HOTEL ZUM TURKEN OBERSALZBERG SILVERWARE

Flatware from the Hotel Zum Turken.
Legend says the “Türkenhäusl” was named for a veteran returning from a war against the Turks in 1683. Local innkeeper Karl Schuster bought the “Little Turk House” in 1911 and converted it to a guesthouse. Early Nazis Dietrich Eckart and Adolf Hitler ate lunch there in 1923.
In the late 1920s the Türken found itself in the unenviable position of becoming Adolf Hitler’s neighbor, when he rented and later bought the adjacent Haus Wachenfeld for his home. Karl Schuster was a somewhat outspoken critic of the Nazi takeover of the Obersalzberg, since this ruined his business, and he joined the majority of his neighbors who were forced to sell out to the Nazis and leave the area in late 1933. The building was first used by the SS-Führerleibwache, Hitler’s personal bodyguard. Martin Bormann, manager of the Obersalzberg, later assigned the building to the Reichssicherheitsdienst (RSD), the high-level Security Service responsible for Hitler’s safeguarding. In practice, the ex-hotel served as a headquarters for the round-the-clock SS guard detachment, and also as a telephone communications center.
The building was severely damaged in the April 1945 bombing attack (being immediately adjacent to Hitler’s Berghof home), and heavily plundered by the local population and Allied soldiers. Nevertheless, Karl Schuster’s widow and their daughter Therese Partner were determined to get the family’s property back. Against opposition from the authorities, Therese Partner began to rebuild, and in 1949, she was finally rewarded by being permitted to repurchase the building. She immediately set about refurnishing and reopening the Hotel zum Türken, which again took its place as one of the most popular guest houses in the area.