Führerbunker
Deep beneath the bustling streets of modern Berlin lies the phantom echo of a fortified underworld — the Führerbunker. This subterranean complex, designed as an air-raid shelter, became the nerve center of Hitler's collapsing regime and the grim stage for his final, desperate days. It's a place where denial met reality, and the fate of a defeated empire was sealed, far from the light of day. The Führerbunker evolved from a simple air-raid shelter into a heavily fortified, self-sufficient subterranean fortress due to intense Allied bombing. It served as Adolf Hitler's final headquarters from January 1945, witnessing the last desperate commands, his marriage to Eva Braun, and their eventual suicides as the Soviet forces closed in. Post-war efforts sought to erase all traces of the bunker, leading to its partial destruction and the concealment of its location, yet forensic investigations continued to link it to its dark past.
AI Summary
Deep beneath the bustling streets of modern Berlin lies the phantom echo of a fortified underworld — the Führerbunker. This subterranean complex, designed as an air-raid shelter, became the nerve center of Hitler's collapsing regime and the grim stage for his final, desperate days. It's a place where denial met reality, and the fate of a defeated empire was sealed, far from the light of day.
- The Führerbunker evolved from a simple air-raid shelter into a heavily fortified, self-sufficient subterranean fortress due to intense Allied bombing.
- It served as Adolf Hitler's final headquarters from January 1945, witnessing the last desperate commands, his marriage to Eva Braun, and their eventual suicides as the Soviet forces closed in.
- Post-war efforts sought to erase all traces of the bunker, leading to its partial destruction and the concealment of its location, yet forensic investigations continued to link it to its dark past.
The Final Fortress
The Führerbunker, a name that still sends shivers down the spine, was far more than just an air-raid shelter in Berlin. It was the ultimate command post, the last of Hitler's Führer Headquarters, nestled close to the grandiose Reich Chancellery. This was where the Nazi regime made its final stand, shrouded in concrete and delusion.
On January 16, 1945, as the tide of World War II turned irreversibly against Germany, Adolf Hitler moved into the Führerbunker. For the next three-and-a-half months, this underground complex became the dark heart of a crumbling empire, a place of dwindling hope and increasingly desperate decisions.
It was within these claustrophobic walls that Hitler married Eva Braun on April 29, 1945, a mere 40 hours before their joint suicide. Their deaths marked the symbolic end of the Nazi regime, just days before Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allied powers.
Beneath the Surface: Construction and Design
Initially, the bunker was conceived as a basic air-raid shelter for Hitler, who, ironically, spent very little time in Berlin during the war's early years. But as Allied bombs relentlessly pounded the capital, the need for a more robust, permanent refuge became starkly clear. This led to a significant expansion, transforming it into a sprawling subterranean complex.
The complex was built in two phases: the 'Vorbunker' or 'forward bunker' completed in 1936, and the deeper, more heavily fortified 'Führerbunker' finished in 1944. Situated 2.5 meters below the Vorbunker and about 8.5 meters beneath the old Chancellery garden, the Führerbunker boasted a roof of concrete nearly 3 meters thick, protecting its roughly 30 small rooms.
Connecting the two bunkers was a right-angled stairway, sealed by a steel door. Hitler's personal quarters were in this newer, lower section, sumptuously decorated with furnishings from the Chancellery. His study, Eva Braun's bedroom, a conference room, and even his modestly furnished bedroom lined a long corridor, creating a strange semblance of domesticity amidst impending doom.
Despite its self-contained nature, conditions in the Führerbunker were far from comfortable. Being below the water table meant a constant, unpleasant dampness, with pumps running non-stop. A diesel generator provided electricity, well water served as the supply, and a telex, telephone switchboard, and army radio maintained tenuous links to the rapidly disintegrating outside world.
The Final Days: January-April 1945
Upon moving in, Hitler was joined by his senior staff, including Martin Bormann, and later, Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels and his family. Dozens of support personnel, secretaries, nurses, and bodyguards also crowded into the suffocating complex. Initially, Hitler still ventured out for daily conferences in the damaged Chancellery wing, returning to the bunker only at night.
