The Führerbunker (or "Fuhrerbunker") is the name commonly given to the complex of subterranean rooms in Berlin, Germany, where Adolf Hitler committed suicide.
The complex was in the north-east grounds of the Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellory). 10 m below ground and protected by approximately 4 m of concrete, the twenty rooms were distributed over two levels with exits into the main buildings and an emergency exit into the gardens. The complex was built in two distinct phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943. The 1943 development was built by the Hochtief company as part of an extensive program of subterranean construction in Berlin begun in 1940. The accommodation for Hitler was in the newer section.
Hitler moved into the Führerbunker on January 16, 1945. He was joined by his senior staff, Martin Bormann, Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels with all his family. What happened next is uncertain; the accounts of eye-witnesses differ and the popular chronology given by Hugh Trevor-Roper is largely speculative. From the well-known accounts: as the Soviet Army launched its attack on Berlin Hitler's mental state deteriorated; it is reported that after a hysterical meeting on April 22 Hitler was resigned to dying in Berlin and refused to flee. Much of the bunker staff left over April 22-23. On April 23, following a surprise telegram, Hitler had Hermann Göring arrested in Berchtesgaden for treason; General Ritter von Greim was appointed his successor. Shells began striking the bunker and surrounding government buildings from April 26. It is said that on the 28th, after hearing reports that Heinrich Himmler was negotiating with the Allies, Hitler had his representative in the bunker, Hermann Fegelein (who within days would have been his brother-in-law by marriage), executed. Later on the 28th Hitler wrote out his political testament and will and also married Eva Braun. In the early afternoon of April 30, with the Red Army only a mile away, Hitler committed suicide by gunshot; Eva was found dead with him apparently from poison. Both bodies were taken up to the surface and burned. On May 1 Goebbels and his wife Magda poisoned their six children and then committed suicide; their bodies were also burned.
The Reichskanzlei was destroyed by the Soviets in 1945, but the bunker largely survived. In 1947 the Soviets tried to blow up the bunker, but only the separation-walls were damaged. In 1959 the East German government also tried to blast the bunker - without any effect. Near the Berlin Wall, the site was undeveloped until after reunification. During the construction of residential housing and other buildings on the site in 1988-89, the underground structures were largely destroyed. The Reichskanzlei was situated at the corner of Wilhelmstraße and Voßstraße. Further parts of the Reichskanzlei underground complex were often uncovered during the extensive construction work of the 1990s, but they were ignored, filled in or quickly resealed.
Currently the location of the bunker is not marked. The area is instead occupied by a small Chinese restaurant and mini mall while the emergency exit point for the bunker, in what was the Reichskanzlei gardens, is now occupied by a car park.
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Last updated: 06-01-2005 19:39:03
