Memorial Day Weekend, 2005
Berchtesgadner Land
Landkreis Berchtesgadner Land — the extreme South Eastern county in Germany. It is a very beautiful alpine county, within sight of the Austrian city of Salzburg. The highest lake in Germany, the Königsee, is nestled in one of the steep valleys neighboring the town of Berchtesgaden. The village of Berchtesgaden itself is at the eastern end of the Deutsche Alpenstraße — the German Alpine Road — stretching all the way to the Bodensee.
Berchtesgaden is primarily on the northern bank of the stream that drains the Königsee, nestling into the southern slope of the northernmost ridgeline of the Alps. To the south, the town is dominated (visually) by the split mountain peak of the Watzmann (8,900 feet).
On Memorial Day Weekend, in order to avoid the 90°F+ heat in Mannheim, a friend of mine from Church and I escaped to the relative cool of the Alps. The reason for this otherwise obscure destination has its roots in the 1930s and Adolf Hitler. Upon the rise to power of the Nazi Party, the Party Elites seized property on the Obersalzburg Plateau (overlooking Berchtesgaden), and took up residence. For his Birthday, Hitler was given the Kehlsteinhaus, high above the Obersalzberg (Americans know this as the Eagle's Nest).
In 1937, the Platterhof was remodeled into a sizeable hotel for Nazi Party Dignitaries. When the war ended in 1945, it stood significantly damaged. In 1952, when virtually all the rest of the Nazi buildings were razed, the Platterhof was renovated and became the Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC) Hotel General Walker — an alpine resort for American Servicemembers and their families. Every spring from 1984–1988, my family and I would spend a week attending the Episcopal Church Family Conference there. It was, in essence, my Vacation Home. In 1995, the General Walker was closed, and the property returned to the German Government. Today, the parking lot for the Kehlstein Haus shuttle and the Nazi Party Documentation Center take the place of the hotel.
It is worth noting that many of the outdoor scenes in “The Sound of Music” were filmed around Berchtesgaden, and the mountains in the background are these very same mountains. Every time I see the movie, I think of my time here.
We started with the Kehlsteinhaus shuttle. From the depot on the Obersalzberg Plateau, we rode a bus up the steep narrow road that climbs the sometimes nearly sheer cliff face of the mountain, with breathtaking views. At the top of the road, a tunnel is carved 100m into the mountain, where a golden elevator completes the final 100m of ascent to the Kehlsteinhaus. The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking.
We hiked up the path from the Eagle's Nest to a nearby summit. Also up there is a wooden cross, placed in 2003 to replace the original one erected in 1951. This is one of my all time favorite of my pictures.
Our next stop was the Salzbergwerk salt mine, where salt has been mined since 1517. We took a mid-day detour up to the scenic chapel of Maria Gern. Our next destination was the Königsee, a long narrow lake that fills a valley alongside the Watzmann peaks. Tour-boats depart from Schönau am Königsee and provide the only way to access the chapel of St. Barthólomä and points south.
Alas, it could not last forever, so after breakfast we began our return trip, but made sure to take the detour through Austria just to say we did. Someday, I'll have to return, and make sure to hit Salzburg as well.
Vintage Pictures courtesy of thirdreichruins.com