Bavarian Police Detain Suspect as Fire Engulfs the Kehlsteinhaus, Hitler's Former Mountain Retreat
Bavarian police detained a suspect during a fire that engulfed the Kehlsteinhaus, the mountain building also known as the Eagle's Nest, and a criminal investigation is under way to determine whether the suspect is connected to the blaze, BBC News reported.
Dispatchers in Traunstein received a fire alarm from the building at 21:15 local time (19:15 GMT) on Friday, 23 October. When firefighters arrived, the Kehlsteinhaus was engulfed in flames. Difficult terrain hampered efforts to put the fire out, and some 200 emergency personnel were deployed. The fire was still burning early on Saturday.
No injuries have been reported. According to initial findings, no one was inside the building when the fire broke out, Bayerischer Rundfunk reported.
The Kehlsteinhaus sits above the town of Berchtesgaden, in the Bavarian Alps near the border with Austria. The Nazis completed it in 1938, and it was built as a representation house for the National Socialist leadership. It served as Hitler's mountaintop retreat, and Hindustan Times described it in those terms in its coverage of the fire.
The building escaped destruction when Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945. It has since become a popular tourist destination, and it houses a mountain inn.
Investigators have not yet said what caused the fire. The question of whether the detained suspect is linked to it is the subject of the ongoing criminal inquiry.
