Collages by Mark Harris. Source photographs: Hotel Bayerischer Hof, Munich © Dagmar Wiede/Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Alamy; Joe Biden © MediaPunch Inc./Alamy; Volodymyr Zelensky © Chris Emil Janßen/IMAGO/Alamy; Vladimir Putin © World History Archive/Alamy; Henry Kissinger © Dennis Brack/Danita Delimont/Alamy; Adolf Hitler © David Cole/Alamy
I.
Naturally, I too will be staying at the Bayerischer Hof.
—Franz Kafka
The Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich is an indestructible fortress of Mitteleuropean culture where tour guides like to pause. Richard Wagner repaired to the Hof for tea after his opera performances in Munich; Sigmund Freud fell out…