However, as the war intensified and Berlin came under daily air raids, Hitler retreated almost entirely into the lower, quieter level of the bunker. The atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive, crowded with stressed individuals witnessing the collapse of everything they had built. Conferences often stretched late into the night, sometimes until 5 AM, as reality became harder to face in daylight.
On April 16, the Red Army launched the Battle of Berlin, rapidly encircling the city. Four days later, on his 56th birthday, Hitler made his last known trip to the surface, emerging into the ruined Chancellery garden to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth. That afternoon, Soviet artillery began to bombard Berlin directly for the first time.
Trapped in the bunker, Hitler clung to increasingly desperate and unrealistic hopes. He placed faith in phantom armies, like General Felix Steiner's forces, ordering them to attack. But these units either no longer existed as effective fighting forces or were too far away to intervene, their existence often exaggerated by his loyal but deluded staff.
On April 22, the truth hit. During an afternoon conference, Hitler learned Steiner's forces had not moved. He erupted into a tearful, furious rage, finally acknowledging the war was lost and blaming his generals. It was then he declared his intention to stay in Berlin until the end, and then—take his own life.
Despite the dire situation, commands continued to be issued from the Führerbunker. General Helmuth Weidling was appointed commander of the Berlin Defense Area, but by April 25, the city was completely encircled. Any German defense could only delay the inevitable capture.
The internal chaos mirrored the external. On April 28, Hitler received news that Heinrich Himmler, his loyal SS chief, was attempting to negotiate a surrender with the Western Allies. Hitler saw this as ultimate treason. Hermann Fegelein, Himmler's representative in Berlin and Eva Braun's brother-in-law, was summarily executed for desertion, and Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest.
Desperate radio calls were sent from the bunker, pleading for relief. General Hans Krebs, Chief of the Army General Staff, spoke to Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, asking for Wenck's and Busse's armies to break through. But the replies were devastating: Wenck's army was bogged down, Busse's surrounded. The 'heap of rubble' that was the Reich Chancellery truly reflected the state of Germany.
In the early hours of April 29, amidst the shelling and the stench of defeat, Hitler married Eva Braun in a brief civil ceremony in the bunker. Afterward, he dictated his last will and testament, outlining his final political directives and personal wishes, witnessed by his closest aides.
The final confirmation of doom arrived late on April 29 when General Krebs' desperate radio inquiry about any relief forces received a blunt reply from General Jodl: all efforts had failed, Wenck's spearhead was stuck, the Ninth Army surrounded, and Holste's Corps was on the defensive. Berlin was truly alone.
On the morning of April 30, with ammunition critically low, Hitler finally gave permission for the remaining defenders to attempt a breakout. That afternoon, around 3:30 PM, Adolf Hitler shot himself, while Eva Braun took a cyanide capsule. Their bodies, as per Hitler's instructions, were carried into the Chancellery garden, doused in petrol, and partially burned.
In accordance with his will, Joseph Goebbels became the new Chancellor. A radio message was sent to Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, informing him of Hitler's death and his new role as President. But the end was truly here.
On May 1, as Soviet forces pushed closer, Goebbels' wife, Magda, poisoned their six children in the Vorbunker. Later that evening, Joseph and Magda Goebbels themselves committed suicide in the garden, their bodies also partially burned. It was a horrific, final act of devotion to the Nazi ideology.
Many attempted to escape the bunker. Some, like SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke, led groups that were quickly captured. Others, like Martin Bormann, managed to cross the Spree river, though his body was reportedly seen a short distance away, ending his flight.
Down in the Führerbunker, General Krebs and General Burgdorf committed suicide by gunshot. The last defenders — a mix of French, Latvian, and Spanish SS volunteers — held out valiantly until the early morning of May 2, before the Soviet forces finally captured the Reich Chancellery.
At 6 AM on May 2, General Weidling surrendered Berlin. Johannes Hentschel, the bunker's electro-mechanic, remained to ensure the field hospital above had power and water, surrendering when the Soviets entered. The bodies of the Goebbels children, tragically, were discovered in their beds on May 3, bearing the clear marks of cyanide.
