Person held after fire at Alpine retreat built for Hitler

The Kehlsteinhaus on the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, which was severely damaged by a fire (Jason Tschepljakow/dpa via AP)

A fire tore through the retreat built for Adolf Hitler in the Bavarian Alps known as the Eagle’s Nest, and work to extinguish it was still in progress on Saturday, authorities said. A person was detained in connection with the blaze.

The building was badly damaged by the fire and it is not yet clear whether parts of it can be preserved, the local tourism authority said.

A fire alarm at the building in the Berchtesgaden district in Germany’s southeastern corner went off at about 9.15pm on Friday, police said in a statement.

Firefighters who went to the scene could see the flames as they approached the site, on a cliff 1,834 metres (6,017 feet) above sea level.

Getting fire engines to the site proved difficult because of its location, and work was still ongoing to put out the fire on Saturday morning, police said. The building and its immediate surroundings could be accessed only with respiratory protection equipment.

Firefighters found no one in the building and authorities believe at present that no one was injured.

Police said a person was detained as a possible suspect, but it has yet to be determined whether they had anything to do with the fire.

The Eagle’s Nest was originally designed by Hitler’s private secretary Martin Bormann for the fuhrer’s 50th birthday.

The building, the Kehlsteinhaus, was completed in 1938 and is reachable by an elevator from the end of a winding road up the mountain, in part through a series of tunnels, which is closed to public traffic but used by buses for visitors.

It has been operated as a cafe and restaurant since 1952 and contains an exhibition on its history. It was not open on Friday before the fire broke out.