Herbert Döhring arrived at the Obersalzberg in September 1935 as a switchboard operator for the Leibstandarte, an elite unit linked to the German government of the time. His competence and discretion led him to become the administrator of the Berghof in 1936, the Alpine residence above Berchtesgaden from which the German leader managed much of his political and private life during those years. From this position, Döhring witnessed firsthand the rhythms of a house that integrated domestic functions and state decisions: the leader's nightly habits, the presence of Eva Braun, Martin Bormann's growing influence over access to the leader, and the construction of the Kehlsteinhaus, conceived as a gift from the party for his fiftieth birthday.

The Berghof was also the setting for events that shaped the course of the Second World War. Döhring witnessed the meeting of February 12, 1938, that preceded Austria's annexation by Germany, the deliberations surrounding the German-Soviet Pact of August 1939, and the strategic preparations that foreshadowed the offensive against the Soviet Union in June 1941. Rudolf Hess's flight to Scotland in May 1941 occupies a central place in his memoirs, and Döhring always maintained a different interpretation of its impromptu nature than the official version presented by the authorities.

As the conflict turned against Germany, the Berghof's surroundings began to disintegrate. In November 1942, coinciding with the Soviet encirclement of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad, Döhring left the residence to join the front. He served in an armored division and was captured by British forces in 1944. The Berghof was bombed by the RAF in April 1945 and set on fire during the German retreat. Döhring survived and, from 1988 onward, gave several filmed interviews in which he recounted daily life within the German government of the time, leaving a valuable historical record of how power operated during those years.