A television documentary has stirred renewed interest in a well-hidden aspect of Adolf Hitler’s private life, buried beneath the rubble of his former Alpine retreat. What the Guardian has described as a dubious documentary concerning Hitler’s anatomy has prompted a separate look at a different and far less salacious secret: Hitler’s private bowling alley. The remains of Hitler’s Berghof, the centerpiece of the Nazi leadership compound at Obersalzberg above the Bavarian town of Berchtesgaden, now lie beneath piles of debris dumped by German authorities clearing other Nazi-era buildings from the site. Several feet below the current ground level, however, the ruins of the Berghof’s basement survive, and in one of those rooms Hitler liked to unwind late at night, sometimes in the company of Eva Braun.
Historians have noted that Hitler was not an athletic man, preferring reading, listening to Wagner, and eating chocolate cake to the sporting pursuits the Nazi state encouraged in its citizens. His only regular exercise was walking his dog near his home or taking a short downhill walk to the nearby Mooslahner tearoom, from which he was always driven back in a small Volkswagen. Unlike Braun and many officers on his staff, Hitler did not ski, despite the Obersalzberg location being well suited to winter sports. But he did enjoy bowling, and he went to some lengths to keep that hobby secret.
Photographic evidence has surfaced showing Hitler bowling at the Berghof in 1937, with a scoreboard visible on the wall behind him, matching an official photo of the room and confirming the image is genuine. Hitler played a German form of nine-pin bowling known as kegeln, a game popular across much of Europe and the predecessor of the American-style ten-pin bowling that developed from the medieval European version. Hitler’s personal SS valet, Heinz Linge, recalled that Hitler had told him his bowling must remain a secret, explaining, “If the bowling associations get wind of it, they will make me honorary president of every club. ”
Another photograph shows Hitler bowling on New Year’s Eve 1938 with Braun and guests, the room decorated for Christmas and Hitler dressed in white tie.
When the ruins of the Berghof were demolished in 1952, the garage and basement level remained intact for some time, though access to the basement was bricked up. Later, as German authorities cleared Nazi-era buildings, they deliberately piled debris on top of the Berghof site, burying the ruins beneath the rubble that remains today. Alongside the bowling alley was a fully equipped gymnasium where Hitler would sometimes exercise with members of his staff, though according to Linge his activity was largely limited to using a chest expander.
The question of whether Hitler was any good at bowling, or whether his companions simply let him win, remains open.