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Downfall (German: Der Untergang) is a 2004 German-Austrian drama film, depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler's life in his Berlin bunker and Nazi Germany in 1945. The film was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, written by Bernd Eichinger, and based upon the books: Inside Hitler's Bunker, by historian Joachim Fest; Until the Final Hour, the memoirs of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries; portions of Albert Speer's memoirs Inside the Third Reich; Hitler's Last Days: An Eye–Witness Account, by Gerhardt Boldt; Das Notlazarett Unter Der Reichskanzlei: Ein Arzt Erlebt Hitlers Ende in Berlin (memoirs) by Doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck; and Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936–1949 (memoirs) by Siegfried Knappe.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film begins in East Prussia with a group of German women being escorted to Hitler's compound in Rastenburg so that Hitler could choose another personal secretary. Shortly, the scene shifts to Adolf Hitler's 56th birthday on April 20, 1945. Secretary Traudl Junge is residing in the Führerbunker. Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Karl Koller indicate the Soviet Army is just 12 kilometres from the city center. At his birthday reception Hitler resolves to stay in Berlin and rejects any attempt at a diplomatic solution. Certain officers agree that the Führer has lost all sense of reality.

A parallel story is that of Dr. Ernst-Gunther Schenck, an SS medical officer who is ordered by the evacuating high command to leave Berlin, in response to “Operation Clausewitz”. Schenck pleads with a SS general to be allowed to stay in order to take care of the hungry and sick. He tells the general that besides being an SS officer he would be considered a medical doctor with the Wehrmacht which was still in Berlin. The SS general allows Schenck to stay in Berlin. Schenck is requested by Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke to bring all the medical supplies he can obtain to the Reich Chancellery. While doing this, Schenck and his adjutant go to a hospital in search of medical supplies. They approach a tank position where a panzer commander informs them that everyone has left the hospital, and to be careful of the Russian troops in the area. Once inside the hospital, Schenck finds a room filled with elderly people. After retrieving what medical supplies were available, Schenck and his adjutant (while in route to the Reich Chancellery) try to prevent the shooting of two old men, but without success. The elderly men were shot by the leader of a group of Greifs-Kommandos. A brief standoff ensues. Each group backs away from the other and Schenck and his adjutant make it back to the Reich Chancellary with the medical supplies.



Another parallel story concerns a group of child soldiers (Hitler Youth) in Berlin. A boy in the group is urged by his father to flee with him due to the hopelessness of the situation but the boy refuses. Later this same boy, Peter, is shown in a group that is being awarded Iron Crosses by Hitler for their bravery. Later Hitler discusses his new scorched earth policy with Albert Speer, who begs mercy for the German people, saying that Hitler's plans will return them to the Middle Ages. Hitler claims that the German people have shown themselves too weak and therefore the ones left do not deserve to survive. Later, Eva Braun holds a party for the bunker inhabitants up in the Reich Chancellery, but Soviet artillery fire ends the party early.

In the bunker, Hitler discusses the situation with the generals, believing that Waffen SS General Felix Steiner will save them. However, Steiner cannot mobilize enough men. Upon learning this, Hitler dismisses all except the four highest-ranking generals. He furiously accuses the Wehrmacht of sabotaging him from day one, but acknowledges that the war is lost and states that he would prefer suicide over surrender.

SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke is shown on the front lines with his troops when he observes a group of civilian volunteers running aimlessly to their deaths in the streets. Mohnke asks one of his officers for a situation report. The officer informs him that the civilians are members of the Volkssturm, and they are under direct command of the Minister of Propoganda, Dr. Joseph Goebbels. Mohnke orders the officer to get the Volkssturm out of the line of fire, and states he will take responsibility for doing so.

Mohnke makes his way back to Reich Chancellery to confront Goebbels about the Volkssturm. Goebbels is in the bunker communications room talking to his wife Magda Goebbels. Goebbels tells his wife to bring the children to the bunker and not to bring many toys or nightwear, that it is no longer necessary. Thereafter, Mohnke tells Goebbels that the Volkssturm are easy prey for the Russians. When confronted with this, Goebbels is angered and tells Mohnke that their belief in “final victory,” makes up for their lack of weapons and combat experience. Mohnke tells Goebbels that if these men do not have weapons their deaths are pointless. Goebbels informs Mohnke that he has no pity for them for the German people brought this fate upon themselves.

Later Hitler, Eva, Junge and Gerda discuss various means of suicide. Hitler proposes shooting oneself through the mouth, while Braun mentions taking cyanide. Hitler gives Gerda and Junge one cyanide capsule each. Eva Braun and Magda Goebbels type goodbye letters, Braun to her sister and Goebbels to her adult son (from her former marriage) Harald Quandt.

The child soldiers fight in the streets of Berlin, but to no avail. The young boy, Peter, witnesses the death of all his squad mates and later flees home to his parents, only to find that they have been murdered.

General Wilhelm Keitel is ordered to find Admiral Karl Dönitz, whom Hitler believes is gathering troops in the north, and help him plan an offensive to recover the Romanian oilfields. Oberscharführer Rochus Misch, Hitler's radio operator, receives a telegram from Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe. Martin Bormann reads the telegram to Hitler, where Göring asks permission to assume command of the Reich and asks for acknowledgment by 10 pm, at which time he will assume authority in the absence of a response. Considering this treason, Hitler orders Göring's arrest and removal from office.

General Weidling reports that the Russians have broken through everywhere. There are no reserves and air support has ceased. Brigadeführer Mohnke reports the Red Army is only 300 to 400 meters from the Reich Chancellery and that defending forces can hold out for a day or two at most. Before leaving, Hitler reassures the officers that General Walther Wenck will save them all.

On Hitler's wedding day, Traudl takes dictation of the Führer's political testament. Hitler has ordered Joseph Goebbels to leave Berlin, but Goebbels intends to ignore the order. Hitler marries Eva Braun. When Günsche later brings a reply from Keitel that the main armies are encircled or cannot continue their assault, Hitler states that he will never surrender. He also forbids all officers to surrender. Upon leaving the conference room Hitler gives Günsche the order to cremate his body and that of Eva Braun after their death.

Eva Braun has her last conversation with Traudl. She gives her one of her best coats and advises her to escape. Hitler has his final meal in silence with Constanze Manziarly and his secretaries. He bids farewell to the bunker staff, gives Magda Goebbels his Golden Party Badge (marking original members of the NSDAP from 27 February 1925 to 9 November 1933, with numbers 1 to 100,000), and retires to his room with Eva Braun. Despite Magda Goebbels' pleas, the pair commit suicide. Rather than live in a world without Nazism, Herr and Frau Goebbels poison their children and commit suicide themselves. All the bodies are burned outside the bunker complex.

Most of the bunker survivors attempt to escape, but die at the hands of Red Army infantrymen. Junge makes her way through the Russian lines. Junge escapes from Berlin by bicycle along with Peter from the group of child soldiers. The fates of the film's main surviving characters are shown, before the credits roll.