The Thousand-Year Spa

April 29, 2005 6:20 AM

Hotel Godwin. Five-star luxury in Berchtesgaden, Hitler's mountain retreat.
posted by matteo (7 comments total)

see also: A G R A C E L A N D F O R A D O L F
posted by matteo at 6:22 AM on April 29, 2005

So full-blooded Aryans get to check in to the five-star hotel, and untermenschen get to go "camping"?
posted by orthogonality at 6:33 AM on April 29, 2005

We don't just want yodellers and thigh-slappers wearing lederhosen coming to Berchtesgaden

No understatement. I passed through one summer in the late 80's, and, oh, what a sleepy little Dorf. I didn't see anything Hitler related; this was my poor attempt to see "the Alps" while staying within the limits of my German train pass.
posted by Zurishaddai at 7:53 AM on April 29, 2005

Only a bit is online (unless you're a subscriber), but The Atlantic did a detailed article about this place in their April 2005 issue.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:22 AM on April 29, 2005

I guess I wish them well. I might find it a little hard to relax there, but I don't see why history should doom a town to obscurity. I am pretty certain that I would find it difficult to visit, and even more difficult to send postcards from.

Then again, five-star luxury spas kind of give me the willies, too, so it's not really an issue for me.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 2:29 PM on April 29, 2005

I wonder how many tourists go there because it was Hitler's villa...

Would the strange modern fascination with the man compensate for the number of people squicked out about swimming in The Führer's playground? I suppose we shall see.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 2:37 PM on April 29, 2005

I met Mike Godwin and have been working with him on a project recently. References to Godwin's Law just seem really weird to me now.
posted by grouse at 3:43 AM on April 30, 2005