Bidspirit auction | Real-Photo Postcard of the Berghof

Real-Photo Postcard of the Berghof with Kehlstein Mountains, Obersalzberg - A black-and-white real-photo postcard depicting a large alpine residence set into a hillside, with a mountain range visible in the background and evergreen trees planted along a terraced slope. The reverse bears the printed oval mark ”Echte Fotografie” (genuine photograph) along with ruled lines for correspondence and postage, and an inked annotation reading ”der Berghof bis 1945 mit Kniterhalpe” [sic] with the number 28. The building depicted corresponds to the Berghof, the residence on the Obersalzberg above Berchtesgaden associated with Adolf Hitler, shown here with the Kehlstein massif rising behind it; postcards of this location were produced and sold commercially during the 1930s and into the war years. The Berghof was Adolf Hitler's residence on the Obersalzberg above Berchtesgaden, originally acquired in the 1920s and substantially expanded after 1933 into a fortified mountain retreat used for state visits, diplomatic meetings, and propaganda purposes. The surrounding Obersalzberg complex housed senior NSDAP figures including Martin Bormann and Hermann Goering, and became a heavily restricted government enclave. Commercial postcards of the site, such as this one showing the building against the Kehlstein massif, circulated widely in Germany during the 1930s as part of the public image cultivated around Hitler's mountain home; the Berghof was bombed by the RAF in April 1945 and later demolished.