Hidden Nazi history revealed

THE secret underworld of the Third Reich is now on display in Berlin - providing a fascinating subterranean glimpse into the dark underbelly of Nazism.

Hitler's henchmen were a troglodyte lot, burrowing deep beneath the capital during their 12 years of power to build bunkers and boltholes as refuges from the massive violence they seemed to know would one day engulf them.

It is reckoned that for every metre of building in Berlin above ground there are three below - tunnels, cellars, bunkers, air raid shelters, secret hospitals, air shafts and command centres. Most were begun when Hitler came to power in 1933 and played a vital role in preserving government - and individual lives - during the saturation bombing which reduced Berlin to brickdust in the final year of war.

Slowly but surely, thanks to a dedicated band of weekend workers, this strange underground world is being rediscovered. Recently an air- raid bunker and tunnel complex, complete with men's toilets still in perfect working order was discovered at the Gesundbrunnen underground station in the working class district of Wedding and is now open to the public.

In the adjoining hospital, sealed off since Russian troops stormed the city in May 1945, can be found some moving graffiti: "Here on April 26 1945 Helga R came into the world. She will need from us a copy of her birth certificate!"

The Gesundbrunnen complex is the first of the underground complexes to be opened to the public full-time - the forerunner of what is hoped will be a permanent series of Underground Berlin displays that could substantially increase tourism cash and excite the blood of amateur historians.

"The Third Reich still has an enormous lure, both for history freaks and the everyday tourist," said Dietmar Arnold, one of the discoverers of the Wedding site. "It is interesting to see where the high-ranking Nazis hid out and also where everyday Berliners had to struggle through as their city was destroyed above them."

In a bunker found under Hermann Goering's Luftwaffe ministry, a supreme example of Third Reich architecture that survived the bombings and the designs of ambitious 1960s architects, toy Stuka dive-bombers were found. They were fixed to fly on wire elaborately rigged by the air force chief to play war games while the RAF and USAF blitzed the city.

This underworld is also bringing to the surface a plethora of weaponry, unexploded bombs, rotting gas masks, first aid kits and ration packs, unopened since the day they were left by a defeated army. All will come together for a major exhibition next year, possibly in the Wedding bunker because of its massive size - 1000 square metres.

But nobody will get to see the unholiest grail of all, where the Thousand Year Reich of Hitler perished along with its founder with a bullet in the mouth.

It was widely believed that it had never been entered since the end of the war. But in December pictures were found in Stasi archives taken in the 1960s. Inside was a jumble of furniture, generators, iron-frame bedsteads, most of it half-submerged in water.

Historians have begun to put pressure on the government not to build over the place where the Third Reich died, believing its historical importance far outweighs any fears about it becoming a touchstone for neo-Nazis seeking the holiest shrine of all to Hitler.

Yet the city remains undecided - and for now, at least, it will remain as out of bounds to ordinary people as it has ever been.

Copyright 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.