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The Bunker
"A powerfully vivid documentary reconstruction of Adolf Hitler's final days." – New York Times
Here is an unforgettable, graphic account of the final days in the Fuhrer's headquarters, deep under the shattered city of Berlin as World War II in Europe drew to a close. From James P. O'Donnell's interviews with fifty eyewitnesses to the madness and carnage – everyone from Albert Speer to generals, staff officers, doctors, Hitler's personal pilot, telephone operators, and secretaries – emerges an account that historian Theodore H. White has hailed as "superb . . . quite simply the most accurate and terrifying account of the nightmare and its end I have ever read."
"A riveting, damned near incredible (but true) story." – Gerald Green, author of Holocaust
Here is an unforgettable, graphic account of the final days in the Fuhrer's headquarters, deep under the shattered city of Berlin as World War II in Europe drew to a close. From James P. O'Donnell's interviews with fifty eyewitnesses to the madness and carnage – everyone from Albert Speer to generals, staff officers, doctors, Hitler's personal pilot, telephone operators, and secretaries – emerges an account that historian Theodore H. White has hailed as "superb . . . quite simply the most accurate and terrifying account of the nightmare and its end I have ever read."
"A riveting, damned near incredible (but true) story." – Gerald Green, author of Holocaust
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
16 people are currently reading
432 people want to read
About the author
James P. O'Donnell
3 books4 followersJames Preston O'Donnell (July 30, 1917 – April 16, 1990) was an American author and journalist.
O'Donnell was educated at Harvard University and worked as a journalist, mostly for magazines. He was a friend of the Kennedy family. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps until July 2, 1945, when he was discharged. He became Newsweek magazine's German bureau chief. In this capacity, he arrived in Berlin on July 4. He was assigned to investigate Hitler's death and to obtain information as to Eva Braun.
O'Donnell bribed the Soviet soldier guarding the entrance to Hitler's Berlin bunker becoming the first non-Soviet to examine it. He found and took numerous top secret Nazi documents. After using these documents and interviews with many of the last occupants of the Führerbunker in his later publications, he became an authority on the death of Adolf Hitler, and ultimately published his collected findings in his 1975 book, The Bunker.
After his tenure with Newsweek, O'Donnell worked for many years as a freelance journalist in Germany, and published pieces in magazines ranging from Life magazine to The Saturday Evening Post.
He later joined the U.S. State Department as an adviser on Berlin. He spent his last years as a journalism professor at Boston University. In 2011, historian Niall Ferguson credited O'Donnell as one of the few Western observers who accurately foresaw the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In the 1981 CBS television movie The Bunker, O'Donnell is portrayed by actor James Naughton in a brief scene at the beginning.
O'Donnell was educated at Harvard University and worked as a journalist, mostly for magazines. He was a friend of the Kennedy family. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps until July 2, 1945, when he was discharged. He became Newsweek magazine's German bureau chief. In this capacity, he arrived in Berlin on July 4. He was assigned to investigate Hitler's death and to obtain information as to Eva Braun.
O'Donnell bribed the Soviet soldier guarding the entrance to Hitler's Berlin bunker becoming the first non-Soviet to examine it. He found and took numerous top secret Nazi documents. After using these documents and interviews with many of the last occupants of the Führerbunker in his later publications, he became an authority on the death of Adolf Hitler, and ultimately published his collected findings in his 1975 book, The Bunker.
After his tenure with Newsweek, O'Donnell worked for many years as a freelance journalist in Germany, and published pieces in magazines ranging from Life magazine to The Saturday Evening Post.
He later joined the U.S. State Department as an adviser on Berlin. He spent his last years as a journalism professor at Boston University. In 2011, historian Niall Ferguson credited O'Donnell as one of the few Western observers who accurately foresaw the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In the 1981 CBS television movie The Bunker, O'Donnell is portrayed by actor James Naughton in a brief scene at the beginning.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
July 5, 2022
For WWII history buffs, this is the best account I've read of Hitler's last days, and also includes those around him. It's very detailed, highly sourced through personal interviews of those present, and offers a portrait of Hitler--both the man and the myth.
April 22, 2023
'People who ask why Adolf Hitler did not leave Berlin during the last days of his rule do not understand the mind of Adolf Hitler. Hitler's mind was theatrical. He had to be on stage when the final curtain fell."---H.Trevor Roper, British historian and the first non-Russian to enter the Bunker
Why does Hitler's last stand at the underground Fuhrerbunker in April of 1945 still continue to fascinate and horrify us almost 80 years after the the last flames consumed his body and that of Mrs. Hitler, Eva Braun? Three important books and films cover this "Twilight of the Gods" in detail: VOICES FROM THE BUNKER by Joachim fest, the basis for DOWNFALL; HITLER: THE LAST TEN DAY, birthing the film of the same name, starring Alec Guinness as the Fuhrer (no Obi Wan-Kenobi jokes, please); and this concise volume, written by a U.S. intelligence officer and one of the first Americans to enter Hitler's last layer. O'Donell is unusual in that regard, since he constantly inserts himself into his own book; "I saw this painting...I talked to Hitler's last pilot". This brings the reader immediacy but not profundity. Hitler's mind during the last weeks of his life are what truly captivates the reader. He was like a figure out of Greek tragedy, only high on speed or low on morphine. (Yes, the stories you've heard of "High Hitler!" are true. He gave orders to his Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer, that all of Germany was to be scorched, "for the German people have proven themselves to weak to win, and the survivors are the biggest cowards of them all", yet he knew intuitively Speer would never carry out this order, and forgave him. (But then Speer was the only human being Hitler acknowledged as "a fellow genius".) Hitler never entertained the possibility of either escape or leading a last stand or "Mountain redoubt" in Bavaria: "National Socialism will die with me". One cannot imagine this in reverse. Churchill stated that he would cross the Atlantic and fight from Canada to win the war and Stalin made plans for retreating being the Urals to continue guerrilla warfare against the Germans if Moscow fell. Still, Hitler had hopes of a German recuperation. One his loyal secretary Frau Junge asked him who his "Last Will and Testament" was for the fuhrer replied "for the man to come". O'Donell got more of the Bunker survivors to talk than any other historian, and for that he deserves praise. Yet, the last word on Hitler's exir from history belongs to one of his best biographers, John Toland: "The greatest mover of the twentieth century, who had once inspired millions, was dead, mourned only by the faithful few".
