''The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex: An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime'' is a 2006 book by

Steven Lehrer Steven Lehrer is a physician and writer, known for medical research and for his English translation of Else Ury. Early years and education Lehrer was born in Los Angeles. He attended UCLA and graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Johns H ...

, in which Lehrer recounts the history of a group of Berlin buildings, from their construction in the 18th century until their complete destruction during and after

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 ...

. King

Frederick William I of Prussia Frederick William I (; 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740), known as the Soldier King (), was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuchâtel. Born in Berlin, he was raised by the Hugu ...

built the ''Palais Schulenburg'', at

Wilhelmstraße Wilhelmstraße, or Wilhelmstrasse (see ß; ; ) is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte and Kreuzberg districts of Berlin, Germany. Until 1945, it was recognised as the centre of the government, first of the Kingdom of Prussia, and lat ...

77, for his esteemed Lieutenant General Count Adolph Friedrich von der Schulenburg. Later the ''Palais'' had a more distinguished owner, Prince Anton Radziwill, a Polish nobleman, aristocrat, musician and politician in Prussia. A guest at the ''Palais Radziwill'' was Polish composer and virtuoso pianist

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

. During the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, Marshal Victor, the French Governor in Berlin, occupied the ''Palais''. In 1875, the feuding Radziwill heirs sold the ''Palais'' to the German Reich. It became the ''Reichskanzlerpalais'', the Chancellery of

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

and subsequent German Chancellors, the last being

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 ...

. Though Hitler lived in the old Chancellery when he was in Berlin, he ordered the building of a larger, grander structure, the New

Reich Chancellery The Reich Chancellery () 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 fo ...

, completed January 1939. Hitler's Reich Chancellery was not only a center of government but, in

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

’s words, the hub of "a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime." In April 1945, as the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

closed in, Hitler and his mistress,

Eva Braun Eva Anna Paula Hitler (; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Braun met Hitler in Munich in 1929 (aged 17) when she was an assistant and model ...

, committed suicide together in the ''

Führerbunker The () 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 (''Führerhaupt ...

'', which Hitler had built under the Chancellery garden.Dietmar Arnold, Ingmar Arnold. Dunkle Welten: Bunker, Tunnel und Gewölbe unter Berlin. Ch. Links Verlag. Berlin 2004

Notes

External links

''The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex'' on Google Books
2006 non-fiction books Books about Adolf Hitler Books about Nazism History books about Nazi Germany History of Berlin Nazi architecture {{Nazi-book-stub