Editor Pick
Documentation Center
- May 18, 2007
- Rated 5 of 5 by
becks from Mexico City, Mexico
Following his early release from Landsberg prison in 1924, Adolf Hitler acquired a house – the Berghof – in the beautiful Berchtesgaden area. After the Nazis grabbed power in 1933, locals – whether party members or not – were forced off their land as most other senior Nazi leaders built country retreats here too. In a sense, Berchtesgaden became a second Berlin as far as the concentration of power was concerned. Many of the pre-war film footage of Hitler with families and children were shot here.
Apparently, Hitler enjoyed a good lunch – sans alcohol for himself but he did not deny his guests. They were probably wise not to take too much themselves, as after lunch they generally strolled over to a kind of teahouse where Hitler went into a monologue that could go on all afternoon. Occasionally, he talked himself to sleep with the other senior Nazi leaders sitting around quietly until he wakes up again later in the afternoon or early evening.
At the end of the Second World War, the allies bombed the area and most of the buildings were destroyed. Following the war, the area was used by the USA Army as a recreation area and once the land came back under the control of the Bavarians, there was little enthusiasm to have such prime mountain estate turned into a museum. Furthermore, in Germany there is always the fear that places associated with the Nazi leaders will become an attraction to neo-Nazis.
However, in 1999, a large documentation center opened behind the bus station, from where buses leave for the top of the Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest). It consists mostly of panels with information, photos, maps, and graphics explaining the Nazi period with special emphasis on the Berghof’s role in the Nazi leaders’ lives. Virtually all information is in German only but useful audio guides are available in several other languages.
Although this exhibition is interesting, it adds little to what you can easily find in a variety of books. Visiting the huge bunker complex behind the center is more interesting. The Nazis constructed a huge complex of tunnels to provide safe passage to the party leaders should the area be bombed. When the air raids came at the end of the war, the complex was virtually deserted with no major Nazi leaders present. The bombproof bunkers survived the raids largely intact although many tunnels collapsed. Only a small section of the bunker complex is open to the general public and information provided is relatively scant. However, it is still well worth seeing.
Apart from the Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest), the other building in the area that survived from the 1930s is the station in Berchtesgaden. Most of the Nazi entourage arrived by train so Nazi star architect Albert Speer was called on to design a suitable station building. Today it is considered one of the best surviving examples of civil architecture from the Nazi era.
From journal Berchtesgaden –Nazis, royals, lakes, and mountains