Kehlsteinhaus
| Kehlsteinhaus | ||
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| location | on the Kehlstein; Bavaria , Germany ; Valley location: Berchtesgaden | |
| Mountain range | Berchtesgaden Alps | |
| Geographical location: | 47 ° 36 '40 " N , 13 ° 2' 30" E | |
| Altitude | 1834 m above sea level NHN | |
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| owner | Free State of Bavaria | |
| Built | 1937/38 | |
| Construction type | Mountain inn ; Solid | |
| Development | Kehlsteinstrasse, Kehlsteinlift, Kehlsteinfußweg | |
| Usual opening times | Beginning / middle of May to middle / end of October | |
| accommodation | no | |
| Web link | Kehlsteinhaus.de | |
The Kehlsteinhaus is a former representative building above Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian district of Berchtesgadener Land, built between 1937 and 1938 by the NSDAP according to plans by architect Roderich Fick . It was part of the perpetrator site of the Führer's restricted area Obersalzberg and has been open to the public since 1952. An exhibition provides information about its history, the other rooms have been used as a restaurant since then . The building stands just below the Eagle Summit in 1834 m altitude on a mountain spur. The Kehlstein itself is a 1,881 m high western secondary peak of the Göll in the Berchtesgaden Alps .
The Kehlsteinhaus is technically accessible through an exposed mountain road - the Kehlsteinstrasse - and an elevator . Kehlsteinstraße is only used by the Kehlsteinlinie buses. The entire Kehlstein facilities are now owned by the Free State of Bavaria . The Berchtesgadener Landesstiftung has the usufruct of the Kehlstein facilities. The net income is used for charitable purposes in the Berchtesgadener Land district . The Kehlsteinhaus is one of the major tourist attractions in the Berchtesgadener Land district, known as the Big Five , and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the entire district.
history
Hitler visited Obersalzberg for the first time in 1923 . After the seizure of power in 1933, the small town was completely redesigned to become a Führer's restricted area , which extended to the Kehlstein.
The Kehlsteinhaus with Kehlsteinstrasse and -lift, the planning of which Martin Bormann entrusted the architect Roderich Fick , became one of the most complex construction projects within the Führer's restricted area . The Munich branch of Hochtief was commissioned with the structural work for the Kehlsteinhaus . The overhead line for the road lay with General Inspector of Roads Fritz Todt . Leopold Müller was also involved as the construction manager of the road construction company Polensky & Zöllner . Mainly German and later also Czech and Italian skilled workers were involved in the construction of the Kehlsteinhaus. There were twelve fatal accidents at work while the elevator shaft was being built inside the mountain. The construction time of the road was 13 months. Hitler himself then only visited it about ten times (the numbers fluctuate between five and fourteen times) because the trips there are said to have been too time-consuming and risky for him. Above all, he is said to have criticized the fact that the elevator shaft was not safe against lightning strikes and that one would be defenselessly exposed to a surprise attack by the Allies and their bombers.
Other names for the Kehlsteinhaus can no longer be clearly identified, which at that time was also said to have been called the tea house (2nd tea house), D-house (diplomatic house) or T-house (house T) . A French diplomat is said to have given it the nickname Eagle's Nest (German: Eagle's Nest ) during the Nazi era , which has become the standard term for this house in the entire English-speaking world since the end of the war at the latest and has also found its way into other languages .
On April 25, 1945, the Kehlsteinhaus was one of their main targets in the air raid of the British Lancaster bombers on Obersalzberg, but was not hit - presumably because it, together with the narrow summit plateau, was too small for the non-steerable bombs dropped at the time.
Shortly before the end of World War II , on May 4, 1945, the Führer's exclusion zone was occupied by American and French troops. The Americans again declared it a restricted military area. The Kehlsteinhaus was confiscated and formally taken under control on April 1, 1946. On February 17, 1949, the Kehlsteinhaus passed to the Free State of Bavaria. With retroactive effect to June 20, 1948, it was transferred on July 18, 1949 to the Bavarian General Finance Administration, represented by the Berchtesgaden tax office, but remained under American control until 1951.
In the spring of 1951, Kehlsteinstrasse and Dalsenwinkelstrasse became the responsibility of the Bavarian administration and on June 12, 1951, the district of Berchtesgaden was granted the sole right to use these roads. The district undertook to set up a regular service on Kehlsteinstrasse and to assume the repair costs and ongoing maintenance. The operation of the bus line was initially transferred to the Deutsche Bundespost , then on January 19, 1956 to the then Berchtesgadener Land Tourist Association.
