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What happened to Adolf Hitler in Berlin in April 1945?
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Adolf Hitler
Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, c. 1933.
On April 30, 1945, as Soviet forces closed in on Berlin during the final stages of World War II, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker.123
It is widely accepted that Hitler died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, though some accounts suggest he may have also ingested a cyanide capsule at the same time. His wife, Eva Braun, whom he had married the previous day, also took her own life by cyanide at his side. Following his instructions, their bodies were burned and buried in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. Soviet authorities later recovered the remains, which were identified through dental records, and eventually had them cremated and scattered in 1970.23