dolf Hitler chats with his heroes from Luftwaffe after award ceremony at Berghof, Obersalzberg, on 4 April 1944.
After the Wolfsschanze, its headquarters in East Prussia, the Berghof was the place where Hitler spent the most time during the war. He became the owner of the residence in 1933 thanks to being enriched with his book ''Mein Kampf''.
The British Lancasters bombed Obersalzberg on April 25, 1945. The Berghof was partially destroyed during this raid. On May 4, four days after Hitler's suicide and before the advance of Allied troops in the region, the SS set fire to the villa. A few hours later, the 3rd American Infantry Division arrived in Berchtesgaden with a unit from the 2nd French Armored Division. The Americans only invested in the town of Berchtesgaden, the French took advantage of it to start the assault on Obersalzberg where the Berghof is located. In their Jeep, Captain Laurent Touyeras and his driver, Brigadier François Borg, passed the natives of the 2nd DB who were struggling to climb the slope. They were thus the first Allied soldiers to reach the still consumed chalet. The French discovered there kilometers of underground bunkers sheltering works of art looted all over Europe, but also thousands of bottles of vintage wines, tons of food and more unusual pieces, such as a collection of bras collected by Göring.
The final destruction of the building did not take place until 1952, when the German federal government had it blown up in order to avoid any pilgrimage of nostalgics of the Third Reich.
The site was reforested and now houses a documentation center on the history of National Socialism, as well as a golf course and a hotel.

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