Berchtesgaden, Germany - A fire alarm Saturday hit Adolf Hitler's former mountaintop retreat nicknamed the Eagle's Nest.

Police said about 200 tourists had to evacuate from the chalet. There were conflicting reports about whether there really had been a fire. While police said it may have smouldered and then gone out, the chalet manager said he had not seen any flames at all.

The chalet, properly named the Kehlsteinhaus and featuring an underground elevator and tunnels, was once part of Hitler's Obersalzberg private holiday retreat. It is the only building in the compound still existing in its original form.

Tourists can drive much of the way to the summit, ride to the top in Hitler's personal elevator and eat and drink at the chalet while enjoying the spectacular alpine view from
1,834 metres.

After the alarm, no one was allowed to descend in the elevator and rescuers were preparing to help tourists down the sheer mountainside.

Norbert Eder, the chalte manager, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone, "It may have been a false alarm. I didn't see any fire.

"The guests had to go outside on the terrace and the doors closed automatically. Nobody was hurt."

Built atop the Kehlstein Mountain, the chalet was a present from Nazi acolytes to Hitler in 1939 on his 50th birthday and was promptly dubbed the Eagle's Nest.

It has been managed by the Berchtesgadener Land Tourist Board since 1960, with the cafe leased to a private entrepreneur.

The various buildings of the Obersalzburg were a place of pilgrimage for fanatical Nazis before World War II. A museum in the compound depicts the crimes of the Nazis. (dpa)