Customer Reviews

The Bunker: Hitler's Last Days and Suicide

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It is about the Bunker, and ALL those who lived and died there in the final days of the war. O'Donnell was a US Army officer who was released from active duty to be a reporter for Newsweek magazine: "This involved a quick shift from the rank of captain to civilian correspondent, with no time to change uniform." It was in this capacity that he first visited the bunker, when Soviet-US relations had not yet degenerated. Along with Soviet and British sightseers, he entered the bunker on July 4, 1945, and thus got a good look around before the Soviets closed it off to Westerners in September. This evidently haunted O'Donnell, for years later he returned to Berlin, interviewing nearly every surviving member of the bunker experience. What we get here is not a historian's view, but rather that of a good investigative reporter, who uses firsthand sources whenever possible. It is impossible to write this story without some deductive reasoning, however, and O'Donnell shares his theories. He discounts some of the crackpot theories, such as Martin Bormann's survival myth. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in the Third Reich or the end of World War II. It is interesting to note that Hitler's death occurs approximately 2/3 of the way through the book. The rest of the book concerns itself with the attempted breakout of the bunker survivors, the morbid deaths of Joseph and Magda Goebbels and their six children, and the surrender of the bunker (by its coverall-wearing chief engineer to a bunch of female Russian medics--who promptly made off with the late Eva Braun's bras!)

Chapters are as follows:

1. The Caveman--details how Hitler slowly became subterranean, disdaining light and fresh air, and how he preferred to live underground and conduct all business from the bunker.

2. The Thirteenth Bunker--an outline of all the bunkers used (and not used) by Hitler throughout the Reich--in Germany, France, the Ukraine, Poland.

3. The Bunker Brutus--Albert Speer's little-known plot (as related by himself) to assassite Hitler and the Mountain People by using poison gas in the ventilation system.

4. The Mountain People--an overview of Hitler's entourage, so called because they were the court favorites at Berchtesgaden, Hitler's mountain retreat. Included are Hans Baur, Hitler's pilot; Eva Braun; Hitler's physicians; Bormann; Erich Kempka, Hitler's chauffeur; Linge, his valet; and more SS men, secretaries, security detail, etc.

5. Farewells--It dawns on all present that Hitler has no intention of leaving the bunker and will die in Berlin.

6. Casualty Station--Dr. Schenk is treating wounded in a nearby casualty station during the Battle of Berlin when he is summoned to the bunker. He was not part of the 'inner circle' and thus his views are that of a 'normal' person on the events in the bunker.

7. The Lady Vanished--account of SS General Fegelein, Eva Braun's brother-in-law, who was seeing a lady on the side who was, in all likelihood, a spy for the Allies. She is here called 'Mata O'Hara', because of her theorized Irish origins, but she disappeared from the scene of world events during this time. Fegelein suffered the ultimate punishment because of this.

8. The Shot Nobody Heard--Details the suicides of Adolph and Eva Hitler, and the disposal of their bodies.

9. Death of the Mythmaker--The suicides of Dr. Goebbels and his family are examined in detail.

10. The Breakout--The remaining survivors attempt to escape the Soviet juggernaut and make it to the Allies or remaining German pockets of resistance.

11. The Flight That Never Was--Lays to rest the myth that Martin Bormann escaped Berlin.

12. The Double Symposium--The suicide of Hewel, Hitler's Foreign Embassy Minister (and second to von Ribbentrop).

13. Last Man Out--The only two men remaining (alive) in the bunker--SS Sergeant Rochus Misch and engineer Hentschel. Henstchel, a civilian, sends Misch packing because he doesn't want any SS around when the Soviets arrive. This chapter is almost comical, with Hentschel puttering around the bunker, making sure everything is still in working order, washing the dishes, etc. Then he is captured by the Russians (several times).

I was a bit concerned when I first picked up this book, thinking that it may be dry with tails of generals looking at maps for days on end. The book is nothing like that, and I was very pleased with this book. It flows very well and is full of very interesting facts (some almost gossip). He also covers all the other major people in the bunker with a good amount of detail. There are very good descriptions of the actual surrounding and very detailed maps and diagrams. I also liked the details of the escape groups after Hitler dies, very interesting. Some details in this book have been stated differently in other books, but all in all a very good effort. I would also recommend "The Last Days of Hitler" by Hugh Trevor-Roper.

