Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest Burns in Suspected Arson
Fire destroys Hitler’s Bavarian retreat; suspect detained, investigation ongoing.
2 min read
Fire gutted Adolf Hitler’s former Bavarian mountain retreat late Friday, the Alpine lodge known as the Eagle’s Nest. Roughly 200 firefighters found the Kehlsteinhaus fully alight when they reached the summit, according to the Telegraph. The fire destroyed almost all of the building by Saturday. Firefighters found no one inside the building, with no injuries reported.
Officers detained a motorcyclist near the site, the Telegraph reported. The man suffered injuries and went to a hospital, according to German news agency dpa. Police have not tied him to the fire, and the criminal investigation remains open, Reuters noted. Clear indications point to the detained motorcyclist as the person who set the fire, according to prosecutors in Traunstein. Prosecutors also described the suspect as mentally ill, according to the German outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ). Authorities have released no motive, Reuters reported.
Das von den Nazis errichtete Kehlsteinhaus ist offenbar absichtlich in Brand gesetzt worden. Ein Verdächtiger wurde verhaftet, ist aber verletzt. Bayerns Innenminister will das Gebäude wieder aufbauen lassen. Link in X-Bio. https://t.co/t4PFKDFuoA
The lodge sits above Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps, at an altitude of 1,834 meters, according to the Times of Israel. Crews could get inside the burning building only with “heavy breathing apparatus,” according to police spokeswoman Lisa Maier. A slim mountain road normally off-limits to private vehicles slowed the effort, the Telegraph reported. The first crews reached the scene at 9:52 p.m. Friday, according to dpa.
The monument is to be rebuilt, according to the government minister responsible for the site. The fire caused damage running into the millions of euros, according to Austrian outlet Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF).
Workers built the Kehlsteinhaus in 1938 as a guest house for visiting dignitaries, rushing through the winter to finish it for Hitler’s birthday in April 1939, the Telegraph reported. Hitler rarely used the lodge and visited at least 14 times, mostly to host foreign officials. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had gifted the lodge a fireplace cut from red Italian marble. After the war, Allied troops broke off fragments to carry home.
Allied forces ran the building as a command post until 1960, when Bavaria reclaimed it and listed it as a protected monument. British aircraft bombed Hitler’s nearby Berghof home in April 1945, according to the Telegraph. Crews demolished its ruins in 1952 to stop the site drawing admirers.
Source: Daily Caller
