Welcome to the History Think Blog

Over the last eleven posts, I have retraced the final eleven days of Adolf Hitler’s life—from his 56th birthday in a burning Berlin to his final breath in a concrete bunker. We followed him and the people around him through paranoia, betrayal, fantasy, and finally, suicide. It’s a grim story, and a real… Read more: After the Bunker: What We Know, and Why It Matters

April 30, 1945, was Adolf Hitler’s last day alive. In the narrow corridors and concrete chambers of the Führerbunker, the end unfolded with a quiet, clinical certainty. Outside, Soviet forces had advanced to within a few hundred meters. The Reich was finished, Berlin was lost, and everyone inside the bunker knew it. Hitler… Read more: Part 11: April 30, 1945 – Hitler’s Last Day

There was no silence in the bunker now. The shelling never stopped. The walls trembled. The air was a mix of smoke, sweat, and despair. Above ground, the Soviets had reached the Reichstag. Below, Hitler was making final arrangements—legal, personal, and emotional—for his death. The man who had once stood beside Hitler as… Read more: Part 10: April 29, 1945 – The Day Before the End