On this day in 1945, holed up in a bunker underhis headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing acyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, Germanyunconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a"1,000-year" Reich.

Since at least 1943, it was becoming increasinglyclear that Germany would fold under the pressure of the Allied forces. InFebruary of that year, the German 6th Army, lured deep into the Soviet Union,was annihilated at the Battle of Stalingrad, and German hopes for a sustainedoffensive on both fronts evaporated. Then, in June 1944, the Western Alliedarmies landed at Normandy, France, and began systematically to push the Germansback toward Berlin. By July 1944, several German military commandersacknowledged their imminent defeat and plotted to remove Hitler from power soas to negotiate a more favorable peace. Their attempts to assassinate Hitlerfailed, however, and in his reprisals, Hitler executed over 4,000 fellowcountrymen.

In January 1945, facing a siege of Berlin by theSoviets, Hitler withdrew to his bunker to live out his final days. Located 55feet under the chancellery, the shelter contained 18 rooms and was fullyself-sufficient, with its own water and electrical supply. Though he wasgrowing increasingly mad, Hitler continued to give orders and meet with suchclose subordinates as Hermann Goering, Heinrich Himmler and Josef Goebbels. Healso married his long-time mistress Eva Braun just two days before his suicide.

In his last will and testament, Hitler appointedAdmiral Karl Donitz as head of state and Goebbels as chancellor. He thenretired to his private quarters with Braun, where he and Braun poisonedthemselves and their dogs, before Hitler then also shot himself with his servicepistol.

Hitler and Braun's bodies were hastilycremated inthe chancellery garden, as Soviet forces closed in on the building. WhentheSoviets reached the chancellery, they removed Hitler's ashes,continuallychanging their location so as to prevent Hitler devotees from creating amemorial at his final resting place. Only eight days later, on May 8,1945, theGerman forces issued an unconditional surrender, leaving Germany to becarvedup by the four Allied powers.

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The spear of destiny

The Spear of Destiny, also known asthe Holy Lance, is in Christian tradition the spear that the Romansoldier Longinus thrust into the side of Jesus (c. 6 B.C.E.–c.30 C.E.) as he hung on the cross. ("Thencame the soldiers and brake the legs of the first and of the other whichwas crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he wasdead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with aspear pierced his side and forthwith came out blood and water" [John 19:32–34 KJV]). Christian knights discovered the Holy Lance at Antiochduring the First Crusade in 1098. The sight of the sacred artifact inthe Church of St. Peter so inspired the beleaguered Christian soldiersthat they rallied and routed the Saracens from the city. From that timeforth, according to legend, whoever claims the spear and solves itssecret holds the destiny of the world in his hands for good or evil.

Althoughthere are a number of relics in various European churches that claim tobe the genuine Holy Lance, the spear that is on display in theWeltliches Schatzkammer Museum (the Hapsburg Treasure House Museum) inVienna has been considered the most authentic and it has found a homethere for 250 years. It is also known as Constantine's Lance, and it wasemployed as a symbol of the imperial power of Holy Roman emperors atthe time of their coronation in much a similar manner as the orb andscepter are used in the coronation of the monarchs of Great Britain.According to Trevor Ravenscroft in The Spear of Destiny (1997), a19-year-old Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) was first led to the lance in 1908and from the moment of his first encounter with it in the museum, itbecame "the central pivot" in his life and the "very source of hisambitions to conquer the world." In addition to Constantine (d. 337),Hitler found that as many as 45 emperors had owned the lance before thegreat Charlemagne (742–814) had possessed it. Frederick the Great ofGermany (1194–1250), who founded the Teutonic Knights on which Hitlerallegedly based his SS, had also been an owner of the Spear of Destinyat one time. Ravenscroft claimed in his book that Hitler would oftenvisit the museum, stare at the Holy Lance, and enter into a trance state in which he would view his future glory asthe master of the Third Reich.

The spear of Longinus with Templar cross.

Thirty years later, on March 14, 1938,Hitler arrived in Vienna to oversee the annexation of Austria. He alsoobserved the transfer of the Hapsburg Crown Jewel collection, whichincluded the Holy Lance, from Vienna to Nuremberg, the Nazis' favoritecity. With the Spear of Destiny now safely ensconced in Germany, Hitlerdeclared that the war could begin in earnest. The lance would be wellprotected in the hall of St. Katherine's Church, where it had oncerested for nearly 400 years.

However, later in the war when Alliedbombers damaged a portion of St. Katherine's, the many treasures lootedby the Nazis and stored there were taken to another hiding place. Inthe chaos and confusion, the Holy Lance was inadvertently left behind.

TheSpear of Destiny fell into the hands of U.S. soldiers on April 30,1945. A few hours after the Holy Lance passed from Nazi possession on toits next claimant to world power, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in hisBerlin bunker. Later, the United States officially returned the HolyLance to Austria, along with the other treasures that the Nazis hadstolen. Today, the Spear of Destiny stands again in the HapsburgTreasure House Museum in Vienna.

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