Fire Engulfs Hitler's 'Eagle's Nest' Mountain Retreat in Bavaria; Arson Suspect Detained
Seven Lights
A major fire broke out on Friday evening at the Kehlsteinhaus, the historic mountain lodge above Berchtesgaden in Bavaria long known as Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest”, leaving the building “totally alight” and prompting police to detain a suspect, The Guardian reported. The blaze was reported shortly before 10pm local time, when a smoke detector triggered an alarm and the emergency call centre in Traunstein received multiple calls describing a fire on the Kehlstein mountain, BBC News said.
About 200 firefighters were deployed to the scene, some 1,834 metres above sea level, but the difficult terrain forced crews to work with heavy breathing apparatus, The Guardian said. There were no reports of injuries, and the building was left “totally alight”, the paper added. Firefighters continued to battle the blaze into the early hours of Saturday morning amid snowfall, The Guardian reported. Bavarian authorities did not expect the building itself to be destroyed, the paper said.
Police detained a suspect on suspicion of arson, The Guardian reported, citing German media reports that the person, described by the daily Bild as a motorcyclist, had been taken into “temporary custody”. Sky News also reported that a suspect had been arrested after the fire. Euronews reported that an arrest was made after the major fire broke out at the retreat.
Built in 1937-38, the Kehlsteinhaus was given to Adolf Hitler by the Nazi party as a 49th-birthday gift and became a venue for receiving guests and hosting high-level meetings, The Guardian said. Hitler visited the lodge only rarely, but it was used as a secondary seat of government, where he met commanders to plan the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, BBC News reported. The building survived the Second World War and has since 1952 housed a restaurant and mountain inn, alongside an exhibition documenting its history, the BBC said. The site’s official description calls the lodge “a warning reminder of the crimes of the Nazi regime”, BBC News reported, and The Guardian said a small exhibition on the building’s history runs alongside the restaurant.
The Kehlsteinhaus sits on a rocky summit reached by a tunnel and a lift, and draws tourists with panoramic views over the Bavarian Alps and, on clear days, as far as Austria, The Guardian said. German media reported that the lodge had been closed at the time of the fire.