
The () was an
air raid shelter located near the
Reich Chancellery in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. 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
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Hitler took up residence in the 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 Soviet
Red Army. 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 corridors of the bunker still exist but are sealed off from the public.
Construction
The
Reich Chancellery bunker was initially constructed as a temporary
air-raid shelter for Hitler, who actually spent very little time in the capital during most of the war. Increased bombing of Berlin led to expansion of the complex as an improvised permanent shelter. The elaborate complex consisted of two separate shelters, the ''
Vorbunker'' ("forward bunker"; the upper bunker), completed in 1936, and the , located lower than the ''Vorbunker'' and to the west-southwest, completed in 1944. They were connected by a stairway set at right angles and could be closed off from each other by a bulkhead and steel door. The ''Vorbunker'' was located beneath the cellar of a large reception hall behind the old Reich Chancellery at
Wilhelmstrasse 77. The was located about beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery, north of the new Reich Chancellery building at
Voßstraße 6. Besides being deeper under ground, the had significantly more reinforcement. Its roof was made of concrete almost thick. About 30 small rooms were protected by approximately of concrete; exits led into the main buildings, as well as an emergency exit up to the garden. The development was built by the
Hochtief company as part of an extensive programme of subterranean construction in Berlin begun in 1940. The construction cost for the totaled 1,349,899.29
Reichsmarks.
Hitler's accommodations were in this newer, lower section, and by February 1945 it had been decorated with high-quality furniture taken from the Chancellery, along with several framed oil paintings. After descending the stairs into the lower section and passing through the steel door, there was a long corridor with a series of rooms on each side. On the right side were a series of rooms which included generator/ventilation rooms and the telephone switchboard. On the left side was Eva Braun's bedroom/sitting room (also known as Hitler's private guest room), an antechamber (also known as Hitler's sitting room), which led into Hitler's study/office. On the wall hung a large portrait of
Frederick the Great, one of Hitler's heroes. A door led into Hitler's modestly furnished bedroom. Next to it was the conference/map room (also known as the briefing/situation room) which had a door that led out into the waiting room/anteroom.
The bunker complex was self-contained. However, as the was below the
water table, conditions were unpleasantly damp, with pumps running continuously to remove
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
. A diesel generator provided electricity, and
well water was pumped in as the water supply. Communications systems included a
telex, a telephone switchboard, and an army radio set with an outdoor antenna. As conditions deteriorated at the end of the war, Hitler received much of his war news from
BBC radio broadcasts and via courier.
End of World War II
Hitler moved into the on 16 January 1945, joined by his senior staff, including
Martin Bormann.
Eva Braun and
Joseph Goebbels joined them in April, while
Magda Goebbels and
their six children took residence in the upper ''Vorbunker''. Two or three dozen support, medical, and administrative staff were also sheltered there. These included Hitler's secretaries (including
Traudl Junge), a nurse named
Erna Flegel, and Sergeant
Rochus Misch, who was both bodyguard and telephone switchboard operator. Initially, Hitler continued to use the undamaged wing of the Reich Chancellery, where he held afternoon military conferences in his large study. Afterwards, he would have tea with his secretaries before returning to the bunker complex for the night. After several weeks of this routine, Hitler seldom left the bunker except for short strolls in the chancellery garden with his dog
Blondi. The bunker was crowded, the atmosphere was oppressive, and air raids occurred daily. Hitler mostly stayed on the lower level, where it was quieter and he could sleep. Conferences took place for much of the night, often until 05:00.
On 16 April, the
Red Army started the
Battle of Berlin, and they started to encircle the city by 19 April. Hitler made his last trip to the surface on 20 April, his 56th birthday, going to the ruined garden of the Reich Chancellery where he awarded the
Iron Cross to boy soldiers of the
Hitler Youth. That afternoon, Berlin was bombarded by Soviet artillery for the first time.
Hitler was in denial about the dire situation and placed his hopes on the units commanded by Waffen-SS General
Felix Steiner, the ''Armeeabteilung Steiner'' ("
Army Detachment Steiner"). On 21 April, Hitler ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of the encircling Soviet
salient and ordered the German
Ninth Army, south-east of Berlin, to attack northward in a
pincer attack. That evening, Red Army tanks reached the outskirts of Berlin. Hitler was told at his afternoon situation conference on 22 April that Steiner's forces had not moved, and he fell into a tearful rage when he realised that the attack was not going to be carried out. He openly declared for the first time the war was lost—and he blamed his generals. Hitler announced that he would stay in Berlin until the end and then shoot himself.
