Police in Bavaria detained a suspect during a fire at Adolf Hitler's Alpine mountain retreat, the Kehlsteinhaus, which was still burning early on Saturday.
Zoom in: Dispatchers in Traunstein received a fire alarm from the building at 21:15 local time (19:15 GMT) on Friday, and firefighters arrived to find it engulfed in flames.
- Difficult terrain hindered efforts to extinguish the blaze, police said, with some 200 emergency personnel deployed. There were no reports of injuries.
The backstory: The Nazi dictator used the retreat, which lies above the town of Berchtesgaden, as a part-time seat of government and met commanders there to plan the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. He also used the area as a backdrop for propaganda films portraying him as a lover of animals and nature.
- During the second world war, Hitler and his followers were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, including the mass murder of European Jews.
Between the lines: Completed by the Nazis in 1938, the Eagle's Nest escaped destruction after their defeat in 1945. It has since become a popular tourist destination and houses a mountain inn.
- Its official website describes the site as "also a cautionary reminder of the abysses of the inhumane Nazi dictatorship".
What's next: A criminal investigation is under way to determine whether the detained suspect is connected to the fire.
Why it matters: Germany keeps its most uncomfortable buildings standing on purpose, as teaching tools rather than monuments, so damage to one of the most recognisable of them takes away a physical place where that history gets explained to visitors.
