Photos-10

Here is Hitler's "Eagle's Nest", one of the few structures spared by the bombing raid on 26 April, 1945. Known now as the Kehlsteinhaus, it is the most popular tourist site on the Obersalzberg. In English, this building is called the "Eagle's Nest," even though this is not a translation of the German name (simply "House on the Kehlstein (Mountain)"), and the Germans did not call it the "Eagle's Nest". This name seems to have been first applied by British journalist Ward Price, in 1938, and was picked up by the Allies.

   This building is also often called "Hitler's Tea House," but that is something of a misnomer. Although Reichsleiter Martin Bormann was inspired to build it by Hitler's obvious fancy for another favorite tea house, Hitler did not use the Kehlsteinhaus as an afternoon tea house, nor did he visit it regularly. Hitler used the Kehlsteinhaus only to show off to visiting dignitaries, and he probably did not visit it himself more than twenty times (at the most), as he did not like the height and the resulting changes in air pressure, and the perceived dangers of lightning and the elevator. Bormann himself and Eva Braun did far more entertaining in the Kehlsteinhaus than did Hitler, who continued to enjoy his afternoon tea and relaxation in the Teehaus on the Mooslahnerkopf.

   The Kehlsteinhaus was the pinnacle of Bormann's building mania on the Obersalzberg, literally and figuratively. It was an engineering marvel of its day  --  the house was built on a rocky spur of the Hoher Göll mountain, some 2700 feet above the Obersalzberg (6017 feet above sea level). To reach this spur, a mountain road of some four miles (6.37 km) was blasted into the mountainside, using only one hairpin curve (switchback), and five tunnels. The road and house were built in only 13 months. The house itself is reached by a tunnel driven 407 feet into the mountain, at the end of which is a large brass-paneled elevator that rises 407 feet to the building. This was actually a two-story elevator: an upper car which stopped on the main level, and a lower car that stopped in the basement for resupply of the kitchens (this lower car was removed during renovations in the 1950s).

   Although the Kehlsteinhaus was a designated target for the April 1945 Royal Air Force bombing attack (the Allies thought there might be underground military facilities there, part of the mythical "Alpine Redoubt"), it was not hit. Apparently it was too small a target, and too difficult to pick out of the surrounding area from above. After the war the "Eagle's Nest" became a popular stop for visiting American GIs and other Allied officers and troops (for awhile, only officers were allowed to ride the elevator, and enlisted men had to use the footpath). Due to intense lobbying by the Berchtesgaden district administrator, the Kehlsteinhaus was spared from the 1951-52 destruction of Nazi ruins, and was returned to the State of Bavaria (now run by the Berchtesgaden tourism association). The house was restored and somewhat modernized, but its basic appearance today is much the same as during the Third Reich (some changes since 1945 are pointed out in the photos below). It is now one of the most popular tourist sites in the area, reached by special bus from the Kehlsteinhaus bus lot on the Obersalzberg, from May-October.