Douglas Mossman

War of Words: Hitler's Diplomatic Blitzkrieg Douglas Mossman

"To look out in any direction was like looking down from an airplane," is how French Ambassador Francois Poncet described his impression of the Eagle's Nest, the first foreigner to be invited by Adolf Hitler to meet with him in his new granite pavilion on the Kehlstein mountain peak (at 6,000 ft).  "It might be the castle where the Holy Grail is hidden" he told a fellow diplomat after his meeting in the Eagle's Nest, but questioned "is the Eagle's Nest the work of a normal mind?" 
This book pulls together the poignant moments from diplomats' out-of-print memoirs, captured Eagle's Nest architect documents and photo albums to document and chronicle the history of the Eagle's Nest.  War of Words places you in the Eagle's Nest meetings, alongside French, Italian and Swiss diplomats who walked a fine line of war and peace as they were in an unenviable position of squaring off against Adolf Hitler. 
 
After the Munich Agreement Hitler told his inner circle that he will not be "negotiating in public any more" and declared "I will bring up to the Eagle's Nest heads of state to impress them."  This belligerent man of the news reels behaves in a completely different fashion here. Chapters on diplomatic meetings narrate the dialogue of a smiling Fuhrer who presses the flesh, pours tea and slouches in big chairs while expressing desires to be "Europe's champion of peace."  In his mind the mountain summit meetings were to give the impression he was using diplomacy to avert war, and he wanted guests to know that is was "a rare favor" for them to visit the Eagle's Nest.  
 
The Eagle's Nest was a gift to the Fuhrer from his ruthless deputy, Martin Bormann, the equivalent price tag today is well over $100,000,000. 
 
The War of Words concludes with Gen. Eisenhower entering Hitler's Great Hall on Sept. 2, 1945, he strolled about the $250,000 worth of untouched interior furnishings--yet to be "collected."  Before leaving he autographed Hitler's large coffee table and took the brass lined elevator cabin down to the parking area where he removed the "officers only" sign.  The Eagle's Nest stands today, unlike the top Nazis' chalets and homes in the area which were demolition by the Allies in 1952.