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Germans are split over whether to rebuild Hitler's 'Eagle's Nest' after a fire gutted the Alpine retreat

Adolf Hitler at the Eagle's Nest, pictured in October, as Buchenwald director Jens-Christian Wagner warned that Nazi-era sites lose their evidential value if replicated rather than preserved in original form.
Adolf Hitler at the Eagle's Nest, pictured in October, as Buchenwald director Jens-Christian Wagner warned that Nazi-era sites lose their evidential value if replicated rather than preserved in original form.
The fire-gutted Eagle's Nest on the Kehlsteinhaus mountain, cordoned off since the blaze destroyed it, as Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann backed reconstruction while Obersalzberg Documentation Centre director Sven Keller insisted a replica was "out of the question.
The fire-gutted Eagle's Nest on the Kehlsteinhaus mountain, cordoned off since the blaze destroyed it, as Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann backed reconstruction while Obersalzberg Documentation Centre director Sven Keller insisted a replica was "out of the question.

The Kehlsteinhaus, perched on a Bavarian mountaintop and known as Eagle's Nest, was destroyed in a fire over a week ago after decades as a dark tourism hotspot drawing visitors from the US and Israel. Authorities have cordoned off the site and plan to airlift barriers and scaffolding to the summit while a decision is reached. Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann has backed reconstruction, but historians warn any replica would strip the ruin of its value as historical evidence.

Sven Keller, director of the Obersalzberg Documentation Centre, says a full reconstruction is 'out of the question' given the extent of the damage.

Officials fear the ruins could attract neo-Nazi pilgrims or squatters if left unguarded.

A separate study of DNA purportedly from the sofa on which Hitler died has reignited debate about what his genetics would have revealed about his own racial ideology.

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