16
January 1945 A.D. Hitler Takes to His
Bunker Until His Suicide 105 Days Later
Editors.
“1945 – Adolf Hitler takes to his underground bunker, where he remains for 105
days until he commits suicide.” This
Day in U.S. Military History. N.d. https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/january-16/. Accessed 15 Jan 2015.
1945 – Adolf
Hitler takes to his underground bunker, where he remains for 105 days until he
commits suicide. Hitler retired to his bunker after deciding to remain in
Berlin for the last great siege of the war. Fifty-five feet under the
chancellery (Hitler’s headquarters as chancellor), the shelter contained 18
small rooms and was fully self-sufficient, with its own water and electrical
supply. He left only rarely (once to decorate a squadron of Hitler Youth) and
spent most of his time micromanaging what was left of German defenses and
entertaining Nazi colleagues like Hermann Goering, Heinrich Himmler, and
Joachim von Ribbentrop. Constantly at his side during this time were his
companion, Eva Braun, and his Alsatian, Blondi. On April 29, Hitler married Eva
in their bunker hideaway. Eva Braun met Hitler while working as an assistant to
Hitler’s official photographer. Braun spent her time with Hitler out of public
view, entertaining herself by skiing and swimming. She had no discernible
influence on Hitler’s political career but provided a certain domesticity to
the life of the dictator. Loyal to the end, she refused to leave the bunker
even as the Russians closed in. Only hours after they were united in marriage,
both Hitler and Eva committed suicide. Warned by officers that the Russians
were only about a day from overtaking the chancellery and urged to escape to
Berchtesgarden, a small town in the Bavarian Alps where Hitler owned a home,
the dictator instead chose to take his life. Both he and his wife swallowed
cyanide capsules (which had been tested for their efficacy on his “beloved” dog
and her pups). For good measure, he shot himself with his pistol.
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