Aftermath: Erasing the Past
In the immediate aftermath of the war, the Führerbunker became a morbid attraction. Allied soldiers, politicians, and diplomats, including Winston Churchill, toured the desolate complex in July 1945. Early investigations, however, were limited, and Soviet authorities soon restricted access.
Early Investigations and Forensic Clues
As part of a Soviet disinformation campaign, official claims about Hitler's death were often contradictory, ranging from escape to poison, while details of their own investigations were kept secret. Yet, crucial forensic work was being done behind the scenes.
In May 1946, Soviet forensicist Piotr Semenovsky undertook a detailed investigation of the bunker. He meticulously documented bloodstains found on the sofa in Hitler's study, on a wall, and even spurts of blood on the stairwell leading to the emergency exit.
Semenovsky concluded these blood traces were consistent with Hitler's body, wrapped in a blanket, being carried out of the bunker for burning. The blanket, he surmised, would have become blood-soaked in the process, leaving the tell-tale marks.
Demolition and Rediscovery
The Soviets systematically leveled the Chancellery buildings between 1945 and 1949, aiming to eradicate these symbols of Nazism. Though a detailed interior investigation of the bunker occurred in 1946, subsequent attempts to completely destroy the underground complex, including a large explosion in 1947, largely failed to demolish its robust structure.
The bunker mostly survived, albeit partially flooded, until East German demolitions in 1959. Located near the heavily guarded Berlin Wall, the site remained undeveloped and largely forgotten for decades, a neglected scar on the divided city's landscape.
It wasn't until extensive construction began in 1988-89 that sections of the old bunker complex were rediscovered. While many excavated parts were destroyed to prevent glorification, some corridors were simply sealed off and remain inaccessible to the public.
Article
Führerbunker
Model of the New Reich Chancellery with location of bunker complex in red
Model of Führerbunker (left) and Vorbunker (right)
The Führerbunker (German pronunciation: [ˈfyːʁɐˌbʊŋkɐ] ) was an air-raid shelter built and located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker-complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944, and became the last of the Führer Headquarters (German: Führerhauptquartiere) used by Adolf Hitler during World War II.
Hitler took up residence in the Führerbunker on 16 January 1945, and it became the centre of the Nazi régime until the last week of World War II in Europe. Hitler married Eva Braun there on 29 April 1945, less than 40 hours before they committed suicide.
After the war the Soviet Red Army levelled both the old and new chancellery buildings. The underground complex remained largely undisturbed until 1988–89, despite some attempts at demolition. The excavated sections of the old bunker complex were mostly destroyed during reconstruction of that area of Berlin. The site remained unmarked until 2006, when the Berlin State government authorised the installation of a small plaque with a schematic diagram. Some corridors of the bunker still exist, but are sealed off from the public.
Construction
Führerbunker
The Reich Chancellery bunker was initially constructed as a temporary air-raid shelter for Hitler, who actually spent very little time in the capital during most of the war. Increased bombing of Berlin led to expansion of the complex as an improvised permanent shelter. The elaborate complex consisted of two separate shelters, the Vorbunker ('forward bunker'; the upper bunker), completed in 1936, and the Führerbunker, located 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) lower than the Vorbunker and to the west-southwest, completed in 1944. They were connected by a stairway set at right angles and could be closed off from each other by a bulkhead and steel door. The Vorbunker was located 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) beneath the cellar of a large reception hall behind the old Reich Chancellery at Wilhelmstrasse 77. The Führerbunker was located about 8.5 metres (28 ft) beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery, 120 metres (390 ft) north of the new Reich Chancellery building at Voßstraße 6. Besides being deeper under ground, the Führerbunker had significantly more reinforcement. Its roof was made of concrete almost 3 metres (9 ft 10 in) thick. About 30 small rooms were protected by approximately 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) of concrete; exits led into the main buildings, as well as an emergency exit up to the garden. The Führerbunker development was built by the Hochtief company as part of an extensive programme of subterranean construction in Berlin begun in 1940. The construction cost for the Führerbunker totalled 1,349,899.29 ℛ︁ℳ︁, equivalent to €5,439,805 in 2021.
