It was mid-summer, 1986. Kim and I were on vacation in southern Germany—Bavaria. What a beautiful place! We spent a few days in Berchtesgaden, perhaps the nicest, neatest, most interesting German city we visited. We took a bus tour of “The Obersalzberg,” which included the famous Platterhof Hotel (now called the General Walker hotel) and a few other sites. I had done plenty of homework before this vacation. I was particularly interested in Hitler’s “Berghof”—gone since 1952. But, I didn’t know if Kim and I would be able to get to what was left of it, or what we might see once we got there. We knew it was NOT part of the bus tour! When the tour reached the greenhouse, I knew it would be our only chance, so I nonchalantly asked the German tour guide how long the bus would be there. “At least one hour.” Good! I quietly said to Kim, “Follow me. Let’s go!” And, we discreetly went our own way, peeking back over our shoulders to make sure nobody noticed. I had memorized the layout of the land, distances from this place to that, and where the private driveway used to be. I also had memorized the floor plans of his mansion, enough to know its “footprint” at the foundation level. Fortunately, we found the spot where the private drive peeled off the main road. It was easy to miss, because there was very little left. We turned at the driveway entrance, but I was temporarily dismayed by what we saw next—a big steel gate, locked, and a high fence surrounding the area with all kinds of signs that seemed to say, “If ve see you here, you vill be SHOT!” The vegetation was both a curse and a blessing. It made it hard to get around, but it also concealed us. We picked our way along the fence in hopes of finding a “hole” of some kind. This was not the kind of fence we could climb. We did find a break in the fence! It wasn’t enough for a grown man to get through. Kim might have made it, but I didn’t think I would. It was obvious the hole was due to natural causes, not to human action. The thick vegetation had prevented fence maintenance at this location! So it was time to add a little human action. Kim and I worked at it and enlarged the hole just enough for me to get through. With camera strapped over my shoulder, I made it through, making sure we would be able to get back to the other side later! Next, we had to negotiate a real jungle of trees, bushes, and tall grasses and weeds. We found the private driveway again, but uphill from the gate it was broken and overgrown with grass and weeds sprouting from the cracks. We followed what was left of the quarter-mile-long driveway until it suddenly ended. And there, before our very eyes, what this big, THICK concrete foundation and basement, with big holes where the garage windows had been. Those Germans—they do everything well; it was built to last! I started taking pictures, but the overgrowth of vegetation cut out most of the light, so the Kodachrome 64 slide film was taxed to its limit. The results were less than sterling, but decent enough. I don’t know of anyone else who has such pictures. Then we peered through the big square holes that had been the windows into the garage and basement. And, after our eyes adjusted to the low light level, what we saw there was simply stunning. Stay tuned…
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:32:25 +0000
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