Former Nazi restaurant | Kehlsteinhaus is still burning: police arrest suspect

The Kehlsteinhaus is one of the most famous excursion destinations in the region. It should be open until November 8th. Photo: dpa/Kilian Pfeiffer Berchtesgaden. After the fire in the Kehlsteinhaus on Obersalzberg in Berchtesgaden, investigations into the cause of the fire are in full swing. According to the Traunstein public prosecutor's office, a man arrested as a suspected perpetrator is mentally ill. This was the result of a brief psychiatric report that an expert prepared on the 33-year-old German. The man approached the arriving police on a motorcycle and is said to have tried to escape.

The suspected perpetrator was brought before an examining judge in Rosenheim on Saturday. The aim is to obtain placement in a forensic facility for mentally ill criminals. According to the public prosecutor's office, one must assume at least reduced culpability. A possible political motive is also being examined.

The Kehlsteinhaus fire alarm went off around 9:15 p.m. The first rescue workers arrived at 9:52 p.m., said the Upper Bavaria South police headquarters. According to a police officer, the mountain restaurant was still burning at around 7 a.m. that morning.

The Kehlsteinhaus is one of the most famous excursion destinations in the region. According to the website of the Berchtesgaden Mountain Experience Association, the Kehlsteinhaus – also called “Eagle’s Nest” – should be open this season until November 8th.

The building at an altitude of 1,834 meters has been a mountain restaurant since 1952. It was completed in 1938 and was located in a sealed-off residential and government area of ​​the National Socialist leadership that was closed to the public. An exhibition there is dedicated to the history of the building.

The only way to get to the building is via Kehlsteinstrasse, on which only buses run today. A golden elevator was once built into the rock for the last 125 meters to the building. Unlike other Nazi-era houses on Obersalzberg, the Kehlsteinhaus was not damaged in Allied attacks.

Around 200 rescue and emergency services from fire departments from six municipalities, the district fire inspection, the Bavarian Red Cross, the mountain rescue service and the police were deployed at the fire. The police do not believe there were any injuries. According to current knowledge, no one was staying in the Kehlsteinhaus.

Access by fire engines was difficult due to the location of the building. In addition, the immediate surroundings of the restaurant and the building itself could only be entered with heavy respiratory protection equipment. There is already snow on the Obersalzberg.

The Berchtesgaden Mountain Experience Association writes on its website about the house: “Built in 1937/38, the so-called tea house at the time was intended to serve as a place of political representation away from the public during the Nazi era. In fact, the significance of the Kehlsteinhaus remained minor.”

Adolf Hitler received diplomats and other foreign guests there. “The Nazi entourage gathered at Obersalzberg used it much more often for relaxation and private celebrations.” Hitler had also purchased a country house on Obersalzberg in 1933, which he had converted into a Berghof. nd/dpa

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