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Obersalzberg
SS Barracks Complex
(Kaserne)
A housing complex for the SS guard
detachment was built in 1937. This consisted of a barracks building, a
kitchen/messhall building, a building for
vehicle maintenance and storage, a sport hall (gymnasium), and a staff headquarters
building, all grouped around a central parade field that was used for training and
inspection of guards. The complex was severely damaged during the April 1945 bombing
attack, and the ruins were razed ca. 1951. The building foundations, basements, and tunnel
systems remained underground, but these were torn out and filled in during 2001-2002.
Plans call for a sports and concert hall to be built on the site.
This drawing of the SS Kaserne and
surrounding buildings is from a 1941 illustrated map of the Obersalzberg.
The Fahrerwohnhaus (Drivers House) and Dienstwagenhalle (motor pool garage) of
the Kaserne are labeled,
as well as the Kindergarten building and the SS Wache (Guard) at the Hotel zum
Türken.
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SS Kaserne in the 1940s. View from
above the greenhouse, looking toward the Platterhof and its garage (seen in the
background). The sport hall is the furthest building with a red roof, with the large
vertical windows. The SS Kaserne garage is the building on the far left. |
Same view
ca. 1950. This photo was taken by ex-Nazi photographer Ernst Baumann. Note
that the top of the anti-aircraft command and control center ventilation tower shows at the bottom edge of the photo. (author's
collection) |
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Similar views in June 1981 (left)
and May 2001. The building ruins were
razed in late 1951 and the level area turned into a soccer field. The General
Walker Hotel (Platterhof) can be seen in the left distance in the 1981
photo. The recent view shows the remaining SS building foundations being torn out. The uncovered basement
walls of the SS Kaserne garage can be seen on the left. |
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The complete Baumann composite
photos, taken from the same spot on the Göringhügl hill, ca. 1940 and
ca. 1950. From left-right: foreground - SS Kaserne, background -
Platterhof garage and Platterhof; center - Modellhaus/Filmarchiv; right
- Kindergarten and Hotel Zum Türken, with the Berghof behind. (original
photos in author's collection)
(Click on each photo above to download larger scale views, which
show several interesting details.) |
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U.S. Army soldiers
from the 101st Airborne Division view the ruins of the SS
Administration Building (Verwaltungsbau). Comparing to the period photo, taken
from about the same place, shows the destruction following the bombing -
the soldiers are actually standing in the main road from the Berghof to
the Hintereck area. This Administration building appears in the lower
and right center of the first color image at the top of this page. (My
thanks to Ralf Hornberger for identifying the location of the 1945
photo.) (left - U.S. National Archives, RG 342FH-A49862; right
- Hartmann, "Verwaltung") |
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These composite
photos show similar views of the SS Barracks compound, before and after the 1945
bombing. The view is from the road behind the vehicle maintenance building, looking across
the barracks compound toward Bormann's house and the Göring Hill (in the right
background). The bottom photo was taken by my father Lt. Delbert R. Walden in 1946.
(top photo from Hartmann, "Verwandlung;" bottom photo from collection of
G.R. and G.A. Walden) |
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| Postcard
views of the SS Kaserne. |
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| Adjacent
to the Drivers House of the SS Kaserne, but not actually part of the
Kaserne, was the Obersalzberg Post Office. Very few period photos of
this building exist - the only detailed view I have ever seen is above
right. In the Kaserne view above left, the Post building is at the far
left. The Post was a wooden building on a stone foundation. It was
practically demolished during the April 1945 bomb attack. The remains
appear in the May 1945 photo below, just to the left of center. (There
was another postal facility in a building of the Platterhof
complex.) (above
left - period photo by Ernst Baumann; above right - "Der
Baumeister," Nov. 1937; below - U.S. Army photo, National Archives) |
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In the early 1980s the wood parquet floor of the
sport hall was still visible, and the basement was
accessible through a hole in the ground. This basement (shown here) led to an underground
rifle range.