In the meantime, the district had fought off the demolition of the Kehlsteinhaus planned by the Bavarian cabinet . The then District Administrator Karl Theodor Jacob , who was not least concerned about the growing tourism, negotiated that only the ruins that were left from the bombings and the first demolitions should be blown up, but the Kehlsteinhaus will be preserved. He said that "the sensation on the mountain is the Kehlsteinhaus" and he knew his own way of combating "Nazi tourism": "I kept saying that we serve Munich Hofbräubier beer, and there is no solemn atmosphere."
In February 1952 the Free State of Bavaria leased the Kehlsteinhaus to the Berchtesgaden section of the German Alpine Club with the consent of the Americans . Also on the initiative of District Administrator Jacob and on the occasion of the 150 years of affiliation of the former prince provost of Berchtesgaden to Bavaria, the Free State brought the usufruct of the Kehlstein businesses into the Berchtesgadener Landesstiftung , also known as the Kehlstein Foundation . The proceeds go to charitable purposes in the Berchtesgadener Land district .
Up until the opening of the Obersalzberg documentation , the range of literature and souvenirs in the vicinity of the Kehlsteinhaus was largely limited to glossy brochures with former propaganda photos from Obersalzberg, and the souvenirs were often provided with idyllic Nazi motifs. Just three years after the approval by the Americans in 1996, the Obersalzberg documentation was opened at the Kehlstein exit point, offering the visitor a comprehensive scientific analysis of the history of the perpetrator's location. For a number of years there has also been a small exhibition on its history in the Kehlsteinhaus itself.
In 2009 it became known that the Bavarian State Forests were planning to replace the historical network of trails in the Kehlstein area with black covers with gravel roads that could carry 40 tons of heavy transport machinery. This hits u. a. on contradiction of the regional SPD. Like the Obersalzberg Institute, it classifies the building fabric from the Nazi era as a monument in accordance with the preservation order and therefore calls for less radical solutions. The touristic importance of the family and handicapped accessible paths, which are often used by cyclists and hikers , is also emphasized .
Equipment and construction costs
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The room layout included work, dining, living, watch and rest rooms as well as a kitchen, washrooms and a large cellar.
The tea room was walled up with Untersberg marble , the walls of the Scharitzkehlstüberl are completely clad with stone pine. Much of the furniture was designed by Paul László - without the architect Laszlo, who was persecuted as a Jew, and Albert Speer , who was indignant about it, having been informed beforehand . Mussolini donated the marble for the large fireplace in the main room .
A 124 m high elevator was installed to access the house, to the entrance of which a 124 m long and 3 m high tunnel was driven into the mountain. The interior of the elevator car is clad with polished brass plates and Venetian mirrors, while the padded seats that fold out on the sides are covered with green leather. Most of the original cabin has been preserved, including the Bakelite wall telephone and mechanical clock. The elevator was manufactured by the Carl Flohr machine factory in Berlin.
The pure construction costs of the Kehlsteinhaus, including the elevator system with access tunnel and Kehlsteinstrasse with five other tunnels , amounted to around 30 million Reichsmarks at that time , which corresponds to around 129 million EUR today.
location
The Kehlsteinhaus itself with its narrower enclosure is located in the municipality of Berchtesgaden , Eck district . Parts of Kehlsteinstrasse are in the community-free Eck area .
Accessibility
Kehlsteinbetriebe
The Kehlsteinhaus and its economically used area with Kehlsteinstrasse, Kehlsteinlinie and Kehlsteinlift are grouped under the term Kehlsteinbetriebe and are maintained by the Berchtesgaden-Königssee Tourist Region Association .
Kehlsteinstrasse
At the Hintereck ( 970 m above sea level ) on the Obersalzberg , the 6.5 km long Kehlsteinstraße , which was completed in 1938 after 13 months of construction and is mainly located on the south side of the Kehlstein, begins . It leads through five tunnels (from bottom to top: Reck, Martinswand, Gams, Hirsch and Schwalbennest tunnels) and overcomes a difference in height of around 700 meters, with some ascent or descent of 24%. The road ends at a large bus turning point ( 1696 m above sea level ) north below the Kehlsteinhaus and is closed to motorized individual traffic , for cyclists and from the large crossroads on the Klingereckboden ( 1115 m above sea level ) also to pedestrians. On the north side of the Ofnerboden ( 1150 m above sea level ) the somewhat narrower, approx. 4 km long Dalsenwinkelstraße also leads to the bus turning point. It crosses the steep north face of the Kehlstein and can be used by pedestrians and cyclists.
