Misc. Buildings Part 2

Other Berchtesgaden Area Buildings

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 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. The U.S. Army took the site over in 1945, and it served as the Armed Forces Recreation Center headquarters until 1995. Since the AFRC Berchtesgaden closed down in late 1995, the complex stood empty for several years, the buildings locked. The Reichskanzlei complex has recently been purchased by a private concern, who are renovating it for apartments, medical offices, shops, perhaps even a restaurant.


The Watzmann Mountain, symbol of the Berchtesgadener Land, towers in the background. (top-left - period postcard; top-right - Dokumentation Obersalzberg; bottom-left - Bayerische Staatsbibliotech; bottom-right - courtesy Clarke Family Archives) (MapQuest Map Link)


On the left, a period postcard, with the corresponding view today.


On the exterior, only the Hoheitszeichen national insignia (minus its swastika) remains of the former owners. (Bayerische Staatsbibliotech)


Allied forces use captured Nazi staff cars for transportation to their headquarters at the Stanggass Kanzlei complex, May 1945. Before the arrival of the U.S. Army, the Kanzlei staff had abandoned the complex and retreated to the Hintersee, west of Berchtesgaden. ("The Epic of the 101st Airborne," 101st Airborne Division Public Relations Office, Auxerre, France, 1945)

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Included in the Kanzlei complex were houses for Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, and Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff. This is the Keitel-Haus, shown (left) as it appeared in the early 1950s under AFRC control, when it was called the Pershing House, and (right) as it appeared in 2001 (before renovation). (1950s photo courtesy Clarke Family Archives)


The nearby Jodl-Haus (called Haus Edda) was somewhat smaller (see the 1945 photo below). October 2006 note - the Jodl-Haus has been torn down, and a new house erected on the site.


The Jodl-Haus (left) and Keitel-Haus (right) both appear in this photo, taken 15 May 1945. The occasion was a visit by Gen. Omar Bradley, who presented awards to several soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. (U.S. Army photo)


The Keitel-Haus has recently been renovated and is now a private residence. ("The Epic of the 101st Airborne," 101st Airborne Division Public Relations Office, Auxerre, France, 1945)


In common with most of the buildings on the Obersalzberg (and some others in Berchtesgaden), the Kanzlei complex had an underground air-raid shelter tunnel. This exit is in the hillside behind the main building.

A military barracks complex was built nearby in Strub in 1936-38 for the 2nd Battalion of Gebirgsjägerregiment 100, and was cited in a 1940 book on German art as a classic example of harmonious military architecture blending into the surroundings. Although its official name was "Adolf Hitler Kaserne," the post was commonly called the Gebirgsjäger Kaserne (Mountain Troops Barracks). The post was used by the U.S. Army until 1995 but has now been turned back over to the Germany military (1942-dated postcard in author's collection) (MapQuest Map Link)


Further views of the Gebirgsjägerkaserne in Strub, from period architectural publications and postcards.


The period insignia over the front door has been modified so that the eagle holds an edelweiss flower (symbol of the Mountain Troops), instead of a swastika.	The Lion Monument memorializes all those of the Mountain Troops who have lost their lives in war, in particular the Mountain Troops of World War II.


A Sports School for the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM - League of German Girls - girls' Hitler Youth) was built in the Berchtesgaden suburb of Strub in 1938. The complex serves today as a home for the elderly (Altenheim Insula). Click here to see an air-raid bunker nearby. (MapQuest Map Link)	This building, located on the road to the Scharitzkehlalm, was used as a cooling house to store milk from Martin Bormann's herds that grazed in the Scharitzkehl pasture. Although not co-located, it was part of the Gutshof complex. (MapQuest Map Link)


The Adolf Hitler Jugendherberge (Youth Hostel) was also built in Strub from 1935-1938. It was designed by architect Georg Zimmermann. The building still serves as a youth activities center today. (from Werner Rittich, "Architektur und Bauplastik der Gegenwart," Berlin, 1938 (author's collection)


Period postcard views of the Adolf Hitler Jugendherberge. The view on the right below, which shows the other side of the building, shows the Watzmann mountain in the background. (author's collection) (MapQuest Map Link)


In the period view, Hitler Jugend boys play behind the Jugendherberge.


Another view of the Adolf Hitler Jugendherberge. (from Frau Prof. Gerdy Troost, "Das Bauen im Neuen Reich," Vol. 1, 4th edition, Bayreuth, 1938)


Hitler visited his name-sake Jugendherberge in October 1936, as seen in this photo from the Illustrierter Beobachter newspaper of 29 October 1936.


