page_title: Vorbunker
section_title: Post-war events
hierarchical_section_title: Vorbunker / Post-war events
caption_attribution_description: English: Place of Hitler's Bunker in 2007, Place marked by German government Nederlands: Plaats van Hitlers bunker in 2007. De plaats is door de Duitse overheid gemarkeerd Deutsch: Der Ort von Hitlers Führerbunker im Jahr 2007, gekennzeichnet durch die deutsche Regierung.
context_page_description: The Vorbunker was an underground concrete structure originally intended to be a temporary air-raid shelter for Adolf Hitler and his guards and servants. It was located behind the large reception hall that was added onto the old Reich Chancellery, in Berlin, Germany, in 1936. The bunker was officially called the "Reich Chancellery Air-Raid Shelter" until 1943, when the complex was expanded 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, including Martin Bormann. Later, Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels moved into the Führerbunker while Magda 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.
context_section_description: The ruins of both Chancellery buildings were levelled by the Soviets between 1945 and 1949 as part of an effort to destroy the landmarks of Nazi Germany. The bunker complex largely survived, although some areas were partially flooded. In December 1947 the Soviets tried to blow up the bunkers, but only the separation walls were damaged. In 1959 the East German government began a series of demolitions of the Chancellery, including the bunker complex. In 1974, 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) of water was pumped from inside the bunkers, and the East Germany Stasi conducted a survey of the interior of the Vorbunker and took external measurements of the Führerbunker. Since it was near the Berlin Wall, the site was undeveloped and neglected until after reunification.
  During the construction of residential housing and other buildings on the site in 1988–89, several underground sections of the bunker complex were uncovered by work crews. In April 1988, the East German government allowed several visits to the site by photo-journalists. Water was pumped out of the Vorbunker for four days before access could be made via the underground passageway which led from the Chancellery. The interior floor of the Vorbunker was covered with a muddy sludge from having been underwater for so many years. Old empty wine bottles were found on the floor of the kitchen and wine store room. Still present in the room next to the kitchen were the broken frames of the bunk beds used by the Goebbels children. At the end of the hallway were the stairs leading down to the Führerbunker. However, the men could go no further than the mid-landing, as the Führerbunker was still underwater and the ceiling beyond the doorway had collapsed due to the demolitions performed in 1947. After these inspections, work crews for the most part removed and destroyed the bunker complex. The Vorbunker's top and external walls were the first structures to be torn down. The construction of buildings in the area around the complex was a strategy for ensuring the surroundings remained anonymous and unremarkable. The emergency exit point for the Führerbunker (which had been in the Chancellery gardens) was occupied by a car park.
  On 8 June 2006, during the lead-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, an information board was installed to mark the location of the bunker complex. The board, including a schematic diagram of the bunker, can be found at the corner of In den Ministergärten and Gertrud-Kolmar-Straße, two small streets about three minutes' walk from Potsdamer Platz. Hitler's bodyguard, 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.
caption: Site of the Bunker complex in 2007
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