Why does Hitler's last stand at the underground Fuhrerbunker in April of 1945 still continue to fascinate and horrify us almost 80 years after the the last flames consumed his body and that of Mrs. Hitler, Eva Braun? Three important books and films cover this "Twilight of the Gods" in detail: VOICES FROM THE BUNKER by Joachim fest, the basis for DOWNFALL; HITLER: THE LAST TEN DAY, birthing the film of the same name, starring Alec Guinness as the Fuhrer (no Obi Wan-Kenobi jokes, please); and this concise volume, written by a U.S. intelligence officer and one of the first Americans to enter Hitler's last layer. O'Donell is unusual in that regard, since he constantly inserts himself into his own book; "I saw this painting...I talked to Hitler's last pilot". This brings the reader immediacy but not profundity. Hitler's mind during the last weeks of his life are what truly captivates the reader. He was like a figure out of Greek tragedy, only high on speed or low on morphine. (Yes, the stories you've heard of "High Hitler!" are true. He gave orders to his Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer, that all of Germany was to be scorched, "for the German people have proven themselves to weak to win, and the survivors are the biggest cowards of them all", yet he knew intuitively Speer would never carry out this order, and forgave him. (But then Speer was the only human being Hitler acknowledged as "a fellow genius".) Hitler never entertained the possibility of either escape or leading a last stand or "Mountain redoubt" in Bavaria: "National Socialism will die with me". One cannot imagine this in reverse. Churchill stated that he would cross the Atlantic and fight from Canada to win the war and Stalin made plans for retreating being the Urals to continue guerrilla warfare against the Germans if Moscow fell. Still, Hitler had hopes of a German recuperation. One his loyal secretary Frau Junge asked him who his "Last Will and Testament" was for the fuhrer replied "for the man to come". O'Donell got more of the Bunker survivors to talk than any other historian, and for that he deserves praise. Yet, the last word on Hitler's exir from history belongs to one of his best biographers, John Toland: "The greatest mover of the twentieth century, who had once inspired millions, was dead, mourned only by the faithful few".
December 28, 2012
An outstanding account of the final days of Hitler and those in his inner circle. While the majority of the book deals with the days up till Hitler's suicide, the remainder of the book relates the story of the dangerous escape through Russian lines for those who fled the bunker. James O'Donnell has done a remarkable job of relating the events through 50 eye witness accounts that he collected over a period of nearly 30 years. The author was one of the first group of correspondents allowed in to the bunker by the Russians for a first hand look only 2 months after VE day. He stated that it was an experience that would stay with him for the rest of his life. Where he lacked specific first hand accounts he used deduction as to what events were logical and reasonable to have occurred. This is by far the best book on the final days of Hitler and the Third Reich that I have read.
August 13, 2016
I happened to watch Der Untergang (Downfall - Bruno Ganz is incredible and the movie being in German, more authentic) and The Bunker (Anthony Hopkins), two excellent movies about the last days of Hitler in his underground facilities. So I started poking around for some books.
Written in 1978, this is a fascinating account of the final days in Hitler's incredible labyrinthine war room/living quarters under the streets of Berlin. James O'Donnell interviewed fifty --out of a possible 250 - some were rejected as having an ax to grind, or not being at the scene of events-- of the participants. O'Donnell, a captain in the signals corp who toured the bunker shortly after Berlin fell, took the journalist's approach.
"In that first year of basic research, which consisted of ringing doorbells, thumbing through provincial telephone books, cross checking references, I had hopes of locating, at most, perhaps forty or fifty sources. At year's end, to my amazement, I needed a second black box. The first contained more than 25o names, all genuine, still-living witnesses who had been present in the bunker at some time during the last battle in Berlin. My surprise was based, of course, on my own memory of the cramped and limited topography of the bunker proper. What I had overlooked was the maze of tunnels leading into the New and Old Reich Chancellery and other nearby government buildings. The bunker was a small stage, a snake pit. But the comings and goings, in the desperate last days of April 1945, had a Grand Central Station, rush-hour atmosphere.
