1. To keep it from being turned into a sick neo-Nazi shrine, all traces of Hitler’s Bunker have been destroyed over the years
Even the Soviet Union had no desire to celebrate their victory by turning the Bunker into a tourist attraction. Shortly after the end of the war, the underground complex was sealed up and the vast Chancellery complex above demolished completely. Then, in the 1980s, the East German regime began work on an apartment block close to the site. Workers opened up the underground bunkers again and then completely destroyed them. At last, all traces of the Nazi past had been removed from this infamous corner of Berlin.
It was only in 2006 that the Berlin authorities actually confirmed that the nondescript parking lot sits on the spot where Hitler killed himself and brought the darkest period of German history to an end. As well as the barest of historical information, the low-key noticeboard also includes a diagram of the layout of the Bunker to give an impression of just how claustrophobic and depressing it was down there in the spring of 1945. Nowadays, the Holocaust Memorial, just a short walk away, attracts far more visitors than the site of the Bunker.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“An orgy of denial in Hitler’s bunker.” The Sydney Morning Herald, May 2003.
“The Brief Luxurious Life of Adolf Hitler, 50 Feet Below Berlin.” Time Magazine.
“Eva Braun: The Lover Germany Never Knew Hitler Had.” The Local Germany, April 2017
“The Very Drugged Nazis.” The New York Review, March 2017.
“How Hitler spent his last days.” Alex Duval Smith, The Guardian, March 2005.
