Berghof Obersalzberg

[Geoff Walden]

Hi all,
Good to "talk" with everyone again!

I looked thru my photo collection, and I don't see a chair that looks just like this in any photo of any room in the Berghof (or outside on the terrace). A better view showing more details of the chairs would help. The story behind these chairs would be interesting ... like, WHEN were they collected. As Chris pointed out, whenever I read about a souvenir that was "taken out of Hitler's house" in 1945, my mind is a little suspicious, because the interior of the Berghof was practically destroyed by fire before Allied soldiers arrived. But I note the tag on the chairs says 1938 ... could these come from the time of final remodeling of the house, and not from 1945?

OK, such chairs *could* have been removed in 1945 when the local populace plundered the rooms between the bombing and the burning of the house by SS troops. Or they could have been carried up out of the tunnel system. These are always possibilities with such souvenirs.

As for markings on genuine Berghof furniture, I honestly don't know. The original furniture in the Stanggass Kanzlei has Nazi markings on the wood pieces (some of it). Some of the Berghof furniture may have had such markings, or markings from Gerdy Troost's interior design firm ... I don't know.

[Project X]

Unfortunately, I did not look under the chairs. Maybe there are marks. The owner is very old. When I asked him how to get at such chairs, he said, "If I tell you that, I'll be locked up," and then he laughed. One day later, I noticed that the chairs do not match the well-known photos. But I decided not to tell him that.

[CPB]

Hi all,
Good to "talk" with everyone again!

I looked thru my photo collection, and I don't see a chair that looks just like this in any photo of any room in the Berghof (or outside on the terrace). A better view showing more details of the chairs would help. The story behind these chairs would be interesting ... like, WHEN were they collected. As Chris pointed out, whenever I read about a souvenir that was "taken out of Hitler's house" in 1945, my mind is a little suspicious, because the interior of the Berghof was practically destroyed by fire before Allied soldiers arrived. But I note the tag on the chairs says 1938 ... could these come from the time of final remodeling of the house, and not from 1945?

OK, such chairs *could* have been removed in 1945 when the local populace plundered the rooms between the bombing and the burning of the house by SS troops. Or they could have been carried up out of the tunnel system. These are always possibilities with such souvenirs.

As for markings on genuine Berghof furniture, I honestly don't know. The original furniture in the Stanggass Kanzlei has Nazi markings on the wood pieces (some of it). Some of the Berghof furniture may have had such markings, or markings from Gerdy Troost's interior design firm ... I don't know.

Geoff, I agree, the chairs could have come from the tunnel system, or anywhere in the area. Then, in later years, connected with the Berghof for obvious reasons.

As for markings on furniture, I have a table and two chairs from the Kehlsteinhaus and none bear markings indicating their designer, studio of origin etc. Which makes me think Berghof furniture would also not have had such markings. That said, I have seen framed paintings from the Berghof which are marked accordingly on the rear. I guess that makes sense, as smaller more transferrable assets like this were more likely to be pilfered than furniture and therefore needed protecting – the same way the large AH copper-based trays are stamped with serial numbers.

Also Berghof-related, I just found this nice color 1945 footage today. Skip to around 15 mins 30 secs in. Right at the end there's a nice scene showing the main stairs and east-facing bedroom windows of AH and EB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UQ7qv1 ... u.be&t=10s

[Br. James]

Great footage, Chris...really too bad that much of the Berghof sections are so dark that they can't be appreciated. But many thanks for sharing this footage with us!

Br. James

[ramms]

Posing in the shadow.

[ramms]

Video footage of window tilting mechanism in action. https://youtu.be/0wZvaHVhWkI?t=7s

[ramms]

Rear entrance to the house Wachenfeld. Warning sign: Haus Wachenfeld. Kein Durchgang. Scharfe Hunde!

[ramms]

Haus Wachenfeld.

[namron]

Does anyone know the names of the books he read?

[Geoff Walden]

There was a book or article a few years ago by Timothy Ryback, all about Hitler's captured library in US archives. I'm sure this probably has a listing of all the books in that collection (I can't recall whether the collection is now in the US National Archives, or the Library of Congress).

ramms, thanks much for posting the photo of Hitler sitting in front of the bookcase - I never saw that one before.

[Mannheim]

I have been cleaning up (again) and thought someone might find this interesting. The photo on the left was taken in 1989, the one on the right last year. You may notice the level of additional landfill in the intervening years:

[Project X]

In a few years, everything will be covered.

[Br. James]

So true, and that's why a record in photographs is so important.

Cheers,

Br. James

[Mike Tal]

Just ordered this from e-bay. Curious to see what'll be like...

[Geoff Walden]

I think you will be pleased with the book. My copy looks like a later edition than yours, but I imagine the contents are the same. It has many good photos of the Obersalzberg in the early 30s, before it became a Nazi center of power, and photos of the construction of the Nazi buildings as well as destruction of the old Obersalzberg local houses and buildings. Images not commonly seen in books.