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BERCHTESGADEN
- GERMANY
Berchtesgaden is a German municipality in the
Bavarian Alps with a population of around 9,000. It is located in the
district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, close to the border with
Austria, 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km south-east of Munich. It is
situated north of the Berchtesgaden National Park.
Nearby to the south is the second highest in Germany, Mount Watzmann (2713
m) and a lake called the Königssee (5.2 km²). Also there is the Kehlstein
mountain (1835 m), at the top of which is the Kehlsteinhaus (sometimes
called "The Eagle's Nest"), offering remarkable views.
The area was historically noted for its salt
mines, close by is the Obersalzberg (literally upper salt mountain).
The site was appropriated by the Nazis for senior leaders to enjoy in the
1930s, one of Hitler's residences, the Berghof was there (demolished in
1953, ruins removed in 1996).
A number of other relics of the Nazi era are in the area, the Kehlsteinhaus
was build as a present for Hitler's 50th birthday and was only fortunately
saved from being demolished post-war, the Gestapo HQ at Hotel Zum Türken,
the remains of houses belonging to Hermann Göring, Albert Speer, and Martin
Bormann, a massive railway station, the Hotel Platterhof (renamed the
General Walker Hotel, 1953 and demolished, 1999) and a number of bunkers and
similar fortifications. Post-war the Nazi buildings were acquired by the US
military and during the Cold War the area was a Armed Forces Recreation
Center.
Today there is a documentation centre on the Obersalzberg which not only
shows the Obersalzberg in the 1930s and 40s, but also the crimes of the
Nazi-regime.
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