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Führerbunker
The ''Führerbunker'' () was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters (''Führerhauptquartiere'') used by Adolf Hitler during World War II. Hitler took up residence in the ''Führerbunker'' on 16 January 1945, and it became the centre of the Nazi regime until the last week of World War II in Europe. Hitler married Eva Braun there on 29 April 1945, less than 40 hours before they committed suicide. After the war, both the old and new Chancellery buildings were levelled by the Soviets. The underground complex remained largely undisturbed until 1988–89, despite some attempts at demolition. The excavated sections of the old bunker complex were mostly destroyed during reconstruction of that area of Berlin. The site remained unmarked until 2006, when a small plaque was installed with a schematic diagram. Some co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vorbunker
The ''Vorbunker'' (upper bunker or forward bunker) was an underground concrete structure originally intended to be a temporary air-raid shelter for Adolf Hitler and his guards and servants. It was located behind the large reception hall that was added onto the old Reich Chancellery, in Berlin, Germany, in 1936. The bunker was officially called the "Reich Chancellery Air-Raid Shelter" until 1943, when the complex was expanded with the addition of the ''Führerbunker'', located one level below. On 16 January 1945, Hitler moved into the ''Führerbunker''. He was joined by his senior staff, including Martin Bormann. Later, Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels moved into the ''Führerbunker'' while Magda Goebbels and their six children took residence in the upper ''Vorbunker''. The Goebbels family lived in the ''Vorbunker'' until their deaths on 1 May 1945. Construction In 1933, Adolf Hitler decided to expand the Reich Chancellery (''Reichskanzlei''), which he considered too small for his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death Of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler, chancellor and dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, died by suicide via gunshot on 30 April 1945 in the in Berlin after it became clear that Germany would lose the Battle of Berlin, which led to the end of World War II in Europe. Eva Braun, his wife of one day, also died by suicide, taking cyanide. In accordance with Hitler's prior written and verbal instructions, that afternoon their remains were carried up the stairs and through the bunker's emergency exit to the Reich Chancellery garden, where they were doused in petrol and burned. The news of Hitler's death was announced on German radio the next day, 1 May. Eyewitnesses who saw Hitler's body immediately after his suicide testified that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot, which has been established to have been a shot to the temple. Otto Günsche, Hitler's personal adjutant, who handled both bodies, testified that while Braun's smelled strongly of burnt almondsan indication of cyanide poisoningther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Führer Headquarters
The ''Führer'' Headquarters (german: Führerhauptquartiere), abbreviated FHQ, were a number of official headquarters used by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and various other German commanders and officials throughout Europe during the Second World War.Raiber, Richard, ''Guide to Hitler's Headquarters, After The Battle, No. 19'', Introduction and p. 1. The last one used, the ''Führerbunker'' in Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945, is the most widely known headquarters. Other notable headquarters are the ''Wolfsschanze'' (Wolf's Lair) in East Prussia, where Claus von Stauffenberg in league with other conspirators attempted to assassinate Hitler on 20 July 1944, and Hitler's private home, the '' Berghof'', at Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, where he frequently met with prominent foreign and domestic officials. Introduction At the beginning of World War II there were no permanent headquarters constructed for the ''Führer''. Hitler visited the frontlines using ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traudl Junge
Gertraud "Traudl" Junge (; 16 March 1920 – 10 February 2002) was a German editor who worked as Adolf Hitler's last private secretary from December 1942 to April 1945. After typing Hitler's will, she remained in the Berlin ''Führerbunker'' until his death. Following her arrest and imprisonment in June 1945, both the Soviet and the U.S. militaries interrogated her. Later, in post-war West Germany, she worked as a secretary. In her old age, she decided to publish her memoirs, claiming ignorance of the Nazi atrocities during the war, but blaming herself for missing opportunities to investigate reports about them. Her story, based partly on her book ''Until the Final Hour'', formed a part of several dramatizations, in particular the 2004 German film ''Downfall'' about Hitler's final ten days. Early life and education Gertraud "Traudl" Humps was born in Munich, the daughter of a master brewer and lieutenant in the Reserve Army, Max Humps and his wife Hildegard (née Zottmann). She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erna Flegel
Erna Flegel (11 July 1911 – 16 February 2006) was a German nurse. In late April 1945 she worked at the emergency casualty station at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, and was one of the final occupants of the '' Führerbunker'' before she was captured by the Red Army on 2 May 1945. Biography From January 1943 until the end of World War II, as well as during the Battle of Berlin, Flegel served as a nurse for Hitler's entourage. She worked alongside one of Hitler's physicians, Werner Haase, as a nurse at Humboldt University Hospital and was transferred to the Reich Chancellery in late April 1945. She worked in an emergency casualty station located in the large Reich Chancellery cellar, above the ''Vorbunker'' and '' Führerbunker''. In 2003, R.J. Defalque published an article in the ''Bulletin of Anesthesia History'' in which he discussed the surgeries conducted by Ernst-Günther Schenck, and his last days in Berlin in the ''Führerbunker''. In this article, Defalque shares Schen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magda Goebbels
