The Eagle’s Nest: Visit Bavaria’s Most Beautiful Eyrie

The Eagle’s Nest, or as it is known in German, the Kehlsteinhaus, was commissioned in 1937 by one of Adolf Hitler’s closest lieutenants, Martin Bormann. It was built as a fiftieth birthday present for Hitler. The spectacular mountain eyrie, perched at the summit of the Kehlstein mountain in the Berchtesgaden Alps, has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Bavaria.

Construction of Kehlsteinhaus

Created with the highest-quality materials, the Kehlsteinhaus project brought together the best architects, engineers and workers from across Germany as well as Austria and Italy, and would eventually cost the equivalent of $150M to build today. The house is reached via the circuitous Kehlsteinstrasse (“Kehlstein Road”), a work of engineering that was years ahead of its time. It took only thirteen months to build, due to the impossibly arduous 24-hour daily work schedule and extremely dangerous conditions resulting in the deaths of at least four workers. Hitler’s birthday in April 1939 was considered a deadline for the project’s completion, so work continued throughout the winter of 1938, with the worksite lit by searchlights at night.

Bormann’s intention was that the Kehlsteinhaus be used as both a diplomatic reception house and quiet mountain retreat for Hitler. But Hitler’s fear of heights along with his anxiety over use of the compound’s elevator which he thought prone to lightning strikes, reduced his visits to less than a dozen times. And those visits were for a few hours only.

The 360-degree views are, in a word, breathtaking. The history, chilling.

Mussolini’s Mantle

On the day I visited, the views made it almost possible to forget the horrors of its origin. Details of the former owner are muted and few, confined to a series of posters explaining the feats of engineering involved in its construction, with little mention of Nazism or Hitler.

Of special note for me was the the building’s main reception room which is dominated by a fireplace of red Italian marble. This mantle was a gift from Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini and is riddled with chips. The story is told that upon its occupation by Allied soldiers, souvenir pieces were chipped from the stone.

Only buses are allowed to ferry visitors from the lower parking lots up the sinuous Kehlsteinstrasse to the Eagle’s Nest but I decided to forgo a ride and hike back down on that beautiful autumn morning last September. Along the way I noticed a lovely purple flower, it’s blooms peeking from rocks and outcroppings along the trail. I asked the guide below for more information.

Nature’s Last Word

“It’s wolfsbane,” she said, ‘We call it Hitler’s little whispers…”

A chilling reminder.