Plans by Berlin authorities to demolish a remaining bunker from Adolf Hitler’s New Reich Chancellery and redevelop the site into housing have sparked debate among historians, conservationists and public officials.
The bunker, one of the last surviving structures linked to the former New Reich Chancellery, is located on a vacant site in central Berlin. The chancellery, which served as the administrative centre of Nazi Germany, was heavily damaged during the Battle of Berlin at the end of the Second World War before being demolished by Soviet forces in 1949.
Berlin’s housing minister, Christian Gaebler, defended the proposed redevelopment, saying the city should prioritise new housing rather than preserve a structure that could become a destination for extremist visitors.
“We are not standing in the way of new housing developments just to preserve a bunker that might then even become a place of pilgrimage,” he was quoted as saying by German newspaper BZ.
The proposal has drawn criticism from heritage advocates, who argue that the bunker should be preserved as a historical site rather than demolished.
Dietmar Arnold, chairman of the Berlin Underworlds Association, described plans to destroy the structure as a mistake, arguing that it represents one of the few remaining physical reminders of the centre of Nazi power.
He suggested that the site could instead be developed into an educational memorial in partnership with the Holocaust Museum, focusing on the final days of the Second World War and the collapse of the Nazi regime.
Arnold said the bunker remained in good condition when he last inspected it in 2007, adding that its reinforced concrete walls and ceilings, measuring nearly six feet thick, could allow construction above the structure without requiring its demolition.
The Berlin State Monuments Council also previously opposed plans to remove the bunker, stating that it possesses significant historical value because of its connection to the planning and administration of the Second World War and the eventual downfall of the Nazi regime.
The council recommended that the site be formally assessed for heritage protection before any demolition proceeds.
Officials have clarified that the structure at the centre of the dispute is not the infamous Führerbunker, where Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun died in April 1945. Instead, it was used by personnel working at the New Reich Chancellery and later served as a hospital after the war.
The proposal has reignited broader discussions in Germany over how sites associated with the Nazi era should be preserved, interpreted and used while balancing urban development needs.
