Berchtesgaden gave rise to "Malereck" ("painters' corner") on the shore of Königssee in nearby Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden. The most famous author who lived in Berchtesgaden was Ludwig Ganghofer. Adolf Hitler had been vacationing in the Berchtesgaden area since the 1920s. He purchased a home in the Obersalzberg above the town on the flank of the Hoher Goll and began extensive renovations on his "Berghof" in the following years. As other top Third Reich figures such as Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, Heinrich Himmler and Albert Speer began to frequent the area the Party began to purchase and requisition land in
Berchtesgaden National Park (). The Watzmann is the third highest mountain massif in Germany. The Watzmann Glacier, located below the eastern face of the Watzmann, and the Blaueis, adjacent to the Hochkalter, are two of the five glaciers in Germany. The first nature conservation area in the Berchtesgaden Alps was created in what is currently the southeastern part of the park in 1910. It had an area of and was organized according to the model of National Parks in the United States. In 1919, the mountain hotel of St. Bartolomew was built. In March 1921, the area was expanded to . At the