Eagle's Nest - Hitler's Mountaintop Headquarters Today

[Music] bacter's garden is a pretty little bavarian town located a stone's throw from the austrian border from the nazi period the town was reserved for the most loyal party members was in effect a private nazi sanctuary high in the mountains around 30 kilometers south of salzburg in austria berchtesgaden is overlooked by germany's third highest mountain the watsman and the nearby kellstein mountain affording breathtaking and beautiful views across wooded and pastoral valleys set against a backdrop of high craggy granite mountains hitler was drawn to this landscape and would spend a large part of his dictatorship looking down on bactus garden and its adoring citizens from his own mountaintop perch on the obersauzberg hitler had first visited the area in the early 1920s he would stay at inns in the tiny village of salzburg near bechtel's garden eventually he rented and then purchased a house of his own it came to be called the berkoff this was hitler's private home and he was intensely proud of having purchased and extended the property courtesy of the royalties from his book mein kampf the berkoff where before the war hitler would spend six months of every year held a special place in his heart throughout the early years during the many periods he spent on the obs-salzburg hitler enjoyed an almost carefree lifestyle here in peace and comfort he could escape the daily grind of political administration and public duties which he disliked the berkoff represented hitler's character in bricks mortar and wood it was where hitler felt most comfortable and the surrounding area soon became a private gated community for his closest followers who were permitted to construct their own chalet style houses usually close copies of the berkoff it was also hitler's rest and relaxation area where he could walk through alpine meadows pine forests and along mountain tracks virtually unguarded visit specially constructed tea houses perched atop precipitous mountains entertain world leaders artists diplomats and musicians it was also a fully functioning military headquarters during the war from his lofty perch hitler was often seen deep in thought on the bearcoff's sun terrace or in conversation with his henchmen chief among them heinrich himmler hermann goering albert speer and martin bourman the bearcath was also the only place where hitler freely and publicly socialized with his long-term mistress eva brown before we move on to examining what's left atop the oberzeldsberg you should note that the area was bombed by the raf on the 25th of april 1945 though hitler was in berlin the private nazi village was devastated with most of the buildings sustaining damage previous to this raid hitler's house had not been attacked hitler would arrive at the berkhoff one of two ways his special focal wolf 200 condor aircraft would land at an airfield about 30 kilometers away and hitler would then be driven in a convoy of armored mercedes limousines up to the oberzeldsburg via the small mountain village of oberau the other method was aboard his huge armored train codenamed america that would arrive at berchtesgaden station the station was specially constructed to accommodate hitler's train and large entourage the station is largely unchanged from hitler's day and still has a huge nazi-era wall mural at one end the swastika inside the flag's white circle carefully removed post-war from the station it was a short drive up the mountain to the berkoff as cars drove into the fuhrer's security zone on the road to the berkoff the first thing visitors would have seen was the gutsoff an experimental farm created by martin bormann after the war the complex was taken over by the u.s army and converted into a sports lodge golf course and winter ski resort today one wing survives as a golf club house passing the guts off visitors would find that the road to hitler's residence was blocked by the main ss guard house that spanned the road with a solid wooden gate here's the same bomb damage gatehouse after its capture by the americans its stone foundations remain today once passed the rsd and ss guards the road ran past the berkoff a handsome stone and wooden chalet set atop a small rise above the road the bearcoff's entrance hall was lined with cacti in large majolica pots the dining room was paneled in expensive sembra pine but the most famous room was the great hall with white walls low wooden paneling a wooden lattice work ceiling and red carpeting the great hall was where hitler held his meetings guests after being seated on sofas arranged before a massive red marble fireplace at one end of the capacious room a huge picture window dominated one wall giving an expansive view across the valley towards the mountains beyond and the entire window could be lowered into the floor on fine days this is the view today from the same spot where the great hall and window once stood outside there was a large sun terrace with colourful umbrellas where hitler's intimates lounged sunbathed or strolled hitler and his mistress eva brown though she was officially lodged further down the mountain in bechtesgarden had interconnecting bedrooms at the berkhoff with en-suite bathrooms hitler's secretaries and adjutants also lived inside the house along with several servants and other household staff necessary to keep the place running efficiently the berkoff has been almost completely erased from the hillside where it once stood except for a few surviving elements the damage caused by the raf bombing in 1945 was compounded by a fire started by the retreating ss shortly before the property was captured the berkoff was then extensively pillaged and looted it survived until 1952 as a gutted wreck until the decision was taken by the west german authorities to obliterate the place it was blown up with high explosives but a few features have survived the destruction the rear retaining walls that held back the hillside behind the berkoff are intact giving visitors some idea of the scale of the original building the only reason these