Berghof Obersalzberg

[Geoff Walden]

I have also read that about Hitler not being able to afford a shingle roof on the Berghof, but I wondered about that, as he had plenty of money for all sorts of other extravagant spending on the Berghof.
The Obersalzberg buildings had what we would today call tin roofs. I don’t know the manufacturing process, but it was a smooth plain finish (before the paint), not a galvanized looking finish.
headwest, you are right on both counts. The rocks worked to hold the shingles on against the wind, and also to hold the snow on for insulation and to break up “roof avalanches” so the snow wouldn’t slide off in big sheets.
(I have read sources that disputed one or the other of these explanations, but the majority of sources seem to support both. FWIW, I have talked to people whose buildings had these shingle and rock roofs, and the above is what they told me.)

[DerSchwarzwälder]

Geoff, you really got me thinking by saying: "he had plenty of money for all sorts of other extravagant spending on the Berghof". So I did some research in the field of architecture and stumbled across these blueprints of Göring's house at the Obersalzberg (by the way, does someone have more drawings? - I couldn't find anything else), drawn by Alois Degano, the same architect for the Berghof. As we can see, the roof is cleary covered with traditional wood shingles plus rocks:

From the blueprints to reality:

If we compare the first set of blueprints to those of the Berghof, it is clearly visible that the roof is designed to be covered with something flat - most likely a tin roof.


So my conclusion is, and please correct me if I am wrong, the Berghof's roof was never inteded to be covered with anything else but by tin.

[Hans1906]

Als Schwerdach bezeichnet man ein Legschindeldach mit Schwersteinen, eine traditionelle Dacheindeckung, die in den Salzburger Gebirgsbezirken geläufig war und gelegentlich noch heute – vor allem auf Almhütten oder Heustadeln – zu sehen ist.

A heavy roof is a shingle roof with heavy stones, a traditional roof covering that was common in the Salzburg mountain districts and can occasionally still be seen today - especially on alpine huts or hay barns.

Source: https://www.sn.at/wiki/Schwerdach


Hans

[N.C. Wyeth]

Reminds me of the wood-shake roofs I used to help my family repair on the farm. They are a lot of work (anyone here know how to handle and sharpen a draw-knife? LOL) - but if installed correctly, can last a couple of generations or more. In Kentucky, there weren't quite the same amount of snow-loads on the roof in Winter as in the Alps - but those days may be just around the corner. And the pitch on a Kentucky roof is much steeper. So I'm not sure an extra stringer over the top of the shakes, and a bunch of stones will stop an ice-sheet under the snow from preventing a slide. May be installing nets some day on all those old barns and outhouses.

cedar-shake-roof-life-expectancy.jpg

[headwest]

Hey Everyone

I remember reading here that the Hotel Turken had sold somewhat recently? also a bit of controversy for the sale

has there been any update on what the plans for it are? i was curious if the new owners will continue to run it as the hotel, and also keep alive and open the history, the tunnels, etc

thanks !

[Hauswachenfeld]

The Türken was sold to an old family down in the town of Berchtesgaden.

[headwest]

Thank you

If/When I can get back to Germany I had planned to try and stay there for a couple nights at least so was just wondering, although with everything i know that won't be happening soon

thanks!

[Biber]

I have also read that about Hitler not being able to afford a shingle roof on the Berghof, ...

To me, such a ridiculous claim sounds like it was made purely to start something. Hardly worth even looking into in my opinion.

[v60pih]

That claim comes from the book "Living with Hitler: Accounts of Hitlers Household Staff"
Based on interviews from Herbert Döhring, Karl Wilhelm Krause and Anna Plaim.
Herbert Döhring was a caretaker at Hitler's Berghof on Obersalzberg between 1936 and 1943.

[TheNewt]

Hello- Re post #3721 by Max- The closest Mercedes, to the left in the frame, I believe was the last one to be del,d. to the Chancellery fleet in 1939/40. The straight front bumper design is unique from all the other older models. It resides now at the Ottawa War Museum. When the museum first purchased it, the belief was it belonged to H. Goering. But further research turned up it was indeed, part of The Chancellery fleet. It was not destroyed in Berlin, as it was still at the Obersalzberg for the Berghof use. It was captured at a rail siding, on a flat rail car in Austria, close to the Bavarian border by the Americans, after a small exchange of fire with the SS. Mark Felton has a YouTube vid. on the interesting history of the vehicle. I have seen this beauty a couple of times, and it is in very good condition. You are allowed to view it up close, unless this policy has changed of late.

[v60pih]

The same car. A 770 Offener Tourenwagen (IIB-215190)

[TheNewt]

Thank you!! Did not see this pic before.

[TheNewt]

I believe that when the the Standard was attached, as you can see here, it was an indication that AH was a passenger..

[Ecam]

v60pih: a wonderful picture, thank you. Berchtesgadenerland is beautiful. And amazing, the same car over 75 years later.

TheNewt: The history of this car, as you lay out in your post, is exactly as I have read as well. The Globe and Mail carried this story years ago. To add to the narrative, one of the curators of the Ottawa War Museum had long had a hunch that this car, owned by an American collector, had not belonged to Goering but had been a part of the chancellery fleet. He somehow obtained the car's serial number and did the research with Mercedes-Benz, thereby ascertaining the original ownership of the car. Evidently, the Mercedes Benz documentation in their archives is very complete - right down to showing the car's date of manufacture, date of delivery and delivery location (the Chancellery). Sometime after the museum bought and moved the car to Canada, and put it on display as one of Hitler's cars, the American previous owner threatened to sue the War Museum. For what I don't know but nothing ever came of it.

We visited last August, and as you can see in the photos below, you're within about three or four feet of the car. There was no explanation as to why there is a broken side window. Also in the photo, the holder for the AH Standard is visible.

MB3.1.JPG

MB2.1.JPG

MB1.1.JPG

[Hans1906]

Hundreds of worldwide rumors about Hitler's cars are circulating all over the world, very surely the following Daimler-Benz website gives a reasonably exhaustive answer to (all?) these questions:

1933 - 1945. Daimler-Benz in the Nazi Era https://www.daimler.com/company/traditi ... -1945.html

More questions ?


Hans