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 which were
completed in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters used by Adolf
Hitler. 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 here during the last week of April 1945,
shortly before they committed suicide. After the war both the old and new Chancellery
buildings were levelled by the Soviets. Despite some attempts at demolition, the underground
complex remained largely undisturbed until 1988–89. During reconstruction of that area
of Berlin, the sections of the old bunker complex that were excavated were for the most
part destroyed. The site remained unmarked until 2006, when a small plaque with a schematic
was installed. 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. 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, completed in 1936, and the Führerbunker, located 2.5
metres 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 1.5 metres beneath the cellar of a
large reception hall behind the old Reich Chancellery at Wilhelmstraße 77. The Führerbunker
was located about 8.5 metres beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery, 120 metres north
of the new Reich Chancellery building at Voßstraße 6. Besides being deeper under ground, the Führerbunker
had significantly more reinforcement. Its roof was made of concrete almost 3 metres
thick. About 30 small rooms were protected by approximately 4 metres of concrete; exits
led into the main buildings, as well as an emergency exit up to the garden. The Führerbunker
development was built by the Hochtief company as part of an extensive program of subterranean
construction in Berlin begun in 1940. 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 left side was Eva Braun's
bedroom/sitting room, an ante-chamber, 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 which had a door that
led out into the waiting room/ante-room. As the Führerbunker was below the water table,
conditions were unpleasantly damp, with pumps running continuously to remove groundwater.
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.
Events in 1945
Hitler moved into the Führerbunker on 16 January 1945. He was joined by his senior
staff, including Martin Bormann. In April 1945 Eva Braun, Joseph Goebbels, his wife
Magda, 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, a nurse named Erna Flegel, and telephonist Rochus Misch. Early on, Hitler
continued to utilize 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
going back down into 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 and the atmosphere was oppressive; 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 by 19 April the Red Army started
to encircle the city. On 20 April, his 56th birthday, Hitler made his last trip to the
surface. In the ruined garden of the Reich Chancellery, he awarded Iron Crosses to boy
soldiers of the Hitler Youth. That afternoon, Berlin was bombarded by Soviet artillery for
the first time. In denial about the dire situation, Hitler
placed his hopes on the units commanded by Waffen-SS General Felix Steiner, the Armeeabteilung
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. By that evening, Red Army tanks reached the outskirts of Berlin. At
his afternoon situation conference on 22 April, Hitler was told Steiner's forces had not moved.
Hitler 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 blamed his generals.
He announced 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. Despite the commands being issued from the Führerbunker, by 25 April
the Soviets had consolidated their investment of Berlin, and 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. Along with his mistress and crack test pilot, Hanna Reitsch, he arrived
on 26 April. On 28 April Hitler learned that Reichsführer-SS
Heinrich Himmler, who had left Berlin on 20 April, was trying to discuss surrender terms
with the Western Allies through Count Folke Bernadotte. Hitler considered this treason.
Enraged, he ordered Himmler's arrest and had Hermann Fegelein shot. On the same day, General
Hans Krebs made his last telephone call from the Führerbunker to Field Marshal Wilhelm
Keitel Chief of German Armed Forces High Command in Fürstenberg. Krebs told him that if relief
did not arrive within 48 hours, all would be lost. 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 Hitler's private secretary, Martin 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 Potsdamerplatz. 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.
After midnight on the night of 28–29 April, Hitler married Eva Braun in a small civil
ceremony within the Führerbunker. Hitler then took secretary Traudl Junge to another
room and dictated his last will and testament. At approximately 04:00, Hans Krebs, Wilhelm
Burgdorf, Goebbels, and Bormann witnessed and signed the documents. 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." During the morning of 30 April, SS-Brigadeführer
Wilhelm Mohnke, commander of the centre district of Berlin, informed Hitler 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. At about 13:00 Weidling finally received permission. In the Führerbunker
that afternoon, Hitler shot himself and Braun took cyanide. In accordance with Hitler's
instructions, the bodies were burned in the garden behind the Reich Chancellery. In accordance
with Hitler's last will and testament, Goebbels became the new Head of Government and Chancellor
of Germany. At 03:15, Reichskanzler Goebbels and Bormann sent a radio message to Dönitz
informing him of Hitler's death. In accordance with Hitler's last wishes, Dönitz was appointed
as the new President of Germany. At about 04:00 on 1 May, Krebs talked to General
Vasily Chuikov, commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army. 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.