Hitler's accommodations were in this newer, lower section, and by February 1945 it had been decorated with high-quality furniture taken from the chancellery, along with several framed oil paintings. After descending the stairs into the lower section and passing through the steel door, there was a long corridor with a series of rooms on each side. On the right side were a series of rooms which included generator and ventilation rooms and the telephone switchboard. On the left side was Eva Braun's bedroom and sitting room (also known as Hitler's private guest room), and an antechamber (also known as Hitler's sitting room), which led into Hitler's study and office room. On the wall hung a large portrait of Frederick the Great, one of Hitler's heroes. A door led into Hitler's modestly furnished bedroom. Next to it was the conference and map room (also known as the briefing and situation room) which had a door that led out into the waiting and anteroom.
The bunker complex was self-contained. However, as the Führerbunker was below the water table, conditions were unpleasantly damp, with pumps running continuously to remove groundwater. A diesel generator provided electricity, and well water was pumped in as the water supply. Communications systems included a telex, a telephone switchboard, and an army radio set with an outdoor antenna. As conditions deteriorated at the end of the war, Hitler received much of his war news from BBC radio broadcasts and via courier.
End of World War II
Führerbunker
Hitler moved into the Führerbunker on 16 January 1945. His senior staff, including Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels, as well as Braun, joined them in April, while Magda Goebbels and their six children took residence in the upper Vorbunker. Two or three dozen support, medical, and administrative staff were also sheltered there. These included Hitler's secretaries (including Traudl Junge), a nurse named Erna Flegel, and Sergeant Rochus Misch, who was both bodyguard and telephone switchboard operator. Initially, Hitler continued to use the undamaged wing of the Reich Chancellery, where he held afternoon military conferences in his large study. Afterwards, he would have tea with his secretaries before returning to the bunker complex for the night. After several weeks of this routine, Hitler seldom left the bunker except for short strolls in the chancellery garden with his dog Blondi. The bunker was crowded, the atmosphere was oppressive, and air raids occurred daily. Hitler mostly stayed on the lower level, where it was quieter and he could sleep. Conferences took place for much of the night, often until 05:00.
On 16 April, the Red Army started the Battle of Berlin, and they started to encircle the city by 19 April. Hitler made his last trip to the surface on 20 April, his 56th birthday, going to the ruined garden of the Reich Chancellery where he awarded the Iron Cross to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth. That afternoon, Berlin was bombarded by Soviet artillery for the first time.
Hitler was in denial about the dire situation and placed his hopes on the units commanded by Waffen-SS General Felix Steiner, the Armeeabteilung Steiner ('Army Detachment Steiner'). On 21 April, Hitler ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of the encircling Soviet salient and ordered the German Ninth Army, south-east of Berlin, to attack northward in a pincer attack. That evening, Red Army tanks reached the outskirts of Berlin. Hitler was told at his afternoon situation conference on 22 April that Steiner's forces had not moved, and he fell into a tearful rage when he realised that the attack was not going to be carried out. He openly declared for the first time the war was lost – and he blamed his generals. Hitler announced that he would stay in Berlin until the end and then shoot himself.
On 23 April, Hitler appointed General of the Artillery Helmuth Weidling, commander of the LVI Panzer Corps, as the commander of the Berlin Defense Area, replacing Lieutenant Colonel (Oberstleutnant) Ernst Kaether. The Red Army had consolidated their investment of Berlin by 25 April, despite the commands being issued from the Führerbunker. There was no prospect that the German defence could do anything but delay the city's capture. Hitler summoned Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim from Munich to Berlin to take over command of the Luftwaffe from Hermann Göring, and he arrived on 26 April along with the test pilot Hanna Reitsch.
On 28 April, Hitler learned that Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was trying to discuss surrender terms with the Western Allies through Count Folke Bernadotte, and Hitler considered this treason. Himmler's SS representative in Berlin, Hermann Fegelein, was shot after being court-martialed for desertion, and Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest. On the same day, General Hans Krebs made his last telephone call from the Führerbunker to Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of German Armed Forces High Command (OKW) in Fürstenberg. Krebs told him that all would be lost if relief did not arrive within 48 hours. Keitel promised to exert the utmost pressure on Generals Walther Wenck, commander of the Twelfth Army, and Theodor Busse, commander of the Ninth Army. Meanwhile, Bormann wired to German Admiral Karl Dönitz: "Reich Chancellery a heap of rubble." He said that the foreign press was reporting fresh acts of treason and "that without exception Schörner, Wenck and the others must give evidence of their loyalty by the quickest relief of the Führer".
