June 17, 2023 - Germany
Obersalzberg, Berghof, Eagle's Nest

It was an easy, scenic hour-long drive from Saltzburg to Obersalzberg.  We were signed up for the Eagle's Nest Historical Tour.  I knew we would see Eagle's Nest but didn't really know what else to expect.  I would learn quite a bit.

The Kehlsteinhaus (known in English as the Eagle's Nest) is a Nazi-constructed building erected atop the summit of the Kehlstein, a rocky outcrop that rises above Obersalzberg near the southeast German town of Berchtesgaden.

In 1922-23, just out of prison, Adolf Hitler checked into this alpine hotel in Obersalzberg, three miles uphill from Berchtesgaden, to finish work on his memoir Mein Kampf.  Apparently, he fell in love with this picturesque corner of Bavaria.  He would purchase a little alpine chalet which would become the Berghof.

The hotel is now known as the Hotel zum Turken but is not open.  The hotel is just south of the Tour parking lot.

Just down a grassy slope from the hotel is this guard shack.  Back in the day it controlled access to Hitler's quarters:  the Berghof.

The tour guide leads us down a road and then a path into the woods.

The hotel is at center, with the Berghoff on the right.  The guard shack I photographed earlier can be seen at lower center.

The former hotel "Türken" was turned into quarters to house the Reichssicherheitsdienst (Reich Security Service; RSD) SS security men who patrolled the grounds of the Berghof.  It was later occupied by the Generalmajor of the Police. (The hotel was rebuilt in 1950 and reopened as the Hotel zum Türken. From it, visitors could still explore the historic underground hallways and tunnels that had been used by the Nazis.

Our guide was not sure about the hotel's current status, other than it was not open.

Frontal view in black and white.

The social scene at the Berghof ended on 14 July 1944, when Hitler left for his military headquarters in East Prussia, never to return.

Emerging out of the woods, back to the bus. The Hotel is at upper right.

Hitler used Berghof frequently but only used Eagle's Nest 14 times.  He did like to make a daily walk after lunch from the Berghof down to a teahouse on Mooslahnerkopf hill -- about a mile or so away -- and be driven back.  The cylindrical teahouse was built in 1937 and was Hitler's favorite destination which he, in contrast to Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), used nearly every afternoon.  The teahouse was unscathed in the April 1945 bombing raid, but the Bavarian government knocked it down by 1951 because of its link with Hitler. For 55 years, the ruins lay in the woods by the 13th hole of the golf course, but these were taken away altogether during the summer of 2006.

The U.S. Army was in charge of the Obersalzbergarea after the war, and built the golf course and ski lift that you see.  This ski lift and golf course is west-northwest, and downhill, from the Berghof.

The view from the spot where Hitler's teahouse used to be courtesy of Wikipedia and Raven63.

It is well known that Hitler liked nothing better than to get away from it all by relaxing with those willing to endure his monologues accompanied by a plate of sweet cakes and a pot of hot tea.

Our bus took us back to the main bus/parking area where we boarded another bus that would take us up to the Eagle's Nest.

The next view shots are from the bus going up the steep and winding road to the Eagle's Nest parking lot.  The view from the road was fabulous, if not a little scary.

The Eagle's Nest was finished in 1938.

Today the building is owned by a charitable trust, and serves as a restaurant offering indoor dining and an outdoor beer garden.

We came out of the elevator and turned right into the restaurant.  The Nazis used this sumptuous wood-lined as the formal dining hall – the centrepiece of which was the large wooden table able to accommodate up to thirty diners.

The kitchen – which would never be used – was fully equipped with high-grade equipment designed by the Krefft concern, while there was a 750-piece silver cutlery set crafted by Munich-based F. A. Wandiger and 450-piece porcelain dining set made by Germany’s finest and most famous manufacturer Meissen. Every piece of cutlery – including an additional two-dozen tomato knives purchased in 1939 – carried the distinctive “AH” monogram, which would make them prize trinkets when the house was ransacked by occupying Allied troops in 1945.

The Kehlsteinhaus had no permanent residents and had been designed to accommodate only day visitors, who would have usually stayed at the Berghof on the Obersalzberg. Guards may well have slept in the guard room or basement when on overnight duty, but the house had not been equipped with any sleeping facilities.

All of the rooms in the Kehlsteinhaus were furnished to the highest standard, with no expense spared or corner cut.

We descended a small flight of stairs into the large octagnal main reception hall.

The large octagonal reception hall was primarily designed for more informal after-dinner entertainment, offering visitors almost a 270 degree view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. The floor of the room was laid with an decorative oriental-design carpet that had been presented as a gift to Hitler by the Japanese Emperor Hirohito. On the southern side of the reception hall another short flight of stairs led to what was arguably the most perfectly situated room in the house, the Scharitzstube.

The fireplace was damaged by Allied soldiers who chipped off pieces to take home as souvenirs.  You can really see the damaged areas in this picture, mainly the bottom edge of the horizontal pieces.

Furthermore, souvenir hunters virtually cleared the house of everything that was valuable or interesting, before officers could order the mountaintop chalet secured.