Both roads are paved. They begin in the lower area of an extensive network of paths, which is still almost completely paved today, between the Scharitzkehlalm in the south and the Roßfeldhöhenringstrasse in the north. These include the Endstalstrasse, Ligeretstrasse, Salzwandstrasse, Ofnerbodenstrasse and Kehlalmstrasse. The entire network of roads is closed to motorized traffic.
Kehlstein line
Kehlsteinstrasse is closed to private traffic. The line is operated by Regionalverkehr Oberbayern GmbH (RVO) with the help of special buses (engine power, transmission and brakes changed) during the summer months.
Kehlsteinlift (Kehlstein lift)
From the bus turning point, a narrow paved footpath leads in several serpentines up to the Kehlsteinhaus, finally over several stone steps. The ascent is more convenient with the Kehlsteinlift, a 124 m high elevator that ends directly in the vestibule of the Kehlsteinhaus. The ascent inside the mountain takes only 41 seconds. The entrance to the elevator is a gate made of granite ashlars, which leads into a likewise 124 m long and 3 m high tunnel. The elevator itself is mirrored and clad with brass. The upholstered seats usually remain folded up due to the high number of visitors.
Ascent on foot
- From the Ofnerboden car park ( 1150 m above sea level ) on Roßfeldhöhenringstraße via Dalsenwinkelstraße (easy hike, approx. 2 hours), also suitable for mountain bikes
- From the Ofnerboden car park via the Postensteig (moderately difficult)
- From the Sonneck car park at the Obersalzbergbahn mountain station (easy hike, approx. 2½ hours)
- from the Scharitzkehlalm via the Ligeretalm (easy hike, approx. 2 hours, only outside the bus operating hours!)
- from the Scharitzkehlalm to the Endstal and then over the Steftensteig (difficult, only partially secured, approx. 2½ hours)
- From the Purtschellerhaus or the Carl-von-Stahl-Haus over the Mannlgrat (difficult, category B via ferrata, only accessible with via ferrata equipment!)
tourism
The Kehlsteinhaus and its high-alpine access road including the bus departure point at Hintereck were opened for general tourism in 1952 . From 1953 to 1996 , however, other areas of the former Führer's restricted area remained accessible only to members of the US armed forces as Armed Forces Recreation Center .
The Kehlsteinhaus, however, became the "highlight of tourism in Upper Bavaria" with around 300,000 visitors from Germany and abroad every year.
In 2013, the Kehlsteinhaus, along with other sights in the Berchtesgadener Land district , the Berchtesgaden salt mine and the Berchtesgaden National Park , ranked 20th among the TOP 100 sights in Germany.
It grants a far-reaching panoramic view of the Berchtesgaden Alps . From there, the western face of the Hohen Göll , the Königssee , the Watzmann , the Hochkalter , the Untersberg and Salzburg can be made out. In the Kehlstein garden above the Kehlsteinhaus, a selection of alpine flora explained by small information boards has been created, including rarer plants that are under nature protection . The Kehlstein is also the starting point for a tour over the Mannlgrat - a via ferrata that starts right at the end of the circular route and leads to the summit of the Hohen Göll.
However, visitors to the Kehlsteinhaus are “unmistakably also attracted by the historical authenticity of the place”. Since the Obersalzberg documentation was opened (as of 2002), sales of souvenirs “with idyllic Nazi motifs and lurid glossy brochures” have fallen by around 50 percent. According to Volker Dahm , this decline is related to the “serious and scientifically sound information” now offered in the documentation, which in his opinion also led to “the worst brochure more or less being put out of circulation pulled ”and“ the others got better in the new editions ”.
The Kehlsteinhaus is closed over the winter months (approximately from November to April).