walls were not demolished when the bavarian government removed the rest of the berkoff was if removed the entire hillside would slip into the road below the berkoff site and speaking of roads the entrance to the bearcraft's main drive still exists the large rocks that line the hillside are largely intact at the drive's entrance though many have been taken as souvenirs over the years here would have passed the large mercedes-benz 550 and 770k armoured limousines used by hitler and other nazi leaders to deposit their passengers outside the berkoff visitors alighted from their cars below a flight of stone steps that led up to the house it was up these steps in the late 1930s that british prime minister neville chamberlain and the former king edward viii climbed the remnants of these steps remained today some parts of the drive's original surface have also survived at the end of the drive in front of the berkoff and beneath its sun terrace was a garage where hitler's cars were kept this was the only part of the house not blown up in 1952 it lingered on as a ghostly reminder of hitler's house until it was demolished in 1995. however a section of its front wall remains today one wing of hitler's house was called the agitancy wing where his adjutants and other staff lived though gone its retaining wall remains intact a few features still remain today above the destroyed adjutancy wing is a surviving access point for electrical and communication cables on the hillside above the house another part of the berkoff still exists this bunker-like structure is actually a water reservoir here is the same view in 1945 looking down at the ruined house is lined with white tiles but has now been sealed with concrete hitler was well protected from the possibility of air attack directly beneath the berkoff 15 to 20 meters underground was a large air raid shelter the shelter was 80 to 100 meters long with rooms leading off on both sides the passage that leads to hitler's personal air aid shelter has been bricked up but i was able to obtain some images of hitler's private bunker through a hole in the sealed wall here's a slightly clearer shot using a stills camera a short way along the road from the bear cuff stands the hotel zum turken opened as a guest house in 1911 the hotel was a favorite haunt of celebrities including composer johannes brahms and bavarian and prussian royalty the owner was forced to sell it to the nazis in 1933 as martin bourman began the process of removing civilians from the obersalzberg area later the hotel tsum turken was the headquarters and accommodation block for hitler's rsd bodyguard detachment and the ss vac company obersalzberg it also served as the main army high command telephone exchange when hitler was at the berkoff 19 rsd officers were stationed at the hotel armed with holstered automatic pistols one officer always patrolled in front of the berkoff on a three-hour shift another patrolled the buildings in the immediate vicinity while two more patrolled the surrounding area between 8 am and 8 pm one was always in his office close to the telephone in case of an emergency the hotel some turken was repaired after the war and today is one of the most popular guest houses in the region beneath the hotel there survives the very extensive system of bunkers and underground passages built by martin bormann some of it connected with the berkhoff's airaid shelters which are of course closed to the general public but for a small fee you can explore extensively this underground rabbit warren of passageways on the first level below the hotel zumturken are a series of cells these were used by the rsd to hold anybody they found within the security zone they are today charred and fire damaged following the british air raid in april 1945. beyond the hotel the road continued further down the valley a road branched off and led to bormann's private residence martin bormann was hitler's secretary and also was in charge of the gauliters germany's regional governors he was an extremely powerful man who controlled access to hitler and was responsible for much of the building work conducted on the orbis ellsberg his house was the closest to the berkoff the house was extensively damaged in the air raid and its ruins demolished in the early 1950s today only scattered rubble and concrete remain at the bottom of the hillside though the underground bunker system has survived but is closed to the public one thing you can see is the bunker emergency exit on the opposite side of the road behind the hotel zumturken stood the ss kazana a large white barracks complex completed in 1937. this housed more members of the ss [ __ ] company obersalzberg actually in battalion strength that patrolled the entire complex it consisted of a large parade square enclosed by barrack blocks kitchen mess hall vehicle maintenance facilities gymnasium and a staff headquarters building badly damaged from the british air raid the entire complex was pulled down in 1951. the basements tunnels and airaid shelters were torn out and filled in during 2001 to two some kind of bunker still exists in the woods behind the kazana site opposite the ss casino was a small road that branched left and wound upwards into the thick trees the road divided into two with one road going to hermann gerring's private house badly damaged in the air raid it was pulled down in the early 1950s the present kempinski luxury hotel occupies the site the only surviving piece of goring's house are these steps that led to guring's hill his favorite seating area in his garden now part of the hotel gardens the second building associated with goring is intact it is the going adjutancy where hitler's chief luftwaffe aid general karl bordenschatz and his staff lived and work there was a telephone exchange inside this three-story building remains intact and is currently a private home turning right at the ss casiana a road led to a further complex of buildings you pass by a surviving ss guard house that protected the road leading up to the eagle's nest that stands high above the orbit salzburg