General Walker Hotel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General Walker Hotel is a former Third Reich and AFRC hotel in Obersalzberg, Germany (named for U.S. Army General Walton Walker, killed in action in the Korea War); now demolished.
Originally, among the grandest hotels and meeting facilities of the inner circle of the SS, it was known as "Der Platterhof" and boasted opulent accommodations and sweeping views of the Bavarian countryside and Alpen scenery.
[edit] History
In the early 1920s, Adolf Hitler was a neighbor of a hotel called the Pension Mortiz. It has been said that in the Bavarian Room of the original old Steinhaus, the first chapter of the book “Mein Kampf” was written.
On the 20 June 1936 the Nazi Party took possession of the Platterhof. During the next years the entire hotel was renovated and a great many buildings were torn down. The only exception was the original ground floor of the old Pension. The Skyline Room was added and the bed capacity raised to 200. It became the most modern and luxurious hotel in Europe. Additionally, as part of the renovations and construction, the Platterhof was connected to other official buildings and retreats used by the Nazi party through a series of bunkers and tunnels.
Ideally designed to be a national hotel, it served primarily as secluded sanctuary for high-ranking Nazi dignitaries and high-profile guests. Lavish parties and state functions were hosted at the Platterhof, and it was prized for the pristine beauty and protection offered by the towering Alps. By 1943 however, the direction of the war required that The Platterhof be utilized as a military hospital.
[edit] Postwar Germany
Following the Berchtesgaden/Obersalzberg bombing raid of April 1945; the heavily damaged Platterhof stood vacant and crumbling for a number of years. The US Army rebuilt the hotel in 1952 and designated it an Armed Forces Recreation Center. Many original fixtures, furnishings and design pieces taken from the Platterhof, and other notable Reich buildings in the area were used in the reconstruction and the hotel, now renamed The General Walker; was again restored to its status as one of Europe's grandest hotels.
The General Walker Hotel remained in operation until the property was returned to the German government in 1995. The United States military had come to the decision to close and consolodate all of the AFRC hotels in southern Germany into one central facility in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, opened in 2004. Prior to the General Walker hotel's final destruction in 2000, many of the historical and highly valuable furnishings and fixtures were plundered from the abandoned building.
Only a small ruin of a building remains, and a section of wall from the Skyline Room. The InterContinental Resort Berchtesgaden has since been built on the site of the barracks that had been next to the Platterhof/General Walker.
