[5][4] His birthplace is now the Café Hermes, an Art nouveau building in the style of the late Italian Renaissance.

[4] From 1907 to 1914, and again from 1918 to 1933, he taught at the School for Applied Art in Hamburg (with a break in between for his military service during World War I).

[7][8] In between, he also directed the mastery lessons in Nuremberg, and was busy designing pieces in applied art for over fifty clients.

On 11 July 1942, Adler, who was Jewish, was deported to the extermination camp Auschwitz,[5][9] where, judged too old to work, he was murdered soon afterwards.

[11] With Bertha he had five children, one of which was artist Paul "Pollo" Wilhelm Adler (1915–1944) who was murdered at Auschwitz.