A detainee in Germany, suspected of having set fire to the Eagle's Nest, Hitler's famous mountain residence

BarcelonaThe German police reported this Saturday that they have arrested a male suspect after a large fire broke out on Friday night at the chalet popularly known as the Eagle's Nest, Adolf Hitler's famous mountain residence in the state of Bavaria, where high-ranking Nazi officials received foreign guests.

Emergency services received the first alert about the fire on Friday at 9:15 p.m., but the difficult access to the chalet has hindered efforts to extinguish the fire, even though about 200 personnel have been mobilized. The Eagle's Nest is located on a peak in the Bavarian Alps, at an altitude of 1,834 meters.

Images have been shared on social media showing the building completely engulfed in flames. In fact, extinguishing efforts are continuing. At the moment, there is no record of any injuries.

"A suspicious person has been provisionally detained. The Traunstein Criminal Police has taken over the investigation into the cause of the fire," indicated the Upper Bavaria South police in a brief statement. In fact, a criminal investigation has been opened to determine if the suspect might be linked to the fire.

"It is largely damaged. It does not look like the house can be saved," a police spokesperson declared to the German newspaper Bild regarding the state of the building, but did not specify the causes of the fire, nor if it could have been arson.

Nazi headquarters

The house, also known by the name Kehlsteinhaus, is located above the city of Berchtesgaden, and was built between the years 1937 and 1938. It was one of the buildings used by Hitler and high-ranking Nazi officials during the Second World War. The invasion of the USSR was planned in 1941 at the nearby Berghof residence, but the entire residential complex was part of the Nazi general headquarters.

Hitler also received diplomats or other foreign guests at the Eagle's Nest, and the entire area was used as a setting to record propaganda films in which the Führer presented himself as an animal and nature lover.

The Eagle's Nest was saved from destruction after the Nazi defeat in 1945. Since then, it has become a popular tourist destination. It operates as a restaurant and mountain lodge, is listed as a historical landmark, and, according to its official website, serves as “a reminder of the atrocities of the inhumane Nazi dictatorship”.

In Germany, there is a broad debate about what to do with these types of buildings related to Hitler: repurpose them or demolish them. Some advocate for the preservation of the buildings for historical reasons. Others, however, fear that they could become monuments or places of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis and far-right extremists.