The Berghof began as a much smaller chalet called Haus Wachenfeld, a holiday home built in 1916 (or 1917) by Kommerzienrat Otto Winter, a businessman from Buxtehude.

Hitler met his girlfriend at that time, Maria Reiter, who worked in a shop on the ground floor of the hotel, during another visit in autumn 1926.

The small chalet-style building was refurbished and much expanded by architect Alois Degano during 1935–36 under the supervision of Martin Bormann, when it was renamed The Berghof (English: "Mountain Court").

[7] A sprawling picture window could be lowered into the wall to give a sweeping, open-air view of the snow-capped mountains in Hitler's native Austria.

[8] Writer William George Fitz-Gerald, under the pseudonym Ignatius Phayre, published many articles about visiting Hitler at home that were fabricated from Nazi propaganda sources.

[8][9][10] Based on German propaganda sources, Fitz-Gerald, writing for the British Homes & Gardens magazine, described Hitler as "his own decorator, designer, and furnisher, as well as architect", and the chalet as "bright and airy" with "a light jade-green colour scheme"; caged Harz Roller canaries were kept in most of the rooms, which were furnished with antiques, mostly German furniture from the 18th century.

[12] A mountaintop structure, the Kehlsteinhaus, nicknamed Eagle's Nest by André François-Poncet, a French diplomat, was built in 1937–38 above the Berghof, but Hitler rarely went there.

Under the command of Obersturmbannführer Bernhard Frank, they patrolled an extensive cordoned security zone that encompassed the nearby homes of the other Nazi leaders.

With the outbreak of war extensive anti-aircraft defences were also installed, including smoke-generating machines to conceal the Berghof complex from hostile aircraft.

On 11 May 1941, Karlheinz Pintsch visited the Berghof to deliver a letter from Rudolf Hess informing Hitler of his illegal flight to Scotland.

[25] Silent colour films shot by Eva Braun survived the war and showed Hitler and his guests relaxing at the Berghof.

Among those identified in the films were Joseph Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Albert Speer, and Karl Wolff.

On 11 March 1944, Captain Eberhard von Breitenbuch arrived with a concealed pistol with the intention of shooting Hitler in the head, but guards would not allow him into the same room.

[28] On 7 June 1944, Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg planned to detonate a bomb at a meeting there, but his fellow conspirators would not give him approval to do so because Himmler and Hermann Göring were also not present.

This called for a sniper to kill Hitler[29] on his daily 15–20 minute walk from the Berghof residence to the Teehaus on the Mooslahnerkopf Hill, which had been revealed by a prisoner of war.

[29] The Foxley plan did not proceed, due to a dispute as to whether killing Hitler was a prudent idea and the lack of intelligence about his exact daily routine.

In their Jeep, Captain Laurent Touyeras and his driver, Brigadier François Borg, overtook the half-tracks of the 2nd DB which were struggling to climb the slope.

The French discovered kilometers of underground bunkers housing art objects looted from all over Europe, but also thousands of bottles of fine wines, tons of provisions and more surprising pieces, such as a collection of bras amassed by Göring.