Hitler's Eagle's Nest 2023 - Highway to the Heavens

In Episode 1, we travel the precipitous 4-mile long road to Hitler's mountaintop eyrie, the Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle's Nest, best preserved of his many properties that sits at 6,017 feet in the Bavarian Alps.

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Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.

[islandsspace]

Thank you Dr. Felton for taking us along on the journey of WWII history and showing us the beautiful European landscape past and present.

[hondaphan]

The amount of work it took to build all of it just blows my mind. Showing the entire bus ride was very important as it gives you a sense of scale and highlights what an incredible undertaking it was to bring this massive project together. Thanks, Mark!

[krisfrederick]

The scale of the effort that went into this is still mind blowing. "And the man was afraid of heights..." Symbolic of Hitler's contradictions. Thank you for taking us to the Eagles Nest Dr. Felton.

[dzevi]

From 1946 to early 1950, I was a Latvian DP (Displaced Person, i.e., refugee) in the DP Camp "Insula", in Strub, near Berchtesgaden. In 1947 I was just entering my teenage years. Somewhere around that time, U.S. Army representatives contacted the camp leadership, wanting to hire guards to guard the Platterhof Hotel against looters - and maybe some Nazi remnants. My father, who was the camp's Chief of Police (and a 25-year veteran of the Latvian Army), accepted the job and with his personally selected contingent of Latvians, armed with M-1 carbines by the U.S. Army, went up to Platterhof. They stayed there for five days and returned back to camp for two days, rotationally. My father took me up there with him a few times. Some of the hotel was bomb damaged, but much was intact - and it sure had been fancy!

Later, during the late 1950's, now a member of the U.S. Air Force, stationed in England, I visited tjhe place again, now the General Walker R&R Hotel - and stayed in it for several days. That was pretty cool!

[curtgomes]

In October of 2004 I had the marvelous experience of visiting "Eagle's Nest" with a group of WWII veterans, including some of the famous Band of Brothers. We were given an extensive tour of Kehlsteinhaus and it's inner workings. So very interesting. One vet even had some very old photos he took there in 1945! Not much had changed. While there, I did purchase a German produced DVD, having some excellent old video covering the history and construction of this amazing structure. The vets I was with were some of the first into the Kehlsteinhaus in 1945. They all had some very interesting stories for sure. We spent a day at Berchtesgaden and then took that winding road trip to Eagle's Nest. Quite an experience.

[richbowman]

A world without MarkFelton is inconceivable. He made a bus trip interesting.

[ArturMorgan]

I am sure that no living Briton has done more to provide free educational content than you Mark, God bless the work you do. We all sincerely hope those working at the bbc could learn a thing or two from you.

[yoda]

I visited Kehlsteinhaus in 1974. The remains of the SS barracks had not yet been cleared, so I helped myself to a loose brick. I remember the bus driver emphasizing the importance of the pull over spots which can be seen halfway through the video. If it was empty the bus would have to park until the descending bus passed. If that bus was there already the bus could proceed. The elevator was and still is an 'Otis" made elevator. Otis is an American company founded in 1854.

[CGFIELDS]

One of the greatest historical channels on YouTube…Thank you Dr. Felton.

[brandonburr]

I have said this many times but this is THE best history channel on you tube. It's even better than what's on history channel and national geographic channel. Thank you mark!

[edterryberry]

My son and I visited the Eagles Nest in 2014 as we were traveling through Europe that summer, it was a highlight of when we were in Salzburg. Thanks for rekindling the memories! Cheers 🇨🇦

[danielcoburn]

Thank you, Mark, for filming this journey. My dad visited Eagle's Nest soon after the fighting ceased. He spoke of the narrow, winding road. In 1982, I visited Munich and got as far as Garmish. Your film is the next best thing to retracing my dad's journey.
Again, thank you very much.

[thejudgmentalcat]

When you said it takes about 15 minutes to get there, I wasn't expecting the entire bus ride 😂 but I'm glad you did! Absolutely beautiful landscape ❤ Can't wait for Ep. 2

[davidevans]

Thank you Mark! I was born in Augsburg and adopted by an US Air Force family. I haven’t been there since the late 60’s so this brought back fond memories.

[jerryakbar]

I’m a lift mechanic in whats left of the United States, the elevator at the eagles nest is roped 2 to 1. Meaning that there is a large shiv ( grooved wheel) mounted on top of the cab to give the elevator more capacity in kilograms. As opposed to 1to1 roping where the cables are connected straight to the counterweight hitch as well as the cab hitch. Thanks for the video mark.

[henriknilsson]

As a long time viewer of this channel I feel Mark Felton has gone to similar extreme efforts to educate us as the people who built this road! So many thanks!❤❤❤❤

This road must have been a very serious test for the brakes and cooling system of the large 1930s Mercedes cars as seen in this video!

[jackfrancis]

In 1959 my brothers and I walked through the forest to the Eagles Nest (ages 16, 13, 12)from Berchtesgaden Hotel. I didn't realize how far it was, but we made it.Took the elevator to the top, boy were we tried. Brought a coke and shared it with my brothers.We only had 2 Marks( worth 24 cents in 1959). We explored the restaurant and the other buildings.We walked back using the bus road because we there told it was shorter.And it was but was very dangerous.The buses would take up most of the road and damn near run us over. We made it back, Mom and Dad were worried, but happy to see us. PS. Our Dad was Sargent/Major stationed in Germany.

[lg]

In 2018 The Make-A-Wish Foundation made my daughter's dream to visit Neuschwanstein a reality. While our base during our visit to Bavaria was in Munich we also spent some time in Salzburg. One of the highlights of our trip was to visit The Eagles Nest. The countryside and the Alps are spectacular. Journeying through this historic landmark was almost surreal. Despite the horrors of the Nazi regime, Bavaria and Salzburg are so beautiful. We hope to visit the region again some day as it was so spectacular. Diagnosed in 2015, my daughter is cancer free and we were so blessed by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to be given this trip for our entire family.

[Ronin]

When stationed in Germany, early ‘80s, Bavaria was always the place to visit on long weekends and when folks would come to visit. This video captures the long bus ride up and back. As I recall, there were U-boat diesel engines that ran the ornate elevator to the house above. One visit was enough and I could see why Hitler was not a frequent visitor. Thank you for this and all your videos.

[markbanash]

I appreciate that you left the German audio of the bus tour in the recording. I am always interested in how that country presents this history to their own, and your recording gave a good chance to hear an example.