If you've seen the movie version (with Anthony Hopkins as Hitler) you'll have expectations - and like all books I know of you'll be disappointed by the movie! This book is easy reading and provides a lot of insight into the last month of Adolf Hitler as the leader of the "living dead" that rarely if ever left their underground lair. All the major personalities of the Fuhrerbunker are dealt with, as well as their ultimate destinies - some escaping, some being captured and spending years in Russian prisons, and yet others - including Hitler and Goebbles - dying at or in the bunker. I found this book extremely thorough (relative to other sources on the subject) and was not disappointed. All in all a good read.

An amazing piece of work. Very detailed meticulous research. O'Donnell was one of the first Americans to enter the bunker after its capture by Soviet Forces. His observations on the surrondings and the condition of the Bunker, even after over thirty days of Soviet occupation and plunder, are stunning and almost make you feel as if you are standing in the same place in time.
His interviews with survivors and his ability to gain their willing cooperation( many of which had refused previous attempts)
show patient and a level of understanding very few chroniclers of history have previously obtained. His minuate of detail, down to the Barbers and Valets, gives an insight into the last days of the "1000 Year Reich" that would almost be impossible to replicate.
Excellent reading for the serious student of history.

The copy I just finished is the original 1978 hardcover, and James O'Donnell obviously did his homework. He interviewed nearly every survivng member of the bunker, which is suprisingly almost all of them, most after their return from Russian captivity in 1955, with the exception of three Generals committing suicide, and, of course, Hitler and Eva Braun.

O'Donnell was a Signal Corps captain, and one of the first Americans to enter the bunker in July of 1945. His sleuth style of research, combined with exhaustive interviews of Hitlers inner circle have allowed him to re-create for the reader almost exactly what happened in the last two weeks of April 1945. All the major players are described in detail, and every personality type is present in this underground fortress, with its gasproof design, cast iron doors and two seperate levels. You will feel the desperation of these committed and loyal Nazis as the ring around Berlin tightens, and their chances for escape dwindle.

O'Donnell covers the most intimate details behind not only the final days, but how each member gained their position of influence, who despised whom, Hitlers manic episodes and his heavy sedation, and the small fish in this pond are not overlooked either, down to the enlisted men who kept the generators running and the switchboard operating, and even these seemingly routine operations were not without interference from some members of the group (For example, Martin Bormann had all calls routed through his phone before Hitler got any calls, and Walter Hewell, one of the more intelligent and rational members of the group, would answer the calls from Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop, because Von Ribbentrop knew Hitler would not speak with him directly. He did NOT know that Hewell would mock him while Hitler stood shoulder to shoulder, and delighted in this with uproarious laughter.)

The breakout from the bunker is also covered, with the author reviewing the route in detail. He also describes, from interviewing the survivors, the initial days after capture, and how some fared in Soviet captivity. A must read for those interested in the fiery end of the worlds most diabolical regime.

A combination of crusading reporter, dogged detective and enlightened historian, James P. O'Donnell tracked down all the surviving denizens of the Fuehrerbunker to provide an exciting, minutely detailed portrait of the collapse of the Third Reich and the final madness and suicide of Hitler. It is to O'Donnell's credit that the narrative doesn't end with Hitler's death, but continues in its final third to describe the hideous blood-madness of Joseph and Magda Goebbels, who slaughtered their six children before ending their own lives; to trace the real fate of Martin Bormann; and to detail the desperate (and only partly successful) attempts of Hitler's surviving minions to escape capture, rape and torture at the hands of the Red Army. These stories are just as fascinating as those of the Fuehrer himself. There are amazing stories within the story, such as that of "Mata O'Hara," the glamorous Irish spy (whose true identity is still unknown) who learned the Fuehrer's deepest secrets through becoming the mistress of SS General Fegelein, Eva Braun's drunken, cowardly brother-in-law. The great virtue of this book--and why it makes such addictive, suspenseful reading--is that O'Donnell never forgets these people, even Hitler, are human beings, however great his horror at the unimaginable evils they perpetrated. Perhaps he goes too easy on some of them, particularly Albert Speer. But he actually makes us care about their fates, and above all he reminds us that because it was human beings who committed these atrocities, we are not safe from their kind in the future, or even from becoming their kind. I don't understand why this book has become so obscure. It's true that, because he wrote in 1978, O'Donnell couldn't benefit from the revelations about Red Army investigations and the fate of Hitler's corpse that came out after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But the book still offers many valuable insights into the final days of the Nazi high command, as well as simply being a smashing good read.

