Hitler's Berlin bunker to be marked with sign 06/06/2006 00:00

6 June 2006

BERLIN - The bunker in which Adolf Hitler committed suicide in 1945 will be marked with an information sign for the first time ever, a private group organising the plaque said Tuesday.

Up until now the Berlin bunker's location has not been identified due to fears it could become a site of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis.

This has led to confusion among many normal tourists who search for the site in central Berlin close to the Brandenburg Gate and the newly opened Holocaust memorial.

A group which organises tours of World War II bunkers and other subterranean historic sites in Berlin said it would unveil a sign at the site in both German and English on Thursday.

Dietmar Arnold, head of the group "Berliner Unterwelten," said signposting the bunker had the support of city officials and the state historical preservation office.

The bunker where Hitler killed himself in 1945 to avoid capture by Red Army troops ended up in communist East Berlin after the war. Unsuccessful attempts were made by communist officials to demolish the huge underground complex in 1947 and 1959.

The main part of the bunker was finally destroyed by the communist East German state in 1988 - just two years before German reunification.

Even then, only about half the bunker system was demolished. Large sections remain, including the former headquarters of Hitler's SS guards complete with Nazi murals painted on the concrete walls.

No surviving parts of the bunker are open to the public.

For more information: www.berliner-unterwelten.de

DPA

Subject: German news