Berghof We had a little time this morning before setting out to go to Salzburg to return our rental car. We’d seen the references to Hitler’s Berghof and how close it appeared to be to zum Turken, but had never been to actually look. It was blown up in 1952 (don’t know why it took them 7 years to decide this-maybe they had other things to worry about! ). The SS set fire to the complex a few days after the Allies bombed the area on April 25, 1945. So you wouldn’t expect to see much.

The trail is just a few meters down the road from zum Turken. Up the trail about 25 meters, you come to a more level spot and there’s a sign indicating this is indeed the location of Hitler’s former Berghof. The only thing remaining is the substantial concrete south wall that meets the mountain behind it. Aside from that and a few visible bricks that might have been near the front, just trees. Nature has reclaimed the site of the infamous Führer’s home.

I didn’t mention in the prior post, that when we toured the Documentation Center, all of the content is in German. There are some brochures with some pieces in English or a few other languages, but relatively little of the overall content is translated. So the exhibit is clearly focused to German speaking visitors, and you really have to know what the Documentation Center is, to come here. There’s nothing about Hitler or WWII, in any of the directional signs in the area. Even the naming of the center says something about how they want this viewed.

Photos at Flickr