Today the Obersalzberg is seen in a variety of lights.  Americans, for example, generally associate the Obersalzberg with the National Socialists’ Adlerhorst, the “Eagle's Nest”, including the Berghof, the bunkers and the Kehlsteinhaus. Older Berchtesgadeners, however, who have known the Obersalzberg since before the Nazi invasion, were familiar with the original village and the high status that the Obersalzberg enjoyed with summer holidaymakers before WWII. At that time, many highly regarded personalities would come in search of  accommodations for their Obersalzberg getaway.

Let us take this occasion to highlight the changes on the Obersalzberg from 1937 to the present day with a few examples.

Until 1937 the Obersalzberg was a tourist magnet for many prominent vacationers, such as a Professor Linde, who personally got involved with and promoted tourism development with construction of the Hotel Antenberg in 1904/1905. The Steinhauslehen estate first became the Pension Moritz guesthouse, before being remodelled and transformed into the Platterhof hotel, later renovated by the Americans and renamed the Hotel General Walker, where American servicemen enjoyed holidays on the Obersalzberg until the 1990’s. But more on this later.
After several years of practical work, Carl von Linde was appointed to the Technical University in Munich.  Linde was greatly interested in cooling technologies and built an ice machine in 1876. This would gain great economic importance in years to follow.  In 1884 Carl von Linde came to Berchtesgaden and purchased the Baumgartlehen on the Obersalzberg. He built the Villa Oberbaumgart and, in 1904/1905, the Pension Antenberg, which he would subsequently relinquish to the Navy Convalescent Home. In addition, von Linde also bought the Hochlenzerlehen estate, building at his own expense a lane connecting the Antenberg and Hochlenzer. This lane, the Lindeweg, still exists on the Obersalzberg. Carl von Linde was a driving force behind the Salzberg community and even continued his scientific work here on the Obersalzberg!
Carl von Linde had set up his own laboratory in the basement and ground floor of the Villa Linde and conducted a variety of experiments there, from which refrigerator owners continue to benefit to this day. Above the road from today’s car park for buses running to the Kehlsteinhaus (site of the former Pension Moritz – Platterhof – Hotel General Walker), he had a pond built which also still exists.  With its dammed-up waters he was able to drive a hydroelectric plant, which generated enough electricity to run his experiments.

Obersalzberg from 1937 – 1945

The great changes of the 1930’s began when then-German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, first leased and then bought Haus Wachenfeld as his summer residence. The community on the Obersalzberg, which had heretofore grown so organically, was destroyed, primarily through the doings of the Reichsleiter, Martin Bormann. Bormann had no scruples and he was not squeamish in the methods he employed to induce property sales. With few exceptions, the old farms, guesthouses and private homes were torn down in order to make room for a hermetically sealed-off  “Führer No-Go Area” and other ambitious construction projects.
Some of Martin Bormann’s letters attest to the methods used in buying up property on the Obersalzberg. On Oct.30, 1936, he informed the Obersalzberg security services: “My staffer, Färber, has been negotiating over the last few days with a variety of Obersalzberg residents with a view to purchasing their property.  In the process, the   owner of the Hintereck Inn, the master carpenter Johann Hölzl and shop owner Walch made such shameless demands that purchase is out of the question; expropriation must be considered.  In view of this situation, I ask that you see to it that neither the SS nor the Security Command purchase anything more from Walch or Hölzl and that the pub at the Hintereck be placed off-limits, effective immediately.”
As a result of measures such as these and others which Bormann instigated during this time, most of the owners gave up and agreed to the unconditional sale of their property.

Obersalzberg from 1945 to today

After war’s end there were many plans and ideas as to what should happen with the Obersalzberg.  The borough of Salzberg, primarily Councilman Rasp, who had chaired the borough council for decades, strove in vain to induce resettlement of the Obersalzberg in the post-war years by returning property to the former owners. The borough architect, Georg Zimmermann, wanted to turn the Obersalzberg back into the spa resort it had once been. In a written statement he concluded: “The extensive road network and the high elevation argue in favour of converting the Obersalzberg back to tourism.  The facilities required for this are to be created over the years as needs and opportunities become apparent.”
The first mayor of Berchtesgaden – Prof. Dr. Rudolf Kriss – wrote under the header, “Unnecessary destruction misplaced”, with regard to the question of the preservation or destruction of the former “Führer structures” on the Obersalzberg:

Asked for my position, I would like to summarise my non-authoritative opinion on this matter as follows:

Preservation of the actual Hitler building is a two-edged sword, conceived as a
daunting reminder of the  former dictatorship, yet still with the potential of being treated as a relic by the so-called ‘true believers’ and merely serving to expand upon the myth.
In contrast, things stand much differently with the remaining structures such as the Platterhof, the Eagle’s Nest etc. They, in contrast, have an intrinsic character and in their case, as elsewhere, any unnecessary destruction would be misplaced.  The aforementione, Eagle’s Nest on the Kehlstein, in particular, could be upgraded into an Alpine hotel and would represent a unique tourist attraction; nowhere in Berchtesgaden, nor in the entire Bavarian Alps, is there such a rewarding excursion destination that is served by such a splendidly scenic access road.  In the interest of German and international tourist travel, the preservation of the Kehlsteinhaus is to be desired.”
Prof. Dr. Rudolf Kriss

The Obersalzberg was a communal municipality in the former borough of Salzberg. Along with the municipalities of Au and Maria Gern, it became a part of the market town of Berchtesgaden on Jan.1, 1972. Located on the Obersalzberg today: the InterContinental Resort Hotel on the former Eckerbichl, while the site of the General Walker Hotel (Pension Moritz – Platterhof) now serves as the car park for buses running to the Kehlsteinhaus.  The former centre of the Obersalzberg thus now consists of a car park, a hotel and the golf course.

A former building of the National Socialists – destroyed during a bombing attack on the Obersalzberg in 1945 – today houses the “Dokumentation Obersalzberg”. This permanent exhibition was created to present the vicissitudes of 20th-century history and of the Obersalzberg itself, since becoming a major magnet for visitors to the Berchtesgaden valley. Where farms once stood until 1937, is now the location of the Obersalzberg’s golf course.  The buildings on the golf course date from 1937 – 1945.
The land where the Obersalzberg heating plant stood from 1937 – 1945 is now home to the Buchenhöhe Asthma Centre & Youth Village. Today’s Obersalzberg has fully developed its tourism infrastructure and offers its vacation guests countless guesthouses, rooms, holiday apartments and hiking opportunities.
The Obersalzberg lift is definitely a top attraction. One of the first cable lifts in all of Germany, the Obersalzbergbahn continues to transport passengers in its original gondolas – with one transfer in the middle – to the hiking trails that await at 1,000 metres above sea level.

Sources: “Der alte Obersalzberg bis 1937 - Berchtesgaden im Wandel der Zeit”