Just how close this composite account comes to historical truth, to the kind of documentation an academic historian insists on, I simply cannot say. Nor is it overly important to my purpose. I am a journalist, not a historian. I ring doorbells; I do not haunt archives. What I was looking for is what I believe most people look for, psychological truth. I am aware that many of the accounts here differ from the accounts - meager, in any case - given in some of the first interrogations back in 1945” He succeeds, I think, brilliantly.
O’Donnell leans heavily on Speer’s recollections, which, of course, tend toward the self-serving, but that’s OK. Speer insists that he was instrumental in preventing a societal catastrophe by standing up to Hitler who wanted to level everything and everyone in the path of the Allies, reasoning that because they had lost the war it was the fault of the German people who were not strong enough to survive. Hitler insisted that Speer, whom he admired for his architectural work, swear the war was not lost or at least “hope” the war was not lost. Ironically, Speer could have argued that Hitler was the one who had given up hope given his instructions to lay waste to everything, instead choosing to acquiesce and then subvert the implementation of those plans.
By this time, Hitler was just a shell of his former presence, sick and suffering what might have been Parkinson’s given the tremor in his left hand which he hid; or it could have been damage from the several assassination attempts or even the foul air in the bunker complex which had walls sixteen feet thick and was buried under thirty feet of earth. (Speer claims he attempted to assassinate Hitler himself by spreading poison gas into the ventilation ducts, but was foiled by his inability to get the right material.) “Hardbitten front-line veterans like Generals Heinrici, Krukenberg, Weidling, and Reimann, summoned to the bunker, regarded it as a madhouse being run by the inmates. On one occasion, General Helmuth Weidling arrived in trepidation. It was April 25, and he had been told that Hitler had just ordered that he be taken out and shot.”
I can’t resist recounting the story of General Fegelein. Married to Eva Braun’s sister, Gretl, (if only his name had been Hansel, it would have been perfect) who, by this time, was close to delivering their child, he was a womanizer and wasn’t stupid enough to hang around the bunker for the Red Army. (He wasn’t *that* bright as we’ll soon see.) He dabbled with escaping and at one point even made it to Himmler’s bunker some ninety miles north of Berlin where Himmler, much to Hitler’s anger, was attempting to negotiate a peace with the allies through the Swedes.
For some unfathomable reason, Fegelein decided to return to Berlin, but rather than report right away to the Bunker (which might have saved his life) he holed up in an apartment on Bleibtreustraße (what delicious irony in that name) with a ravishing woman, Irish wife of a Hungarian diplomat (the author suspects) who might also very well have been a spy. There’s a lot of speculation involved here and O’Donnell tried to track her down, assuming she survived the war. When Hitler and Bormann finally noticed Fegelein hadn’t shown up, they sent several soldiers to bring him back. Finally on the third try (the early units couldn’t force him, drunk as he was) to come as they were mere majors and lieutenants, a Colonel was sent who persuaded Fegelein to return.
The woman, who was in the apartment packing a valise, walked into the kitchen ostensibly to get some water and disappeared out the window never to be seen again. (She obviously was the only one with any sense.) The Colonel grabbed the suitcase but didn’t open it until they reached the bunker where they discovered quite of bit of cash, some in Swiss francs (the best currency for fugitives) and two passports, one of them British (it could have been gotten through Irish connections -- Ireland was neutral but citizens could apply for British passports,) and some evidence of Himmler’s treachery. Fegelein was thus pegged not only as a deserter but a traitor as well and was shot in spite (or perhaps because?) of being Hitler’s prospective brother-in-law. (Hitler was shortly to marry Eva Braun, just before their suicide.) O’Donnell marshals some evidence to indicate the woman was feeding information to the British, including intelligence that Hitler was moving troops (including Fegelein’s division) to the Ardennes in preparation for the famous “Battle of the Bulge” offensive in late 1944. Her information was ignored. She has disappeared from history.
Hitler’s “scorched earth” orders were not carried out, but Berlin was beyond devastated. “This Berlin rubble was gigantic, obscene. Some was old and molding, sprouting rare spring wildflowers; some was still fresh and smoldering, like angry lava. Lilliputian locomotives on toylike narrow-gauge tracks, brought to Berlin from the Ruhr mining valleys, chugged and puffed along what once had been broad streets and now were canyons, piling up no million square meters of debris - brick, concrete, mortar, shards of glass, limestone, sandstone, headless caryatides from pompous old Berlin Jugendstil portals and balconies. The Reichsbahn, the national railway, estimated that there was enough rubble to fill four million freight cars. Or, if piled all in one place, to make an artificial mountain higher than the tallest peak in the Harz Mountains (the Brocken, 3747 feet above sea level).”
Written in 1978, this is a fascinating account of the final days in Hitler's incredible labyrinthine war room/living quarters under the streets of Berlin. James O'Donnell interviewed fifty --out of a possible 250 - some were rejected as having an ax to grind, or not being at the scene of events-- of the participants. O'Donnell, a captain in the signals corp who toured the bunker shortly after Berlin fell, took the journalist's approach.
"In that first year of basic research, which consisted of ringing doorbells, thumbing through provincial telephone books, cross checking references, I had hopes of locating, at most, perhaps forty or fifty sources. At year's end, to my amazement, I needed a second black box. The first contained more than 25o names, all genuine, still-living witnesses who had been present in the bunker at some time during the last battle in Berlin. My surprise was based, of course, on my own memory of the cramped and limited topography of the bunker proper. What I had overlooked was the maze of tunnels leading into the New and Old Reich Chancellery and other nearby government buildings. The bunker was a small stage, a snake pit. But the comings and goings, in the desperate last days of April 1945, had a Grand Central Station, rush-hour atmosphere.
