The Death of Adolf Hitler

· In the spring of 1945, Hitler and his wife Eva Braun, Joseph Goebbels and his family are hiding out in a deep concrete bunker complex underneath the parliament building in Berlin

· By this time the bulk of the German army has surrendered to allied forces

· The Russian army is liberating Poland and moving toward Berlin very quickly

· The rest of the allied forces are tied up with the liberation of Holland and Denmark and will not reach Berlin before the Russians as they had hoped

· Hitler is broken both physically and mentally but he continued to give orders to a few generals to defend Berlin. The generals pretend to carry out his orders but have no organized army to do so

· Young boys, members of Hitler’s youth programs were given helmets and rifles and were told to defend Hitler to the death. Many died while others surrendered to Russian forces

· On April, 29, 1945 Hitler married Eva Braun and gives her a cyanide capsule to swallow shortly after the ceremony

· On April, 30, 1945 Hitler decides to shoot himself in the head, ordering that his and Eva’s bodies be burned outside the bunker

· Joseph Goebbles had his wife and daughters executed to keep the Russians from capturing them. He then took a cyanide capsule and had his body burned.

· The rest of Hitler’s general staff in Berlin surrendered to the angry Russian forces who were taking out their revenge on German civilians

· On May,7 1945 Germany officially surrenders while pockets of Nazi resistance still must be secured

· May 8, 1945 is declared V.E. Day – Victory in Europe Day. This allowed soldiers and civilians time to give thanks that the war was over

· Only Japan continues to fight on in the Pacific Ocean against the American Air Force and Marines