Is it true that Zelensky bought Hitler’s house for €14.2 million?

At the beginning of February 2025, Russian media reported that the President of Ukraine became the new owner of a chalet in Bavaria that previously belonged to the leader of the Third Reich. We have verified the veracity of this information.

As reported with reference to the publication Aktuelle Nachrichten, the Italian company San Tommaso S.R.L., owned by the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, acquired the Eagle's Nest chalet in Bavaria. The transaction amount was more than €14 million. Built in the 1930s, the house, according to publications, is famous for the fact that the Nazi Party gave it to its leader Adolf Hitler for his 50th birthday. After the fall of the Third Reich, the Eagle's Nest became a tourist attraction, but did not generate much income. Therefore, it was allegedly decided to sell the building.

They wrote about this “Vesti.ru", "Moskovsky Komsomolets", "Arguments and facts" and other Russian media, as well as large Telegram channels, including "Sanya in Florida"(522,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Russia now"(180,000), Voblya (153,000), "Observer" (128,000) and "Ostashko! Important"(118,000).

Chalet Kehlsteinhaus was built in the south of Bavaria in 1937–1938. Outside Germany, it is better known as the "Eagle's Nest", although it is named after the mountain on top of which it is located. According to various estimates, Hitler visited here about ten times - contrary to According to popular belief, the building was not given to him for his anniversary. Under the Nazis, the chalet was used as a refuge and a venue for diplomatic meetings. After the end of World War II, the Kehlsteinhaus was transferred to a special trust and opened to tourists.

On February 5, an extensive article was published on the website of the German-language publication Aktuelle Nachrichten in Deutschland. article, dedicated to the proposed change of ownership of the object. With reference to representatives of the state company Immobilien Freistaat Bayern (IMBY), which is responsible for managing real estate in the federal state of Bavaria, it was stated that on December 22, 2024, Kehlsteinhaus was sold to the Italian company San Tommaso S.R.L. The publication contains screenshots of the alleged agreement (with banknotes) and a two-minute video in which the contents of the article were retold.

The new owner of the chalet is listed in the document as the company San Tommaso S.R.L. Zelensky indicates it in declarations throughout his presidency. Investigative journalists before the 2019 elections discovered, that the politician did not mention in a similar document a villa in the Italian resort of Forte dei Mari, which two years earlier was acquired by San Tommaso S.R.L. At Zelensky's headquarters then statedthat by law the candidate is required to declare his companies, but not their property. Subsequently, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption conducted an investigation against the President check regarding the legality of enrichment and possible conflicts of interest, but did not find any violations. In 2022, Italian media wrotethat the villa still belongs to the Zelensky family firm.

In the Kehlsteinhaus case, it is alleged that the sales contract was allegedly signed by the seller Petra Schmid, Director of the regional office of IMBY in the Upper Palatinate region, which is located in Regensburg. However, Kehlsteinhaus located in another district - in Upper Bavaria, and in its very south-east, near the border with Austria. Therefore, there is no legal or practical basis for the transaction to be registered in Regensburg.

From San Tommaso R.S.L. the agreement, judging by the autograph, was allegedly signed by a certain Stefan L. (his full name and position are hidden in the text of the document). “Verified” did not find any references in open sources to company employees with the same name and initial.

Although the deal was allegedly concluded in December and the building was supposed to be closed to visitors, the website of the restaurant operating in Kehlsteinhaus says it saysthat it is traditionally closed during the winter season and will reopen on May 9. Same information given on the website of the Berchtesgaden community, where the Eagle's Nest is located.

On February 7, IMBY posted on its official website statement:

“A video is currently circulating on social networks with allegations about the alleged sale of the Kehlsteinhaus in the Berchtesgaden community. This is deliberate misinformation. Kehlsteinhaus remains the property of the Free State of Bavaria. The sale has not taken place and is not planned. The purported purchase agreement shown in the video is fake, as is the purported quote from IMBY management. The Kehlsteinhaus will resume regular seasonal operations in May 2025. IMBY will take legal action against those who post this misinformation.”

"Completely fictitious" information from the article named and Bartle Wimmer, Chairman of the Berchtesgaden Mountain Tourism Association.

Let's turn to the site that distributed screenshots of the document - Aktuelle Nachrichten in Deutschland (aktuell-nachricht.de). How show data from Who.is and similar services, the only “major change” (apparently referring to domain registration) occurred with the site on December 14, when it was first recorded Internet Archive. At the time of writing this analysis, more than 2000 appeared on the site articles without specifying a release date, that is, on average more than 30 per day. Some of them contain obvious anachronisms: for example, in one of them publications talks about the chances of far-right politician Calin Georgescu to win the second round of the presidential elections in Romania, although the results of the first round canceled back on December 6, eight days before the site launch. All this speaks about the mechanical filling of the portal with content. Moreover, the non-existent (judging by open sources) organization AN Media UG, located at the again non-existent address Schlossallee 5 in Dresden, is listed as the operator of the site.

This is not the first time that reports about Zelensky’s purchase of real estate in Europe after the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine have appeared on pro-Kremlin resources. “Verified” has already analyzed similar news about transactions with Charles III's mansion in Great Britain, villas in the USA, Egypt And in the Caribbean, Sting winery in Italy, hotel in Courchevel etc. If you believe the same sources, the Ukrainian president has a special weakness for the legacy of the Third Reich - he allegedly acquired Goebbels estate And Hitler's car. All these news turned out to be fakes, and the handwriting of their creators in many cases was the same: either on a special website mimicking the media, or on the website of a real but little-known publication, an article appeared with “revelatory” photo, audio or video materials, which later turned out to be falsified.

Thus, the news about Zelensky’s acquisition of a Bavarian chalet, which Hitler visited more than once, is fake. It is based on information from a little-known site, apparently created specifically to legalize stuffing. The transaction was also denied by representatives of the company mentioned in that publication. It also contains numerous inaccuracies indicating falsification.

Cover photo: Flickr/Wikimedia Commons

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on topic:

1. Is it true that Zelensky bought a car that belonged to Hitler?
2. A mansion in Florida, a villa in Egypt, Goebbels’ house: we analyze reports about real estate purchased by Zelensky.
3. Is it true that the Zelensky family bought a winery in Italy from Sting?