Berghof Obersalzberg

[Ernie Primeau]

[ramms]

Entrance to the Berghof bunker.

[Br. James]

These last four photos provided by ramms are fabulous...though I'm not sure how the second photo -- the one in color -- fits into the title of this series, or how the hand-written caption on the third photo -- "hallway into famous living room!" -- relates to "Entrance to the Berghof bunker." What is being shown in the color photo? And as photo #1 is an enlargement of #3, is that "hallway" on the main floor of the Berghof, just outside of the door into the Great Hall? From photo #4, it appears that three of these pix were taken in the recent post-war years...the late 1940s or early 1950s...

Great stuff! Many thanks,

Br. James

[Mike Tal]

This reel of Eva Braun 4 of 8 from about 20:41 shows children playing on a grassy hill that must be between the Berghof and Zum Tuerken (or rather below it). My guess is right above the crossing of the main road and probably the access road to Berghof. I just found it interesting I also think still it's pre-1941 as you can see Hitler's adjutant Hansgeorg Schulze interacting with the little girl from preceding frames (cca 21:20). Schulze left his position as adjutant in spring 1941 to gain combat experience and was killed on the Eastern Front in autumn of the same year.

[Br. James]

Thanks, Mike! I agree that the hillside on which those children were romping was the entranceway to the Berghof, just below the Türken. I suppose Hitler wasn't home when the next films were shot, since Schulze is seen on the patio with a cigarette in his hand! And whose kids were those?

Prosit,

Br. James

[BEGAFILM]

Hello friends,


we have a new video online on our english channel:

LAST EXPLORATION AND DIVING THROUGH HITLER'S SS BUNKER FACILITIES ON THE OBERSALZBERG




By chance, the Obersalzberg registration office came across a plan sketch of the SS bunker facilities on the Obersalzberg, which indicates a previously unknown tunnel system.
Accompany us during the inspection of the SS-bunker system we already know, up to the exploration of a previously unknown tunnel system.
We work our way forward through some hardly accessable tunnel sections, past the SS-shooting range, until we finally find an access to the secret labyrinth.
The highlight of this exploration is undoubtedly the use of a cave diver, who explores the underwater sections of this bunker for us and documents them with his camera.

The Begafilm team were the first and last to enter this site since the end of the war and to document the exploration with the camera. These bunker sections have been buried forever since 1999.


Have fun watching and stay safe!

BEGAFILM

[Geoff Walden]

Thanks, Mike! I agree that the hillside on which those children were romping was the entranceway to the Berghof, just below the Türken. I suppose Hitler wasn't home when the next films were shot, since Schulze is seen on the patio with a cigarette in his hand! And whose kids were those?
Prosit,
Br. James

Hi all,

The "star" of this show was Herta Schneider's daughter Ursula, called Uschi. The other kids seen early on are (I think) Sperr children. Mother Herta is seen later with the doll in the baby carriage and in other scenes, including with her younger daughter Brigitte (Gitte). Gitte is also seen in the arms of her father, who was an Oberleutnant in the Wehrmacht.

[Mike Tal]

Thanks, Mike! I agree that the hillside on which those children were romping was the entranceway to the Berghof, just below the Türken. I suppose Hitler wasn't home when the next films were shot, since Schulze is seen on the patio with a cigarette in his hand! And whose kids were those?

Prosit,

Br. James

Dunno. Maybe he was just indoors or not nearby. People were known to smoke around Berghof, but not when AH was in sight. He obviously knew that majority of his associates smoked. At 21:37 you can see someone playing table tennis between in the corridor between the Adjutancy and the Berghof that led to the AH's tunnels. Also an interesting sniplet from the "ordinary" life at Berghof. You can't see who it is, but the skinny tall figure reminds me SS-Hstuf. Hans Pfeiffer, who used to turn shifts with Schulze as AH's personal adjutant. But it's just a hypothetical guess. And also I cannot imagine Hitler being away without his personal adjutants by his side. And clearly at least one of them is there.

[Br. James]

Thanks, Mike! You're certainly right that "People were known to smoke around Berghof, but not when AH was in sight. He obviously knew that majority of his associates smoked." I believe we've seen pix of Himmler and Bormann smoking cigars on the Berghof terrace...no Hitler in sight, though...and I'm sure Schaub smoked, as well as Hoffmann and Eva and her sister, and probably all of the military officers. It was a time when it seemed that 'everyone smoked' -- except Hitler, of course!

