Hitler and his God

On the Mountain

The place of preference where Hitler went to receive his inspirations was his villa on a mountain in the Bavarian Alps, the Obersalzberg, just above Berchtesgaden and very near to Salzburg.¹ Hitler had discovered Berchtesgaden in 1922 through – whom else? – Dietrich Eckart, who went there in hiding when he was wanted by the authorities for libellous writings in his anti-Semitic magazine In Plain German. Hitler too began taking to this wonderful region, dominated by the Watzmann and the Untersberg. (The fact that Berchtesgaden is practically on the Austrian border may have played a part in Hitler’s appreciation; for during his climb to power he might have to flee before the German law at any moment. He became a German citizen only in 1932.) In 1925 he bought Haus Wachenfeld, supposedly with money from the Bechsteins, and rechristened it Berghof. “Prior to 1939 [and on several occasions afterwards] the turning points, the ‘world-shocking decisions’, were taken at Hitler’s mountain retreat at Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps.” 908

“He meditated there”, writes François-Poncet, perhaps the only foreign dignitary, excepting Mussolini, for whom Hitler developed a liking. It was on the Obersalzberg, auf dem Berg (on the mountain) as his mountain retreat was referred to in Hitler’s entourage, that he received the French ambassador on his last visit. Yet the meeting did not take place at the Berghof but at the Kehlsteinhaus, within walking distance of the villa. The Kehlsteinhaus was built for Hitler on the initiative and under the supervision of Martin Bormann, and the construction cost the life of many slave labourers. For the structure was built on top of the Kehlstein peak and could be reached only by a lift in a shaft of 110 metres, hewn out in the rock. The view through the large bay windows was breathtaking.

“On all sides the eye plunges, as it would from an airplane in flight, into an immense mountain panorama”, relates François-Poncet. “At the foot of the semi-circular mountain range one perceives Salzburg and the surrounding villages, dominated as far as the eye can see by a horizon of mountain peaks, with forests and green meadows on their flanks. Close to the house, which seems suspended in the air, a steep wall of rock rises almost vertically. The whole, bathing in the twilight of an autumn day, is grandiose, primitive, almost hallucinatory. The visitor asks himself whether he is awake or dreaming. He would like to know where he happens to be standing. In the castle of Montsalvat, where the knights of the Graal were living …?” This lyrical association with the knights of the Grail obtains a more concrete significance if one knows that, in one of his monologues, Hitler reminisces about François-Poncet’s perfect German and his last visit “at the Gralsburg”¸ the Caste of the Gral, by which he meant the Kehlsteinhaus.

From the Berghof, Hitler had a splendid view of the Untersberg where, as legend has it, Charlemagne is sleeping till one day he will awake and do battle with the Antichrist to make a new Golden Age possible – or, if you prefer, to lead the German people to their glory. “There he sat”, remembers Speer, “with his view of the Untersberg where, according to legend, the Emperor Charlemagne still sleeps, but will one day rise to restore the past glory of the German Empire. Hitler naturally appropriated the legend for himself. ‘You see the Untersberg over there: it is no accident that I have my residence opposite it!’ … Hitler’s stays ‘on the mountain’ provided him, as he often stressed, with the inner calm and assurance for his surprising decisions. He also composed his most important speeches there … He let the content of his speeches or his thoughts ripen during these weeks of apparent idling until all what had accumulated poured out like a stream bursting its bounds upon followers and negotiators.” 909

“It is not only because of the beautiful landscape that I go on the mountain”, said Hitler. “There the imagination becomes more active. I leave the trifles and trivialities behind me and can then discern what is best, what is the right thing to do, and what will succeed … During the night I often gaze for hours from my bedroom at the mountains. Then things become clear … For me the Obersalzberg has become something very special … Yes, I have a close tie with this mountain …” 910

“Here, above the world, out of reach, thrones the German Führer”, writes Rauschning. “It is his Adlerhorst (eagle’s nest). Here he confronts eternity. Here he determines the course of his century … Here, where nobody disturbs him, in his crystal house in the mountains, he promulgates his commands, like a god in the clouds. Here the information he needs has to be brought to him. From here he wants to reign … He also loves the lonely walks. The mountain forests intoxicate him. These promenades are his sacred gestures, his prayer. He eyes the passing clouds, he listens to the mist dripping from the spruce trees. He hears voices. I have met him in this state. Then he recognizes nobody. He wants to be alone. There are times that he shuns people.” 911