BERCHTESGADENER HOF HOTEL LEATHER WRITING PORTFOLIO
Leather writing portfolio, 20 1/4" x 13 1/2" overall, once part of the room fixtures at Berchtesgaden's Berchtesgadener Hof hotel. The hotel was exclusively used by foreign visitors and the Nazi elite whenever they visited Hitler at the Berghof. Its gilt embossed neo-classic lettering and design with swastika mimic Hitler's taste, and the portfolio is nearly identical to that used in rooms at Hitler's favorite Nuremberg hotel, the Deutscher Hof. Within is a blotter and three sewn compartments. The Berchtesgadener Hof hotel had previously been the "Grand Hotel Auguste Victoria," popular with visiting royalty. The Nazis bought it in 1936, remodeled it and renamed it the Berchtesgadener Hof, and used it to house visiting dignitaries including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and David Lloyd George. High-ranking Nazis such as Josef Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Joachim von Ribbentrop also stayed here, as did visiting military officers such as Erwin Rommel. Eva Braun lived at the Berchtesgadener Hof when she first came to Berchtesgaden. After the U.S. Army occupied the area in May 1945, the Berchtesgadener Hof was the scene of several high-ranking surrenders, including that of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.