That evening, von Greim and Reitsch flew out from Berlin in an Arado Ar 96 trainer. Field Marshal von Greim was ordered to get the Luftwaffe to attack the Soviet forces that had just reached Potsdamer Platz, only a city block from the Führerbunker. During the night of 28 April, General Wenck reported to Keitel that his Twelfth Army had been forced back along the entire front and it was no longer possible for his army to relieve Berlin. Keitel gave Wenck permission to break off the attempt.
Hitler married Eva Braun after midnight on 28–29 April in a small civil ceremony within the Führerbunker. He then took secretary Traudl Junge to another room and dictated his last will and testament. Hans Krebs, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Goebbels, and Bormann witnessed and signed the documents at approximately 04:00. Hitler then retired to bed.
Late in the evening of 29 April, Krebs contacted Jodl by radio:
Request immediate report. Firstly of the whereabouts of Wenck's spearheads. Secondly of time intended to attack. Thirdly of the location of the Ninth Army. Fourthly of the precise place in which the Ninth Army will break through. Fifthly of the whereabouts of General Rudolf Holste's spearhead.
In the early morning of 30 April, Jodl replied to Krebs:
Firstly, Wenck's spearhead bogged down south of Schwielow Lake. Secondly, Twelfth Army therefore unable to continue attack on Berlin. Thirdly, bulk of Ninth Army surrounded. Fourthly, Holste's Corps on the defensive.
SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke, commander of the centre government district of Berlin, informed Hitler during the morning of 30 April that he would be able to hold for less than two days. Later that morning, Weidling informed Hitler that the defenders would probably exhaust their ammunition that night and again asked him for permission to break out. Weidling finally received permission at about 13:00. Hitler shot himself later that afternoon, at around 15:30, while Eva took cyanide. In accordance with Hitler's instructions, his and Eva's lifeless bodies were wrapped in blankets, carried outside, and burned. Goebbels became the new Head of Government and Chancellor of Germany (Reichskanzler) in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament. Reichskanzler Goebbels and Bormann sent a radio message to Dönitz at 03:15, informing him of Hitler's death, and that he was the new Head of State and President of Germany (Reichspräsident), in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament.
Krebs talked to General Vasily Chuikov, commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army, at about 04:00 on 1 May, and Chuikov demanded unconditional surrender of the remaining German forces. Krebs did not have the authority to surrender, so he returned to the bunker. In the late afternoon, Goebbels had his children poisoned, and he and his wife left the bunker at around 20:30. There are several different accounts on what followed. According to one account, Goebbels shot his wife and then himself. Another account was that they each bit on a cyanide ampule and were given a coup de grâce immediately afterwards. Goebbels' SS adjutant Günther Schwägermann testified in 1948 that the couple walked ahead of him up the stairs and out to the chancellery garden. He waited in the stairwell and heard the shots, then walked up the remaining stairs and saw the lifeless bodies of the couple outside. He then followed Joseph Goebbels' order and had an SS soldier fire several shots into Goebbels' body, which did not move. The bodies were then doused with petrol and set alight, but the remains were only partially burned and not buried.
Weidling had given the order for the survivors to break out to the northwest, and the plan got underway at around 23:00. The first group from the Reich Chancellery was led by Mohnke; they tried unsuccessfully to break through the Soviet rings and were captured the next day. Mohnke was interrogated by SMERSH, like others who were captured from the Führerbunker. The third breakout attempt from the Reich Chancellery was made around 01:00 on 2 May, and Bormann managed to cross the Spree. Artur Axmann followed the same route and reported seeing Bormann's body a short distance from the Weidendammer bridge.
