Berchtesgaden is the Bavarian Alpine destination considered by Romain Gary during his preparations to assassinate Adolf Hitler. In the memoir, it briefly redirects the plan from Berlin toward a setting the narrator expects to be more bearable in midsummer.

Setting

The location is identified through the narrator’s practical comparison of possible destinations: Berlin in the heat of July versus the forest air of the Bavarian Alps. Berchtesgaden is thus presented not through an extended description of the town, but through its Alpine setting and the relief that setting seems to promise.

Role in the Assassination Plan

As Gary prepares to set out, newspaper reports that Hitler is at Berchtesgaden alter the appeal of the journey. The narrator had contemplated traveling to Berlin, but the prospect of waiting there in the midsummer heat had already diminished his enthusiasm. Berchtesgaden offers a more attractive alternative because of its forest air, while remaining connected to the plan through Hitler’s reported presence there.

Narrative Significance

Berchtesgaden gives the proposed act a concrete destination at the moment when the narrator is turning intention into preparations: he arranges his ticket, readies his revolver, and puts his manuscripts in order because he is unsure he will survive. The contrast between the grave purpose of the journey and the narrator’s attention to summer discomfort makes the plan’s physical realities visible without changing its stakes. The evidence establishes Berchtesgaden as a contemplated destination; it does not establish that Gary reaches it.