Smoke and fire rise following a fire incident at the Kehlsteinhaus, the Eagle's Nest, in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany, in this handout image released 24 October 2026;
Credit: Bavarian Red Cross/Florian Scherer/Handout via Reuters
BERLIN (Reuters) - German police said they had detained a suspect after a fire broke out at a historic mountain guest house known as the "Eagle's Nest", used as a retreat by Nazi officials, including the dictator Adolf Hitler.
Around 200 firefighters and emergency personnel in the area around Berchtesgaden, in the southern region of Bavaria, were battling the flames after the building, known as the Kehlsteinhaus, caught fire on Friday 23 October 2026, police said.
Police are investigating whether the suspect, who was detained close to the scene, was connected to the fire, they said in a statement.
There was no immediate word about a possible motive.
Built in 1938 as a guest house for Nazi officials and their guests, the building, in a spectacular Alpine setting, is separate from Hitler's nearby summer residence, known as the Berghof.
Now owned by the state of Bavaria, the Kehlsteinhaus was classified after the war as a historical monument recalling the Nazi period.