At 01:00, the Soviet forces picked up a radio message from the LVI Panzer Corps requesting a cease-fire. Down in the Führerbunker, General Krebs and General Burgdorf committed suicide by gunshot to the head. The last defenders in the area of the bunker complex were mainly made up of Frenchmen of the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne, others being Waffen-SS from the remnants of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, Latvian SS and Spanish SS units. A group of French SS remained in the area of the bunker until the early morning of 2 May. The Soviet forces then captured the Reich Chancellery. General Weidling surrendered with his staff at 6:00, and his meeting with Chuikov ended at 8:23. Johannes Hentschel, the master electro-mechanic for the bunker complex, stayed after everyone else had either left or committed suicide, as the field hospital in the Reich Chancellery above needed power and water. He surrendered to the Red Army as they entered the bunker complex at 09:00 on 2 May. The bodies of Goebbels' six children were discovered on 3 May. They were found in their beds in the Vorbunker with the clear mark of cyanide shown on their faces.
Post-war events
Führerbunker
The first post-war photos of the interior of the Führerbunker were taken in July 1945. On 4 July, American writer James P. O'Donnell toured the bunker after giving the Soviet guard a pack of cigarettes. Many soldiers, politicians, and diplomats visited the bunker complex in the following days and months. Winston Churchill visited the chancellery and bunker on 14 July 1945. That month, Life photojournalist William Vandivert photographed the bunker. During separate investigations by the Western Allies, a bloodstain was noted on Hitler's bed frame. According to historian Mark Felton, a British officer surmised that Hitler could have been shot in bed, with a less bloody death occurring on the sofa. On 11 December 1945, the Soviet Union allowed a limited investigation of the bunker grounds by the other Allied powers. Two representatives from each nation watched several Germans dig up soil, including the site where Hitler's remains had allegedly been exhumed that May. The representatives planned to continue the work, but when they arrived the next morning, an NKVD armed guard met them and accused them of removing documents from the chancellery. This was denied and no further outside probes were allowed for years.
As part of a disinformation campaign, the Soviets alleged that Hitler escaped or died by poison, while maintaining secrecy about their investigation. In May 1946, the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs tasked forensicist Piotr Semenovsky with investigating the scene, although it had by then already been contaminated by numerous individuals. In the bunker study, Semenovsky observed blood stains on the sofa and possibly traces of blood on the wall. He also found blood in some corridors and spurts of blood on the upper walls of the stairwell leading to the emergency exit. The forensicist concluded these were the result of Hitler's body, wrapped in a blanket, being carried outside for burning. Semenovsky surmised that the blanket became blood-soaked in the process.
The outer ruins of both chancellery buildings were levelled by the Soviets between 1945 and 1949 as part of an effort to destroy the landmarks of Nazi Germany. A detailed interior site investigation by the Soviets, including measurements, took place on 16 May 1946. Thereafter, the bunker largely survived, although some areas were partially flooded. In December 1947, the Soviets tried to blow up the bunker, but only the separation walls were damaged. In 1959, the East German government began a series of demolitions of the chancellery, including the bunker. Because it was near the Berlin Wall, the site was undeveloped and neglected until 1988–89. During extensive construction of residential housing and other buildings on the site, work crews uncovered several underground sections of the old bunker complex; for the most part these were destroyed. Other parts of the chancellery underground complex were uncovered, but were filled in, resealed, or ignored.
Government authorities wanted to destroy the last vestiges of these Nazi landmarks. The construction of the buildings in the area around the Führerbunker was a strategy for ensuring the surroundings remained anonymous and unremarkable. The emergency exit point for the Führerbunker (which had been in the chancellery gardens) was occupied by a car park.
On 8 June 2006, during the lead-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a single information board was installed to mark the location of the Führerbunker. The board, including a schematic diagram of the bunker, can be found at the corner of In den Ministergärten and Gertrud-Kolmar-Straße, two small streets about three minutes' walk from Potsdamer Platz. The board was designed to present a mundane historical record rather than a memorial. Rochus Misch, one of the last people living who was in the bunker at the time of Hitler's suicide, attended the ceremony.
In 2025, blood from the sofa in Hitler's study was used by Turi King of the University of Bath for DNA analysis. The blood was confirmed to be Hitler's by comparing it to a relative's DNA.