"The Bunker"

Columnist Capt (Retd) AA JILANI writes about HITLER’S last command post.

1945

Exactly 55 years ago on 30 April 1945 momentous events were in the making as the eyes of the entire world were focussed on the bunker where the Fuehrer was holed up to conduct the last-ditch defence of Berlin. East of the beleaguered city General Weidling’s 56 Panzer Corps had disintegrated without trace and the fiery General had been appointed as the new battle commander of Berlin. To the north of the city SS General Felix Steiner’s 7th Panzer Division and 25th Panzer Grenadier Division were stalled at Eberswalde while the Russians had already swarmed across the River Havel to encircle the besieged city. The Fuehrer was unaware that his trusted Armaments Minister Albert Speer had secretly arranged with Colonel-General Gotthard Heinrici of Army Group Vistula for Berlin to be abandoned to the Russians so as to preserve his architectural landmarks and industrial installations. During the 1940 Blitzkrieg when the Germans swept through France, Paris had been declared an open city (un-defended) for the same purpose of preservation. Now as the Third Reich was crumbling the wily Albert Speer was looking to his own place in posterity. The Gatow and Templehof airfields were now cut off and Russian tanks were amassing south of Potsdamer Platz for the final assault on the Reich Chancellery. General Busse’s 9th Army was encircled south-west of Berlin and the only encouraging news was that Field-Marshal Schoerner’s Army Group operating in Czechoslovakia had inflicted heavy losses on the Russians while trying to fight their way through to relieve the city. General Wenck’s 12th Army now at Potsdam was the Fuehrer’s main hope for relief of the city but Russian spearheads were already reported to be trickling into the Tiergarten. In collaboration with the treacherous Heinrici, Colonel-General Manteuffel’s 3rd Panzer Army and other elements of the Army Group were herding across Mecklenburg deliberately by-passing Berlin towards the haven of Allied lines so as to avoid Russian captivity. Field-Marshal Keitel (Chief of Defence Staff at the Fuehrer’s HQ) lost no time in dismissing both these senior commanders for their disobedience of orders, but such orders were now becoming ineffective. Reichsmarschall Goering and Reichsfuehrer Himmler were finally expelled from the Party and stripped of all functions for their gross disloyalty, and Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz was designated as successor to the Fuehrer. Field-Marshal Ferdinand Schoerner “the only person to shine as a real Warlord on the Russian front” was proclaimed the new C-in-C Army after the Fuehrer’s death. As the minutes ticked by, Hitler was constantly enquiring about the progress of General Wenck’s spearheads who were specially earmarked to relieve the city.

Around mid-day the Fuehrer summoned all his female secretarial staff who had volunteered to stay in the bunker for a farewell lunch and delivered his least oration, unlike all those previous occasions when he had been addressing dozens of his Field-Marshals at war conferences:

“I wish that my Generals could have been as brave as you are, but they betrayed me and they bear responsibility for this destruction of the Fatherland”

Handing out cyanide capsules to each of the staff, he apologised profusely that he was unable to offer them kinder farewell gifts. Even now at the twelfth hour the Fuehrer was still living in his dream-world that General Wenck’s relief columns would somehow reach the beleaguered city but his spearheads were stalled to the south as the 12th Army was gradually disintegrating. By now the Russians were fighting in the subway tunnels under Friedrichstrasse and Vossstrasse, they were at Weidendamn bridge and Potsdamer Platz with spearheads already pouring into the famous Tiergarten. Within a matter of hours they would reach the Reich Chancellery.

The Fuehrer was dressed as punctiliously as ever, donning the olive-green shirt with black shoes, socks and trousers for the very last time. He sent for Martin Bormann and his personal adjutant Otto Gunsche who were to ensure that both the bodies were burned to ashes:

“I would not like my body to be put on display in some waxworks. I want the Russians to realise that I remained here until the very last moment because the Captain always goes down with his ship. My weak-minded Generals were always looking over their shoulders for a chance to retreat but the Fuehrer does not desert the Fatherland”

Strolling through the bunker for the last time accompanied by Eva Braun, he must have noticed the officers of his escort waiting with two stretchers near the exit staircase. The loyal General Hans Krebs (Chief of General Staff) informed the Fuehrer that there was now little hope of General Wenck’s relief columns reaching the battered city.

