On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his subterranean Berlin bunker. The impact of Hitler's suicide on the war was more emotional than strategic. Hitler's death occurred when it did because the German leader understood surrender and capture were inevitable. Still, in the aftermath of Hitler's suicide, there were many consequences and reactions on an individual and a collective basis.
Because only the Russian military had access to the bunker and its vicinity, the Russian government was in charge of what the world learned of Hitler suicide facts. Always willing to deceive and manipulate, Stalin deliberately misrepresented what he knew about Hitler's death, adding to one of the many mysteries surrounding Nazi Germany.
Individual German government figures and the German people had radical and diverse reactions to the news of Hitler's demise. Some officials rightfully determined it was time to vanish, to avoid arrest and responsibility for the unspeakable crimes of the Third Reich. Here are some of the causes of all of the things that happened immediately after Hitler killed himself.
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