![]() Like a wealthy bourgeoisie, Hitler had himself photographed on his mountain farm on the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden. Hitler surrounded himself with so much luxury “What the pictures don't show is the fence with which the Führer's restricted area was completely cordoned off,” says Keller. The Obersalzberg was deliberately chosen as a place in front of an imposing mountain backdrop to stage a natural and popular-looking guide, who liked to patted braided children's heads, went for walks with dogs and happily shook hands with the people who, like on a pilgrimage, went up to the Berghof made a pilgrimage. How close together idyll and crime were in this place can be seen from historical photos, the history of which is explained in the documentation center.Īll the supposed keyhole glimpses into the private life of the Führer are staged by Hitler's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, who made a significant contribution to the establishment of the Führer myth with the millions of photos that were distributed at the time. Keller and his colleagues know only too well that the misconception about Obersalzberg has long been that the Nazi leadership only spent nice vacation days in their holiday homes - which many extremely private and idyllic-looking photos should also lead you to believe.Īdolf Hitler consciously chose Obersalzberg as the location The historian is head of the documentation center there, which, under the direction of the Institute for Contemporary History, has been trying to educate people about the site and its Nazi past since 1999. “There is hardly any other place where the Nazis committed the landscape, staging and crime are so closely interwoven as in Obersalzberg,” says Sven Keller. Much is not here as it seems at first glance, because after profound changes today both the knowledge of the time before the Nazis and their brutal remodeling has largely been buried. While Hitler's presence on Obersalzberg is well known to many, the historical landscape remains diffuse to this day and requires explanation. And what Hitler's appropriation of Wagner means for the way we deal with his music today.Embedded in the imposing mountain scenery of Watzmann, Untersberg and Kehlstein, the Obersalzberg is a mountain ridge covered by lovely meadows and forests about 1000 meters above Berchtesgaden.Īpart from its spectacular view of the Bavarian Alps, probably only a few people would know the mountain today if Adolf Hitler and his entourage had not seized it to declare the area a so-called Führer's restricted area and use it as the second seat of government. ![]() With scholars and musicians, Kultur Arts Unveiled explores how Hitler's fervent admiration of Wagner turned his music into the soundtrack of National Socialism. Finally, what role does Hitler’s own self-perception as an artist play in the affinity he felt with the composer - as Wagner expert Sven Friedrich analyzes? Image: DW As if it had been created to accompany the German attack on Crete with the Ride of the Valkyries in the "weekly preview”. But how did Hitler come to idolize Wagner? Was it simply because of Wagner's anti-Semitism, which he gave free rein to in his infamous pamphlet "On Judaism in Music"? Was it the Germanic heroic sagas that Wagner set to music and that Hitler was able to exploit for his ideology? Was it the pull of Wagner's music? In an interview with DW, medical historian James Kennaway describes it as "background music for megalomania”. Wagner's music, in turn, fueled Hitler's delusions of grandeur. The cult of Richard Wagner, who had died 50 years before Hitler came to power, was politically fueled by Hitler's presence. ![]() He even interfered in the organization of the festival, helping to decide on the program and staging. The dictator saw himself as a Wagnerian and basically became a part of the Wagner family, which managed the composer's legacy. ![]() For years, Hitler was a star guest at the Bayreuth Festival, the consecration site par excellence for Wagner's operas. ![]()
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