No doubt, World War II was a dark period in history. And even though many years have passed since then, the Nazi regime has a way of surfacing to the limelight – or so to speak. Like Adolf Hitler’s secret bunker that was found under a Berlin parking lot.
Unsurprisingly, most people, both German and foreigners, had no idea that they were parking their cars above the place that Hitler spent the last five months before his defeat and the fall of the Third Reich.
It was only five years ago, just before the soccer World Cup in Germany, when the government eventually surpassed its fears that the place would become a rallying point for neo-Nazis and revealed the secret to the world.
Hiding under 13 feet of concrete, the Führerbunker, which literally translates as the bunker of the Führer, was an underground multi-story building initially designated as a shelter from Allied bombings bellow the Chancellery. However, as the Allies increased their bombing of Berlin, it became Hitler’s center of operations.
There were two levels, the Vorbunker that was constructed in 1936, and the Führerbunker which is one story below and was built in 1943. Hitler and his staff moved there in January 1945. When the Reich fell five months later, the Soviet soldiers found many dead bodies of Nazis and their families who had committed suicide like their leader.
Since it was near the Berlin Wall, the site was neglected and deteriorated. After the fall of communism and the reunification of Germany, housing buildings were built and during digging, the workers found more underground rooms, most of which they destroyed.
So there you have it; the place where the man responsible for the killing of millions committed suicide is now nothing but a hole in the ground where, above it, people go on with their life as usual.
Some may not know what lies under their feet, but they all remember the atrocities committed under the Nazi regime. Hopefully, the world will never see something like that ever again.
Source: Youtube via Jalopnik
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