Führerbunker

Construction[edit]

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 Führerbunker, located 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) lower than the Vorbunker and to the west-southwest, completed in 1944.^[2][3] They were connected by a stairway set at right angles and could be closed off from each other by a bulkhead and steel door.^[4] The Vorbunker was located 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) beneath the cellar of a large reception hall behind the old Reich Chancellery at Wilhelmstrasse 77.^[5] The Führerbunker was located about 8.5 m (28 ft) beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery, 120 m (390 ft) north of the new Reich Chancellery building at Voßstraße 6.^[6] Besides being deeper under ground, the Führerbunker had significantly more reinforcement. Its roof was made of concrete almost 3 m (9 ft 10 in) thick.^[7] About 30 small rooms were protected by approximately 4 m (13 ft 1 in) 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 programme of subterranean construction in Berlin begun in 1940.^[8] The construction cost for the Führerbunker totaled 1,349,899.29 Reichsmarks.^[9]


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.^[10] 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.^[11] On the right side were a series of rooms which included generator/ventilation rooms and the telephone switchboard.^[11] 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.^[12][13] On the wall hung a large portrait of Frederick the Great, one of Hitler's heroes.^[14] A door led into Hitler's modestly furnished bedroom.^[13] 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.^[12][13]


The bunker complex was self-contained.^[15] However, 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.^[16] 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.^[17]

The first post-war photos of the interior of the Führerbunker 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.^[60][61] 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.^[62] 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.^[63]


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.^[64] 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.^[65] Because it was near the Berlin Wall, the site was undeveloped and neglected until 1988–89.^[66] 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.^[67]


Government authorities wanted to destroy the last vestiges of these Nazi landmarks.^[68] The construction of the buildings in the area around the Führerbunker was a strategy for ensuring the surroundings remained anonymous and unremarkable.^[69] The emergency exit point for the Führerbunker (which had been in the Chancellery gardens) was occupied by a car park.^[70]


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. Rochus Misch, one of the last people living who was in the bunker at the time of Hitler's suicide, attended the ceremony.^[71]