Page 19 - All About History - Issue 38-16

Dictators

Generators End of the Führerbunker
The bunker was powered by a The Soviets blew up the area in the late 1940s, Reinforced concrete
series of engines that had been destroying part of the bunker. Just over four The thick bunker walls were made
installed once it was realised that decades later in 1988, the German Democratic of concrete and each door was made
Hitler was planning on long-term Republic (GDR) decided to demolish it further, air tight to protect from potential gas
occupation. Housed in one room, blocking off its entrances in the process. Parts attacks. This made it bomb proof, but
the diesel generators provided of the complex remain underground and despite being so well protected, the
electricity for the entire complex there is talk of a reconstruction of the bunker Führerbunker’s weak point was its
as well as ventilation and water- opening to the public in the future. communication system. The small
extraction pumps. The whole telephone switchboard meant the
system was very loud and it is only way of contacting the outside
believed that this noise prevented world were calls to civilians that were
anyone from hearing the gunshot used to find out if the Red Army had
that Hitler fired into his temple.
advanced to their sector yet.

The Vorbunker
As well as the main Führerbunker, there was another
Subterranean tunnels area of the compound known as the Vorbunker. It had
The Vorbunker was connected to the 12 rooms compared to the Führerbunker’s 20 and was
Führerbunker by a tunnel. This allowed located 6.4 metres underground. It was designed to house
easy access between the two areas of the sanitary, administrative and auxiliary staff for the smooth
underground complex. The entire bunker was running of the entire complex, even when Nazi Germany
915 square metres in size and the main entrance was coming ever closer to complete capitulation.
was a red-carpeted corridor lined with paintings.

A little bit of luxury
The entire underground building was
originally designed as a simple air-
raid shelter but it became something
much grander. The luxury of the
A variety of rooms Führerbunker may have been above
Hitler stayed in the bunker for 105 days from a standard air-raid bunker but it was
January 1945 until his suicide in April. The area a world away from the Wolfsschanze
was kitted out with a number of quarters to make (Wolf’s Lair) where Hitler orchestrated
the stay as bearable and functional as possible. his strategies during the war. The A July 1947 photo of the rear
The Führer had an office and a map room to plan conference room in particular was entrance to the Führerbunker in the
military strategy in, as well as a bedroom and a cramped, but this was where the final garden of the Reich Chancellery
bathroom and even a room specifically reserved military briefings of the German war
for his dogs and bodyguards. effort were held.
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