Hitler's Eagle's Nest survived the Second World War, but not a Friday night fire

Hitler's former Eagle's Nest, which survived the Second World War, the bombings and eight decades of tourist crowds, went up in flames on the evening of Friday, October 23. Around two hundred people fought the fire at the Kehlsteinhaus, which towers over Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, and police detained a 33-year-old German man that same night, because according to the Bavarian public broadcaster BR24 investigators found clear traces pointing to arson. No one was injured, but the damage could run into the millions of euros. One can't help but think of history's black humor: the mountain backdrop burns down just as, in Germany, there are once again those who would dust off the political legacy of the 1930s — though for now the fire has no known political explanation, and the detained man's motives are still being investigated.

Police noticed the suspect on the road leading up to the Eagle's Nest because he was riding a red motorcycle without a license plate, and it later emerged that he also had ties to the Berchtesgaden district. According to the prosecutor's office, a preliminary psychiatric assessment raised the possibility that he may be mentally ill, so they have requested that he be placed temporarily in a forensic psychiatric facility; investigators are also examining whether a political motive was behind the act, although they have found no indication that anyone else was involved in the arson. Meanwhile, the mountain itself was an enemy to the firefighters — the Eagle's Nest stands at 1,834 meters on a rocky ridge that is already a challenge to reach, and bad weather slowed them down further, so according to AP, by the time they arrived, the building was already engulfed in flames visible from kilometers away, and it could only be entered wearing heavy respiratory protection gear.

The Kehlsteinhaus was built between 1937 and 1938 in Obersalzberg, the sealed-off mountain domain of the Nazi leadership, not as a residence but for representative purposes and to impress foreign guests. Although it is often referred to as Hitler's mountain residence, the dictator actually lived in the Berghof further down the slope and rarely came up here. According to Reuters, the building, made of stone and granite, survived the war, has operated as a restaurant since 1952, and an exhibition told visitors its history. Now it will have to be rebuilt again. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann has already indicated that the building, which is owned by the state and was insured, will be restored and will not be left as a ruin on the mountaintop. The reasoning given is not nostalgia but remembrance: the aim is to show how the Nazi regime established itself and what kind of world it built for itself while destroying that of others.

Wasteland