Berlin was burning and Soviet tanks advancing relentlessly when Adolf Hitler shot himself in the head on 30 April 1945 in his bunker near the Reich chancellery. His long-time female companion, Eva Braun, whom he had married just hours earlier, died by his side from a cyanide pill. Today, a parking lot covers the site, revealing its dark history only via an information panel with a diagram of the vast bunker network, construction data and the site’s post-WWII history.
The interior was blown up and sealed off by the Soviets in 1947. The 2004 movie The Downfall vividly chronicles Hitler’s last days in the Führerbunker. For a 1:25 scale model of the bunker, visit the nearby exhibit Hitler – how could it happen.
