Original German WWII Era Souvenir Photo Album from Berchtesgaden Area NSDAP Leadership Mountain Retreat Original Items

Original Item: One-of-a-Kind. This is a lovely WWII era photo album, assembled during the early post war years at a souvenir shop in Obersalzberg, part of the Berchtesgaden region on the German-Austrian border. Long an “alpine retreat” area for the Bavarian nobility, in the 1920s NSDAP Party Leader A H began vacationing in the area. He purchased a home in Obersalzberg in the 1930s, and would then begin work on the famous Berghof mountain retreat. As other top Third Reich figures, such as Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, Heinrich Himmler, and Albert Speer, began to frequent the area the Party began to purchase and requisition land in the Obersalzberg.

The entire area was upgraded and improved to better serve as an outpost of the Reichskanzlei (Imperial Chancellery), with required improvements to infrastructure and roads. A barracks for the SS was built, to serve as a guard for the high command of the NSDAP. Rumors were also spread as part of a propaganda plan regarding an “Alpine Redoubt” for the leadership to retreat to before fleeing the country. While these were never acted on, the Allies were concerned enough that bombing runs were launched against the mountain retreat in April 1945, which heavily damaged the Berghof and other buildings in the area. It would later be captured by U.S. forces, with little to no resistance.

This lovely photo album has both pre and post WWII bombing photographs of the NSDAP Leadership member’s mountain retreats in the Berchtesgaden Area, as well as the SS Barracks and other sights in the area. The front cover has a picture attached to the middle, and reads Souvenir of Berchtesgaden. The inside of the front cover gives information regarding the shop that assembled it:

Souvenir – shop
A. Schwarzgruber
Obersalzberg

The album is 32 pages long, and measures 8 3/4″ x 9 1/4″ in size. The pages are made from brown card stock, and are mounted with 38 photos. The pages have captions in English, as these were mostly intended for the U.S. servicemen stationed in the area, as Berchtesgaden became part of the U.S. Armed Forces Recreation Centers post war. There is also one loose photograph, which shows an SS-Unterscharführer (Sergeant) from the 6th SS.

The various locations shown are:

– A H’s first house in the area, Wackenfeld, his residence in the area 1933 – 1937.

– A H’s second house in the area, the famous Der Berghof, his residence 1937 – 1945. There are many interior pictures included of the house, showing how it was during its prime. These are followed by pictures taken after it was bombed, but before it was demolished after WWII.

– The house of Martin Bormann (NSDAP Chief of Staff and A H’s Secretary) in wintertime.

– The house of Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, including some interior pictures.

– The SS Barracks in the area next to Hotel Platterhof, before and after Allied bombing, but before it was rebuilt into the General Walker Hotel in 1952.

– Numerous pictures of the approach to the Kehlsteinhaus on Kehlstein mountain. Known as “The Eagle’s Nest” to most, this building was erected by the NSDAP atop the summit of the Kehlstein, a rocky outcrop that rises above Obersalzberg near the town of Berchtesgaden, in southeastern Germany. It was used exclusively by members of the NSDAP for government and social meetings. It was visited on 14 documented instances by A H.

A great hand made souvenir album from the post war years in Germany, ready to display!