Det 1 retreat day 1

We hiked over to the mittelstation of the Jennerbahn and took the lift up to the top station.  We had near perfect hiking weather under grey skies, but once at the top the rain began to fall and the kids began to grump.  So down again we went, and hiked back to the Hinterbrand so we could drive down to the Obersalzburg documentation center.   And I'll just add here that I've never seen such clearly marked well-maintained trails as we hiked above Berchtesgaden.  

After WWII any properties not maintained by the occupation forces were destroyed by the government.  It was done in an attempt to prevent groups from having a place of pilgrimage or memorial.  However, it had the unintended effect of looking as if the government wished to wipe away all memory of that point in time.  So, when the US government returned the General Walker (formerly the Platterhof) hotel to German hands it first was mostly demolished, and then turned into a parking lot for the new documentation center.  The center gives the history of the Nazi movement in excruciating detail and allows the visitor to tour the underground bunkers constructed to save the party leadership from allied air strikes. 

One of the few remaining structures is the former atrium of the General Walker (itself formerly the Platterhof), now converted to a restaurant.  We had lunch there and enjoyed the lovely views out the windows.  It’s the perfect place for lunch—both protected from the weather and still lets you see everything.

After lunch we toured the Documentation center and the bunker tunnels.  The kids found most of the center too boring for their tastes, but in the bunkers were more ‘scope for imagination’.  I can’t imagine being so desperate as to hide out in those bunkers for any length of time.  It’s not like help was coming to  save them.    Also, the history of how easily Hitler came to power—and manipulated the people into thinking they were doing the right thing is quite sobering.  It makes you realize that given the right circumstances such a thing could happen even today.