Just how close this composite account comes to historical truth, to the kind of documentation an academic historian insists on, I simply cannot say. Nor is it overly important to my purpose. I am a journalist, not a historian. I ring doorbells; I do not haunt archives. What I was looking for is what I believe most people look for, psychological truth. I am aware that many of the accounts here differ from the accounts - meager, in any case - given in some of the first interrogations back in 1945” He succeeds, I think, brilliantly.
O’Donnell leans heavily on Speer’s recollections, which, of course, tend toward the self-serving, but that’s OK. Speer insists that he was instrumental in preventing a societal catastrophe by standing up to Hitler who wanted to level everything and everyone in the path of the Allies, reasoning that because they had lost the war it was the fault of the German people who were not strong enough to survive. Hitler insisted that Speer, whom he admired for his architectural work, swear the war was not lost or at least “hope” the war was not lost. Ironically, Speer could have argued that Hitler was the one who had given up hope given his instructions to lay waste to everything, instead choosing to acquiesce and then subvert the implementation of those plans.
By this time, Hitler was just a shell of his former presence, sick and suffering what might have been Parkinson’s given the tremor in his left hand which he hid; or it could have been damage from the several assassination attempts or even the foul air in the bunker complex which had walls sixteen feet thick and was buried under thirty feet of earth. (Speer claims he attempted to assassinate Hitler himself by spreading poison gas into the ventilation ducts, but was foiled by his inability to get the right material.) “Hardbitten front-line veterans like Generals Heinrici, Krukenberg, Weidling, and Reimann, summoned to the bunker, regarded it as a madhouse being run by the inmates. On one occasion, General Helmuth Weidling arrived in trepidation. It was April 25, and he had been told that Hitler had just ordered that he be taken out and shot.”
I can’t resist recounting the story of General Fegelein. Married to Eva Braun’s sister, Gretl, (if only his name had been Hansel, it would have been perfect) who, by this time, was close to delivering their child, he was a womanizer and wasn’t stupid enough to hang around the bunker for the Red Army. (He wasn’t *that* bright as we’ll soon see.) He dabbled with escaping and at one point even made it to Himmler’s bunker some ninety miles north of Berlin where Himmler, much to Hitler’s anger, was attempting to negotiate a peace with the allies through the Swedes.
For some unfathomable reason, Fegelein decided to return to Berlin, but rather than report right away to the Bunker (which might have saved his life) he holed up in an apartment on Bleibtreustraße (what delicious irony in that name) with a ravishing woman, Irish wife of a Hungarian diplomat (the author suspects) who might also very well have been a spy. There’s a lot of speculation involved here and O’Donnell tried to track her down, assuming she survived the war. When Hitler and Bormann finally noticed Fegelein hadn’t shown up, they sent several soldiers to bring him back. Finally on the third try (the early units couldn’t force him, drunk as he was) to come as they were mere majors and lieutenants, a Colonel was sent who persuaded Fegelein to return.
The woman, who was in the apartment packing a valise, walked into the kitchen ostensibly to get some water and disappeared out the window never to be seen again. (She obviously was the only one with any sense.) The Colonel grabbed the suitcase but didn’t open it until they reached the bunker where they discovered quite of bit of cash, some in Swiss francs (the best currency for fugitives) and two passports, one of them British (it could have been gotten through Irish connections -- Ireland was neutral but citizens could apply for British passports,) and some evidence of Himmler’s treachery. Fegelein was thus pegged not only as a deserter but a traitor as well and was shot in spite (or perhaps because?) of being Hitler’s prospective brother-in-law. (Hitler was shortly to marry Eva Braun, just before their suicide.) O’Donnell marshals some evidence to indicate the woman was feeding information to the British, including intelligence that Hitler was moving troops (including Fegelein’s division) to the Ardennes in preparation for the famous “Battle of the Bulge” offensive in late 1944. Her information was ignored. She has disappeared from history.
Hitler’s “scorched earth” orders were not carried out, but Berlin was beyond devastated. “This Berlin rubble was gigantic, obscene. Some was old and molding, sprouting rare spring wildflowers; some was still fresh and smoldering, like angry lava. Lilliputian locomotives on toylike narrow-gauge tracks, brought to Berlin from the Ruhr mining valleys, chugged and puffed along what once had been broad streets and now were canyons, piling up no million square meters of debris - brick, concrete, mortar, shards of glass, limestone, sandstone, headless caryatides from pompous old Berlin Jugendstil portals and balconies. The Reichsbahn, the national railway, estimated that there was enough rubble to fill four million freight cars. Or, if piled all in one place, to make an artificial mountain higher than the tallest peak in the Harz Mountains (the Brocken, 3747 feet above sea level).”
March 14, 2019
I'm late getting to this, since I finished it a couple of weeks ago. Just as I was finished the book, Bruno Ganz, who played Hitler in the great 2003 movie, "Downfall," passed away. It would be interesting to know what sources the movie relied on, since it's hard to imagine a better one on Hitler's last days, than O'Donnell's effort. Interestingly, O'Donnell's book was the major source for 1981's made-for-tv effort ("The Bunker") starring Anthony Hopkins.
