Europeupdated 50m ago2 min read
German Police Arrest 33-Year-Old Suspect After Fire Engulfs Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest In Bavaria
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Fire engulfed Hitler's Eagle's Nest Kehlsteinhaus in Bavarian Alps, largely destroyed. Police detained a 33-year-old suspect in connection with the blaze.
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Hitler site burns
A fire swept through the mountaintop retreat built for Adolf Hitler and known as the Eagle's Nest, the Kehlsteinhaus, in the Berchtesgaden district of Bavaria, Germany, as emergency services struggled to tackle the blaze in snow and wind.
Authorities alerted firefighters to the fire at about 9:15 p.m. Friday, and police said the building was “completely engulfed in flames” when firefighters arrived.
Police arrested a 33-year-old German citizen suspect after a fire alarm at about 9:15 p.m. Friday, and prosecutors said the man showed signs of mental illness while investigators also looked into a possible political motive.
The Kehlsteinhaus sits on a cliff 1,834 meters above sea level, and the building is reachable by an elevator built inside the rock from the end of the mountain road, which is closed to public traffic but used during the day by buses for visitors.
Officials said no one was injured and firefighters were unable to enter the building because of a danger of falling material, while the Obersalzberg Documentation Center was unaffected by the fire.
Suspect, firefighters, access
German police detained a suspect after the Eagle's Nest fire prompted an overnight emergency operation involving about 200 firefighters, and police said no injuries were reported at the Kehlsteinhaus.
Police spokesperson Lisa Maier said the retreat’s remote Alpine location, at an altitude of more than 1,800 metres, complicated efforts to extinguish the fire, and police said investigators were examining whether a “suspicious person” taken into temporary custody was connected to the blaze.
The Guardian reported that firefighters struggled to tackle the blaze due to its location at an altitude of 1,834 metres, and the Guardian said the building was only accessible with “heavy breathing apparatus”.
The Guardian said a smoke detector triggered a fire alarm at about 9.15pm, and the Guardian reported that when firefighters arrived at about 9.50pm, the entire building was engulfed in flames.
The Guardian quoted Lisa Maier saying, “It is damaged to a large extent. The house is unlikely to be saved.”
Restoration and remembrance
Bavaria’s interior minister Joachim Herrmann said, “We're not going to leave a ruin there,” and he added that “I think we will be able to find a sensible solution.” Herrmann also stressed that “it is important that we continue to do the work of remembrance,” while the ABC News account said Bavaria's state government owns the building. The Guardian said authorities indicated the Eagle's Nest would be restored after discussions with local officials, historians and conservators, and it described the site as a protected building on the peak of Obersalzberg.
“‘We're not going to leave a ruin there,’ Bavaria's interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told reporters in Berchtesgaden.”
The BBC said local media reported the site had been “largely destroyed,” and it said the public was urged to avoid the area while police arrested a 33-year-old male suspect. The New York Times said police told the public the building was probably not salvageable and that firefighters worked overnight to try to save the historic structure, with the investigation into whether it had been deliberately set continuing.
