In September of 2023, War History Network photographer and member Erwin Leydekkers traveled to Germany, visiting several historically significant locations. Among these stops was the Eagle's Nest, or Kehlsteinhaus, a building constructed by the Nazis. This imposing structure sits atop the Kehlstein summit in Berchtesgaden, Germany, and was strictly reserved for use by members of the Nazi Party for government and social meetings. It is said that Adolf Hitler visited the building on fourteen occasions, though he reportedly harbored a deep mistrust of the elevator that served as one of only two approaches to the Eagles Nest, fearing the winch mechanism on the roof would attract a lightning strike.

At right: The Eagles Nest or Kehlsteinhaus. Photo and all Photo Albums below by Erwin Leydekkers. Click to enlarge.

Photo Albums: Berchtesgaden, Germany | Landsberg Prison 2023 | Spottinger Cemetery 2023

Named after the location of its construction on the rocky outcrop Kehlstein, rising above Obersalzberg, Hitler first visited the Kehlsteinhaus in 1938 and returned a year later to inaugurate it on his fiftieth birthday, April 20th, 1939. The building sits several miles above Hitler's summer residence; the Berghof. Though Hitler preferred to leave the entertaining to others, he understood the Kehlsteinhaus's symbolic significance and utilized it to impress key guests and influencers. He held several critical meetings there, including a farewell reception in October 1938 for departing French Ambassador Andre Francois-Poncet. Francois-Poncet was so struck by the structure's beauty that he coined the building's moniker, "Eagle's Nest."

Additionally, Erwin visited Landsberg Prison, famous for its detention of Adolf Hitler in 1924, following his failed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. Hitler remained imprisoned at Landsberg until his trial in April 1924, and his near-immediate release after serving only nine months of a five-year sentence remains a topic of controversy to this day. During his time at Landsberg, Hitler dictated his memoirs, Mein Kampf, to Rudolf Hess. Landsberg Prison also held Nazi war criminals during the Allied powers' post-war occupation of Germany, and in 1946, the Americans renamed the prison Landsberg War Criminal Prison No. 1. In 1958 the war crimes facility was closed, and full control was handed over to the Federal Republic of Germany. Today, Landsberg Prison is operated and maintained by the Prison Service of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice. Erwin also visited the Spottinger Cemetery, located adjacent to Landsberg Prison. This cemetery contains the graves of German war criminals executed during the Nuremberg, Dachau, and Shanghai Trials. - Scott Lyons