The last survivor of Hitler's Berlin bunker tells the story of the final days of the Third Reich.


Throughout the last nine months of the Third Reich, from 23 July 1944 to 29 April 1945, Captain Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven daily attended Hitler's military briefings with his highest-ranking officers. He also watched—while recording his experiences in his private diaries—as increasingly the gap widened between the reality of the war outside the bunker and Hitler's willful illusions of imminent victory in the face of absolute ruin.


In the last catastrophic week of Hitler's regime Loringhoven, now holed up night and day in the bunker, saw the final hopes of officers and staff dissolve into drink and fade into suicidal despair. He saw, too, his chance to survive: On April 29, when all communications in the bunker broke down—and with Hitler's unexpected blessing—he left. On April 30 Hitler was dead.