15+ Historical Photos from inside Hitler’s Secret Bunker

In the spring of 1945, the streets of Berlin witnessed the savage fighting between German and Russian troops resulting in massive casualties and destruction. Towards the end, it became increasingly clear that the Third Reich was about to fall. But nothing quite marked their true end more than finding the bodies of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun deep within a solid underground bunker on April 30, 1945.

Shortly after the 2-week battle, 33-year-old William Vandibert (LIFE photographer) visited Berlin’s devastated landscape to document the ruins. Here are a few of the haunting photos he took. Take a look.

“This is what was left of Oberwallstrasse, which is located in central Berlin. This area received an incredible amount of fighting and damage between Russian and German troops in the spring of 1945.” (via SlipTalk)

Oberwallstrasse, in central Berlin, saw some of the most vicious fighting between German and Soviet troops in the spring of 1945

William Vandivert

Because of the destruction, many areas in Berlin had no power. Vandibert had to use candles for the lighting in many of his shots inside the bunker.

A new view of a photograph that appeared, heavily cropped, in LIFE, picturing Hitler's bunker, partially burned by retreating German troops and stripped of valuables by invading Russians.

William Vandivert

A 16th century painting that was stolen from a museum in Milan, Italy.

In typed notes that William Vandivert sent to LIFE's New York offices after getting to Berlin, he described his intense, harried visit to Hitler's bunker: "These pix were made in the dark with only candle for illumination ... Our small party of four beat

William Vandivert

War correspondents examine a couch inside Hitler’s bunker that is stained with a large amount of blood on the arm and cushion.

With only candles to light their way, war correspondents examine a couch stained with blood (see dark patch on the arm of the sofa) located inside Hitler's bunker.

William Vandivert

Some furniture and a large tank of gas that were found abandoned inside the bunker.

Abandoned furniture and debris inside Adolf Hitler's bunker, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

News reports and stories dated April 29, 1945, the day before Hitler and Eva killed themselves.

Papers (mostly news reports dated April 29, the day before Hitler and Eva Bruan killed themselves) inside Hitler's bunker, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

A young Russian soldier poses inside Adolf Hitler’s bunker shortly after The Battle of Berlin.

A Russian soldier stands in Adolf Hitler's bunker, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

This was a desk used by Adolf Hitler and his associates.

Desk inside Adolf Hitler's bunker, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

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An SS officer’s hat that has obviously been through battle. The infamous death’s-head emblem is visible on the front.

An SS officer's cap, with the infamous death's-head skull emblem barely visible.

William Vandivert

A safe that was found inside Hitler’s bunker. It was obviously cut open and looted following the battle.

A ruined, empty and likely looted safe inside Hitler's bunker.

William Vandivert

A LIFE Magazine correspondent sifts through debris in a shallow pit in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. He was told that this was where the bodies of Hitler and Eva were burned.

LIFE correspondent Percy Knauth, left, sifts through debris in the shallow trench in the garden of the Reich Chancellery where, Knauth was told, the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun were burned after their suicides.

William Vandivert

The destroyed gardens of the Reich Chancellery.

In the garden of the Reich Chancellery, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

A heavily damaged pillbox that has been nearly destroyed by gunfire. This is located right outside of Hitler’s bunker.

Bullet-riddled sentry pillbox outside Hitler's bunker, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

A man shows the hinges that held the massive door leading into Hitler’s bunker. The hinges were completely destroyed in order to gain entry into the bunker.

An unidentified hand on the destroyed hinge of the door to Hitler's bunker, burned off by advancing Russian combat engineers, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

The photographer was told that these gas cans were supposedly the cans used to burn the bodies of Hitler and Eva.

Empty gasoline cans, reportedly used by SS troops to burn the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun after their suicides in the bunker, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

A civilian helps these Russian soldiers move a large bronze Nazi Party eagle that was once above a doorway leading inside the Reich Chancellery.

Russian soldiers and a civilian struggle to move a large bronze Nazi Party eagle that once loomed over a doorway of the Reich Chancellery, Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

An American soldier is seen mocking the Nazi salute inside the destroyed structure of the Berliner Sportspalast (Sports Palace).

An American soldier, PFC Douglas Page, offers a mocking Nazi salute inside the bombed-out ruins of the Berliner Sportspalast, or Sport Palace. The venue, destroyed during an Allied bombing raid in January 1944, was where the Third Reich often held politic

William Vandivert

It was tradition for soldiers to either commemorate their comrades or insult their foes with graffiti. This was taken at the Reichstag in Berlin.

At the Reichstag, evidence of a practice common throughout the centuries: soldiers scrawling graffiti to honor fallen comrades, insult the vanquished or simply announce, I was here. I survived. Berlin, 1945.

William Vandivert

Found outside the Reich Chancellery was a crushed globe and a fallen bust of Hitler’s head, perfectly describing Berlin and Hitler’s reign in 1945.

An image almost too perfectly symbolic of Berlin in 1945: A crushed globe and a bust of Hitler amid rubble outside the ruined Reich Chancellery.

William Vandivert