This building right here is known as Messberghof and is a part of Hamburg’s UNESCO-listed Kontorhaus. However, this is not just an ordinary office quarter. Rather, it is a symbol of human cruelty and is today a memorial. Let me start by telling you about this building. It was originally known as the “Ballinhaus,” named for Albert Ballin, the owner of the Hamburg-America-Parcel-Aktien-Gesellschaft shipping company, in short HAPAG. This was the largest shipping company in the world at that time. However, during the Nazi era, the name was not appreciated much since Ballin was a Jew. Hence, Nazi authorities changed the building's name and rechristened it Meßberghof. This is a stark reminder of how the regime sought to erase Jewish influence from public life. But that’s not all, as the story takes a darker turn here. In the early twentieth century, the pest-control firm Tesch & Stabenow, often called Testa, maintained offices here. This company sold the cyanide-based pesticide Zyklon B, which was originally designed to kill pests. However, during the Nazi era, it became one of the main tools for the Holocaust. Testa supplied Zyklon B to concentration and extermination camps, including Auschwitz, Majdanek, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück, Stutthof, and Neuengamme, where it was used to kill countless prisoners. It is said that the company convinced the Nazis about the efficacy of this pesticide and how a four-kilogram canister was enough to kill one thousand people. And was it effective? Let’s just say it was the most horrific way to die. After the war, Testa director Bruno Tesch was put on trial for his role in assisting mass murder and was ultimately executed. The plaque you see in front of you on the wall is a memorial plaque that commemorates the victims killed with Zyklon B. Note the Yiddish quote at the top of the Plaque. These are the closing lines from The Song of the Murdered Jewish People by Jewish poet Yitzhak Katzenelson, himself murdered in Auschwitz. It means, “don’t seek to destroy the evils of the world, they should destroy themselves alone!” If this stop made you sad, let me cheer you up a bit. Let’s move to the next stop, which is all about an indulgent treat known to mankind - Chocolate.