2. When the end came, the first Soviet troops in the Bunker behaved respectfully – and were more interested in the food than the young female secretaries
According to Antony Beevor, at least 100,000 German women were raped in Berlin during the Soviet invasion. Of these an estimated 10,000 died, many of them committing suicide out of shame or from the trauma. Small wonder then that the few remaining people holed up in the Bunker at the very end of April 1945 were terrified of what was in store for them. According to Hitler’s nurse Erna Flegel, there were just ‘six or seven’ people, including herself, below ground when the Russians took Berlin. Those who hadn’t tried to escape had simply killed themselves.
Despite their fears, the Russians taking the Bunker was apparently a calm event. Speaking to Allied interrogators in 1945, Frau Flegel explained that the call came on May 2nd; a nurse above ground telephoned down to inform them that the Russians had arrived. Soon after, a handful of Soviet troops “had a look around” and were far more interested in the food supplies they found than in the women. Indeed, the nurse acknowledged that these soldiers treated her and her fellow survivors “very humanely”, even advising her to lock the Bunker door after them when they left.