On 23 April, Hitler appointed
General of the Artillery Helmuth Weidling, commander of the
LVI Panzer Corps, as the commander of the Berlin Defense Area, replacing Lieutenant Colonel ()
Ernst Kaether. The Red Army had consolidated their
investment of Berlin by 25 April, despite the commands being issued from the . There was no prospect that the German defence could do anything but delay the city's capture. Hitler summoned Field Marshal
Robert Ritter von Greim from Munich to Berlin to take over command of the Luftwaffe from
Hermann Göring, and he arrived on 26 April along with his mistress, the test pilot
Hanna Reitsch.
On 28 April, Hitler learned that
Heinrich Himmler was trying to discuss surrender terms with the Western Allies through Count
Folke Bernadotte, and Hitler considered this treason. Himmler's SS representative in Berlin,
Hermann Fegelein, was shot after being
court-martialed for desertion, and Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest. On the same day, General
Hans Krebs made his last telephone call from the to
Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of
German Armed Forces High Command (OKW) in
Fürstenberg. Krebs told him that all would be lost if relief did not arrive within 48 hours. Keitel promised to exert the utmost pressure on Generals
Walther Wenck, commander of the
Twelfth Army, and
Theodor Busse, commander of the Ninth Army. Meanwhile, Bormann wired to German Admiral
Karl Dönitz: "Reich Chancellery a heap of rubble." He said that the foreign press was reporting fresh acts of treason and "that without exception
Schörner, Wenck and the others must give evidence of their loyalty by the quickest relief of the Führer".
That evening, von Greim and Reitsch flew out from Berlin in an
Arado Ar 96 trainer. Field Marshal von Greim was ordered to get the Luftwaffe to attack the Soviet forces that had just reached
Potsdamer Platz, only a city block from the . During the night of 28 April, General Wenck reported to Keitel that his Twelfth Army had been forced back along the entire front and it was no longer possible for his army to relieve Berlin. Keitel gave Wenck permission to break off the attempt.
Hitler married Eva Braun after midnight on 28–29 April in a small civil ceremony within the . He then took secretary Traudl Junge to another room and dictated
his last will and testament. Hans Krebs,
Wilhelm Burgdorf, Goebbels, and Bormann witnessed and signed the documents at approximately 04:00. Hitler then retired to bed.
Late in the evening of 29 April, Krebs contacted Jodl by radio: "Request immediate report. Firstly of the whereabouts of Wenck's spearheads. Secondly of time intended to attack. Thirdly of the location of the Ninth Army. Fourthly of the precise place in which the Ninth Army will break through. Fifthly of the whereabouts of General
Rudolf Holste's spearhead." In the early morning of 30 April, Jodl replied to Krebs: "Firstly, Wenck's spearhead bogged down south of
Schwielow Lake. Secondly, Twelfth Army therefore unable to continue attack on Berlin. Thirdly, bulk of Ninth Army surrounded. Fourthly, Holste's Corps on the defensive."
SS-''
Brigadeführer''
Wilhelm Mohnke, commander of the centre government district of Berlin, informed Hitler during the morning of 30 April that he would be able to hold for less than two days. Later that morning, Weidling informed Hitler that the defenders would probably exhaust their ammunition that night and again asked him for permission to break out. Weidling finally received permission at about 13:00.
Hitler shot himself later that afternoon, at around 15:30, while Eva took
cyanide. In accordance with Hitler's instructions, his and Eva's bodies were burned in the garden behind the Reich Chancellery. Goebbels became the new
Head of Government
In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...
and Chancellor of Germany (''
Reichskanzler'') in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament. ''Reichskanzler'' Goebbels and Bormann sent a radio message to Dönitz at 03:15, informing him of Hitler's death, and that he was the new
Head of State
A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
and President of Germany (''
Reichspräsident''), in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament.
Krebs talked to General
Vasily Chuikov, commander of the
Soviet 8th Guards Army, at about 04:00 on 1 May, and Chuikov demanded unconditional surrender of the remaining German forces. Krebs did not have the authority to surrender, so he returned to the bunker. In the late afternoon, Goebbels
had his children poisoned, and he and his wife left the bunker at around 20:30. There are several different accounts on what followed. According to one account, Goebbels shot his wife and then himself. Another account was that they each bit on a cyanide ampule and were given a ''
coup de grâce'' immediately afterwards. Goebbels' SS adjutant
Günther Schwägermann testified in 1948 that the couple walked ahead of him up the stairs and out to the Chancellery garden. He waited in the stairwell and heard the shots, then walked up the remaining stairs and saw the lifeless bodies of the couple outside. He then followed Joseph Goebbels' order and had an SS soldier fire several shots into Goebbels' body, which did not move. The bodies were then doused with petrol and set alight, but the remains were only partially burned and not buried.
Weidling had given the order for the survivors to break out to the northwest, and the plan got underway at around 23:00. The first group from the Reich Chancellery was led by Mohnke; they tried unsuccessfully to break through the Soviet rings and were captured the next day. Mohnke was interrogated by
SMERSH, like others who were captured from the . The third breakout attempt from the Reich Chancellery was made around 01:00 on 2 May, and Bormann managed to cross the
Spree.