"The Bunker" is a bit unusual, and not without some minor warts. O'Donnell was not an historian, but a journalist (Newsweek). He was also an army captain, and served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. O'Donnell would be one of the first Americans to enter Hitler's bunker after the war. From that point on, apparently, O'Donnell became obsessed with what really happened in that bunker. He would spend years interviewing, and re-interviewing, living witnesses and occupants of the bunker. He would have to wait years for some of these interviews since the Russians had a number of the witnesses sprinkled throughout the Soviet Union in various camps. But the result is about as comprehensive a portrait as can be assembled. O'Donnell's focus is a wide-one, which will often take you outside of the bunker. This seems necessary, since there were important comings and goings by various Nazi big-shots (and others), that plug the reader into the broader context of those last flaming days of war. To just focus on the bunker itself is to fall down a dank rabbit hole of Nazi ravings and wistful torch-filled memories about the good old days. In particular, O'Donnell relies (over-relies?) on Albert Speer's recollections. Speer's accounts are important, but one can't help but feel there's a self-serving element kicking in whenever Speer opens his mouth. O'Donnell seems to have totally bought into the good or remorseful Nazi thing, but what do I know? O'Donnell was a seasoned journalist, and perhaps Speer was telling it straight. Still, Speer's suggestion of his own assassination "attempt" on Hitler is a joke.
Hitler himself comes across much as Ganz portrayed him, shuffling around, physically falling apart, but occasionally showing flashes of the old steel. The fact that he stayed pretty much in the bunker for a 100 days or so, is like a premature burial of sorts. O'Donnell does a good job shooting down Bormann's possible escape, as well as telling you why Bormann was such a despised (even among the other Nazis) bureaucratic toad. Other worthwhile portraits are served up in the fanatically weird and monstrous Joseph and Magda Goebbels (they would poison their six children), Eva Braun, and a couple of daring pilots who hoped, until the last, that they could spirit Hitler out of the Berlin inferno. There are others. There are a number of fascinating historical nuggets, such as the first Russians to enter the bunker were women doctors and nurses, who made off with, among other thing, Eva Braun's french bras. O'Donnell also engages in some informed speculation, such as a British agent (who O'Donnell calls "Mata O'Hara") who Eva Braun's brother-in-law, SS General Hermann Fegelein, was having an affair with. Fegelein was also unknowingly suppling useful information to this agent, which was driving Hitler nuts since they couldn't figure out where the leak was coming from. Well, they sort of figured it out, but arrested and executed Fegelein instead, while the agent escaped out the window (she was supposedly fixing drinks for the arrest team). We know little more than she had red hair. This chapter ("The Lady Vanishes") is worth reading all by itself.
Overall this is a great read. I'm not sure it's even in print. I picked it up (an old Bantam paperback) at a library used book sale. One fault the book does have is O'Donnell penchant for attaching a classical overlay to some events. O'Donnell was a Classics major in college, and he's not shy about reminding you of that. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it's clunky and unnecessary.
"The Bunker" is a bit unusual, and not without some minor warts. O'Donnell was not an historian, but a journalist (Newsweek). He was also an army captain, and served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. O'Donnell would be one of the first Americans to enter Hitler's bunker after the war. From that point on, apparently, O'Donnell became obsessed with what really happened in that bunker. He would spend years interviewing, and re-interviewing, living witnesses and occupants of the bunker. He would have to wait years for some of these interviews since the Russians had a number of the witnesses sprinkled throughout the Soviet Union in various camps. But the result is about as comprehensive a portrait as can be assembled. O'Donnell's focus is a wide-one, which will often take you outside of the bunker. This seems necessary, since there were important comings and goings by various Nazi big-shots (and others), that plug the reader into the broader context of those last flaming days of war. To just focus on the bunker itself is to fall down a dank rabbit hole of Nazi ravings and wistful torch-filled memories about the good old days. In particular, O'Donnell relies (over-relies?) on Albert Speer's recollections. Speer's accounts are important, but one can't help but feel there's a self-serving element kicking in whenever Speer opens his mouth. O'Donnell seems to have totally bought into the good or remorseful Nazi thing, but what do I know? O'Donnell was a seasoned journalist, and perhaps Speer was telling it straight. Still, Speer's suggestion of his own assassination "attempt" on Hitler is a joke.
Hitler himself comes across much as Ganz portrayed him, shuffling around, physically falling apart, but occasionally showing flashes of the old steel. The fact that he stayed pretty much in the bunker for a 100 days or so, is like a premature burial of sorts. O'Donnell does a good job shooting down Bormann's possible escape, as well as telling you why Bormann was such a despised (even among the other Nazis) bureaucratic toad. Other worthwhile portraits are served up in the fanatically weird and monstrous Joseph and Magda Goebbels (they would poison their six children), Eva Braun, and a couple of daring pilots who hoped, until the last, that they could spirit Hitler out of the Berlin inferno. There are others. There are a number of fascinating historical nuggets, such as the first Russians to enter the bunker were women doctors and nurses, who made off with, among other thing, Eva Braun's french bras. O'Donnell also engages in some informed speculation, such as a British agent (who O'Donnell calls "Mata O'Hara") who Eva Braun's brother-in-law, SS General Hermann Fegelein, was having an affair with. Fegelein was also unknowingly suppling useful information to this agent, which was driving Hitler nuts since they couldn't figure out where the leak was coming from. Well, they sort of figured it out, but arrested and executed Fegelein instead, while the agent escaped out the window (she was supposedly fixing drinks for the arrest team). We know little more than she had red hair. This chapter ("The Lady Vanishes") is worth reading all by itself.
