A replica of part of the bunker where Adolf Hitler spent the final days of the Second World War has gone on show in Berlin. The Nazi leader moved into the subterranean complex on 16 January 1945, and he was later joined by Eva Braun, Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels. At the end of April – as Soviet troops were mere blocks away from the bunker – Hitler and Braun got married and then both committed suicide.
A replica of Adolf Hitler's office inside the bunkerTobias Schwarz/AFP
The display is being held inside a former air-raid shelter some two kilometres from the site of the real bunker, which was destroyed after the war. The Berlin Story Bunker features a full-scale recreation of Hitler's study and a 1:25 scale model of the entire underground complex. The replica can only be seen on a guided tour, beginning in a shelter that was meant for 3,500 people and by the war's end housed 12,000.
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A 1:25 scale model of Hitler's bunker. Swipe over the image to reveal the function of each roomA replica of Adolf Hitler's office, with a portrait of Frederick the Great, former king of Prussia and Hitler's hero, above the Führer's deskTobias Schwarz/AFPClockwise from top left: Adolf Hitler's bedroom, map room, office and sitting room are seen on a 1:25 scale model of the bunkerTobias Schwarz/AFPAn entrance to the bunker is seen on the scale modelTobias Schwarz/AFPA journalist looks at photographs taken in the bunkerTobias Schwarz/AFPA journalist takes a picture of a photograph of Adolf Hitler and his dog BlondiTobias Schwarz/AFPThe exterior of the Berlin Story Bunker museum in BerlinTobias Schwarz/AFP1 July 1945: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sits on Hitler's chair outside the bunker in BerlinFred Ramage/Keystone/Getty Images6 July 1945: A Russian soldier is pictured using Eva Braun's phone in her bedroom in Hitler's bunkerKeystone/Getty ImagesShortly after the end of the war, Private First Class Richard Blust of the US Army surveys the bunker where Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun are thought to have committed suicide. A fire had destroyed much of the room's contentsHaacker/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesThe so-called Führerbunker is seen in July 1947, shortly before it was destroyed. Left: the entrance. Centre: The guard's shelterGerman Federal ArchivesThe Führerbunker in the garden of the Reichskanzlei is seen in 1947, after it was destroyedGerman Federal Archives
The project hasn't been universally welcomed. A spokesperson for the nearby Topography of Terror museum, which documents Nazi crimes, criticised the display as showmanship. However, curator Wieland Giebel said the Berlin Story Bunker isn't staging a "Hitler show".
