Must-watchWorld War II · Film · 2004
Downfall
Der Untergang
Through the eyes of his young secretary, Hitler's last days unfold underground in the Führerbunker while the Red Army closes in on Berlin and the city above is left to die.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 4 places.
Stop 1: Wolf's Lair, East Prussia
In a forest headquarters, Hitler interviews young typists and chooses Traudl Junge as his secretary.
Stop 2: Führerbunker, Berlin
Key location
Under the Reich Chancellery garden, Hitler moves phantom armies on maps, rages at his generals and turns on those who try to leave.
Stop 3: Streets of central Berlin
Hitler Youth boys man anti-tank guns in the ruins, and an SS doctor tries to care for civilians as Soviet shells fall.
Stop 4: Weidendammer Bridge breakout
After the deaths in the bunker, the survivors split into groups and try to slip through the Soviet lines across the Spree.
What really happened
The film draws on Joachim Fest's history 'Inside Hitler's Bunker' and the memoirs of Traudl Junge, who became Hitler's secretary at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia in late 1942. The Soviet assault on Berlin began on 16 April 1945; by 25 April the city was encircled by some 1.5 million Red Army soldiers against a garrison of old men, boys of the Hitler Youth and remnants of broken divisions.
Hitler married Eva Braun and dictated his political testament before both killed themselves on 30 April 1945; Goebbels and his wife poisoned their six children the next day. General Weidling surrendered the city on 2 May. Critics debated the film's humanised portrait of Hitler, but its reconstruction of the bunker's final days is widely considered close to the historical record.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Der Untergang
- Directed by
- Oliver Hirschbiegel
- Countries
- Germany, Austria, Italy
- Languages
- German, Russian
- Released
- 2004
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Eastern Front
- Themes
- Combat
- Politics
- Biography
- True story
