Berghof (residence)

The Berghof was Adolf Hitler's home in Obersalzberg, in the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden. It was located lower down the same mountain as the Eagle's Nest, which Hitler rarely visited due to his fear of heights.

The Berghof was connected to the Platterhof Hotel by a series of complex bunkers deep in the mountain which exist to this day, some of which can be toured from the new German Documentation Center as well as the old Zum Turken Hotel which borders the old complex of ruins. The government of Bavaria has plowed under most every trace of the actual house which was the Berghof as well as the Hotel Platterhof where many Nazi officers stayed while visiting Hitler.

The Berghof was set on fire on May 4, 1945 by the retreating SS guards when the Allies approached. (Hitler was not there when the area fell – he was under siege in Berlin where he took his own life in the Führerbunker). The buildings are gone but the tunnel system, which still exist today, is a masterpiece of underground engineering built at great speed and powered by a subterranean engine like the one that remains at the Eagle's Nest. This provides power to run the elevator. The site is itself scenic; the valley below appears by illusion as a lake almost at one's feet.

The fictional war series Band of Brothers depicts the Berghof being taken by troops of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. this did not happen in reality.