This was VL's home for many years. The interior now is a shopping mall.
I was surprised to find out that it was a shopping mall (I was in Bunschwick in July).Such a waste! It is as if the city had intentionally got rid of its past!!! 
The palace was almost completely destroyed in the war. It's prime location offered more to the city as a shopping destination than a historical site where tourists would hopefully come to see a restored palace. I don't think the city was intend on erasing the memory of the Hannovers or Vikoria Luise in particular, but the decision was financial along with serving the larger population of locals who will benefit from the retail mall.
I wish they had done both--utilized a portion for retail shops and restored a portion of the original palace. Seems to me that would have created a better means of maximizing the value of the location and historical prominence.
I didn`t mean that the authrities did it deliberately i.e. deliberately destroying their town`s past. Rather, it was thoughtless. I know that financial prosperity does matter but it`s a pity that they decided that economic well-being was more important in this case.
Right. The trade offs between historical preservation/rebuilding and economic growth plaques much of worldwide urban as well as rural development. It would have been wonderful for those of us who love historically important buildings and events to have had the palace rebuilt as the home of the dukes of Braunschweig. Ironically, the substantial loss of historical buildings in Germany during WWII and the subsequent rebuilds, such as in this case, that do not bring back the past should have been a good lesson to the world that historic structures are worth maintaining. But, from London to Chicago, New York to Shanghai, etc. new, modern structures are replacing wonderful buildings that should have been kept.