Artur Axmann followed the same route and reported seeing Bormann's body a short distance from the
Weidendammer bridge.
At 01:00, the Soviet forces picked up a radio message from the LVI Panzer Corps requesting a cease-fire. Down in the , General Krebs and General Burgdorf committed suicide by gunshot to the head. The last defenders in the area of the bunker complex were mainly made up of Frenchmen of the
33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne, others being Waffen-SS from the remnants of the
11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, Latvian SS and Spanish SS units. A group of French SS remained in the area of the bunker until the early morning of 2 May. The Soviet forces then captured the Reich Chancellery. General Weidling surrendered with his staff at 6:00, and his meeting with Chuikov ended at 8:23.
Johannes Hentschel, the master electro-mechanic for the bunker complex, stayed after everyone else had either left or committed suicide, as the
field hospital in the Reich Chancellery above needed power and water. He surrendered to the Red Army as they entered the bunker complex at 09:00 on 2 May. The bodies of Goebbels' six children were discovered on 3 May. They were found in their beds in the ''Vorbunker'' with the clear mark of cyanide shown on their faces.
Post-war events
The first post-war photos of the interior of the were taken in July 1945. On 4 July, American writer
James P. O'Donnell toured the bunker after giving the Soviet guard a pack of cigarettes. Many soldiers, politicians, and diplomats visited the bunker complex in the following days and months.
Winston Churchill visited the Reich Chancellery and bunker on 14 July 1945. On 11 December 1945, the Soviets allowed a limited investigation of the bunker grounds by the other Allied powers. Two representatives from each nation watched several Germans dig up soil; this included the site where Hitler's remains had been exhumed that May. Found during the dig were two hats identified as Hitler's, an undergarment with Braun's initials, and some reports to Hitler from Goebbels. The representatives planned to continue the work, but when they arrived the next morning, an
NKVD armed guard met them and accused them of removing documents from the Chancellery. This was denied, but no further outside investigation was allowed until years later.
The outer ruins of both Chancellery buildings were levelled by the Soviets between 1945 and 1949 as part of an effort to destroy the landmarks of Nazi Germany. A detailed interior site investigation by the Soviets, including measurements, took place on 16 May 1946. Thereafter, the bunker largely survived, although some areas were partially flooded. In December 1947, the Soviets tried to blow up the bunker, but only the separation walls were damaged. In 1959, the
East German government began a series of demolitions of the Chancellery, including the bunker. Because it was near the
Berlin Wall, the site was undeveloped and neglected until 1988–89. During extensive construction of residential housing and other buildings on the site, work crews uncovered several underground sections of the old bunker complex; for the most part these were destroyed. Other parts of the Chancellery underground complex were uncovered, but these were ignored, filled in, or resealed.
Government authorities wanted to destroy the last vestiges of these Nazi landmarks. The construction of the buildings in the area around the was a strategy for ensuring the surroundings remained anonymous and unremarkable. The emergency exit point for the (which had been in the Chancellery gardens) was occupied by a
car park.
On 8 June 2006, during the lead-up to the
2006 FIFA World Cup, an information board was installed to mark the location of the . The board, including a schematic diagram of the bunker, can be found at the corner of In den Ministergärten and Gertrud-Kolmar-Straße, two small streets about three minutes' walk from
Potsdamer Platz.
Rochus Misch, one of the last people living who was in the bunker at the time of Hitler's suicide, attended the ceremony.
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M1204-319, Berlin, Reichskanzlei, gesprengter Führerbunker.jpg, Ruins of the bunker after demolition in 1947
File:2023_Oct_-_Berlin_-_Führerbunker.jpg, Site of and information board on Gertrud-Kolmar-Straße in October 2023
File:Place Of the Führerbunker P7120036.JPG, A side angle view of the site in July 2007
See also
*
Berghof
* ''
The Bunker'' – 1970 book
** ''
The Bunker'' – 1981 film based on the book
* ''
Downfall'' – 2004 film
*
Matsushiro Underground Imperial Headquarters
*
Nazi architecture
*
Presidential Emergency Operations Center
*
Stalin's bunker
*
Wolf's Lair
*
Fahrerbunker
References
Informational notes
Citations
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External links
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3D-stereoscopic images of ChancelleryHitler's Bunker National Geographic UK.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuhrerbunker
Führer Headquarters
Death of Adolf Hitler
Battle of Berlin
World War II sites in Germany
Continuity of government
Bunkers in Germany
Air raid shelters
1944 establishments in Germany
Buildings and structures completed in 1944
1947 disestablishments in Germany
Buildings and structures demolished in 1947
Demolished buildings and structures in Berlin