DESIGNERS of a luxury hotel spa built on the site of Hitler’s Alpine hideaway are to use Aboriginal healing methods and Chinese feng shui techniques to banish the ghost of the Nazi leader.

The Berchtesgaden Inter-Continental Hotel, rapidly taking shape on what is known as Goering’s Hill, is trying to persuade a high-spending clientele that visiting the place where Hitler planned the invasion of Poland is a pleasurable, even healthy, experience.

With cosmetic cabins built according to the rules of feng shui and beauty products based on the natural healing methods of Aborigines, the Berchtesgaden spa will be indistinguishable from upmarket spas around the world.

However, the 135-room hotel, to be opened in March, plays an important part in a wider debate about the correct way of dealing with the physical relics of the Third Reich.

Only the youngest of Hitler’s victims are still alive and soon a few historical buildings will be the only direct connection that Germany has with the Nazi era.

The Obersalzberg mountain boasts breathtaking views. On a clear day hikers can see into Austria and make out the domes of Salzburg. That is what appealed to Hitler and what makes the mountain a tourist magnet today.

“Is it bad to admire a view like this just because Hitler also admired it?” Gottfried Kerner, a tourist, asked. The retired teacher from Mannheim, clutching an Alpine walking stick, had just taken a short walk from what used to be Hitler’s house, the Berghof, to what was the Nazi leader’s favourite teahouse at Mooslahnerkopf. Every afternoon Hitler would go down to eat a slice of cake; he rose late after working through the night and it was his first daily exercise.

Berchtesgaden was the playground of the Nazi movement. Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister, Herman Goering, the air force chief, and Rudolf Hess, the deputy Führer, all headed to the mountain town for summer and winter breaks. Hitler dictated the second volume of Mein Kampf there.

When Hitler came to power, his “magic mountain” became the second seat of government. Martin Bormann, his bullish adjutant, set about buying up the farms and chalets for the Nazi leadership. About 6,000 workers built villas, a greenhouse complex to supply Hitler with fresh vegetables, two barracks, a landing strip and underground bunkers.

All that survived the British and American bombing attacks in April 1945 was the Platterhof, a hotel used to house Hitler’s guests, the bunkers and the Eagle’s Nest, a teahouse.

After the war the Platterhof was rebuilt as a US Army guest house but has been demolished since. InterContinental’s new hotel is being constructed on the site of Goering’s huge villa.

Commercially, its location is difficult to beat. The golf course that was laid over Hitler’s farm is conveniently close. The area is ideal for whitewater rafting, hiking and jogging.

Jörg Böcheler, who is supervising the final phase of the construction, says: “We want this to be a feel-good experience.”

Critics are not convinced. Michael Friedmann, a Christian Democrat politician who is influential in the German Jewish community, said that the use of the site as a hotel “masked the historical reality . . . such places should be preserved and used in a way that educates the younger generation”. Josef Dürr, the Bavarian Green Party leader, added: “It’s too late now, but I still think it’s wrong.”

Norbert Frei, author of the forthcoming book The Third Reich in the German Consciousness, said: “If you want the Nazi regime to be useful for our democracy now, you need to maintain the physical contact with the past.”

The hotel’s defenders point out that a documentation centre on the mountain chronicles Hitler’s rise to power and the planning of the Holocaust. More than 100,000 people visit the centre every year.

In Berchtesgaden’s souvenir shops, a more sentimental picture emerges. Old postcards show Hitler with his dog, Blondi, or with his lover, Eva Braun. One locally produced book, entitled Obersalzberg Before and After the Destruction, says things such as: “One has to admit that Hitler had good taste” and “Hitler loves to be surrounded by children”.

Berchtesgaden was extremely pro-Nazi in the 1930s and cannot hide the fact that Hitler is still one of its big tourist attractions.

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