Based Helvetia 🇨🇭

The Berchtesgaden Bahnhof (train station) was built from 1937-1940. Designed in massive Third Reich style (to impress visitors), the building had a special reception area reserved for Hitler and his guests (seen  on the right above - around the corner from the circular tower in the left-hand photo).  Note - The Bahnhof was bought by a private purchaser in 2015, and the building has been remodeled, with bowling alleys and meeting rooms added, and a "Bavarian Pub" in Hitler's former reception area.

After the complex on the Obersalzberg assumed much greater importance in the Third Reich government, Hitler decided to build a second government seat in the Berchtesgaden area.  This second Reichskanzlei (Reichs Chancellery) building and complex was built in 1936-37 in Stanggass, just northwest of Berchtesgaden (the main Reichskanzlei being the monumental edifice in Berlin). This Berchtesgaden Kanzlei was surrounded by a small complex of staff and security buildings, and served as a diplomatic center. (90% of the 3rd Reich buildings and infrastructure in the Berchtesgaden area were destroyed, I'm really showing what's left).

Heinrich Himmler’s house.

The building was first used by the SS-Führerleibwache, Hitler's personal bodyguard. Martin Bormann, manager of the Obersalzberg, later assigned the building to the Reichssicherheitsdienst (RSD), the high-level Security Service responsible for Hitler's safeguarding (some references say the Haus Türken housed the Gestapo, but the RSD was a separate organization). In practice, the ex-hotel served as a headquarters for the round-the-clock SS guard detachment, and also as a telephone communications center. The Türken's bunker system is directly connected to that of the Berghof and Hitler's apartments, as well as to the Berghof itself, but also to Bormann's bunker system.

Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler for tea Time.

Adolf Hitler with Heinrich Himmler.

Besides his Berghof home, undoubtedly Hitler's favorite place on the Obersalzberg was a super cozy Tea House built in 1937 on the northern boundary of the area, just below the Mooslahnerkopf hill, overlooking the Berchtesgaden valley below.  Most of Hitler's stays at the Berghof included a daily afternoon walk to this Teehaus. This pleasant walk often became the scene for important political decisions, but Hitler preferred to relax, and even nap, in the Teehaus itself, surrounded by his closest friends and associates.

Eva Braun and an Austrian painter

Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels sitting in front of the fireplace

Scharitzkehlzimmer (Eva’s room)

Today we visit the Kehlsteinhaus, AH's 50th birthday present from Bormann and the party. A true feat of engineering, starting with the road to the summit. The road was built in such a way that over 700m of gradient and 6km of length to reach the entrance to the access tunnel, a single hairpin bend was needed. Today, it's considered the most beautiful mountain road in the world, but it's closed to the public and used only by tour buses. The entrance is at the bottom of a 126m tunnel, which leads to a waiting room with a 7m diameter self-supporting dome, all laid out with kalberstein marble stones. A 126m long elevator shaft has been carved out of the rock, a luxurious elevator that must be used to reach the Kehlsteinhaus at an altitude of 1834m. The elevator has been in operation since 1938, and the motor and entire system are original. The Kehlsteinhaus was used only 17 times by AH for receptions and visits by foreign dignitaries. Eva Braun and other Nazi dignitaries were frequent visitors. Still visible today is the Carrara marble fireplace donated by Mussolini. All built in just 13 months. Amazing work.

For sale Some of you have already expressed an interest in Berghof artifacts, but for the rest of you, I've found quite a few. A large number of bricks, from fragments to whole bricks (different sizes available). Pieces of concrete, mortar and pink granite. Tiles. Pieces of lead or lead paint of the doors of Hitler’s bunker. Pieces of concrete of Hitler’s bunker. Pieces of the Berghof fence. And of course the camouflage, most of which is still intact (very rare). Porcelain fragments from the super secret und cosy bunker. A big ass piece of a bomb shrapnel. DM for info or for special inquiries.

Secret bunker (super cosy and super secret 🤫)

Bormann bunker emergency exit.