“Obersalzbergstrasse 66” is clearly visible on the sign above the front door. When you stroll past the property, which is picturesquely embedded in a humpback meadow, in the open-air museum Glentleiten, you can hardly believe your eyes. Doesn’t this address come from Obersalzberg, where Hitler’s Berghof once stood? This is actually the case, the sign is emblazoned on the recently opened property, which bears the strange name Marosen-Lehen and was rebuilt true to the original after its demolition in the Berchtesgaden district of Resten auf der Glentleiten.
The property is notable for several reasons. First of all because of its age and nature. The building, which is more than 400 years old, is one of the oldest completely preserved block structures in Upper Bavaria. With the reconstruction of this house, the open-air museum has completed the courtyard complex of a Berchtesgadener Zwiehof.
Structurally, the house had hardly been changed over the centuries. On the Glentleiten it now forms, together with a stable, a grain bin and a mill, a courtyard, as is typical for the Berchtesgadener Land. Museum director Monika Kania-Schütz made it clear at the opening at the end of July that the courtyard complex now opens up a region-specific form of economic activity that has not yet been shown in the open-air museum.
It was a real stroke of luck that there are still people who lived on the property and can report on it. Anneliese Huber and Maria Thiem, who both grew up in the historic house in the 1960s, came to the opening ceremony. Her memories of life on the farm proved extremely valuable to the museum’s academic staff. With their help, many details of the living conditions and management could be added.
Virtually every aspect that made up the Nazi dictatorship can be found on Obersalzberg
The Marosen fief, however, is not only of outstanding architectural importance. Its historical relevance is demonstrated by the sign above the front door, on which its original location near the town of Obersalzberg can be read. The house once stood only a few hundred meters from Hitler’s infamous Berghof.
Historical photo of the Marosen fief when it was still on Obersalzbergstrasse. It is not yet clear where the strange name Marosen comes from.
(Photo: Glentleiten Open Air Museum)
But since it was just outside the “Führer’s restricted area”, it escaped the forced demolition ordered by the Nazis, to which a number of properties on Obersalzberg fell victim in the 1930s and 1940s. The village of Obersalzberg was converted into the aforementioned “Führer’s restricted area”, and Adolf Hitler made his monstrous vacation home, the “Berghof”, the second seat of government, which was lined with the villas of Nazi bigwigs like Göring, Speer and Bormann.
It was therefore natural that the open-air museum expanded the opening of the Marosen fief to include the topic of culture of remembrance. It was about the question of what later replaced the mountain farming village of Obersalzberg and the “Führer’s restricted area”, what remains are still there today, and how remembering such a place, which some called the “perpetrator location”, is possible and useful. The open-air museum initiated a series of lectures and discussions in which the Documentation Obersalzberg, the Institute for Contemporary History Munich, the State Office for Monument Preservation, the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial and the cultural department of the Upper Bavaria district took part.
In terms of content, it quickly became apparent that a building like the Marosen fief can provide ideal points of contact with the topic of remembrance culture. This is particularly relevant in times when the number of contemporary witnesses who experienced National Socialism themselves is shrinking faster and faster.
Briefly mentioned here is the conversation that BR journalist Thies Marsen had with journalist Ulrich Chaussy and Jörg Skriebeleit (Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial). Among other things, the question was whether a place like Obersalzberg, including the Marosen fief, could be used to distil the macro-history of the Nazi era from micro-history. Ulrich Chaussy definitely affirmed this idea. Because, as he explained, every aspect of the brothel for the forced laborers (so that they do not approach German women) to Gerhard Marx, who is one of the degenerate artists, can be found on Obersalzberg that made up the Nazi dictatorship.
If you look at the history of a house, then you really have to go down to the last building block and look into the kitchen. “It is amazing what can be seen from these details,” said Chaussy, who has written a remarkable book about Obersalzberg. To this end, he spoke to the last inhabitants of the mountain village in the 1990s and reconstructed the history of the origins of the Nazi settlement. Only then did it really become clear how violently the peasants were ousted and the means by which all critics were intimidated.
Jörg Skriebeleit expressed his joy that the Marosen fief is now on the Glentleiten. If you visit the open-air museum, you might be confused to find the house number Obersalzberg 66 here, of all places. However, memory is not only delegated to a few places, but can also be found in the midst of a different context, he said. “And then you talk about it differently again.”
The series of lectures and discussions “Obersalzbergstrasse 66. Aspects of the culture of remembrance” highlighted numerous aspects relating to the Marosen fiefdom phenomenon. Among other things, it was about the relationship lines between Obersalzberg and the municipality of Berchtesgaden, about the structural relics on Obersalzberg, about tourism in the Nazi era in the foothills of the Alps and also about the musical instrumentalization of home, culture and identity in Upper Bavaria of the Nazi Time.
Anyone interested in these questions has the opportunity to follow all the conversations in full on the YouTube channel of the Glentleiten Open-Air Museum.