Suspect arrested over fire
at Hitler’s ‘Eagle’s Nest’ retreat in Bavaria
About 200
firefighters deployed to tackle blaze at former Nazi mountain retreat in remote
part of southern Germany
Donna Ferguson and agencies
Sat 24
Oct 2026 16.28 CEST
Police
have arrested a 33-year-old German citizen after a fire ripped through Adolf
Hitler’s former mountain retreat in Bavaria, leaving the historic Nazi meeting
place – known as the Eagle’s Nest – largely destroyed.
About 200
firefighters were deployed on Friday night to tackle the blaze at the Nazi
dictator’s remote, purpose-built Kehlsteinhaus residence, a protected building
on the peak of Obersalzberg in southern Germany.
Flames
rose high into the air as firefighters approached the scene to find the
building “completely ablaze”, police said, adding that nobody was injured in
the fire.
Lisa
Maier, a police spokesperson, said firefighters struggled to tackle the blaze
due to its location at an altitude of 1,834 metres (6,000ft).
The
building, which was one of the few undamaged monuments of the Hitler era, was
only accessible with “heavy breathing apparatus”, she said.
The
Kehlsteinhaus the morning after the fire. Photograph: Jason Tschepljakow/DPA/AP
Built by
the Nazis and formally inaugurated by Hitler on his birthday in 1939, the
Eagle’s Nest has been preserved as a monument to “the insanity of the regime”, according to its website.
The
building is only accessible via a road cut into the mountain through previously
impassable terrain. Nazis would enter a tunnel and take a 124-metre brass lift
buried in the mountain to get inside the building.
Authorities
were alerted to the fire when a smoke detector triggered a fire alarm at about
9.15pm, police said. When firefighters arrived on the scene at about 9.50pm,
the entire building was engulfed in flames.
Fire
departments from six municipalities sent emergency personnel to tackle the
blaze and the Bavarian Red Cross, the local mountain rescue service and the
police also attended.
No reason
for the fire was given, but German media reported that investigators suspected
it was the result of arson. Firefighters found no one inside the building.
Efforts
to fight the fire were hampered by a strong wind and rain, which turned into
the year’s first snow, and firefighters had to pull out overnight after several
hours.
The blaze
was reportedly still burning at 7am on Saturday but appeared to be out later in
the morning, although smoke continued to rise from the building.
A
photograph from 2007 of the Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle’s Nest, near Berchtesgaden,
Germany. Photograph: Geir Moulson/AP
A police
spokesperson told the German tabloid Bild: “It is damaged to a large extent.
The house is unlikely to be saved.” Officers blocked access to the road leading
to the retreat, according to an Agence France-Presse photographer.
Maier
said police were still investigating and would hold a news conference later on
Saturday.
The
33-year-old suspect arrested by the police was a German citizen who had ties to
the area but did not live there. Prosecutors said he showed signs of mental
illness and after being questioned he was being sent to a psychiatric facility.
The
possibility of a political motive for the blaze would be investigated, but
police said there was nothing to indicate anyone else was involved.
The
Eagle’s Nest was constructed between 1937 and 1938 and forms part of the toxic
legacy of Hitler’s Third Reich, which was responsible for the deaths of
millions of Jews as well as Roma, LGBTQ people and communists in the Holocaust.
It became
legendary in the postwar period and was often depicted as an essential meeting
place in US war films, although in reality Hitler rarely visited the complex.
Since
1952 the building has housed an exhibition by the Institute for Contemporary
History recounting its Nazi history, and a restaurant.
Officials
indicated that the building, which is owned by Bavaria’s state government,
would be restored after discussions with local officials, historians and
conservators.
“We’re
not going to leave a ruin there,” Joachim Herrmann, Bavaria’s interior
minister, told reporters, adding that it was important to continue to do “the
work of remembrance”.
Agence
France-Presse contributed to this report
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