Fuhrerbunker

Maddy K. and Aimee H.

__**The Führerbunker**__





The Führerbunker was built in two phases, the first in 1936 and the second in 1943. Literally translated as the Führer's bunker, this subterranian air-raid shelter was built underground the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Hitler and his highest ranking Nazis resided in the Führerbunker from January, 1945 until the end of the second World War. The Führerbunker was the main headquarters of the Nazi Party and it is also where Hitler married his wife, Eva Braun. Hitler and Eva Braun commited suicide in the Fuhrerbunker in the last week of April, 1945. Originally, the bunker was built as a temporary air-raid shelter for Adolf Hitler. As the bombings in Berlin became more severe, the bunker was expanded and it became the Nazi's permanent shelter.

The shelter was divided into two sections and it was built about fifty feet below the ground. The upper level was known as the Vorbunker, translating to the "forward bunker". The lower bunker was called the Führerbunker, which was the newest wing. There were about 30 rooms dispursed in the two levels on the Nazi's headquarters. The walls were built of concrete and were approxinmately four meters thick. The shelter had exits which lead into the main Chancellery building but the emergency exit lead into the Reich Chancellery's gardens. Hitler, his dog Blondi, and his medical, adminastrative and senior staff moved into the bunker on January 16th, 1945. Also living with the Führer in the shelter was Joseph Goebbels, the minister of propaganda and his wife Magda and their six children. Hitler was very fond of his dog Blondi and he used to take her for walks un the Chancellery's garden until the attacks became very frequent in the March of 1945. Hitler's last time to the surface was on his 56th birthday on the 20th of April, 1945. The young boy soliders of the Hitler Youth were awarded Iron Crosses in the Chancellery's garden by the Fuhrer on his birthday. To make Adolf feel more comfortable, his sub-terranian complex was supplied with some of the Chancellery's paintings and it's finest furniture. It was very crowded in the underground headquarters where many conferences took place during the night until about five-o-clock in the morning.

The Soviets unleashed their artillery on Berlin for the first time in the Second World War on April 20th. Germany's hope rested on the remaining Nazi forces which did not accomplish what they had needed to to keep Germany under their power. On the night of April 21st, the Soviet Army had moved in to the outside of Berlin. On April 29th, a marriage ceremony was held in the shelter for Eva Braun and the Führer. The next day on April 30th 1945, Hitler and Eva Braun had their last meal in the bunker and of their lives. Ironically enough, Hitler was a vegetarian because he deeply cared for animals and his last meal was meat-free. After their final supper, Hitler and his wife said goodbye to all of their staff and friends in the bunker then went into their private room. Eva Braun committed suicide by taking poison and Hitler shot himself in his temple. The staff of the bunker brought the bodies out of the shelter and burned them, using gasoline. On May 1st, Magda Goebbels murdered all her six children by poisoning them in the underground Nazi headquaters. After the killing of their children, Mr. and Mrs.Goebbels asked the SS to kill them. The SS followed through with their orders and shot Magda and Joseph in the head, then set them on fire outside of the Führerbunker.

When the Russians invaded Berlin in the late April of 1945, they destroyed all of the Reich Chancellery buildings but the bunker was only flooded. The government of East Germany tried to destruct the air-raid shelter in 1959 but the comlpex remained relatively intact until Berlin was reconstructed after Germany's reunification. The location where the Fuhrerbunker used to reside is now the backyard of an apartment building in the city of Berlin. There are no signs that lead to where the Führerbunker used to be or any plaques showing the exact location of the historically important shelter.




 * Bibliography**

@http://www.military-history.org/articles/inside-the-fuhrerbunker.htm @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrerbunker []