Hotel Zum Turken, Security Headquarters for the Obersalzberg – Berchtesgaden, Germany


Hotel zum Türken Obersalzberg 2012
Hotel zum Türken at the Obersalzberg in 2012, Berchtesgaden, Germany

Hotel Zum Turken

This building wasn’t a hotel from start, it’s name was originally “Türkenhäusl” (Turkish home) and is named after the veterans returning from the 1683 war against the Turks. From 1911 it was converted into a popular guest house where Adolf Hitler and Dietrich Eckart lunched in 1923. In the late 1920s Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party followers gradually took over the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden. When Hitler took up his residence in the “Berghof“, only a stone throw away from Hotel zum Turken, the building came under Nazi rule and the owner was shooed off.

First the SS took over with guard duties to protect the Fuhrer and later the Reichsicherheitsdienst (National security service) moved in. During World War Two it was the SS headquarters of the Obersalzberg. At the end of the war Hotel zum Turken was destroyed in the Allied bombing of 1945, but rebuild after the war.

Hotel Zum Turken after the 1945 Allied bombardment – courtesy Pascal Ettinger

Next to Hotel zum Turken is a little guardhouse from the Nazi era. This small building was a guard post for the SS soldiers on duty on the Obersalzberg next to their headquarters.

Berghof Guardhouse at Obersalzberg Germany
The original guardhouse of Hitler’s Berghof on the side of Hotel zum Türken at Obersalzberg, Germany
SS Guards and the Guard house in front of Hotel Zum Turken – courtesy of oldillusion.weebly
Guardhouse of Hitler’s Berghof on the side of Hotel zum Türken at Obersalzberg, Germany
Hotel Zum Turken information plaque- Berchtesgaden, Germany

Visit

Today there are tunnels to be seen leading to Adolf Hitlers quarters “The Berghof”. Hotel zum Turken was for sale a few years ago and got a new owner, check out the website if the tunnels or the hotel can be visited.


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1 thought on “Hotel Zum Turken, Security Headquarters for the Obersalzberg – Berchtesgaden, Germany

Fascinating, thank you. Is there any information available on what the new owners plan to do with the hotel? I’ve heard rumours they plan to demolish it.

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