Credit : BRICS NEWS
BERCHTESGADEN, October 24, 2026 — A fire has torn through the Kehlsteinhaus, the Alpine mountain retreat in southern Germany built for Adolf Hitler and known as the Eagle’s Nest, and police have arrested a suspect, BRICS News reported on X on Saturday.
The post, published at about 12.54pm Malaysia time and marked “JUST IN”, read: “Hitler’s former ‘Eagle’s Nest’ mountain retreat set on fire, suspect arrested.” It was accompanied by an image of the building in flames.
https://x.com/BRICSinfo/status/2113856589773811948
According to the BBC, dispatchers in Traunstein received a fire alarm from the building at 9.15pm local time on Friday, October 23, and firefighters found it engulfed in flames. Some 200 emergency personnel were deployed, and the blaze was still burning early on Saturday as difficult mountain terrain hampered efforts to bring it under control. Local media reported that the site had been “largely destroyed”, and the public was urged to stay away. The retreat was still seen smouldering on Saturday morning.
Police in Bavaria said they detained a 33-year-old German man who was riding a motorcycle near the scene, and a criminal investigation has been opened. Police official Gerhart Holzinger told a press conference on Saturday afternoon that there was currently nothing to suggest that anyone else was involved.
Public prosecutor Rainer Vietze said a psychiatric report had concluded that the man showed signs of possible mental illness, so diminished responsibility might be assumed. He said a possible political motive was also being considered, but stressed that the investigation was at an early stage. German broadcaster BR24 and Tagesschau also reported that the suspect was believed to have caused the blaze.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters that the site would “under no circumstances remain a ruin”, BR24 reported. “It is important that we continue our work of remembrance,” he said.
The Kehlsteinhaus sits at about 1,800 metres above the town of Berchtesgaden. It was completed by the Nazis in 1938 and was one of several buildings in the area used by Hitler and his entourage during the Second World War. Hitler and senior Nazi officials used the nearby Berghof residence to plan the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, and the whole complex was regarded as one of his headquarters. Hitler also used the area as a backdrop for propaganda films portraying him as a lover of animals and nature. The Times of Israel reported that authorities suspected arson and that the building could “probably” not be saved.
The building escaped destruction after Germany’s defeat in 1945 and later became a popular tourist destination housing a mountain inn. Its official website describes it as “a cautionary reminder of the abysses of the inhumane Nazi dictatorship”.
The fire comes amid a wider debate in Germany and Austria over whether buildings linked to Hitler should be preserved, repurposed or demolished, with some warning that such sites could become places of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis. In June, Berlin authorities announced plans to tear down one of Hitler’s bunkers to build flats and offices, while in July Austria turned the house in Braunau am Inn where he was born into a police station.
Source: BRICS News on X, BBC, BR24 and Tagesschau.
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