, are largely dying away. And the new generation of Hitler venerators are too ignorant and working class to have the money to appreciate the finery of such a boutique establishment.

the second part dealt with the next generation, and possibly the third who were the beneficiaries of the SS generation's connections, have taken the attitudes and the necessary masks for operating amongst modern elites. they have seen german economic success through industry, seen it come to dominate european finance and see that as their natural environment.

However, I concede that the assimilation of the ossies has brought a different set of cultural values into modern germany that are more aligned with authoritarians. After all, what else was a E Germany but a dictatorship where such personality types fought it out in the most brutal Darwinianism. They're eating the old westerners for breakfast

keep to the Fen Causeway