Transmitter
On the Eagle's Nest for a long time was a transmitter known as gap-fillers for analogue television was used to Berchtesgaden supply. After the end of analogue terrestrial television , the transmission system was dismantled in June 2009. Until then, the following was broadcast from there:
| channel |
Frequency (MHz) |
program |
ERP (kW) |
Transmission diagram round (ND) / directional (D) |
Polarization horizontal (H) / vertical (V) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | 631.25 | ZDF | 0.4 | D. | H |
| 59 | 775.25 | Bavarian television (Swabia / Old Bavaria) | 0.33 | D. | H |
literature
- Florian M. Beierl: History of the Kehlstein. A mountain changes its face. Plenk Verlag , Berchtesgaden 1994, ISBN 3-922590-81-0 (6th revised and supplemented edition. Ibid 2002).
- Michael E. Seerwald: Hitler's tea house on the Kehlstein. Peak of power? History in pictures and documents. Beierl, Berchtesgaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-929825-06-0 ( contemporary investigative history ).
- Section Berchtesgaden in the German Alpine Association (ed.): Kehlsteinhaus in: 125 years of the Berchtesgaden Section of the German Alpine Association 1875–2000. 2000, pp. 105-106 (PDF; 17 MB).
Web links
- Homepage Kehlsteinhaus mountain restaurant
- Current information on the Kehlsteinhaus from Berchtesgadener Land Tourismus GmbH
- Current information on the Kehlsteinhaus from the Berchtesgaden-Königssee Tourist Region Association - www.Berchtesgadener-Land.info
Individual evidence
- ↑ For the height information, see the illustration of the height information on the house and Der Kehlstein - Das Kehlsteinhaus , online at berchtesgadeninfo.de .
- ↑ Kehlstein u. a. with height information , online at nesvadba.de .
- ^ Deutsche Bahn AG, Passenger Transport Division, Marketing eCommerce: Kehlsteinhaus / Eagle's Nest .
- ↑ oete.de ( Memento of April 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) PDF documentation of ecological tourism in Europe pp. 61 f., 64 f., 70 f.
- ↑ See English edition of Adolf Hitler , Current Biography 1941, p. 384.
- ^ The Kehlsteinstrasse on the Kehlstein August 2nd, 2011, accessed on June 1st, 2020.
- ↑ Dieter Dörfler: Hochgebirgsstraßen im Berchtesgadener Land , September 4, 2010, accessed on June 1, 2020.
- ↑ Kathrin Thoma-Bregar: "You don't give up such an object" , June 19, 2010, as of April 12, 2013, accessed on June 1, 2020.
- ↑ In German, however, 'Adlerhorst' refers to the Führer Headquarters Adlerhorst in Hessen.
- ↑ christoph-links-verlag.de Extract from an Obersalzberg book by Christoph Links Verlag , see bomb target Obersalzberg , p. 4 ( PDF file; 217 kB).
- ↑ obersalzberg.de ( Memento of the original from December 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On the history of the Führer's restricted area with illustrations.
- ↑ File number Y Co-1255-77
- ↑ Transfer deed No. 1259 / V, Control Council Directive No. 50
- ↑ "Place of the perpetrator" and historical investigation . Lecture by Dr. Volker Dahm (employee of the Institute for Contemporary History ; Munich-Berlin, technical director of the Obersalzberg documentation) on the occasion of a symposium in two parts (December 5 to 7, 2002, January 16 to 17, 2003), to be read in the conference proceedings p. 198– 210, quotations of the contributions to the discussion confirmed by the lecturer, see p. P. 204 f. ( online ( memento of April 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at ns-dokumentationszentrum-muenchen.de; PDF 1652 kB).
- ↑ Volker Dahm: "Täterort" and historical clarification . See proceedings on pp. 198–210, quotation s. P. 199 f.
- ↑ SPD wants to keep the Kehlsteinstrip ways ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Homepage SPD local association Bischofswiesen.
- ↑ Economic efficiency against monument protection . Berchtesgadener Anzeiger , June 3, 2009.
- ↑ This figure was based on the template: Inflation was determined, has been rounded to the nearest million and relates to the previous January.
- ↑ https://www.kehlsteinbus.de/index.php/kehlsteinstrasse
- ↑ rvo-bus.de Notes on the Kehlstein line of the RVO .
- ↑ PRESSRELATIONS - DEREFER .
- ↑ a b Volker Dahm: “Place of the perpetrators” and historical clarification . See proceedings on pp. 198–210, quotation s. P. 200 f.
- ↑ Top 100 sights in Germany. German National Tourist Board, accessed on December 18, 2013 .
- ↑ Volker Dahm: "Place of the perpetrators" and historical clarification . See proceedings on pp. 198–210, quotation s. P. 206 f.
