German police said on Saturday that they had detained a suspect after a fire broke out at Adolf Hitler’s former mountain retreat, known as the Eagle’s Nest, in the state of Bavaria. About 200 firefighters were deployed to bring the blaze under control at the remote residence, which sits on the peak of Obersalzberg in southern Germany.
The Kehlsteinhaus, as the building is formally called, stands in a remote and difficult-to-access area, a factor that complicated the firefighting operation. The source reporting does not give details of how the fire started, the extent of the damage or whether anyone was injured, and no further official statement on those points had been reported at the time of writing. Police have not yet released the identity of the detained suspect.
The Eagle’s Nest was built on the summit of the Kehlstein mountain above Berchtesgaden and was completed in 1938 as a present for Hitler’s 50th birthday. Although the Nazi leader and his guests used it for entertaining, it was never his primary residence. That role belonged to the nearby Berghof on the Obersalzberg, which was largely destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945.
The building was constructed to be reached by a road and a lift cut through the rock, and the route still draws visitors to the summit today. The site now operates as a museum and restaurant. The wider Obersalzberg area also hosts a documentation centre that examines the Nazi era and the region’s part in it, so any incident at the location is of interest to local authorities, visitors and historians alike.
The fire comes at a site that is a frequent focus of public attention in Germany because of its association with the Nazi regime. Authorities in Bavaria are expected to provide further information on the cause of the fire, the damage assessment and any charges against the detained suspect, though no timetable for those updates has been reported.
4
