What it was like in the bunker Hitler died in 70 years ago today
While hiding in a fortified two level 3,000-square-foot underground bunker, one of history's most brutal tyrants promised the world that his empire would reign for 1,000 years.
Hitler's Third Reich lasted 12 years, and officially ended on April 30, 1945, when the Führer committed suicide in his bunker with his new wife after learning Allied Forces had surrounded Berlin.
Hitler's last hours
The day before his death, 56-year-old Hitler married his long-term mistress, 33-year-old Eva Braun.
After his brief wedding ceremony Hitler began preparing his last will and political statement with his secretary Traudl Junge at approximately 4:00 PM.
"What I possess belongs - in so far as it has any value, to the Party. Should this no longer exist, to the State; should the State also be destroyed, no further decision of mine is necessary," Hitler's will stated.
"I myself and my wife, in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation, choose death. It is our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work in the course of a twelve years' service to my people."
Later on that day Hitler learned his Italian counterpart Benito Mussolini was executed by a mob of anti-fascist partisans.
Here's a summary of Hitler's last day as reported by MentalFloss:
Hitler's body
While various historians dispute the scenario of Hitler actually ending his life with a gunshot, the Russian government claimed they had a portion of Hitler's alleged skull complete with a bullet hole, The Guardian reports.
The fractured skull, which was reportedly taken from the bunker went on public display in Moscow in 2000. Paired with the skull was what Russian intelligence said is Hitler's jawbone.
ReutersA section of human jaw that the Russian government claims belonged to Adolf Hitler, is seen in a photograph on display in an exhibition in Moscow April 28.
Almost a decade later, American researchers claimed by way of DNA testing that the cranial fragment actually belonged to a woman approximately 40 years old, The Guardian reports.
The orders to be "burnt immediately" were reportedly followed when SS officers wrapped the bodies of the Führer and Braun in blankets and then placed them on a small pyre where SS officer Otto Günsche set the remains ablaze.