Berghof Obersalzberg

[Duane Becker]

Thanks Geoff, I've contacted the Anzeiger in the recent past, but they can't find the book, even in their storage, but after your post here, it reminded me to try again. Today, I did a Google search for the book, and came up with a website 'Andre Husken Militaria'. Company sells books and war memorabilia. They had one for 30 euros, and 8 euros to ship, I bought it. Hopefully I will receive it!!!

[Geoff Walden]

Duane, that seems a really good price, about half of what I have seen on German eBay. Good find!

[Stian L]

Came across these pictures of norwegian writer Knut Hamsuns visit to der Berghof the 26th of june 1943. I don't think they have been showed here before.

[headwest]

Probably a huge long shot here. Are there any pics of Hitlers last time to the berghof in july 44?

and any of it from that point on until the bombing?

thanks!

[Biber]

Came across these pictures of norwegian writer Knut Hamsuns visit to der Berghof the 26th of june 1943. I don't think they have been showed here before.

Not entirely unrelated, I would note that the film Hamsun (1996 - Max von Sydow as Hamsun) offers perhaps the best film depiction of the Berghof great room (and parts of the exterior). Perhaps its only failing was depicting the picture window closing by descending from the ceiling rather than rising from below.

Here's a clip of Hamsun meeting with AH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSAUmsM8eHk&t=63s

There was a more extended Youtube clip showing the approach to the Berghof by car, the party ascending the stairs and being greeted by AH on the entrance patio and entering the great hall, but it sadly was removed due to a terminated account.

[CPB]

Came across these pictures of norwegian writer Knut Hamsuns visit to der Berghof the 26th of june 1943. I don't think they have been showed here before.

Excellent photos, and I don't think I've seen them before...nice work!

Chris

[Br. James]

Interesting that Dr. Otto Dietrich prominently appears in these photos at the Berghof, receiving and escorting Hamsuns and his party around the building. Normally it would have been Julius Schaub, Hitler's chief adjutant, in that position at that time, or perhaps Albert Bormann if Schaub was away. But I suppose this visit was viewed as an important public relations event, and Dietrich was Hitler's main PR representative... Great photos; so fresh and sharp!

Br. James

[Br. James]

I was not previously aware of the Max von Sydow film, "Hamsun," and am delighted to see the clip link provided by Biber, whose comment is most observant: "Perhaps [the set created for the Great Room at the Berghof's] only failing was depicting the picture window closing by descending from the ceiling rather than rising from below." That said, another viewer's comment states that Hitler's costume -- his brown tunic -- was also an error, as Hitler began to wear his field gray tunic at the beginning of the war. But the Great Room's recreation was exciting to see!

Br. James

[Biber]

But the Great Room's recreation was exciting to see!

Br. James

Yes, it sure was. I stumbled on this quite a while ago, probably after the Valkyrie movie came out and there was a discussion of the various depictions of the Great Room in film. It's worth tracking down those posts, perhaps in this thread. Of course no film depiction can surpass that in Devil Makes Three (1952) which was shot in the actual room (such as it was)!

Anyway, do try to track down access to the Hamsun movie to see the Berghof scenes. As I remember it (hopefully correctly), the lead up to it has the entourage driving through a mountain forest in an open air convertible (belching blue smoke all the while) as a German adjutant points out the various mountains. At one point (at or about just after the guard house below the Berghof) the camera pans up the side of the hill to see the front of the Berghoff towering above. I think I also remember a scene of the entourage exiting the car and climbing the steps. At the top AH is seen (you don't see his face at first it's definitely him) coming out of the shadows to shake Hamsun's hand. This, I believe is in the trailer for the movie. It is uncanny just how realistic it all seems, the setting, AH's mannerisms - you'd swear it was period footage. Then on to the scene in the Great Room. Not the greatest AH on film but not the worst by far in my opinion. Of course Max von Sydow is wonderful in just about anything he does.

[Br. James]

Excellent commentary, Biber -- thanks so much for it! I do recall MGM's "The Devil Makes Three" and have seen it a number of times; it contains the only detailed interior film of the post-war Berghof and it's exciting to see! And I agree that it would be an excellent asset here to have the resource of every film that has recreated the Great Room!

Thanks and blessings,

Br. James

[Makarov]

Excellent commentary, Biber -- thanks so much for it! I do recall MGM's "The Devil Makes Three" and have seen it a number of times; it contains the only detailed interior film of the post-war Berghof and it's exciting to see! And I agree that it would be an excellent asset here to have the resource of every film that has recreated the Great Room!

This is a clip from the above movie. The car chase that starts down in the Berchtesgaden area before it ends up in Berghof starts at 18.45.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs47AShpOYc

[Br. James]

Many thanks for providing this link to the concluding scenes from "The Devil Makes Three" -- the scenes shot during the chase up the mountain from Berchtesgaden, past the Platterhof Hotel, the SS Barracks and up to and inside the ruins of the snow-enshrouded Berghof! While the Great Room is immediately recognizable, of course, as Heisemann enters from the central hallway of the house, and ends with him standing on the sill of the huge window that is no longer present, the other scenes shot in the destroyed cellars beneath the Berghof or in the hallways or on the burned-out staircases could have been shot anywhere else, since so little was photographed or recorded about the lower areas of the house from Nazi times...or of the upper areas, as well, though the actors never got the chance to pass through Hitler's study or the Hitler/Braun bedrooms or even out onto the famous terrace. All of that is left to one's imagination...but that's all it takes to reconstruct so many of the details of the Berghof in its heyday in the late 1930s/early 1940s! Thanks for allowing us to go up that mountain once more, and to roam those hallways and the major rooms that our minds bring to life once again!

Br. James

[Helly Angel]

This picture was taken on August, 1934. I imagine the SS guards are in prevention because the Rohm purge.

[Helly Angel]

This picture is from a serious group from Telegram from a friend.

[headwest]

Can someone tell me what the sign says? and the helmet looks like an older WW1 one? was this still the style in that year?

thanks much