on kelstein mountain known today in english as the eagle's nest the kellstein house is a chalet structure commissioned by boarman in 1938 and presented to hitler on his 50th birthday in april 1939. the final 124 meters to the summit are made inside the mountain via an ornate lift that was bored directly through the granite the lift of polished brass and green leather contains expensive venetian mirrors the building's central area is called the great room and is little change from the wartime period is now used as a restaurant a huge red italian marble fireplace that was a gift from fellow dictator benito mussolini dominates the main tea room the fireplace was heavily defaced by american troops in 1945 when they chipped off sections of the marble as souvenirs during the nazi period the tea house was known as the d house or diplomatic reception house moving on from the gatehouse guarding the eagles nest access road a large complex of buildings once stood on what is now a car park for buses up to the eagle's nest this was the platterhoff hotel originally opened in 1877 the platterhole was extensively remodeled by the nazis and converted into a luxury guest house for visiting dignitaries refurbished by the u.s army in the late 1940s it was renamed the hotel general walker the complex was torn down in 2000 though one side building that was used as a restaurant by the us army until 1995 survives intact opposite the surviving part of the plateau hotel inside the woods across the road are the remnants of the kamfhausel where hitler wrote the second part of mind kampf after his release from prison in 1925. torn down by the authorities in the early 1950s only the chalets foundation remains today there is also the shattered remains of an ss mole guard bunker which i shall discuss later when we visit hitler's tea house from the platterhoff site path leads to the obersaudsburg documentation center housed inside another surviving nazi era building the hoa girl guest house this building was used by boarman's staff and also had vip guest house facilities rebuilt after the war the building is now the obersalzberg documentation center with information about the nazi period the holocaust and the second world war the extensive wartime bunker tunnel system under the hurgol is open to the public and includes borman's underground headquarters to be used should the germans have decided to have made a last-ditch stand in the mountains all of these tunnels interconnect with others beneath all the other major buildings and run for miles beneath obersalzberg many still contain the mounts and positions for ss machine guns to defend the tunnels from attack fortunately for the french and american soldiers who first arrived on the obersalzberg the ss vacated the premises without putting up a fight following the road as it branches right around the hill from the hoa girl leads you back to outside the berkoff hitler would visit the muslina cop tea house almost every afternoon during his stays at the berkoff the walk was less than a kilometer across the obersalzberg valley to the wooded muslanakop hill where the circular tea house had been built in 1937. as you start this follow the path the short distance from the berkoff and below borman's house was the ss administration building for the obersalzberg it was destroyed in the air raid in 1945 and today its remains including parts of its tin roof are strewn about beside the path mixed in amongst huge bomb craters filled with water the path was mostly wooded and ran for about one kilometer mostly downhill the path has deteriorated considerably since the nazi era and has returned in some cases back to nature the tea house now long gone was built onto the side of a hill and at one point passed a scenic overlook the entire valley enclosed by a wooden railing and with a bench where the fuhrer often sat and discussed matters of state with his intimates the scenic overlook is exactly the same as it was during hitler's time the wooden guard rails and the bench are modern replacements hitler often fell asleep at the muslin cop and was almost always driven back to the berkoff while the rest of his intimates strolled back on foot in the late afternoon hitler's fondness for the muslim cop teahouse was in contrast to the more famous eagle's nest which he only visited about 10 times because of its close association with hitler the tea house was knocked down after the war by the west german authorities of where the muslin cop tea house once stood there is just some scattered rubble the area around the tea house was heavily though discreetly guarded if you look carefully you can still find the remains of the posts that held the security fencing but a quarter of a mile from the overlook is a surviving mole bunker for the ss these two man bunkers were designed as refuges during air raids originally there were dozens of these mole bunkers scattered about the obersalzberg for the ss but most have been blown up today only two survive intact and the one near the muslina cop tea house is a steep climb down from the path perhaps explaining why it has been left whilst i was examining this bunker a strange thing happened an air raid siren started up in the distance which considering where i was it was a peculiar experience have a listen [Music] so thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also help support my channel at paypal and patreon details in the description box below you

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 5,468,240

Rating: 4.9097576 out of 5

Keywords: Obersalzberg - Hitler's Mountaintop Headquarters Today, Mark Felton Productions, Berghof, Eagle's Nest, Berchtesgaden

Id: u7Yy-NG2o_A

Length: 20min 53sec (1253 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/shleppenwolf]

We visited there about 10 years ago. I was pleased to note that the tour guides at the Kehlsteinhaus were completely upfront, didn't try to talk around anything.

We had Bier und Weisswurst in Eva Braun's private tearoom.

[u/karlos-the-jackal]

Love Mark Felton's videos, one of my favourite YT channels.