Overall this is a great read. I'm not sure it's even in print. I picked it up (an old Bantam paperback) at a library used book sale. One fault the book does have is O'Donnell penchant for attaching a classical overlay to some events. O'Donnell was a Classics major in college, and he's not shy about reminding you of that. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it's clunky and unnecessary.
June 5, 2022
Jak w tytule.
March 30, 2023
Always a good read. I’ve read this book, I think, about 3 times. Some of the details have changed over the decades, as this book was written in the 1970s, during the Cold War. But, as a synopsis of what occurred down in that hole in April and May 1945, few works surpass this very interesting read.
Having actually set foot on the grounds of the Bunker and the former Reichs Chancellery myself several years ago, as well as having walked around downtown Berlin, gives me views that others who have not been so lucky miss. A great read!
Having actually set foot on the grounds of the Bunker and the former Reichs Chancellery myself several years ago, as well as having walked around downtown Berlin, gives me views that others who have not been so lucky miss. A great read!
November 26, 2024
Good parts: lots of first-hand accounts of the last few days of this craven group. First telling of the bunker breakout attempts.
Bad parts: some strange theorizing. Author trusts Speer just maybe a little bit too much
Bad parts: some strange theorizing. Author trusts Speer just maybe a little bit too much
December 17, 2018
Shocking information I was not aware of. There is a diagram of what the bunker looked like and who resided there. It was creepy and interesting at the same time.
February 20, 2011
Read it an age ago. Brought it home to re-read & rate.
February 13, 2021
On July 4, 1945, Captain James O'Donnell was one of the first Americans to enter Hitler's bunker. The various Russians he encountered there were busy looking for Hitler's corpse, ignoring for the moment all the paperwork lying about. On that day the seed was planted that decades later culminated in this book.
Looking back from the third decade of the 21st century, it may help to remember that O'Donnell was writing while the Wall still stood – and the remains of the Bunker were on the other side of it. The "Mauer" had been put up in 1961 along the demarcation line between the Soviet and the three Western zones of occupation at the war's end. Established as a temporary measure, these boundaries would end up lasting for decades. "Berlin is a city in suspense; here, 1945 never really ended." (pg. 4) Indeed, the end would only come in 1989 with German reunification.
The product of years of dedicated research, The Bunker is quite simply the best book on the topic of Hitler's final days I have read. O'Donnell tells a story – whose outcome is of course known – so well that this Twilight of the Damned becomes gripping in its detail. "I am a journalist, not a historian. I ring doorbells; I do not haunt archives. What I was looking for is what I believe most people look for, psychological truth." (pg. 15) His tale of tracking down surviving witnesses is an adventure in itself. While the main plot addresses the question, "What happened in and around the Bunker?" the subplot is almost as interesting: "Here's how I got the story and found the surviving witnesses."
Reading this book in January 2021, one finds no shortage of parallels to the present. Here is Albert Speer's take on Hitler's enablers: "I knew that neither [General Hans] Krebs nor [Field Marshal Albert] Kesselring was a dunderhead. Nor were they nodding military-lackey types, like Field Marshal Keitel. They were playing these ridiculous wargames just to keep the Fuehrer occupied and distracted. Every day gained was a day closer to the end, and the end had to come any day." (pg. 109) Indeed, most of the Bunker inmates were engaged in an ongoing "flight from realism," and their final hours were filled with "manic expressions of bitterness, betrayal, self-pity, and despair." (pp. 125, 131) Hitler thought of himself as a visionary surrounded by incompetents, sabotaged by the old guard, betrayed by conspirators and leakers – among them Goering, Himmler and ultimately even Speer.
The book's most serious shortcoming is its neglect of code-breaking in contributing to Hitler's defeat. O'Donnell buys the theory that SS General Hermann Fegelein was not just a coward and would-be deserter, but a security risk because of the pillow talk he engaged in with his girlfriend, a mysterious Hungarian beauty who disappeared while he was being detained and who has never been found – or even identified. Oddly, for someone whose background is Sigint, O'Donnell never considers the possibility that the leaks came not from her (that was just a cover story), but from deciphered intercepts.
In the Epilogue, O'Donnell steps back and casts an eye over the legacy of Hitler, Stalin, and the incipient Cold War: Here the author shows himself a shrewd judge of character. Stalin, never one to accept alleged facts at face value, initially suspected Hitler had escaped and was being harbored by the Western Allies to unleash a new assault on the U.S.S.R., this time with their backing. "Stalin repeated to President Truman, Secretary of State James Byrnes, and Admiral Leahy, what he had been whispering to Harry Hopkins earlier in Moscow. Hitler was alive, he stoutly insisted, and was residing in Spain or maybe Argentina." (pg. 370) Even if he did not believe this, he found it useful to insinuate it and so cause confusion and doubt in the West. Stalin was nothing if not a master mischief-maker.
