BERCHTESGADEN, Germany — A fire tore through the Kehlsteinhaus, the Bavarian mountaintop building known as Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, on Friday night, and police have detained a suspect, BBC News, Al Jazeera and DW reported.
Police said the alarm came in at about 9:15 p.m. local time on Friday. “The fire brigades, who were alerted immediately, could already see flames clearly visible at the Kehlsteinhaus as they approached,” the police statement said, as quoted by DW.
About 200 firefighters and emergency personnel were deployed, and crews struggled to get their engines up to the building, which sits at roughly 1,800 metres (about 6,000 feet) above sea level. The fire was still burning on Saturday morning, the BBC reported. Police said the building and its immediate surroundings could only be entered with breathing equipment, and no injuries were known.
A criminal investigation is under way, and police are examining whether the detained suspect is connected to the blaze. No motive has been given.
The Kehlsteinhaus was built in 1938 as a retreat for Nazi officials on the Obersalzberg, where Hitler kept his heavily fortified country residence. It is one of the few Nazi-era structures to survive World War II bombing unscathed and today is a listed historical monument operating as a popular mountain restaurant for tourists.
Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera, DW
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