The journey to “The Eagle’s Nest” high in southern Germany was always on my must-see list ever since watching HBO’s Band of Brothers twenty million times. Traveling here was an absolute joy, and while that may sound strange considering its previous owner, the location makes an appearance in my novel, so naturally, before boarding the bus in the early hours of the morning I was an excitable mess. At the time the chapter was only a rough sketch in my mind, and only after seeing the teahouse atop the mountain (Yes, a tea house) did it all finally come together.
The tour begins in the picturesque town of Berchtesgaden and consists of two main areas, the Obersalzberg Mountainside retreat and the motorway that winds up to the Eagle’s Nest itself. The leader of our expedition was a Scotsman with a thick accent and a no-messing-around attitude, which I liked. He knew his history inside and out and I appreciated his valuable insights immensely. At the beginning of our ascent, while still in Berchtesgaden, we saw an original SS Guardhouse where security would have once been extreme, and also here, we were told young girls from all over Bavaria would line the road with flowers hoping to glimpse the Führer whenever he was rumoured to be coming or going. Early on in his reign, he would stop to take photos and exchange pleasantries with the cheering people but as the war ground on, Hitler’s resentful reclusiveness ended public shows of affection entirely.
After the checkpoint, we had to pull over to observe a convoy of adorable cows shepherded by some stocky Germans with calves the size of footballs.
The staggeringly well-preserved road wound its way through a gorgeous wooded area toward the Obersalzberg. We stopped again to see a huge (repurposed) SS barracks and parcels of overgrown land where Nazi party elites once had their homes. To prevent pilgrimages by Neo-Nazi’s, and also because of severe bomb damage during the war, most, if not all the houses have been demolished, this includes Hitler’s house, The Berghof.
The Obersalzberg was once the base of operations for the SS and elite protection units assigned to the Führer and Reich officials who lived on the mountain. It also doubled as a leisure retreat for ranking SS officers and their families, essentially divided into three security zones, each more elaborate and concentrated the closer one got to Hitler’s residence. The Obersalzberg was extensively bombed by the allies in 1945 and the few buildings that have been rebuilt are now museums or hotels. There is a terrific exhibition (pictured below) on the Nazi regime that allows access to the immense bunker complex reaching deep inside the mountain.
The lush greenery on the surface conceals an ambitious tunnel system connecting the most important areas of the Obersalzberg to the military infrastructure, it was also a frightening labyrinth of murder holes designed to confuse and reduce the numerical superiority of any attacker. The idea was that if the unthinkable happened and Berlin fell, Hitler and the regime would hold out to the last in the “Alpine Fortress” with the full might of the fanatical SS legion. We saw many long inescapable corridors, blind corners, slits for machine guns and grenade ports. The formidable defenses were never close to being finished or manned appropriately, but given the way Berlin was savagely defended in 1945, had Hitler ultimately decided to entrench himself in the mountainous region with the dogged remnants of the armed forces, then a German surrender in 1945 may not have been so forthcoming. Much of the expansive system is traversable with segments yet to be excavated, but rumours abound of secret tunnels and bunkers filled with Nazi loot…or, maybe that’s what I want to believe.
The Eagle’s Nest
Hitler’s chief of staff, Martin Bormann, was the driving force behind building the Kehlsteinhaus marvel, or “Eagle’s Nest”, 6000ft above Berchtesgaden as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler. It was an audacious undertaking considering the forced labour required and the immense financial cost, but also the small fact that Hitler was afraid of heights…In the end, Hitler would only visit the Eagle’s Nest on fourteen known occasions. It was used primarily as a lavish diplomatic setting and as a venue for the weddings of German officers, of which there was a long waiting list!
The Eagle’s Nest is open to tourists for certain periods of the year (winter closed) and the accredited tours that run here are red hot on monitoring the forecasts for poor conditions and generally email you with updates. Bad visibility at the top can be disappointing for photo opportunities not to mention treacherous – in our instance, a week-long fog over the mountain had lifted and we were graced with a clear sunny day. Yay! As impressive as the Eagle’s Nest is, the engineering know-how behind the steep motorway winding its way up the mountain with five separate tunnels and one hairpin turn is simply jaw-dropping. Just don’t look down. The entrance tunnel and elevator that ascends the final 400ft inside the mountain is just as impressive.
It’s hard not to imagine this man-made marvel as it was back in the zenith of the Third Reich. The bustling Obersalzberg. The columns of immaculate black Mercedes-Benz climbing the bituminized mountain road in the alpine sunshine. Overbearing security forces swirling around the parking lot at nearly 6000ft. Driving down the cold entrance tunnel to board the polished brass elevator for the 400ft ascent that ends with the doors opening into the tea house bathed in light and mountain air. The prestige it must have exuded to all that journeyed here would’ve been awe-inspiring and intimidating.
The tea house itself is exquisite, and remains largely untouched, including the red marble fireplace gifted to Hitler by Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini. Funnily enough, I was surprised to learn that the actual location was not used in the filming of Band of Brothers, rather, it was shot in Switzerland and on set, however, they did a remarkable job of recreating the nest.
While The Berghof was demolished, The Eagle’s Nest survived allied bombing raids in the closing stages of the Second World War and attempts after to blow it up. There is now a restaurant and beerhouse at the rear of the Kehlsteinhaus where the view is spectacular. You can follow a trail behind the Nest to the peak but I’m not sure that is necessary for the average traveler. The coup de gras of the tour – on a clear day from anywhere on this rocky outcrop you can see the city of Salzburg in Austria, and the Berchtesgaden mountain region in all its glory.
Bucket list (tick)…but I think I may see this remarkable place again.
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