OLD AND BUSTED: Is Paris Burning?

The New Hotness? Is Bavaria Burning? Suspect arrested over fire at Hitler’s ‘Eagle’s Nest’ retreat in Bavaria.

Police have arrested a 33-year-old German citizen after a fire ripped through Adolf Hitler’s former mountain retreat in Bavaria, leaving the historic Nazi meeting place – known as the Eagle’s Nest – largely destroyed.

About 200 firefighters were deployed on Friday night to tackle the blaze at the Nazi dictator’s remote, purpose-built Kehlsteinhaus residence, a protected building on the peak of Obersalzberg in southern Germany.

Flames rose high into the air as firefighters approached the scene to find the building “completely ablaze”, police said, adding that nobody was injured in the fire.

Lisa Maier, a police spokesperson, said firefighters struggled to tackle the blaze due to its location at an altitude of 1,834 metres (6,000ft).

The building, which was one of the few undamaged monuments of the Hitler era, was only accessible with “heavy breathing apparatus”, she said.

Built by the Nazis and formally inaugurated by Hitler on his birthday in 1939, the Eagle’s Nest has been preserved as a monument to “the insanity of the regime”, according to its website.

As Dan McLaughlin tweets, “A shame to lose a beautiful & important part of history, but obviously, if you’re going to lose the home of a major historical figure to vandals, Hitler’s is…not exactly the most important one to preserve.”