361. Evil Radiated

The Eagles Nest

As per Tim’s recommendation the major historical site in the area is The Eagles Nest, built by the Nazis in nineteen thirty eight. I won’t describe it in detail as Wikipedia provides excellent information. We arrived ten minutes before Matthew and Clare and the carpark was heaving with about twelve coaches, camper vans everywhere and masses of cars. I had read online that the Nest was not large and it would be heaving with people so it was recommended that visitors dine to spend decent time within the nest. We, true to form had arrived so late that we would only have an hour at the top as it turned out. It is a two hour free walk up or a twenty minute expensive bus ride up, we did the later. It is a one way road up and three busses went up together, very rapidly, ours half full, the other two empty. I did notice that the three busses we met in the passing land halfway up were absolutely packed with people, the carpark at the top thronging with people leaving.

The road up is one way, steep and lovely 

Note the hand hewn stone posts and beautiful hardwood railing 

Double doors

The gang including Matthew, Edward, Clare and Maisey  

The access tunnel is 124m long and the elevator ascends 124m
The stonework is absolutely beautiful

The lights are original and beautiful

We had it to ourselves

The antechamber for the lift was beautiful.
Evil can be as beautiful as any church, sometimes difficult to pick the difference

Beautiful original light fittings

This is the lift interior, brass, leather and mirrors. I need a new word to describe it.

Large doesn't do it justice.... opulent

180º panorama

The views stunning - there, a new word,
I'll consult the thesaurus for more  

Matthew on the Sun Deck

Hitler on the Sun Deck before we arrived

Fyfe and Iris 

Fireplace in the Kehlsteinhaus, a present from Mussolini.
Note the damage chipped by Allied souvenir hunters.

Spot Edward and Roman

Panelled reception room

Everything stunning

Hitler's Berghof 

While Matthew and I were surveying the scenery, having a drink and yarning, thinking about all that had occurred here we got to wondering where Hitler’s house actually was as there is no real reference to it apart from vague references. A wiki search provided GPS coordinates and I discovered that the house had been four hundred metres from where we were currently sitting. Matthew and Clare had got a dinner on for all of us.

As it was

As it is

Iris, Fyfe, Matthew and I set off. We had to go around the road as there was a construction site on the path directly to the site of the Berghof. When we got down to the golf course where the intersection is for the road leading up to the Berghof, though it was little more than a lane we immediately recognised the beautiful, metre high stone pillars and hardwood railing that lines the road to the Eagles Nest and fifty metres up the lane there was a overgrown stone foundation that I recognised as the SS Guard House foundations from looking at photos online this morning. It was a very eerie feeling indeed, knowing how very different things were, here, eighty years ago.

Hotel still in use

Just a country lane now

A few hundred metres further up the lane the hardwood barriers ceased, there was a small track off to the right, into a woodland where the GPS indicated that the location of the Berghof site. The neighbouring Hotel zum Türken was purchased by Hitler also. Initially the owners did not want to sell but unsurprisingly they changed their minds after three weeks in Dachau Concentration Camp. A hundred metres in, off the track we found the large sign in the woods.

The sign marking the site
Nothing is protected or celebrated.

Bergof in 1936
"These were the best times of my life. My great plans were forged here", - Adolf Hitler
Hitler spent more time here than anywhere else during the Second World War

The view from the Berghof
Chamberlan visited here in 1938 and returned having reached an agreement
Peace in our Time

Foundations can be seen

Fyfe and iris marking the corners

Walking back we came across some of the huge bomb craters  from 1945

So peaceful here

It is interesting to think how this site would be a revered, restored, location of international significance had the outcome of the war been different. A world heritage site even?

Further Burghof information here