World War II/Fall of Berlin

By the beginning of 1945, Germany's troops were nearing collapse, with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler retreating to his Führerbunker in mid-January. After holding its Red Army for a time in Germany, the Soviet Union attacked Berlin on 16 April 1945 (four days after the death of American president Franklin D. Roosevelt). The Soviets began bombarding Berlin with its artillery on 20 April, Hitler's birthday. Around that time, Hitler began making preparations for his suicide. He rejected efforts to surrender from his officers.

By 28 April, the day of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's death, the Red Army had closed in on Berlin. Hitler married his longtime lover, Eva Braun, shortly after midnight on 29 April and signed his last will and testament. The bodies of the couple were found the next afternoon. Separate Soviet and American inquiries produced details later used to confirm the deaths, as the bodies were reputedly almost completely burned to ashes. Hitler had died from a suicide gunshot and Braun from cyanide poisoning.

Berlin's garrison surrendered on 2 May. Some German units continuing to fight to the west in hopes of surrendering to the Western Allies instead of the Soviets. On 8 May, the war ended in Europe. The following month, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began seeding a dubious narrative that Hitler had escaped. Ever since, conspiracy theorists have cited discrepancies seeming to imply Hitler's survival, being largely dismissed by mainstream historians.