Br. James

[Geoff Walden]

I ran across an interesting image that made me spend some time in analyzing it.
Source - https://search.iisg.amsterdam/Record/1025769
Said to be taken in 1955, on the terrace of the Berghof, showing the entrance to the Berghof Bunker. The image is unfortunately in a low resolution.

source as above

BerghofBunkerEntrance1955.jpeg (31.6 KiB) Viewed 1130 times

This image surprised me at first, as I assumed it was taken at the Berghof site, since I had not run across any other evidence that someone erected a little entry building at the tunnel entrance that was in the retaining wall just behind the Berghof (if so, this would have been after the Berghof ruins were demolished in 1952).

Then I got to thinking ... could this be the first building put up at the back of the Hotel Zum Türken, for entry into the tunnel there? This is obviously not the entry "shed" that is there now. That one was in place there by 1960. But photos taken in 1951 show an almost identical building to the one in this photo, on the other side of the parking lot below the ruins of the Kindergarten, and no such building at the entrance to the Bunker. Maybe a very similar building was put up for the Bunker entrance later, or it could even be that the small building seen in the 1951 photos was moved over to the rear of the main Türken building, to be the Bunker entrance (this small building is not seen in the 1960 photo that shows the current entrance). And then this was replaced with the current style ca. 1960.

I did wonder why I couldn't see any of the wooden Türken walls that are up above the masonry lower walls, but it could be that the wood is just above where this image is cut off at the top. I also noted that the Berghof retaining wall outside that tunnel entrance is very rough concrete, much rougher than the walls appear to be in this image, and there appears to be a small window in the wall behind this building at the left of this photo.

Even though this photo says entry to the Berghof Bunker, which makes one think of the entry behind the Berghof, the owners of the Türken commonly referred to their tunnel as the "Berghof Bunker," and the tour does eventually reach areas that were indeed parts of the original Berghof tunnel system.

So, I have convinced myself that this photo shows a previously unknown characteristic of the Türken, but I wonder what you all think.
Geoff

[Br. James]

Thanks for sharing this, Geoff. My one and only visit to the Obersalzberg (thus far) was in June of 1998 and, while I did go down into the bunker system via the entrance at the Zum Türken, I didn't take any photos of the entrance facility at that time...and I really don't remember that level of detail now, as to the kind of building that I went down from. But at the time, I did assume that the building I entered the bunker system through was of newer construction than that which must have existed there during the TR years. Seeing this photo now, the access to the bunker system appears to be quite make-shift -- slapped together -- and I have to wonder what this area at the Türken looked like during the Hitler years? Is this really what it looked like to people who passed by the Türken in the early 1940s? It seems to me that Hitler and Bormann wouldn't have allowed that access point to be presented in such shoddy condition...with the German Head of State living just around the corner! Am I off base here?

Br. James

[Annelie]

Geoff,

Interesting.

I do believe it is fifties only because the women inside is wearing an identical dress that I
remember my mother having from the fifties. I am most likely wrong but otherwise
your correct its hard to judge.

[N.C. Wyeth]

I did wonder why I couldn't see any of the wooden Türken walls that are up above the masonry lower walls, but it could be that the wood is just above where this image is cut off at the top. I also noted that the Berghof retaining wall outside that tunnel entrance is very rough concrete, much rougher than the walls appear to be in this image, and there appears to be a small window in the wall behind this building at the left of this photo.

Even though this photo says entry to the Berghof Bunker, which makes one think of the entry behind the Berghof, the owners of the Türken commonly referred to their tunnel as the "Berghof Bunker," and the tour does eventually reach areas that were indeed parts of the original Berghof tunnel system.

So, I have convinced myself that this photo shows a previously unknown characteristic of the Türken, but I wonder what you all think.
Geoff

I think you're right, GW - and maybe this photo I took on a visit in 2019 will provide more food-for-thought.

[Mike Tal]

Although not directly related to Obersalzerg, the very beginning of this reel hows Eva Branun's suitcase sealed and then carried out onto a truck from her (then) Wasserburgerstrasse villa in Berlin that Hitler had bought for her. Probably getting ready for her Italian holiday. I find this interesting, because there are not many images, much less footage, from her villa, which was torn down couple of years back. And to include Obersalzerg, there is a nice footage at the end from the terrace, including the merry duo of adjutants Pfeiffer and Schulze from 28:15 to 28:39.

[BEGAFILM]

Although not directly related to Obersalzerg, the very beginning of this reel hows Eva Branun's suitcase sealed and then carried out onto a truck from her (then) Wasserburgerstrasse villa in Berlin that Hitler had bought for her. Probably getting ready for her Italian holiday. I find this interesting, because there are not many images, much less footage, from her villa, which was torn down couple of years back. And to include Obersalzerg, there is a nice footage at the end from the terrace, including the merry duo of adjutants Pfeiffer and Schulze from 28:15 to 28:39.

As far as we know they are packing for this tour to the Northcap: