A fire has destroyed Adolf Hitler’s mountain house in Bavaria, known as the Eagle’s Nest, and a man has been arrested on suspicion of arson, local authorities reported today.
The alarm was raised at around 9:15 p.m. last night with the emergency services in the Berchtesgaden district in the Bavarian Alps in southeastern Germany. Firefighters and police were immediately dispatched, and the house is accessible via a narrow, winding mountain road, through a series of tunnels.
They stopped and arrested a man on a motorcycle who was driving in the opposite direction down the road.
Prosecutors said that the 33-year-old suspect, a German national with ties to the area but not currently residing there, has been questioned. They stated he shows signs of mental illness and has been sent to a psychiatric facility, but added they will also consider the possibility of a political motive given the building’s history.
According to the police, there are currently no indications that anyone else was involved in setting the fire.
Rain turning into the first snow, combined with strong winds, complicated the already difficult task of extinguishing the fire, and firefighters had to withdraw during the night after several hours. No one was injured, and firefighters hope to finish the job today, although they were unable to enter the building due to the danger of falling debris.
The building, known in German as Kehlsteinhaus, is located on a hill at an altitude of 1,834 meters above sea level. It is reached by an elevator built into the rock at the end of the mountain road, which is closed to public traffic but used by visitor buses during the day.
It has been used as a café and restaurant since 1952 and features an exhibition about its history. Hitler himself rarely used the building, unlike the Berghof residence, which is also in the Berchtesgaden area and whose ruins were blown up in 1952.
The Documentation Center Obersalzberg, located lower down the mountain, houses the main historical exhibition and was not affected by the fire.
Officials said that the Eagle’s Nest will be rebuilt, although they could not say when.
“We will not leave a ruin there,” said Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann in Berchtesgaden.
He added that how the site will look in the future will depend on agreements between local officials, historians, conservators, and others.
“I think we will manage to find a reasonable solution,” Herrmann said. The Bavarian state authorities own the building. The minister emphasized that it is important to continue working on preserving the memory.
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