Vorbunker
Encyclopedia
The Vorbunker or "forward bunker" was located behind the large reception hall that was added onto the old Reich Chancellery
, in Berlin
, Germany
. It was meant to be a temporary air-raid shelter
for Adolf Hitler
, his guards, and servants. The bunker was officially called the "Reich Chancellery Air-Raid Shelter" until 1943, with the construction to expand the complex with the addition of the Führerbunker
, located one level below. On 16 January 1945, Hitler moved into the Führerbunker. He was joined by his senior staff, Martin Bormann
, and later, Eva Braun
and Joseph Goebbels
who, with his wife Magda
and their six children, took residence in the upper Vorbunker. The Goebbels family lived in the Vorbunker until their deaths on 1 May 1945.
The Vorbunker's roof was 1.6 metres thick, which was twice as thick as the bunker underneath the nearby Air Ministry building. The thick walls of the Vorbunker supported the weight of the large reception hall overhead. Construction was completed in 1936.
The Führerbunker was built by the Hochtief company as part of an extensive program of subterranean construction in Berlin. It was finished by 1944 and was connected to the Vorbunker by a stairway set at right angles (they were not spiral). The two bunkers could be closed off from each other by a bulkhead and steel door which had a permanent guard detail. The Führerbunker was located about 8.2 metres beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery building at Wilhelmstraße 77, about 120 metres north of the new Reich Chancellery building, which had the address Voßstraße 6. The Führerbunker was located somewhat lower than the Vorbunker and to the west-south-west of it. The accommodations for Hitler were moved to the newer, lower Führerbunker and by February 1945 it had been decorated with high-quality furniture taken from the Chancellery, along with several framed oil paintings.
central government district, which included the Reich Chancellery, occurred in the autumn of 1937. The protocol for the drills stated, in part:
The only residents of Wilhelmstraße 77 were Adolf Hitler, his bodyguards, adjutants, orderlies and servants. It is unknown if the Vorbunker was used before 16 January 1945, the day that Hitler moved into the lower Führerbunker. Thereafter, the Vorbunker was used by various military officers and also housed men from Hitler's personal bodyguard. In April 1945, as the Battle in Berlin
raged on, Joseph Goebbels showed his strong support for Hitler by moving himself and his family into the Vorbunker. One of the rooms they occupied had been recently vacated by Hitler's personal physician, Theodor Morell
. Two rooms in the Vorbunker were used for food supply. Another room was the kitchen which had a refrigerator and a wine store. Frau Constanze Manziarly
, Hitler's personal cook/dietitian, made meals therein.
On the evening of 1 May 1945, Goebbels arranged for an SS dentist, Helmut Kunz
, to kill his six children
in the Vorbunker by injecting them with morphine
and then, when they were unconscious, crushing an ampule of cyanide
in each of their mouths. According to Kunz's testimony, he gave the children morphine injections but it was Magda Goebbels and SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Stumpfegger
, Hitler's personal doctor, who then administered the cyanide. Shortly afterward, Goebbels and his wife went up the stairs to the ground level and through the Führerbunker's emergency exit to the bombed-out garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they killed themselves. Goebbels' SS adjutant, Günther Schwägermann
doused their bodies with petrol, but the remains were only partially burned and not buried.
, the site was undeveloped and neglected until after reunification
. In 1974, 1.5 metres of water was pumped from inside the bunkers, and the East Germany Stasi
conducted a survey of the interior of the Vorbunker; external measurements of the Fuhrerbunker were also taken. During the construction of residential housing and other buildings on the site between 1988 and 1989, several underground sections of the bunkers were uncovered by work crews and were for the most part destroyed (with the Vorbunker’s top and external walls being the first to be torn down).
In 2005, the location of the bunker complex was not marked in any way. The immediate area was occupied by a small Chinese restaurant and shopping mall
, while the emergency exit point for the bunker (which had been in the Chancellery gardens) was occupied by a parking lot.