To sum up, while more documents may come to light and details may need to be corrected, a perspective such as his cannot be replaced or replicated for the simple fact that none of the witnesses he interviewed are still alive.
Looking back from the third decade of the 21st century, it may help to remember that O'Donnell was writing while the Wall still stood – and the remains of the Bunker were on the other side of it. The "Mauer" had been put up in 1961 along the demarcation line between the Soviet and the three Western zones of occupation at the war's end. Established as a temporary measure, these boundaries would end up lasting for decades. "Berlin is a city in suspense; here, 1945 never really ended." (pg. 4) Indeed, the end would only come in 1989 with German reunification.
The product of years of dedicated research, The Bunker is quite simply the best book on the topic of Hitler's final days I have read. O'Donnell tells a story – whose outcome is of course known – so well that this Twilight of the Damned becomes gripping in its detail. "I am a journalist, not a historian. I ring doorbells; I do not haunt archives. What I was looking for is what I believe most people look for, psychological truth." (pg. 15) His tale of tracking down surviving witnesses is an adventure in itself. While the main plot addresses the question, "What happened in and around the Bunker?" the subplot is almost as interesting: "Here's how I got the story and found the surviving witnesses."
Reading this book in January 2021, one finds no shortage of parallels to the present. Here is Albert Speer's take on Hitler's enablers: "I knew that neither [General Hans] Krebs nor [Field Marshal Albert] Kesselring was a dunderhead. Nor were they nodding military-lackey types, like Field Marshal Keitel. They were playing these ridiculous wargames just to keep the Fuehrer occupied and distracted. Every day gained was a day closer to the end, and the end had to come any day." (pg. 109) Indeed, most of the Bunker inmates were engaged in an ongoing "flight from realism," and their final hours were filled with "manic expressions of bitterness, betrayal, self-pity, and despair." (pp. 125, 131) Hitler thought of himself as a visionary surrounded by incompetents, sabotaged by the old guard, betrayed by conspirators and leakers – among them Goering, Himmler and ultimately even Speer.
The book's most serious shortcoming is its neglect of code-breaking in contributing to Hitler's defeat. O'Donnell buys the theory that SS General Hermann Fegelein was not just a coward and would-be deserter, but a security risk because of the pillow talk he engaged in with his girlfriend, a mysterious Hungarian beauty who disappeared while he was being detained and who has never been found – or even identified. Oddly, for someone whose background is Sigint, O'Donnell never considers the possibility that the leaks came not from her (that was just a cover story), but from deciphered intercepts.
In the Epilogue, O'Donnell steps back and casts an eye over the legacy of Hitler, Stalin, and the incipient Cold War: Here the author shows himself a shrewd judge of character. Stalin, never one to accept alleged facts at face value, initially suspected Hitler had escaped and was being harbored by the Western Allies to unleash a new assault on the U.S.S.R., this time with their backing. "Stalin repeated to President Truman, Secretary of State James Byrnes, and Admiral Leahy, what he had been whispering to Harry Hopkins earlier in Moscow. Hitler was alive, he stoutly insisted, and was residing in Spain or maybe Argentina." (pg. 370) Even if he did not believe this, he found it useful to insinuate it and so cause confusion and doubt in the West. Stalin was nothing if not a master mischief-maker.
To sum up, while more documents may come to light and details may need to be corrected, a perspective such as his cannot be replaced or replicated for the simple fact that none of the witnesses he interviewed are still alive.
May 20, 2020
Humanising Nazists and de-mythologising history to make lessons more relevant.
Their fears, psychosis, beliefs, eating habits, illness(es), drinking, daily routine etc in normal or exceptional and confined times and spaces such as described in this splendid and enthralling book are all part of a human being. It's this unique and almost imperceptible undertow that is carried imperceptibly throughout each single passage that makes this particular history even more dangerous. There is nothing superhuman or supernatural in this recount and in what actually happened.
I was not prepared for the pandora's box this narration outpoured over my knowledge of that specific year. It was simply astonishing and almost excitingly powerful to learn the descent, the survival and then the escape by death or for life of the bunker habitants.
A reportage, documentary, memoirs, journalistic piece, thriller, spy, war novel that in its fury of details makes you think.
Their fears, psychosis, beliefs, eating habits, illness(es), drinking, daily routine etc in normal or exceptional and confined times and spaces such as described in this splendid and enthralling book are all part of a human being. It's this unique and almost imperceptible undertow that is carried imperceptibly throughout each single passage that makes this particular history even more dangerous. There is nothing superhuman or supernatural in this recount and in what actually happened.
I was not prepared for the pandora's box this narration outpoured over my knowledge of that specific year. It was simply astonishing and almost excitingly powerful to learn the descent, the survival and then the escape by death or for life of the bunker habitants.
A reportage, documentary, memoirs, journalistic piece, thriller, spy, war novel that in its fury of details makes you think.
April 16, 2019
This book from 1976 holds up surprisingly well after all these years and new revelations from Soviet archives and other researchers. Except for the author’s reliance in parts on self-serving Albert Speer ( whose play as the “Good Nazi” has been debunked in other books) I consider it a reliable guide to the last days in Berlin and the Bunker.
I’m open to arguments against this view in replies.
I’m open to arguments against this view in replies.
September 19, 2020
First read this in 1989 when it was called The Berlin Bunker. Recently I found a second hand version of that edition in a charity shop and re-read it during lockdown.
