We took a bus to the town of Berchtesgaden for Karen and I to tour the Eagle’s Nest in the afternoon. We mounted a bus in the village and began the ride up the mountain. Along the way we drove through areas where a number of Hitler’s upper level commanders and political appointees owned homes. The houses still exist and are now owned by individuals as their residence.
As we rode the bus further up the mountain we arrived at a place where there used to be a building with rooms, essentially a hotel. The Eagles Nest is basically a coffee shack. It does not have bedrooms or facilities for people to stay overnight, so this facility was built to provide a place of housing. Early in the war the Nazis believed that this location was entirely safe and Allied bombing could never reach here. As the Allies began to show that they had more bombing range, an underground bomb shelter was dug into the side of the hill. It had a second entrance that was located by or under the hotel. The site was bombed by the Allies, but the shelter proved to be a very sturdy place and did not suffer damage. It also had a positive air pressure system to ensure that if the Allies dropped nerve gas bombs the gas would not enter the shelter. The original hotel has been demolished and a newer facility built nearby. We were able to tour through the shelter.
We then entered a different bus for the climb up the rest of the mountain. There were five road tunnels between that point and the peak. We arrived at the parking area and then entered a tunnel system.
The tunnel took us to an elevator that was located 100 meters below the Eagles Nest. The elevator could hold up to 42 people and the inside of the elevator was covered with copper sheeting. Pictures inside the elevator are not allowed because the copper would reflect any camera flash and people would be blinded. The elevator exited right into the building. which had three primary rooms. One room is now the main dining area and serves as a restaurant. A second room, also for dining is shown below.
The fire place that you see on the left side was heavily damaged by allied solders who chipped off part of the rock and also scratched their names into the stone. The left set of doors with the steps comes down from the restaurant area. The set of doors straight across the room is the entrance to Eva Braun’s room, shown below.
The room is now empty but originally had a table with chairs and also chairs along the sides. On the left side of the picture just before the windows is a door to the outside where you can go to picnic tables and walk around outside. On the wall on the right side used to hang two tapestries. Those disappeared after the war was over. One tapestry was discovered three years ago. A US solder evidently took one home to the Minneapolis area and it hung in his home. After he passed away, his daughter had it in her home until 2016 when she discovered online that it was a stolen artifact. She contacted the German government and the tapestry is now undergoing restoration. Karen took a few pictures outside (I don’t do well with heights and cliffs). She did get me outside for one photo close to the edge.
I believe that is Berchtesgaden down below.
Yes, there was still snow.
As you can see in the background, the Eagles Nest is not on the highest mountain in the area, at just over 6,000 feet. It is the second highest peak.
We learned that Hitler never owned Eagles Nest and it was not given to him as a birthday present. Martin Borman was the builder and owner. Following the war ownership was by the US military until the mid 1970’s when cuts to military funding resulted in the site being given back to Germany. A memorable experience to a site I never believed I would ever visit.
Following our visit to the Eagles Nest we rode the bus back down to Berchtesgaden. We had supper and then boarded the train back to Munich where Karen and I spent the night in a hotel and Cory headed back home to Furth.
At 4:15 am we arose, took the tram to the railroad station, then took a train to the airport. We flew from Munich to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Calgary, and Calgary to Winnipeg. We spent the night in Winnipeg before driving home the next day. This was an absolutely incredible trip covering a total of fifteen days. The trip turned out far better than we could have hoped for.
We sure hope that you enjoy the pictures and description.
Bryan
In Our Father's Footsteps 