Below - the original doors of the Jugendherberge and original wood carvings decorating the façade. (left above - "Moderne Bauformen," 1937)


The entry hallway featured a display of Nazi flags - these are naturally gone today. Little else has changed - even the stairway railings remain original. ("Moderne Bauformen," 1937)

Architectural model of the Adolf Hitler Jugendherberge. The main building is on the left; the other
two buildings also still exist. (from Official Catalog of the 1st German Architecture and Crafts
Exhibition, in the Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich, January-March 1938 (author's collection)

Side plan view from a period architectural magazine. ("Moderne Bauformen," 1937)

This small pressed paper disc portrays the Adolf Hitler Jugendherberge. It was one of a series showing youth hostels across Germany, given as a token to those who contributed to the Winterhilfswerk Nazi welfare relief. (author's collection)

Click here to see a WHW disc showing the Baldur von Schirach Jugendherberge at Urfeld am Walchensee.


During the early 1930s, before his fame precluded this, Hitler enjoyed long walks in the Obersalzberg area. One of his favorite walks was along the Carl-von-Linde-Weg, from the area below the Platterhof Hotel to the Hochlenzer Gasthaus. The photos above show Hitler at Hochlenzer, while those below show the approximate scenes today. On the left above, Hitler's adjutant Wilhelm Brückner opens the gate while Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach (in Lederhosen) comes up behind. On the right Hitler appears to be holding backpack straps, but this is actually his ever-present dog whip which he has looped around his shoulders. (Heinrich Hoffmann, "Hitler in seinen Bergen," Munich, 1938, and "Hitler, wie ihn keiner kennt," Berlin, 1932)

Hitler sits at a Hochlenzer outdoor table with Bruno Buchner and his wife, proprietors of the Platterhof Hotel.

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Dietrich Eckart was a German Nationalist writer and early member of the Nazi Party, who considered himself Hitler's mentor. While hiding from the Weimar government Eckart stayed in a cottage called the Göllhäusl, in the Hinterbrand area near the Obersalzberg. This house was later annexed to the Platterhof as a guest lodging. This view shows (left-right): Hermann Göring, Reichs War Minister Werner von Blomberg, and Hitler visiting the Eckarthaus, ca. 1935. (from Heinrich Hoffmann, "Hitler in seinen Bergen," Munich, 1938 (author's collection)

On the right, the Dietrich Eckart house today. Used by the U.S. Army AFRC as a youth sports retreat called "Hinterbrand Lodge" until 2004, the house is now closed to the public. (MapQuest Map Link)


Eckart died in December 1923 in this house in Berchtesgaden, called the Sonnblickhäusl (now a private residence). (Florentine Hamm, "Obersalzberg, Wanderungen zwischen Gestern und Heute," Munich, 1941)


Dietrich Eckart was buried in the Altfriedhof cemetery in Berchtesgaden. On the left is a 1935 photo of his decorated grave; in the center from about 1936; on the right a recent photo. Note the difference in the lettering styles between then and now. At some point, possibly in 1945 during the American occupation, Eckart's name was ground off his marker, and was later recarved in a different style (this can also be seen from the type of stone finish on the front and back of the marker today). (left - author's collection; center - Florentine Hamm, "Obersalzberg, Wanderungen zwischen Gestern und Heute," Munich, 1941)


A hospital named for Eckart (Dietrich-Eckart-Krankenhaus) was built in Stanggass in 1940. During the war convalescent soldiers were treated here; after the war this was a local Kurklinik, but is now unused. (As of September 2005, the Klinik appears to be undergoing renovation.) (period photos and postcards in author's collection) (MapQuest Map Link)


The cupola in the angle between the buildings (seen in the right-hand photo) has a unique wind vane - see below.

SS Chief Heinrich Himmler did not have a house on the Obersalzberg, but he did maintain a
house in Schönau for his mistress Hedwig Potthast. This house, called the Schneewinkllehen,
was a vacation home for Sigmund Freud in the 19th century. The house is now private property.

Continue to see further Berchtesgaden area buildings and sites.

Visit Berchtesgaden area anti-aircraft (Flak) positions

Visit the Berchtesgadener Hof hotel, then and now

Continue to the Obersalzberg sites - Hitler's Berghof, Bormann's and Göring's houses, Platterhof, Gästehaus and Kampfhäusl, Hotel Zum Türken, Gutshof and Teehaus, Kehlsteinhaus, SS barracks, bunker system, miscellaneous Obersalzberg buildings.

Return to the Third Reich in Ruins homepage

For further information, including Internet links, check the Bibliography page. I am sincerely indebted to Florian Beierl of the Archiv Obersalzberg, who identified the modern locations of some of these sites for me.