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In the spring of
2002, the demolition work at the site of the SS Kaserne uncovered the
basement and rifle range. (courtesy John Figgins) |
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| Interior of
the rifle and machinegun range in early June 2002. The marking in the
center photo, "Zur Aufzeichen Deckung" (which can be seen on the
wall in the right-hand photo) pointed the way down a staircase, to a
covered area where firing scores were kept (this area was underwater when
this photo was taken, and has now been filled in and covered over). (My thanks to Randall Lee Rose for these photos.) |
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Period markings on the rifle
range wall - presumably firing scores or notes. On the right, relics
from the rifle range in 2002 - a belt of links from an MG-34 machinegun,
along with various cartridge cases and bullets. (My thanks to Randall Lee Rose for these photos.) |
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| Entrance to the main
barracks building, before and after the 1945 bombing. |
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| Amazingly, much of the original
sculpture above the entrance doorway still exists. The left-hand figure
and central shield can be found in a nearby town, and the head
from the right-hand figure is in a
private collection in France - taken home by one of the French
soldiers who occupied the Obersalzberg. (left - many thanks to
my friend Ralf Hornberger who found this piece; right
- courtesy Guilhem Touratier) |
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Two views of the ruined SS Kaserne
taken by GIs of the 3rd Infantry Division in May 1945. Above, the barracks building;
below, the sports hall (the ruins of Bormann's house appear on the hill in the distance).
(Donald G. Taggart, ed., "History of the Third Infantry Division in World
War II," Washington, Infantry Journal Press, 1947) |
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Garage building of the SS Kaserne,
with a similar view of the ruins taken in August 1945. The chimney seen in
the ruins view was for the central Obersalzberg heating system. (right
- National Archives, Record Group 111-SC, 252672) |
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| More
views of the SS Kaserne ruins in 1945-1946. The photos above are looking
from the area of the Greenhouse toward the Platterhof. The view at lower
left shows the Platterhof garage on the left with the SS Kaserne ruins
on the right. On the right below, soldiers from the 101st Airborne
Division examine a German Kubelwagen car at the SS Kaserne ruins. (above
- postcards; below - U.S. National Archives RG 342FH, 3A20802 (left),
3A20799 (right) |
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The ruins of the SS Kaserne seen in
1951. The upper stories of the buildings were gradually demolished over the
years,
until the ruins were razed in 1952. The long building in the background is the Platterhof
Garage. The air-raid siren
can be
seen among the trees at the top of the highest ground in the right center
distance. (author's collection)
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| Ruins of
the SS Kaserne in 1952, shortly before they were demolished. Above left
- the entrance into the main barracks building. On the right, a ruined
clock on the wall of the gymnasium building. Below, ruins at the corner
of the mess hall building and garage building, with the drivers' house
seen beyond. ("Illustrated London News," 5 January
1952) |
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The
garage building is in the right-center, and the building behind and to the left is the
so-called Fahrerwohnhaus, or residence for the vehicle drivers and chauffeurs.
The May 2001 view is from a similar angle, showing the uncovering of the building
basements, before their removal. The floor and partly uncovered basement wall of the
garage can be seen on the right, with the basement walls of the drivers house to the left. |
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| An entrance in the
basement wall of the drivers house led to rough-hewn tunnels beneath and into the hill
behind, with several partly finished rooms. This entrance can be seen in the period photo
above, in the wall below the drivers house, near the garage building. This area had been
covered by the soccer field until the spring of 2001 (it has again been
recovered and is now inaccessible). |
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| A further underground
system below this level led to an access tunnel running beneath the garage building. This
tunnel has several vertical structures that appear to be part of a drainage system (the
one shown here in the center was damaged), and remains of wooden shelf units along the
wall. |
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Various small rooms were also on
this level beneath the garage - this one shows graffiti from visitors in August 1995. |
Corroded electrical junction box
in the garage tunnel. |
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| The last
basement remains to be removed and/or filled in were those of the
kitchen/messhall building and the administration building, in the summer
of 2002. (courtesy George Foehringer) |
Click here to visit the
Bunkers page, showing the main tunnel systems under the Obersalzberg.
For further information, including Internet links, check
the Bibliography page.
Continue to other Obersalzberg sites - Hitler's
Berghof, Bormann's and Göring's houses, Platterhof, Gästehaus and Kampfhäusl,
Hotel zum Türken,
bunker system, Kehlsteinhaus, Gutshof and Teehaus,
miscellaneous buildings, other miscellaneous
area buildings.
Return to the Third Reich in Ruins homepage
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My guide
book to Third Reich sites in the Berchtesgaden and Obersalzberg area has
been published by Fonthill Media.
"Hitler's
Berchtesgaden" is available at Amazon and other retailers (the
Kindle version is also available from Amazon). |
Guided Tours
For personal guided tours in
English of Third Reich sites in Berchtesgaden and on the Obersalzberg (and other
local sites) from a certified and accredited local tour guide, contact:
Tom Lewis
+49-(0)1602-641-800
atobersalzberg@sky.com
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