It was mid-afternoon by the time Hitler and his new wife of 24 hours only withdrew into the green-and-white tiled study from where he had conducted so many battles for his Thousand Year Reich. He closed the doors leaving Bormann, Goebells, Hans Krebs and Burgdorf in the conference room. The doors sealed off all sounds except the gentle murmur of the ventilation plant and the explosion of Russian shells above ground. The Russian spearheads were now within sight of the Reich Chancellery, advancing inch by inch through the rubble. Sitting on the narrow couch Eva kicked off her shoes and swung her legs up on to the faded upholstery. The Fuehrer sat by her side with a portrait of Frederick the Great frowning down in front of him. They both unscrewed the brass casings and extracted the glass phials with their amber liquid content. Eva bit the glass and sank her head on to Hitler’s shoulder as her knees drew up sharply in agony. Controlling his trembling hand, Hitler raised the heavy 7.65 mm Walther to his right temple, clenched his teeth on the phial and squeezed the trigger.

Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz the new Reich President was forming his Government at Flensburg near the Danish border and issued the first proclamation to the German people:

“Our brave Fuehrer died today at his command post in the Reich Chancellery, fighting to the last breath against the Bolshevik menace and international Jury. He laid down his life for the Fatherland and we now resolve to carry on the unequal struggle until final victory”

2000

Since the bunker of Adolf Hitler was unearthed and identified, two questions must be answered - who should decide what to do with it and what should they decide ? The scope and magnitude of Hitler’s destructiveness is without precedent and he cast a menacing shadow over the entire globe. With the aid of millions of Germans and Austrians he conquered the European continent, caused the death of millions of Europeans and fundamentally altered virtually every European country with the aid of collaborators. Had he won the World War II which he started, he would have killed millions more, enslaved entire peoples and destroyed Western civilisation including Christianity. The Thousand Year Reich which he envisaged would have been a reign of moral darkness and human suffering outstripping anything yet known in the world. Even his utter defeat was seismic, producing huge population transfers including millions of ethnic Germans, the re-drawing of many countries’ borders and the division of Germany which lasted over 40 years. In the light of all this, should it be only Germans who decide what shapes the disposition of this bunker? No. In a globalising world, in an ever more Europeanised Germany and Germanified Europe, national control of many aspects of national history, including historic sites and monuments, is also becoming obsolete. It is also decidedly undesirable.

German national history has become internationalised, shaped as much by non-Germans as by Germans. This has been resented, but there can be no doubt that the outside perspectives have helped to produce among many Germans a more truthful and ultimately a more welcome, if more painful understanding of the past. The direct and truthful manner in which Germans have dealt with the past could serve as an example for other nations. The Fuehrer’s bunker might, for symbolic reasons, be placed under the auspices of the United Nations World Heritage Committee. This might be done not because Germany cannot be expected to do something responsible and appropriate with the bunker but because Hitler was a man of worldwide destructiveness. When thinking then about what should become of his bunker, the first impulse for many might be to “erase the infamy”, because all vestiges of such evil should be eradicated and because of the fear that it would become a neo-Nazi shrine. However, the reasons for maintaining the bunker are overwhelmingly powerful. It is just as important to preserve historical sites of horror as it is to preserve anything that reflects human benevolence.

Sites of infamy, if handled discreetly, can serve as schools of warning, reflection and learning. Hitler embodies, like nothing else, radical evil. Many people, particularly in Germany and Austria, fail to understand that his triumph would have meant the destruction of the central values upon which contemporary German democracy and Christianity are based.

Hitler’s bunker should be open to the public as a symbol of the evil but not only of the evil, however great, of a single man. The Fuehrer was a man of his times with charming and magnetic hypnotism over vast multitudes. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were highly impressed by his elegant manners and polished courtesy. It is said that during the 1930s he was renowned in the Continental diplomatic society as a Ladies’ man, millions adored him, worshipped him, followed him willingly and shared in his frenzied delusions. The bunker should not be transformed into an elaborate museum but should be maintained in simple form as it was during those fateful times. It would be visited by many people, those who still admire him and those who abhor him. Morbid curiosity alone would bring many visitors. If the neo-Nazis then wish to use this bunker as a rallying point, then let people see the contemporary evil, be horrified by it, combat it and defeat it with a single-minded purpose that did not exist 60 years ago. In secure democracies one does not eradicate symbols of hatred, but one rises in solidarity with those who are hated against those who hate.

“If neo-Nazis want to use Hitler’s bunker as a rallying point, then let people see the evil and defeat it with a purpose that did not exist 60 years ago”.