HO Hotel

English translation: the state-owned Hotel Ratskeller

02:19 Apr 12, 2014
German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Tourism & Travel
German term or phrase: HO Hotel
I am translating the diaries of Brigitte Reimann in which she refers to going to "HO Hotel Ratskeller" in Rheinsberg in 1955 in the GDR. I know the HO was an East German acronym but I don't know what it stood for - any ideas?
Lucy Jones
Local time: 12:25
English translation:the state-owned Hotel Ratskeller
Explanation:
Same Wikipedia refs as Kim

I would either omit the HO prefix (in combination with Hotel, it sounds too much like Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh or Hoho Father Christmas): Hotel Ratskeller or the Ratskeller Hotel

or, if the background is considered important, translate it as ‘state-owned’: the state-owned Hotel Ratskeller


'Long Live The Peace' slogans greeted Argyle on arrival in this important cultural and industrial centre and the Union flag flew outside the state-owned hotel in which they stayed.
http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/sv-tour-easterneurope.asp

Mrs. Schultz manages a modest state-owned hotel in Havelberg, 70 miles northwest of East Berlin.
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/world/east-german-makes-st...

Flying into Havana, we got a taxi to our hotel, the state-owned Hotel Colina. It was a bit like something from cold war Russia.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/blogs/the-omnivore/5834435...


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Note added at 8 hrs (2014-04-12 10:45:56 GMT)
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A visit to this useful website would have revealed the meaning
http://www.abkuerzungen.de/

http://www.abkuerzungen.de/result.php?searchterm=ho&language...
HO Handelsorganisation
Auch staatliche Läden der damaligen DDR
HO Handover (englisch)
(technisches) Weiterreichen
ho hands off (englisch)
Hände weg (Chatslang)
HO Head Office (englisch)
Direktion
HO Hof
Deutsches Kfz.-Kennzeichen
Ho Holmium (lateinisch)
Chemisches Element
HO Horn
Österreichisches Kfz.-Kennzeichen
Selected response from:

Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:25
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3the state-owned Hotel Ratskeller
Lancashireman
Summary of reference entries provided
Info
Kim Metzger

Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
the state-owned Hotel Ratskeller


Explanation:
Same Wikipedia refs as Kim

I would either omit the HO prefix (in combination with Hotel, it sounds too much like Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh or Hoho Father Christmas): Hotel Ratskeller or the Ratskeller Hotel

or, if the background is considered important, translate it as ‘state-owned’: the state-owned Hotel Ratskeller


'Long Live The Peace' slogans greeted Argyle on arrival in this important cultural and industrial centre and the Union flag flew outside the state-owned hotel in which they stayed.
http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/sv-tour-easterneurope.asp

Mrs. Schultz manages a modest state-owned hotel in Havelberg, 70 miles northwest of East Berlin.
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/world/east-german-makes-st...

Flying into Havana, we got a taxi to our hotel, the state-owned Hotel Colina. It was a bit like something from cold war Russia.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/blogs/the-omnivore/5834435...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2014-04-12 10:45:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A visit to this useful website would have revealed the meaning
http://www.abkuerzungen.de/

http://www.abkuerzungen.de/result.php?searchterm=ho&language...
HO Handelsorganisation
Auch staatliche Läden der damaligen DDR
HO Handover (englisch)
(technisches) Weiterreichen
ho hands off (englisch)
Hände weg (Chatslang)
HO Head Office (englisch)
Direktion
HO Hof
Deutsches Kfz.-Kennzeichen
Ho Holmium (lateinisch)
Chemisches Element
HO Horn
Österreichisches Kfz.-Kennzeichen

Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:25
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 134

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nicole Schnell
12 hrs

agree  gangels (X): HO stands for Handelsorganisation (commie state owned where you could buy food without the then-mandatory food coupons
1 day 8 hrs

agree  jccantrell: Like the old VEB, too, only a different branch. Learn something new every day.
2 days 3 hrs
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Reference comments


10 mins peer agreement (net): +9
Reference: Info

Reference information:
Die Handelsorganisation (HO) war ein in der juristischen Form des Volkseigentums geführtes staatliches Einzelhandelsunternehmen in der DDR.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handelsorganisation

The Handelsorganisation (“Trading Organisation”, or HO) was a national retail business owned by the central administration of the Soviet Zone of occupation in Germany and from 1949 on by the state of the German Democratic Republic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handelsorganisation

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 88

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Johanna Timm, PhD
1 hr
agree  Coqueiro
3 hrs
agree  Edith Kelly
4 hrs
agree  D.K. Tannwitz
4 hrs
agree  writeaway
6 hrs
agree  Wendy Streitparth
7 hrs
agree  Lancashireman
8 hrs
agree  Nicole Schnell
20 hrs
  -> Nice to hear from you, Nicole.
agree  dkfmmuc
2 days 5 hrs
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