Fire gutted Adolf Hitler’s former Bavarian mountain retreat, the Alpine lodge known as the Eagle’s Nest, or Kehlsteinhaus, late Friday. About 200 firefighters found the building fully alight when they reached the summit. By Saturday the fire had destroyed almost all of it. No one was inside, and no injuries from the blaze were reported.
The lodge stands above Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps at 1,834 meters. Police spokeswoman Lisa Maier said crews could enter the burning building only with heavy breathing apparatus. A narrow mountain road that is normally closed to private vehicles slowed the response. The first crews arrived at 9:52 p.m. Friday, the German news agency dpa reported.
Officers detained a motorcyclist near the site. He was injured and taken to hospital, dpa said. Reuters reported that police have not linked him to the fire and that the criminal investigation remains open. Prosecutors in Traunstein said there are clear indications that the detained motorcyclist set the fire. The German outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported that prosecutors also described the suspect as mentally ill. Reuters said authorities have released no motive.
The government minister responsible for the site said the protected monument is to be rebuilt. Austrian broadcaster ORF said the damage runs into the millions of euros. DER SPIEGEL reported that Bavaria’s interior minister wants the building reconstructed and that a suspect was arrested but injured.
Workers built the Kehlsteinhaus in 1938 as a guest house for visiting dignitaries and finished it through the winter for Hitler’s birthday in April 1939. Hitler rarely used it and visited at least 14 times, mostly to receive foreign officials. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini gave the lodge a fireplace cut from red Italian marble; after the war, Allied troops broke off pieces to take home. Allied forces used the building as a command post until 1960, when Bavaria reclaimed it and listed it as a protected monument. British aircraft bombed Hitler’s nearby Berghof in April 1945, and crews demolished those ruins in 1952.