hertha

Here, Renate describes the family’s connect with Berchtesgaden.

The citizens of Sonneberg have always been enterprising and above all fond of hiking. At some point, the gentle slopes of the Thuringian Forest were no longer enough for them, and so towards the end of the 19th century, a few wealthy merchants, chaired by Adolf Fleischmann, founded the Sonneberg section of the German Alpine Association¹ and purchased a piece of land in Berchtesgadener Land on the steep slopes of the Hoher Göll² above the Eckersattel. There, in 1900, they built a mountain hut right on the German-Austrian border, which they named Göllhäusl.

From that point on, many Sonneberg residents visited their gem in the Bavarian Alps at regular intervals. My grandfather Heiner Schellhorn was also one of the first to climb over the Obersalzberg³ to the foot of the Göll. The short, fat man that he was still stands proudly in what is probably the oldest surviving photograph, wearing the traditional leather trousers, a long walking stick in his hand and a cheeky feather hat on his head. Around him were his Thuringian hiking companions, but also experienced mountaineers, such as Johann Purtscheller, who died in an accident on a mountain tour just a few years later. In his memory, the Sonneberg residents called their hut the Purtschellerhaus.

An extension had already become necessary in 1910. A kitchen was set up and a beautiful guest room, above which were a couple of small, wood-panelled bedrooms. In the little rooms, which are still preserved in their original state, hang beautiful old, slightly yellowed photos of Sonneberg, but unfortunately the hikers who come to rest their weary heads there these days are becoming increasingly rare, and who still know about the fate of the original builders and their Thuringian homeland that disappeared behind the Iron Curtain.

Aunt Fanny also made the long journey to Berchtesgaden for the inauguration of the first extension. At that time there was no road to the Obersalzberg, let alone a Roßfeld Höhenrinq road⁴. So the women of Sonneberg once climbed from the lowest point of the Berchtesgaden valley, only about 480 m high, up to 1,692 m, wearing dainty lace-up boots and tightly laced floor-length dresses.

Throughout both world wars, the Purtschellerhaus was a haven of peace and relaxation in God’s glorious nature for locals and Thuringians alike. It was only when the unfortunate division of Germany was imposed in 1945 and Sonneberg disappeared behind the insurmountable border that the section could no longer look after its mountain hut. In the first post-war year, the house became a meeting place for Germans and Austrians alike, before the border between these two countries reopened. It has remained closed to the Sonneberg residents, who were imprisoned in central Germany, to this day.

Until 1952, the mountain hut was placed under the control of the Berchtesgaden section and was provisionally managed by them. The extension on the right-hand side with a large dining room and mattresses for around 86 mountaineers was built during this time. In the meantime, however, many Thuringian compatriots had fled via secret routes across the nearby border to Neustadt and Coburg to start a new, freer life there. They re-established the Sonneberg section with its headquarters in Coburg and were grateful to the Berchtesgadeners when they got the house back, which they had managed well in the meantime. For them, the hostel on Hohen Göll was not just property, but a tiny piece of the homeland that they had lost.

After a long battle with the authorities, energetic members, including Uncle Walter and my father, managed to build a water pipe up to the house. A large kitchen stove was flown up by helicopter in a dangerous operation, and for a few years now, a small material lift has made the hut owner’s often difficult work easier.

Something very funny happened at the inauguration of this lift, and I would like to share this story with the reader. All the invited guests of honour who were allowed to drive up to the Eckersattel were told that they could bring as much luggage as they wanted, and that the new lift would, as an exception, transport everything up to the building perfectly. When the grandchild of the then chairman, Ernst Hartwig, had burst the champagne bottle on an iron girder as required and everyone was eagerly waiting to watch the lift’s first ride, nothing happened. The little wooden box simply did not move. Lightning had struck the gears the night before, and the Sonneberg residents had to lug their belongings up on their backs, just like they used to.

If this short report on the history of the Purtschelerhaus would occasionally inspire the descendants of the Schellhorn family growing up today to think about it or even to become members of this section, which is so rich in tradition for us, then my writing would certainly have some meaning for the future.

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1. The Sonneberg/Thuringia section of the German Alpine Club (DAV) was founded on November 15, 1890 by 23 mountain enthusiasts in Sonneberg. The first chairman was Commercial Councillor Edmund Fleischmann. The section’s own Alpine Club hut, the “Purtschellerhaus” on the Hoher Göll, was inaugurated in 1900, named in honour of the mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller.
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2. Hoher Göll is a prominent mountain in the Berchtesgaden Alps, standing at 2,522 meters (8,274 feet) and forming part of the Göll massif. It straddles the border between Germany, and Austria, offering a dramatic landscape that attracts climbers and hikers alike.
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3. Obersalzberg is a historically significant mountainside retreat located above the town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany. It is most famously known as the site of Adolf Hitler’s mountain residence, the Berghof, and the nearby Kehlsteinhaus, also known as the “Eagle’s Nest” in English-speaking countries.
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4. The Roßfeld Höhenring Road, also known as the Rossfeld Panoramastraße, is a scenic approximately 16 km alpine road located in the Berchtesgadener Alps of Bavaria, Germany, traversing both German and Austrian territories. It is renowned for its breathtaking views and is considered the highest continuous road in Germany, reaching an elevation of 1,570 meters above sea level. The road was initially planned in the 1930s as part of the Deutsche Alpenstraße. Construction began in 1938 but was completed only in the 1950s.
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