At about 20:00, Goebbels and his wife left the bunker; close to the entrance they bit
on cyanide ampoules and either simultaneously shot themselves or were given a coup de grâce
by the SS guard detailed to dispose of their bodies.
Weidling had given the order for the survivors to break out to the north-west; the plan got
underway at around 23:00. The first group from the Reich Chancellery, led by Mohnke,
tried but could not break through the Soviet rings and was captured the next day. Like
others from the Führerbunker who were captured, he was interrogated by SMERSH. On the third
break-out attempt from the Reich Chancellery, made around 01:00, Bormann managed to cross
the Spree. Arthur Axmann, who followed the same route, reported seeing Bormann's body
a short distance from the Weidendammer bridge. The last defenders in the area of the bunker
complex were the French SS volunteers of the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne,
who remained until the early morning of 2 May to prevent the Soviets from capturing
the bunker on May Day. At 01:00 the Soviets picked up a radio message
from the German LVI Corps requesting a cease-fire. Early in the morning of 2 May, the Soviets
captured the Reich Chancellery. General Weidling surrendered with his staff at 06:00. Down
in the Führerbunker, General Krebs and General Burgdorf committed suicide by gunshot to the
head. Johannes Hentschel, the master electro-mechanic for the bunker complex, stayed after everyone
else had either committed suicide or left, 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 on 2 May at 09:00. 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 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. 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; these were for the most part 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 Führerbunker was a strategy for
ensuring the surroundings remained anonymous and unremarkable. The emergency exit point
for the Führerbunker 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 Führerbunker. 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. Hitler's bodyguard,
Rochus Misch, one of the last people living who was in the bunker at the time of Hitler's
suicide, was on hand for the ceremony. See also
Führer Headquarters Wolf's Lair
Nazi architecture Matsushiro Underground Imperial Headquarters
Explanatory notes
Citations
Sources
Further reading Boldt, Gerhard. Hitler: The Last Ten Days.
New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. ISBN 978-0-698-10531-7. C.I.U. General Staff, Geographical Section.
Ramsey, Winston G., ed. Berlin: Allied Intelligence Map of Key Buildings. After the Battle – Battle
of Britain International. ISBN 978-1-870067-33-1. Fest, Joachim. Inside Hitler's Bunker: The
Last Days of the Third Reich. New York: Picador. ISBN 978-0-374-13577-5.
Junge, Traudl. Müller, Melissa, ed. Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary. New
York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55970-728-2. Neubauer, Christoph. Stadtführer durch Hitlers
Berlin. Franfurt on the Oder: Flashback Medienverlag. ISBN 978-3-9813977-0-3.
O'Donnell, James P. [1978]. The Bunker. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80958-3.
Petrova, Ada; Watson, Peter. The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with New Evidence from
Secret Russian Archives. New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-03914-6.
Ryan, Cornelius. The Last Battle. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Tissier, Tony Le. Race for the Reichstag: the 1945 Battle for Berlin. London; Portland,
OR: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7146-4929-0. Trevor-Roper, Hugh [1947]. The Last Days of
Hitler. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-81224-3. External links
Scott; Berger, Donald. "Hitler Slept Here: The too-secret history of the Third Reich's
most famous place". Slate Magazine. The Führerbunker: Info and Plans. MalGo Media
Services The Bunker Personnel: The Who-Is-Who of the
Bunker. MalGo Media Services Bunkermuzeum – English version: Guide to
military museums of Europe 3D Animation of the Bunker by Atelier Neubauer