Hitler's Eagle's Nest on fire: suspect detained as 200 firefighters battle blaze above Berchtesgaden

The Eagle's Nest, Adolf Hitler's former mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps, caught fire on Friday night, and German police have detained a suspect, the BBC reported. The fire alarm reached dispatchers in Traunstein at 21:15 local time on Friday (00:15 PKT Saturday), and firefighters found the building engulfed in flames. It was still burning early on Saturday.

What we know

• About 200 emergency workers were deployed. Steep, difficult terrain on the mountain slowed the effort to put the fire out.
• No injuries were reported.
• A suspect has been detained. Police have opened a criminal investigation to establish whether the person is connected to the fire. CBS News also reported the arrest. Police have not named the suspect or given a motive.

What the building is

The Kehlsteinhaus, called the Eagle's Nest in English, sits on a peak above the town of Berchtesgaden near the Austrian border. The Nazis completed it in 1938. Hitler used the area as a part-time seat of government and met his commanders there to plan the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union; the surroundings also appeared in propaganda films.

It survived the end of the war in 1945 and became one of Bavaria's best-known tourist sites, with a mountain inn inside. The site's own website describes it as "a cautionary reminder of the abysses of the inhumane Nazi dictatorship". It is normally open to visitors from spring to autumn, reached by a special bus road and a lift cut into the mountain.

Why it is news

The Eagle's Nest is one of a handful of Nazi-era buildings that Germany has kept, with history displays, rather than demolished, and the authorities have worked for decades to stop such places becoming shrines for the far right. In July a police station opened in Hitler's birthplace in Braunau, Austria, for the same reason. Investigators will now look at whether the fire was arson and, if so, why.

For readers in Pakistan planning travel to Germany or Austria, the area around Berchtesgaden and Salzburg remains open; check whether tours to the Kehlsteinhaus itself are running before you go. Convert euro costs with our currency converter.