BERLIN: A fire spread through the mountain retreat built for Adolf Hitler, known as the Eagle’s Nest. Emergency crews struggled to put out the fire in snow and strong winds. Authorities said a man was arrested on suspicion of setting the fire.
Emergency crews in Germany’s Berchtesgaden district were alerted by an alarm at about 9:15 p.m. Friday. Firefighters and police rushed to the site, which is at the end of a narrow mountain road that passes through several tunnels. They could see the flames as they got closer.
Rain later turned to the season’s first heavy snow, and strong winds made it harder to fight the fire. Firefighters had to leave overnight after working for several hours, officials said. No one was hurt. Firefighters hoped to finish their work Saturday, but they could not enter the building because parts of it might fall.
The building, called the Kehlsteinhaus in German, sits on a cliff 1,834 meters (6,017 feet) above sea level. Visitors reach it by taking an elevator through the rock from the end of the mountain road. The road is closed to public cars, but buses use it during the day.
The building has been a cafe and restaurant since 1952 and has an exhibit about its history. Hitler rarely used it. He spent more time at the Berghof, another home in the area. Its remains were destroyed in 1952.
The Obersalzberg Documentation Center, lower down the mountain, has the area’s main history exhibit and was not affected by the fire.
Officials said the Eagle’s Nest would be repaired, but they did not yet know exactly how.
“We’re not going to leave a ruin there,” Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told reporters. He said local officials, historians, preservation experts and others would discuss what the site should look like in the future.
“I think we will be able to find a sensible solution,” Herrmann said. Bavaria’s state government owns the building.
The minister said it was important to continue remembering the past. Police stopped and arrested a man riding a motorcycle down the road in the opposite direction.
Prosecutors said the 33-year-old suspect is a German citizen with ties to the Berchtesgaden area, but he does not live there now. They said he showed signs of mental illness and was being taken to a psychiatric facility.
They would also look into whether the fire had a political motive because of the building’s history. Police said they had no current signs that anyone else was involved.
Reported By: Our Correspondent I Berlin
