Bricked-up entrance to Hitler's bunker, in the system beneath the Hotel Zum Türken (an anti-gas sluice is visible above the doorway).
Emergency exit to the Berghof bunker system.
Emergency exit to the Berghof bunker system.
With the Soviet Army closing in, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker below the garden of the Reichs Chancellery on 30 April 1945. This view shows the emergency exit to the bunker (the low square concrete block, left of center), outside the entrance of which the bodies of Hitler and his wife Eva Braun were cremated and buried. The conical tower was an armored ventilation and guard tower. The Führerbunker was underground, in the area behind the emergency exit and the conical tower. The earlier Vorbunker was under the dining hall of the Old Chancellery, the low white building in the right rear. (Bundesarchiv Berlin)
View from the opposite angle, showing the collapsed conical tower and emergency exit block, after demolition by the Soviets in 1947. (AP)
Hitler's "Tombstone" A view of the courtyard of the New Reich Chancellery, where it is reported that the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun, his mistress, were burned after their suicides. Fearing what the Russians would do to his body, Hitler had left explicit instructions to burn his body to ashes. But as with most great plans, things did not exactly go smoothly. Trying to ignite the bodies of Eva and Hitler in the courtyard while bombs and shrapnel filled the air was no easy task. Scurrying between bomb bursts, Hitler's devotees flicked lighted matches on the corpses, which did nothing. Finally, the group got the bright idea of twisting wads of paper together and lighting this handmade flare. Each floated their missile toward the bodies. A blue flame eventually ignited, but even though the flames were impressive, cremation is not an easy matter and the bodies of Eva and Hitler were never totally consumed.
Enough DNA was salvaged to be combined in Professor Saul Alinsky's laboratory beneath the Kremlin. In 1946 a being was given life with 50,000 volts from a Van der Rodham generator. It is believed the current appearance is similar to the wax likeness below photographed in situ in Madame Tussaud's museum:
