Berchtesgaden is a town in the Bavarian alps, in southern Germany, very close to the Austrian border. There is quite a huge amount of history associated with the area of Berchtesgaden, in particular the area nearby called Obersalzberg, literally “upper salt mountain”.
Hitler was introduced to the area in the 1920s, and through out the 1930s, the area became a popular retreat for top-ranking Nazi party officials including Hermann Göring, Martin Bormann, Albert Speer, and of course, Adolf Hitler.
Unfortunately since the end of the Second World War much effort has been made into tearing down these remains; I have sympathy for some of these efforts (clearly, a shrine to Hitler would be undesirable), but I feel that a lot of this effort is quite unjustified, and it really pains me to find out that huge numbers of buildings have literally been bulldozed, despite their huge historical significance, often having been built before the Nazi party even existed.
Destroying artifacts does nothing; it does not change history. It simply serves to starve future generations of valuable of information.
DISCLAIMER: (Just because these kind of things seem a good idea these days :) I don’t condone, in any way, the actions of the Nazis, but I find the stuff that they did quite fascinating, in various ways.
Map of Third Reich sites in Obersalzberg/Berchtesgaden
This map contains the following items
- Hotel zum Türken
- Berghof rear driveway
- Berghof front driveway
- Berghof
- Berchtesgaden Railway Tunnel portal
- Hotel Intercontinental
- Pond on site of former Landhaus Göring
- Coal bunker
- Kehlsteinhaus/Eagle’s Nest/Teehaus
- Kehlsteinhaus/Eagle’s Nest/Teehaus tunnel portal
- Dokumentation Obersalzberg/Gastehaus Höher Goll
- Bormann’s Gutshof
- Teehaus on Mooslahnerkopf/Moslanderkopf
- Albert Speer’s House
- Albert Speer’s Bunker
- Center of map
- map
- Hotel zum Türken
- map
- Berghof rear driveway
- map
- Berghof front driveway
- map
- Berghof
- map
- Berchtesgaden Railway Tunnel portal
- map
- Hotel Intercontinental
- map
- Pond, was the site of Goering’s house
- map
- Coal bunker
- map
- Kehlsteinhaus/Eagle’s Nest/Teehaus
- map
- Kehlsteinhaus/Eagle’s Nest/Teehaus tunnel portal
- map
- SS Kaserne
- map
- Dokumentation Obersalzberg/Gastehaus Höher Goll
- map
- Bormann’s Gutshof
- map
- Teehaus on Mooslahnerkopf/Moslanderkopf
- map
- Albert Speer’s House
- map
- Albert Speer’s Studio
Chris, I agree with your sentiments about the unnecessary destruction of these sites. I do not support the Nazi actions or a shrine to Hitler. That said, I cannot believe that destruction of these and other important sites continues to this day. These areas are tied to some of the most important events in history, and destroying them won’t change what happened there. I hope a good historic presentation like yours will help to further preservation of these sites. Gary
Comment by Gary Boothe — January 21, 2009 @ 11:49 pm