I was assigned to a general court-martial involving attempted murder of one soldier by another. Though that was interesting in itself, and a topic for another post maybe, the thing I remember most was the elevator in the building. It was called the Pater Noster.
It consisted of two elevator shafts next to one another, one for up (usually the right-hand one as you faced them), and one for down. What was interesting - and exciting - was that the elevator compartments were open, that is no doors, and they didn't stop but rather moved slowly but continuously up and down. It was called the Pater Noster it was said because one prayed before getting on it because you had to jump on and jump off since it didn't stop! It was even trickier when you had to get in if someone was already there. And getting off was as tricky. Usually, one would wait for an empty car. The other thing that made it so scary was that you were told that if you missed getting off you would turn upside down once you reached the top or bottom and would show up in the other shaft that way! As you can see from the drawing above, that is not true. But it was fun watching first timers.
The building now belongs to a German university. And the paternosters still exist. The university has said the paternosters will remain forever. Oh, and by the way, the real reason for its name was that the continuous loop resembled a rosary bead used in saying prayers.