Johanna Maria Magdalena "Magda" Goebbels (née Ritschel; 11 November 1901 – 1 May 1945) was the wife of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. A prominent member of the Nazi Party, she was a close ally, companion, and political supporter of Adolf Hitler. Some historians refer to her as the unofficial "first lady" of Nazi Germany, while others give that title to Emmy Göring. With defeat imminent during the Battle of Berlin at the end of World War II in Europe, she and her husband murdered their six children before committing suicide in the Reich Chancellery gardens. Her eldest son, Harald Quandt, from a previous marriage, survived her. Early life Magda was born in 1901 in Berlin, Germany to an unwed couple, Auguste Behrend and building contractor and engineer Oskar Ritschel. The couple were married later that year and divorced in either 1904 or 1905. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared since 1875, was the former city palace of Prince Antoni Radziwiłł (1775–1833) on Wilhelmstraße in Berlin. Both the palace and a new Reich Chancellery building (completed in early 1939) were seriously damaged during World War II and subsequently demolished. Today the office of the German chancellor is usually called '' Kanzleramt'' (Chancellor's Office), or more formally ''Bundeskanzleramt'' (Federal Chancellor's Office). The latter is also the name of the new seat of the Chancellor's Office, completed in 2001. Old Reich Chancellery When the military alliance of the North German Confederation was reorganised as a federal state with effect from July 1, 1867, the office of a Federal Chancellor ''(Bundeskanzler)'' was implemented at Ber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goebbels Children
The Goebbels children were the five daughters and one son born to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda Goebbels. The children, born between 1932 and 1940, were murdered by their parents in Berlin on 1 May 1945, the day both parents committed suicide. Magda Goebbels had an elder son, Harald Quandt, from a previous marriage to Günther Quandt. Harald, then aged 23, was a prisoner of war when his younger half-siblings were killed. There are many theories of how they were killed; one is that Magda Goebbels gave them something 'sweetened' to drink. Currently, the most supported theory is that they were killed with a cyanide capsule. Naming Some historian writers have contended that the children's names all begin with "H" as a tribute to Adolf Hitler, but there is no evidence to support this; rather, it supports that Magda's "H" naming was the idea of her first husband, Günther Quandt, who chose names beginning with "H" for his other two children by his firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information and access to Hitler. He used his position to create an extensive bureaucracy and involve himself as much as possible in the decision making. Bormann joined a paramilitary ''Freikorps'' organisation in 1922 while working as manager of a large estate. He served nearly a year in prison as an accomplice to his friend Rudolf Höss (later commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp) in the murder of Walther Kadow. Bormann joined the Nazi Party in 1927 and the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) in 1937. He initially worked in the party's insurance service, and transferred in July 1933 to the office of Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, where he served as chief of staff. Bormann gained acceptance into Hitler's inner circle and accompanied him everywhere, providin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rochus Misch
Rochus Misch (29 July 1917 – 5 September 2013) was a German ''Oberscharführer'' (sergeant) in the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). He was badly wounded during the Polish campaign during the first month of World War II in Europe. After recovering, from 1940 to April 1945, he served in the '' Führerbegleitkommando'' (Führer Escort Command; FBK) as a bodyguard, courier, and telephone operator for German dictator Adolf Hitler. Misch was widely reported in the media as being the last surviving former occupant of the ''Führerbunker'' when he died in September 2013. Early life and education Misch was born on 29 July 1917 in Alt-Schalkowitz near Oppeln (Opole) in the Province of Silesia (now Stare Siołkowice, Poland). His father, a construction worker, died of wounds sustained in World War I. His widowed mother died of pneumonia when he was two and a half, and he grew up with his grandparents. His older brother Bruno died following a swimming acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hochtief
Hochtief AG is a German construction company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.Hochtief investor relations website Retrieved 16 February 2006 Hochtief is Germany's largest construction company and operates globally, ranking as one of the largest general construction companies in the United States through its subsidiary, and in Australia through a 90% shareholding in . In 2010 it employed more than 70,000 employees across five corporate divisions. One of these, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted acolytes, known for his skills in public speaking and his deeply virulent antisemitism, which was evident in his publicly voiced views. He advocated progressively harsher discrimination, including the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust. Goebbels, who aspired to be an author, obtained a Doctor of Philology degree from the University of Heidelberg in 1921. He joined the Nazi Party in 1924, and worked with Gregor Strasser in its northern branch. He was appointed ''Gauleiter'' of Berlin in 1926, where he began to take an interest in the use of propaganda to promote the party and its programme. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Goebbels's Propaganda Ministry quickly gained a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