It was just as amazing as the first time. I'm not one to read books based around historical events but somehow this period has me hooked.
It was just as amazing as the first time. I'm not one to read books based around historical events but somehow this period has me hooked.
May 20, 2018
Here is an unforgettable, graphic account of the final days in the Führer's headquarters, deep under the shattered city of Berlin as World War II in Europe drew to a close. From James P. O'Donnell's interviews with fifty eyewitnesses to the madness and carnage—everyone from Albert Speer to generals, staff officers, doctors, Hitler's personal pilot, telephone operators, and secretaries—emerges an account that historian Theodore H. White has hailed as "superb . . . quite simply the most accurate and terrifying account of the nightmare and its end I have ever read."
August 15, 2023
A conversational account, provided from multiple points of view from a variety of survivors, woven into a detailed story marking the last days of Hitler and his fabled Reich.
No great connection to the misery and human toll of the war, but a simple recap of these personal stories.
No great connection to the misery and human toll of the war, but a simple recap of these personal stories.
March 25, 2017
I liked the journalistic nature of the book as well as the condensed nature of the moment in time that it purported to represent. Full of detail and brimming with life, this book ends up being an interesting psychological treatise on Hitler and his inner ring.
September 11, 2020
very well written.. in details and the author also cross examines all angles to bring as much as possible a factuality into the narrative.
December 7, 2023
In depth, definitive and well researched account of Hitlers final demise and the end of the so called 3rd Reich. Glad to finish it tbh- feeling claustrophobic by the end.
November 13, 2025
Great information on the bunker and last days
March 11, 2017
The very best of research and speculation on the "monster" Hitler.
A must read for all students of American History.
Blow your instructor's socks off with the facts contained therein.
A must read for all students of American History.
Blow your instructor's socks off with the facts contained therein.
December 16, 2023
3.8
An account of the final days of Hitler and those in his inner circle. While the majority of the book deals with the days up till Hitler's suicide, the remainder of the book relates the story of the dangerous escape through Russian lines for those who fled the bunker.
An account of the final days of Hitler and those in his inner circle. While the majority of the book deals with the days up till Hitler's suicide, the remainder of the book relates the story of the dangerous escape through Russian lines for those who fled the bunker.
July 28, 2009
A very comprehensive and detailed version of the last three months of Adolph Hitler's regime from inside the bunker underneath the Reichschancellory building in Berlin. O'Donnell visited the bunker in 1945 while in the army when it was under control by the Russians and later as a writer for Newsweek interviewed 50 people who were in the bunker in the last three months. This book is the end result of that research that he did between 1972 and 1976. 90% of the bunker dwellers survived the war, many into the 1970s and some until just recently. Most were captured by the Russians, some not being released from Soviet custody until 1955. The spellbinding German motion picture "Downfall" relied on the account that O'Donnell wrote.
February 24, 2019
Excellent recreation of the last days of Hitler's reign & the fall of Berlin. Insightful & eye opening; this book will give readers a new perspective on the horrors of WWII.
December 19, 2020
I've read this book twice now. It's a very good account of the final days of Nazi Germany. Anyone who likes the movie Der Untergang with Bruno Ganz will probably like this book too. However, I found that one of the most interesting stories in this book is Hitler's chief pilot Hans Baur, a man who is a best mentioned in passing in other books.
But the book is a work of its time. It is to a large extent heavily reliant on the testimony of Albert Speer, whose image as "the good Nazi" still held sway when this book was first published in the 1970's.
On a side note, I wasn't able to find this book in the original language so I had to read a translation which was absolutely horrendous.
But the book is a work of its time. It is to a large extent heavily reliant on the testimony of Albert Speer, whose image as "the good Nazi" still held sway when this book was first published in the 1970's.
On a side note, I wasn't able to find this book in the original language so I had to read a translation which was absolutely horrendous.
November 13, 2022
Pretty impressive story that pieces together, with a reporter's eye, the strange happenings surrounding the end of Hitler and subsequent breakout attempts of the people that were in that bunker with him during his troglodytic existence in his Führerbunker.
I ran across this book and read it a second time. Martin Bormann’s body that was found was successfully DNA-tested. It’s a good read and very informative.
I ran across this book and read it a second time. Martin Bormann’s body that was found was successfully DNA-tested. It’s a good read and very informative.
May 18, 2012
This book fueled my curiosity of these ratpack characters who somehow managed to rule over Europe for a while, despite being absolutely unqualified to carry out very basic governance. All pretense was stripped away in the last weeks, and they began to feed on each other like starving trapped rats. This book largely follows the events in the film "Downfall" which I highly recommend as well.
March 27, 2013
A really gripping account of life in The Chancellory Bunker by an author it a proven track record. The personalities, their characters and their frailties are all here, interwoven in a a tale that unfolds with a real sense of the desperation and fanaticism of the players involved. Of particular interest was the story of the breakout from the bunker and the fates of those who tried to leave.
August 19, 2011
Very well researched and a captivating read, gives another view of the calculating nature of many of those within the higher level of the Nazi regime, those closest to Hitler and the madness at the center of the Nazi regime. I couldn't put the book down.
May 21, 2012
I enjoyed this book. Many details of Hitler's last 102 days that I never knew about. Much information on his entourage as well.
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