Germans wrestle with what to do with Hitler's destroyed Eagle's Nest retreat

Perched on a ridge high up in the spectacular scenery of the German Alps lie the burned-out ruins of a mountain house called The Eagle's Nest, which is now at the heart of an intense debate about Germany's Nazi past. Known in German as Kehlsteinhaus, the retreat was built by the Nazis in 1938, and frequented by Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis and their guests.

After World War Two it was classified as a historical monument recalling the Nazi era. Last month it was gutted by fire in a suspected arson attack, and some believe it should be completely destroyed, the site returned to nature and all memory of its Nazi past forgotten.

But others want it either partially or completely rebuilt, wary of the risk of turning it into a site for Neo-Nazi pilgrimage at a time when Germany is witnessing the resurgence of the far-right. Germany has an "everlasting responsibility to communicate, to deal with our Nazi past", said Isabel Heinemann, professor of contemporary history at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU).