47. Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden.

Another early scene, the house on the extreme right is Villa Bechstein. This property, built in 1899, was purchased by Edwin Beckstein, a member of the famous piano manufacturing family in February 1927. The house was situated a short distance below Haus Wachenfeld. Helene Bechstein, an ardent Hitler supporter, allowed the Nazi Party to use the property as a guest house. The Goebbels family stayed there many times, as occasionally did Italian leader Benito Mussolini when visiting Hitler on the Obersalzberg. Bormann bought the property in November 1935. Had it not been for the fact that Villa Beckstein was a Nazi Party guesthouse it would not have survived Bormann’s destruction of property.

The two buildings in the centre foreground formed the Baumgartlehen. All other buildings in this photograph were the homes and out-buildings of other local farmers. These were demolished in late 1937/early 1938 following Bormann’s takeover of the Obersalzberg. Hitler’s teahouse at Mooslahnerkopf would be built on the opposite side of the forested area in the centre of this photograph; directly opposite the Baumgartlehen. The pasture-land we see here now forms the bulk of the nine-hole Obersalzberg golf course.