Bunker – The Last Days / Bunker - Die Letzten Tage

BUNKER – THE LAST DAYS tells the story of the underground Labyrinth in Berlin and of the people who survived the Second World War down there. The film gives the viewer a unique chance to experience these places, which reveal stories which some would like to see buried forever.

The film builds up to the last days of the war, when nearly all Berliners were hiding in one or another form of shelter, unable to distinguish day from night and desperately hoping for the end to come.

The film concentrates on two main bunker complexes: the Reichs Chancellery/Führerbunker, to which the Nazi leadership had withdrawn by the end of 1944, and the bunker at the Anhalter Bahnhof, in which thousands of women and children had sought shelter. These two bunker complexes are connected by an underground railway tunnel – a connection which creates a special relationship between them:

The women and children in the Anhalter bunker are evacuated by the Waffen-SS, who intend to blow up the floor of the Landwehrkanal and flood the North-South U-Bahn railway tunnel in order to prevent the Soviets from advancing on Hitler´s bunker with tanks and infantry through the underground.

While women, children and wounded are forced to flee down the tunnel to escape the river water, the remnants of the Nazi leadership also try a desperate attempt to escape from the advancing Soviets through the underground. Down here, there are the guilty and the innocent, and a race against death begins for all.

Details

Country of Production
Germany / Switzerland

Year of Production
2002

Format
Digi Beta Pal, Beta SP Pal

Length
58 / 83 min

Director
Martina Reuter and Gavin Hodge

Production
Twenty Twenty Vision and ME & Company in co-production with Fama Film, DFFB, SFB/ARTE/SWR, SF DRS/SRG SSR idée suisse

Original Language
German

Subtitles
English

Festivals / Awards

Bavarian Documentary FF 2002 (Discovery Channel Award)