The presidential suite of the four-star Inter Continental resort. (Reuters)

Obersalzberg (Germany), March 1 (Reuters): When Adolf Hitler first encountered the breathtaking mountain scenery and lofty isolation of Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps, he fell instantly in love with the spot.

Later as German leader he sealed off the hamlet, creating an exclusive retreat where he and other top Nazis could wine and dine, savour the crisp Alpine air, and plan the most barbarous acts of the Third Reich.

Sixty years on, the owners of a new luxury hotel in Obersalzberg are hoping the area?s serene natural charm can attract a different kind of visitor and open a new chapter in the area?s blighted history.

A glossy brochure presents ?an oasis of well-being? where guests can indulge in spa treatments, have their ski boots warmed before use and play a round of golf.

The hotel, part of the Intercontinental chain, wants to avoid advertising the fact that it is just a stone?s throw from where Hitler?s Berghof villa once stood, for fear of attracting the wrong sort of visitors. But nor does it wish to evade Obersalzberg?s infamy altogether.

Staff have been specially trained to answer questions on the area?s history, and guests will find ?Deadly Utopia? in their rooms, a disturbing account of how the seductive Obersalzberg landscape was woven into Nazi myths of German blood and soil and presented as a pilgrimage site to the Fuehrer.

?Obersalzberg is a loaded place ... it was a site linked to the perpetrators, which is a stigma that lingers and will continue to do so,? said Bavarian finance minister Kurt Faltlhauser, who is behind the development of the resort.

?But Obersalzberg has another side. It was always also a place to recuperate in stunning landscape. The new hotel is part of this tradition.?

Despite assurances from the Bavarian state government that it will not tolerate any misuse of the area or ?Nazi tourism?, Jewish groups have attacked the project as historically insensitive.

?Either people don?t know the significance of the Obersalzberg, which is bad enough, or worse ? they know exactly what kind of a place it is, as Hitler?s second seat of government, and they are doing this regardless,? Jewish writer Ralph Giordano told German television.

In 1952 the American military cleared what remained of Hitler?s Berghof, where the dictator received Benito Mussolini, relaxed with his lover Eva Braun and greeted children in lederhosen and dirndl dresses with his dog Blondie at his heels.