On 8 June 2006, on the occasion of the 2006 FIFA World Cup
, a small plaque was installed with a schematic diagram of the bunker complex to mark the location. The plaque can be found at the corner of In den Ministergärten and Gertrud-Kolmar-Straße, two small streets about three minutes' walk from Potsdamer Platz
. One of Hitler's bodyguards, Rochus Misch
, one of the last people living who was in the bunker at the time of Hitler's suicide, was on hand for the ceremony.
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
, in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It was meant to be a temporary air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks from the air...
for Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, his guards, and servants. The bunker was officially called the "Reich Chancellery Air-Raid Shelter" until 1943, with the construction to expand the complex with the addition of the Führerbunker
Führerbunker
The Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943...
, located one level below. On 16 January 1945, Hitler moved into the Führerbunker. He was joined by his senior staff, Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
, and later, Eva Braun
Eva Braun
Eva Anna Paula Hitler was the longtime companion of Adolf Hitler and, for less than 40 hours, his wife. Braun met Hitler in Munich, when she was 17 years old, while working as an assistant and model for his personal photographer and began seeing him often about two years later...
and Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
who, with his wife Magda
Magda Goebbels
Johanna Maria Magdalena "Magda" Goebbels was the wife of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels...
and their six children, took residence in the upper Vorbunker. The Goebbels family lived in the Vorbunker until their deaths on 1 May 1945.
Construction
In 1933, Adolf Hitler decided to expand the Reich Chancellery (German: Reichskanzlei), which he considered too small for his needs. On 21 July 1935, Leonhard Gall submitted plans for a large reception hall (that could also be used as a ballroom) to be built onto the old Chancellary. The drawings were unique because of the large cellar that led a further one-and-a-half meters down to a bunker.The Vorbunker's roof was 1.6 metres thick, which was twice as thick as the bunker underneath the nearby Air Ministry building. The thick walls of the Vorbunker supported the weight of the large reception hall overhead. Construction was completed in 1936.
The Führerbunker was built by the Hochtief company as part of an extensive program of subterranean construction in Berlin. It was finished by 1944 and was connected to the Vorbunker by a stairway set at right angles (they were not spiral). The two bunkers could be closed off from each other by a bulkhead and steel door which had a permanent guard detail. The Führerbunker was located about 8.2 metres beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery building at Wilhelmstraße 77, about 120 metres north of the new Reich Chancellery building, which had the address Voßstraße 6. The Führerbunker was located somewhat lower than the Vorbunker and to the west-south-west of it. The accommodations for Hitler were moved to the newer, lower Führerbunker and by February 1945 it had been decorated with high-quality furniture taken from the Chancellery, along with several framed oil paintings.
Events
The first air-raid drills for the BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
central government district, which included the Reich Chancellery, occurred in the autumn of 1937. The protocol for the drills stated, in part:
"To carry out the air raid drills, a precise regulation is required for the three office buildings, Wilhelmstraße 77, Wilhelmstraße 78 and Voßstraße 1...The officials and residents of Wilhelmstraße 78 and Voßstraße 1 can go to the substitute shelters in Wilhelmstraße 78 and Voßstraße 1. The inhabitants of the Reich Chancellor House, Wilhelmstraße 77, will use the shelter under the ballroom."
The only residents of Wilhelmstraße 77 were Adolf Hitler, his bodyguards, adjutants, orderlies and servants. It is unknown if the Vorbunker was used before 16 January 1945, the day that Hitler moved into the lower Führerbunker. Thereafter, the Vorbunker was used by various military officers and also housed men from Hitler's personal bodyguard. In April 1945, as the Battle in Berlin
Battle in Berlin
The Battle in Berlin was an end phase of the Battle of Berlin. While the Battle of Berlin encompassed the attack by three Soviet Army Groups to capture not only Berlin but the territory of Germany east of the River Elbe still under German control, the Battle in Berlin details the fighting, and...
raged on, Joseph Goebbels showed his strong support for Hitler by moving himself and his family into the Vorbunker. One of the rooms they occupied had been recently vacated by Hitler's personal physician, Theodor Morell
Theodor Morell
Theodor Gilbert Morell was German Führer Adolf Hitler's personal physician. Morell was well known in Germany for his unconventional treatments....
