Everyone who saw the movie ‘Der Untergang’ (if you didn’t, you should), knows where you could find Adolf Hitler during the last days of the war and his life: in his Führerbunker in Berlin. This Führerbunker is also the place where the leader of Nazi Germany committed suicide.
You would think that, like other important places and buildings of Berlin’s history, you can visit this bunker or there would at least be something touristy about it. But it’s actually the complete opposite. Because what remains of the Führerbunker is…an ugly empty parking lot. It almost disappeared from history, just like the secret Sylt concentration camp in Great-Britain.
I visited this place during one of my trips to Berlin. And for who’s interested, here is my experience:
What is the Führerbunker?
The Fürherbunker is the bunker in Berlin where Adolf Hitler spent the last days of the Second World War, and also the place where he committed suicide. It’s also called the Reich Chancellery Bunker and now remains as a simple parking lot in the city centre.
The bunker complex was supposed to be an air-raid shelter for temporary stays, but extra rooms were built to transform it into a more permanent hiding place. The complex consisted of two shelters: a Vorbunker (upper bunker) and the Führerbunker. The first one was constructed in 1936, the latter in 1944/5. When the Allied forces were closing in on Berlin, the temporary shelter was transformed to a more permanent residence.
The section of the Führerbunker lay 2,5 metres lower than the upper bunker and approximately 8,5 metres below the surface. And that surface wasn’t a parking lot like it is now, but the garden of the old Reich Chancellery.
Was the Führerbunker a real stronghold?
Hitler’s bunker was made to protect him, especially while Allied forces (and with them a lot of bombardements) were closing in every day. Like in every bunker, the stairways and hallways were built with right angles.The roof was about 3 metres thick concrete, the walls even 4 metres!
Did Hitler really live in the Führerbunker?
Yes, Adolf Hitler really stayed at this Fürherbunker. In the beginning of 1945, on the 16th of January, Hitler moved into the bunker. A couple of months later, on the 30th of April, he committed suicide.
He even had high quality furniture and oil paintings from the old Reich Chancellery. He also had his own bedroom, office, sitting room and guest room installed. And he took his dog, Blondi, also with him.
But although there was a lot of attention spent on the interior, conditions were not great. Hitler’s bunker in Berlin was below the water table, what, even within the concrete complex, made the environment very damp and uncomfortable.
Hitler’s marriage in the Führerbunker
Hitler was certainly not alone in the Führerbunker in Berlin. Beside the working staff and his most important and closest political and military staff, a special woman also lived here: Eva Braun.
On the night of the 28th to the 29th of April (around midnight), the two got married after a small ceremony in the bunker.
Other known historical persons in Hitler’s bunker
Beside Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler himself, there were other important historical individuals staying in the Führerbunker in Berlin. The Goebels-family will be the most known of them.
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda joined Hitler in the bunker. But not alone. Because he also took his wife, Magda Goebbels, and their six children into the bunker. They all stayed and died in the Vorbunker.
The end and remembrance of Hitler’s bunker in Berlin
On the 2nd of May 1945, the Russian Red Army entered the bunker. After the war, the Red Army tried to destroy everything that remembered of the Nazi period. Including Hitler’s bunker in Berlin.
It was already partially flooded (remember the damp environment) and in 1947 they tried to blow it up. But that didn’t destroy the whole bunker complex yet. It was only in 1959 that the real demolition started.
The construction of housing in this area made sure that there was no room for a remembrance or a Nazi-memorial. Several rooms of the bunker are still underground, but are sealed or filled up. The emergency exit of Hitler’s bunker came out in the gardens of the former Reich Chancellery. Now it is an ugly parking lot.
There is one information board that gives all the information and interior plans of the Führerbunker. It was placed in 2006, in the context of the Football World Championship in Germany.
My visit to Hitler’s bunker in Berlin: the Fuhrerbunker
When I visited the former place of Hitler’s bunker in Berlin, there were around 10 people reading the information board. The rest of the neighbourhood was desolated. You really need to know what you are looking for and where to do it. Otherwise you would never pass this place if you’re a tourist visiting Berlin.
Is it worth paying a visit? Well, it’s on your way from the Potsdamerplatz to the famous Jewish Memorial (if you take a little detour of one block). But it is what it is now: a desolated parking spot. It’s also a strange place if you’re standing there and think about the things that took place here. So it’s more up to you if you want to pass by this place. But it’s mostly a symbolic spot without anything to see.
If you are in Berlin, don’t forget to visit that other historical place: the Bebelplatz book burning. And if you want to know more about places that are disappearing from our history, you should read my article about the secret Nazi camp Sylt on an British isle.
Source:
Wikipedia
Trip Advisor
Pictures:
History Rob
