We had one of the coolest, most surreal experiences this morning on a half-day trip into Germany. Dan arranged for our family to take a tour to Berchtesgaden, Germany and the site of Hitler's "Eagle's Nest." Dan and I are really interested in WWII history, so this was a must-see for us, as we were only 20 minutes away in Salzburg. It is another one of those experiences that I never dreamed would actually happen.
One of the first things that I discovered was that I have been mispronouncing Berchtesgaden all of these years. It is pronounced /berkh-tehs-gah-dehn/. I have always pronounced the "ch" like in "church."
Another misconception was that I thought it was Hitler's private retreat that he visited often. In reality, Hitler and several of his higher-ups bought houses right outside of the neighboring village of Berchtesgaden and created their own compound. When I say "bought", they really commandeered houses owned by other families and twisted their arms to "sell" them the houses at really low prices. Then, they renovated the houses, added a hotel, Kindergarten, dining hall and other community buildings, and they added a huge fence around it so they could control access into and out of the compound. This compound was in the community named Obersalzburg. Hitler's farmhouse was named Berghof. He spent a lot of time in this community, plotting his strategies before and throughout WWII. His public image for propaganda was created in this compound, as well, as they would take staged pictures of him relaxing, frolicking and appearing grandfatherly to children in an alpine setting. The actual Eagle's Nest is perched precariously on the top of a mountain and was given to Hitler as a 50th birthday present by his followers. The only problem is that Hitler was very afraid of heights. He only visited the property a handful of times, when entertaining visiting dignitaries, such as Benito Mussolini. His girlfriend, Eva Braun, liked to visit it a lot, however, so she frequently retreated there for the views and for sunbathing. And, what views there are!
The only way to get to the Eagle's Nest is by specially designed buses from Obersalzburg. No personal vehicles are allowed on the extremely curvy road. We boarded our bus in Obersalzburg and arrived at this sight near the top of the mountain. The Eagle's Nest (actually named Kehlsteinhaus) is perched at the top of the picture.
You walk through a tunnel burrowed into the side of the mountain to reach the large elevator deep inside the mountain, which is the only way up to the top.
Here is the elevator. It remains original to the property, so we stood in the same elevator used by Hitler and his officers.
When we reached the top, we decided to take in the views before we went inside the Eagle's Nest. There is a cross at the top of the mountain, so we paused for a picture.
Now, for the views. They were breathtaking to say the least. I will just post the pictures, and let them do the talking.
The Eagle's Nest is in the background of this one.
Panoramic view of scenery...
Panoramic view including the Eagle's Nest.
We only had a few minutes left in the tour, so we pulled ourselves away from the views and into the Eagle's Nest itself. Here is the only original furnishing left in the property, the marble fireplace that was a present to Hitler from Mussolini. WWII bombing raids leveled the compound at Obersalzberg, but they didn't discover the Eagle's Nest until later, so it remained completely intact. The property still stands the same as it stood during Hitler's time, but they have changed the furniture. We have a local connection to the Eagle's Nest, because the troops that actually discovered it following the War were in E Company of the 506th Infantry Regiment, headed up by Lexington's own Colonel Robert Sink (uncle of local legend, Joe Sink).
Here was the view from inside the Eagle's Nest.
We wanted to have time to visit a museum at Obersalzburg, so we begrudgingly headed back down the elevator. Our tour guide took a family picture.
Speaking of our tour guide, Dan promises that he didn't hand-pick Lisa. She was quite easy on the eyes and not at all what we expected. She was extremely knowledgeable and very nice. We lucked out with her!
We rode back down to Obersalzburg on the special buses and visited the Documentation Center and Bunker complex. The museum staff did not recommend very much of the museum for children younger than 12, due to the graphic nature of some of the Holocaust pictures. The kids and I focused on the small portion they recommended while Dan toured the rest of the the museum. Then, we regrouped to visit the bunkers. As I said above, Hitler's entire Obsersalzburg compound was leveled by Allied Forces. Hitler and his army had prepared for air raids by creating an entire bunker system underneath the compound, much as Churchill did in London. Here was the entrance to the bunkers.
Here are a few pictures of the remains of the bunkers.
The air raid shelter was still intact.
Here was the emergency exit from the bunker system during the War.
Having also toured Churchill's War Room bunkers in London, it was so interesting to compare the two and see the difference in being on the losing vs. winning side of history. Churchill's bunkers were perfectly preserved; Hitler's were gutted by the Allies.
We ate lunch at a cafe in Mirabell Gardens upon our return to Salzburg, and look who we found...our old dog Spats! Well, not really, but he looked just like Spats with the exception that he wasn't biting anyone.
Mirabell Gardens has a great playground area, so we took the kids to the playground to let off some steam.
This playground was definitely "old school. There is no way it would fly in the US. I am sure that three-story high slide would be ruled a safety hazard.
We enjoyed a final dinner in Salzburg at a traditional Austrian restaurant. Schnitzel, anyone?!?
We really enjoyed our time in Salzburg, and I highly recommend a trip there. We hope to return some day and rent a car so that we can take advantage of all of the beautiful countryside surrounding Salzburg.
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