. Two rooms in the Vorbunker were used for food supply. Another room was the kitchen which had a refrigerator and a wine store. Frau Constanze Manziarly
Constanze Manziarly
Constanze Manziarly served as a cook/dietitian to Adolf Hitler.Manziarly was born in Innsbruck, Austria. She began working for Hitler from his 1943 stays at the Berghof until his final days in Berlin in 1945...
, Hitler's personal cook/dietitian, made meals therein.
On the evening of 1 May 1945, Goebbels arranged for an SS dentist, Helmut Kunz
Helmut Kunz
Helmut Kunz was an SS dentist who, after the suicide of Adolf Hitler, was ordered to administer anesthetic to the six children of Joseph Goebbels before they were killed.-Early years:...
, to kill his six children
Goebbels children
The Goebbels children were the five daughters and one son born to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda Goebbels. The children, born between 1932 and 1940, were murdered by their parents in Berlin on May 1, 1945, the day both parents committed suicide.Magda Goebbels had an...
in the Vorbunker by injecting them with morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
and then, when they were unconscious, crushing an ampule of cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
in each of their mouths. According to Kunz's testimony, he gave the children morphine injections but it was Magda Goebbels and SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Stumpfegger
Ludwig Stumpfegger
SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Stumpfegger was a German SS doctor in World War II and Adolf Hitler's personal surgeon from 1944....
, Hitler's personal doctor, who then administered the cyanide. Shortly afterward, Goebbels and his wife went up the stairs to the ground level and through the Führerbunker's emergency exit to the bombed-out garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they killed themselves. Goebbels' SS adjutant, Günther Schwägermann
Günther Schwägermann
Günther Schwägermann was born in Uelzen and served in the Nazi government of German dictator Adolf Hitler. From approximately late 1941, Schwägermann served as the adjutant for Dr. Joseph Goebbels. He reached the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer...
doused their bodies with petrol, but the remains were only partially burned and not buried.
Post-war events
The ruins of both the old and new Chancellery buildings were levelled by the Soviets between 1945 and 1949 but the bunkers largely survived, although some areas of the Führerbunker were partially flooded. In 1947 the Soviets tried to blow up the bunkers but only the separation walls were damaged. In 1959 the East German government also tried to blast the bunkers, apparently without much effect. Since it was near the Berlin WallBerlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, the site was undeveloped and neglected until after reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
. In 1974, 1.5 metres of water was pumped from inside the bunkers, and the East Germany Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
conducted a survey of the interior of the Vorbunker; external measurements of the Fuhrerbunker were also taken. During the construction of residential housing and other buildings on the site between 1988 and 1989, several underground sections of the bunkers were uncovered by work crews and were for the most part destroyed (with the Vorbunker’s top and external walls being the first to be torn down).
In 2005, the location of the bunker complex was not marked in any way. The immediate area was occupied by a small Chinese restaurant and shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
, while the emergency exit point for the bunker (which had been in the Chancellery gardens) was occupied by a parking lot.
On 8 June 2006, on the occasion of the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
, a small plaque was installed with a schematic diagram of the bunker complex to mark the location. The plaque can be found at the corner of In den Ministergärten and Gertrud-Kolmar-Straße, two small streets about three minutes' walk from Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz is an important public square and traffic intersection in the centre of Berlin, Germany, lying about one kilometre south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag , and close to the southeast corner of the Tiergarten park...
. One of Hitler's bodyguards, Rochus Misch
Rochus Misch
Rochus Misch is a former Oberscharführer in the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler during World War II. He served as a courier, bodyguard and telephone operator for German leader Adolf Hitler from 1940 to 1945...
, one of the last people living who was in the bunker at the time of Hitler's suicide, was on hand for the ceremony.