"The Bunker" is simply the most detailed and fascinating account of the events in the Berlin Fuhrerbunker I've yet read. Written in 1978, long after the last witnesses were released from Soviet captivity, O'Donnell managed to interview almost all of the surviving actors from the Bunker tragedy. The only people he didn't meet were Johann Rattenhuber, who died in 1966, and Johanna Wolf, who never told anyone anything because she considered it a private secretary's duty to remain private. However, he spoke extensively with all the rest of the surviving people who witnessed Hitler's last days with their own eyes: Speer, Bauer, Guensche, Misch, Mohnke, Axmann, Schenk, Junge, et al. With this wealth of primary sources, their experiences are almost palpable as O'Donnell brings you down into the bunker for Hitler's last days and out onto the streets of burning Berlin for the final breakout. Though I've never read Joachim Fest's "Inside Hitler's Bunker" (which, because it was only published in 2002, after most of the witnesses were dead, I can't imagine has much new information to offer), O'Donnell's "The Bunker" is at least far superior to Trevor-Roper's revered history. I believe it is the best book written on the subject.

I really can't understand the criticisms of this book. So-called "academic" historians chide its "journalistic" approach, a term which means- I suppose- that O'Donnell actually spoke to witnesses and did original research as opposed to writing a book based completely on other historians' previously published works. Such incestuous shuffling and borrowing is actually considered a virtue in the rarified world of the court-historians' guild, where a historian's worth is judged solely by the length of his bibliography and the depth of his conformity to establishment opinion. I'll take the "journalistic" approach any day, thank you very much. David Irving earned the scorn of the court historians for much the same reason- his industriousness in digging up previously un-discovered or ignored witnesses and documents. Even though O'Donnell had a bone to pick with Irving, they both embarrassed the historians of WWII who never stepped foot out of their library and whose "research" amounted to mere regurgitation.

Similarly, I really don't understand some of the objections put forth by lay reviewers on amazon and elsewhere. It's doubtful whether some of them even read the book. For instance, O'Donnell never speculated on Bormann's survival; he stated flat-out that his body was found and positively identified. He also never said that Bauer had orders to fly Hitler to Asia, but did verify that it was technically possible. I'm also confused at these reviewers' objections to O'Donnell's account of Speer's assassination plans. O'Donnell devotes a mere 5 or 6 pages to Speer's admittedly unverifiable, but historically significant, plan to assassinate Hitler. It would have been negligent to have omitted such a claim. As for "Mata O'Hara", the fact is that there_was_a leak in the Hitler court. The Germans confirm it and the British confirm it. O'Donnell speculates that "Das Leck" was Fegelein's mistress, but he doesn't pretend that his theory is the final word. Who_are_these naysayers and what have they been smoking? It's standard practice that criticism should be based on fact. Until someone proves otherwise, this is the definitive book on the Bunker.

the chilling story of the end.James O'Donnell gives us a close look at both Hitler and his fanatical followers during their days in the very last FHQ, the Berlin bunker. One can almost smell the stagnant air, hear the generator which ran to the end, and sense the doom in the air. The author does an excellent job both giving us the facts, and more impoortantly, taking us back to May, 1945. His erie style makes the reader feel as if he is preparing for a breakout himself, and yet can almost make some of these villians seem sympathetic. A must read for students of WWII, the Nazis, or human psychology.

I haven't seen the movie, but my father gave me an old, pre-film copy of this book, which I have not been able to get out of my mind. Not only is this incredibly researched, with copious, original interviews and substantive document analysis, Mr. O'Donnell is an gifted writer with a keen feel for observation and mood.

The last days of Hilter's Reich come chillingly alive, as Adolf descends into the bunker below Berlin for the very last time. Images and passages are unforgettable, and ominous -- Speer's abandoned plot to poison Hitler through the vent shaft; Magda Goebbels bringing her six children into the bunker, with the impending promise of certain death; Hitler kissing Eva on the lips at a staff meeting in the very last moments, as bombs and air raid sirens signal the end.

Impossible to put down, this is a must-read for any WWII buff.

This book was fascinating. I have read many accounts of the battle of berlin, best sellers such as The Last Battle (Ryan), The Fall of Berlin (Beevor), and not so best sellers, etc., then I stumbled upon this book. Was so happy to find this book. Could not put it down. I drank in every detail and did a lot cross-referencing on the net. This book was moved to that select area of my bookshelf where I store all my favorite history books. I read it probably once every year or two, and it always interesting. Have recently downloaded it to my kindle. I highly recommend this book.