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Top 10 Unknown Facts about Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest)

Eagle’s Nest, an English name for Kehlsteinhaus is a building erected at the top of the summit of the Kehlstein which is a rocky outcrop that rises above Obersalzberg. It is situated in southeast German, in the town of Berchtesgaden. 

The Kehlsteinhaus lies several miles directly above the Berghof, Hitler’s summer home. In a rare diplomatic engagement, Hitler received departing French ambassador Andr茅 Fran莽ois-Poncet on 18 October 1938, at the Kehlsteinhaus.

Basically, it was commissioned by Martin Bormann in 1937. The construction lasted 13 months. The completion of the construction was supposed to coincide with Hitler’s birthday in April 1939. 

The contractor worked hard throughout the winter of 1938, even at night with the worksite lit by searchlights.

While Bormann wanted the road to go all the way to the doorsteps of the reception house itself, chief state engineer Hans Haupner was in favor of a tunnel and elevator connecting the house with the Parkplatz.

After much debate, Haupner was finally able to persuade the hitherto intransigent Reichsleiter, and the audacious plan for the tunnel and elevator shaft was given the official go-ahead.

It was visited on 14 documented instances by Adolf Hitler. It is currently a restaurant, beer garden, and tourist site that opens seasonally.

It is an interesting place to hike with A 4 m (13 ft) wide approach road that climbs 800 m (2,600 ft) over 6.5 km (4.0 miles). However, it is good to note that it includes five tunnels and one hairpin turn.

The total cost of building Kehlsteinhaus was approximately 鈧�150 million inflation-adjusted for 2007). 

It was used by the military as the elements of the French 2nd Armored Division, Laurent Touyeras, Georges Buis, and Paul R茅piton-Pr茅neufwere present on the night of 4-5 May.

They took Hitler’s personal items and several photographs before the Americans arrived and before leaving on 10 May at the request of U.S. command and so say the numerous testimonies of the Spanish soldiers who went along with them.

1. Tunnel and elevator

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Despite the tight deadlines, the pressure exerted by Bormann, and the fact that the blueprints for the Kehlsteinhaus had taken just weeks to produce, the planning carried out by Professor Roderich Fick and his team of engineers was suitably meticulous.

Numerous site inspections would take place during the summer of 1937, with the biggest discussions being focussed on access to the house.

The blueprints sketched out a tunnel with a length of just over 126 meters into the rock face, and a 131-meters high heated elevator shaft connecting the end of the tunnel with the 鈥淭eehaus鈥�.

2. Construction Began in 1937

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With the plans in place, work would start on the tunnel at the end of September 1937. The state engineers had initially been assigned with the task, but just days after the work had started it was handed over to Professor Fick, who had argued that it was part of the Kehlsteinhaus project.

By the turn of the year however progress had started to slow down, and after a series of complaints from the state engineers Bormann had put the project in the hands of Fick鈥檚 engineer Dr. Alfred Reinhardt.

3. Effects of Cable Installations

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In addition to the ongoing administrative issues, the next problem faced by the engineering team was that of transporting the building materials to the summit.

This was eventually accomplished using a specially-installed cable system, which spanned a total length of 1270 meters over an elevation of 670 meters.

The building of the cable system was in itself a major construction project: fifty men were employed to carry out this onerous task.

It involved carrying a substantial amount of heavy equipment including eight heavy support towers up to the 1834-meters high summit along the winding Dalsenwinkel Road.

4. Inauguration of the Kehlsteinhaus

The building was meant to be Hitler’s birthday gift. However, his first visit on 16 September 1938 was seen as an inspection exercise. Nevertheless, the building was inaugurated on 20 April 1939 during Hitler’s 50th birthday, though it was not intended as a birthday gift.

5. Access to the Kehlsteinhaus

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There are two ways to approach and enter the building, one being the road and the elevator.

6. Hitler never used the Elevator

It is interesting to note that Hitler never trusted the elevator. In addition, he continually expressed his reservations about its safety and disliked using it.

His biggest fear was that the elevator’s winch mechanism on the roof would attract a lightning strike. Bormann took great pains to never mention the two serious lightning strikes that occurred during construction.

7. Origin of the name Eagle’s Nest

Hitler named the building Eagle’s Nest because of his experience within and around it. However, the name was adapted and is used currently as the Kehlsteinhaus.

A wedding reception for Eva Braun’s sister Gretl was held there following her marriage to Hermann Fegelein on 3 June 1944.

While Hitler more often than not left the entertaining duties to others, he believed the house presented an excellent opportunity to entertain important and impressionable guests.

8. House of Honor

Referred to as the “D-Haus”, short for “Diplomatic Reception House”, the Kehlsteinhaus is often conflated with the teahouse on Mooslahnerkopf Hill near the Berghof, which Hitler walked to daily after lunch. 

The teahouse was demolished by the Bavarian government after the war, due to its connection to Hitler.

9. Bombing Target

Kehlsteinhaus was a target for the 25 April 1945 Bombing of Obersalzberg. This was a Royal Air Force bombing raid conducted by No. 1, No. 5, and No. 8 Group and No. 617 Squadron.

The small house proved an elusive target for the force of 359 Avro Lancasters and 16 de Havilland Mosquitoes, which bombed and severely damaged the Berghof area instead.

10. Military Usage

It is uncertain which Allied military unit was the first to reach the Kehlsteinhaus. The matter is compounded by popular confusion about it and the town of Berchtesgaden taken on 4 May by forwarding the 2nd Armored Division from France.

Also elements of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division of XV Corps of the U.S. Seventh Army of the Sixth Army Group.

Reputedly, members of the 7th went as far as the elevator to the Kehlsteinhaus, with at least one person claiming that he and a partner continued on to the top. 

In a Library of Congress interview and more recent interviews, Herman Louis Finnell of the 3rd Infantry Division said that his regiment entered the Berghof, not the Kehlsteinhaus. However, the 101st Airborne claims it was first both to Berchtesgaden and the Kehlsteinhaus.

Undamaged in the 25 April bombing raid, the Kehlsteinhaus was subsequently used by the Allies as a military command post until 1960, when it was handed back to the State of Bavaria.