Shadowing Practice: Inside Hitler's Final 48 Hours - Learn English Speaking with Video
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This video has been sponsored and approved by Incogni.
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30th of April 1945.
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General Helmut Weitling stands at the entrance of the Führerbunker.
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In his hand is a message that can save thousands of lives.
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Before giving the message to Hitler, he must pass through three security checkpoints that turn away even the highest ranking officials.
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Around him, Berlin is collapsing.
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Failure is not an option.
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Walking down the corridor, he sees the first guard checkpoint.
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He hands the soldier sitting at the desk his identification and says, I'm General Helmut Weitling.
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I urge you to lead me to Caesar Führer.
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Weitling gets a nod of approval.
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The soldier gives a two-tap code, and the hermetic seal is broken.
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Weidling walks in.
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The easiest checkpoint is passed, but as he moves closer to Hitler, the security only grows stricter.
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General Weidling has just entered the first area known as the Vorbunker.
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Before he can deliver the message, he'll have to pass by two more checkpoints.
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Underneath him is a floor that is eight and a half feet deep made of concrete.
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Above him, the ceiling is 9 feet thick.
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Even though they might be protected from bombs, it's the thought of capture that creates intense fear and anxiety inside.
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The American and British forces are advancing rapidly through Western Germany, capturing critical major cities Munich, Nuremberg, and Hamburg.
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The Nazi's position is becoming weaker by the day.
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The first section of the Vorbunker holds a huge air purification system running constantly.
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giving the underground city its breathing power and preventing gas attacks.
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The dining area lies along the corridor, right next to the kitchen where meals are prepared for everyone, including Hitler's vegetarian dishes.
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Next is the storage and food pantry.
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With the city surrounded, Weidling knows the bunker's rations will soon be depleted.
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Down the hallway, he focuses on the next security checkpoint, Checkpoint, the entrance to the Fuhrerbunker where Hitler and his most important Nazis live.
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Here is Magda Goebbels bedroom and lounge where she and her six children live.
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This is Joseph Goebbels family, the propaganda chief and one of Hitler's most trusted men.
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Known to be one of the most violent anti-semitic members of the party.
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Neighboring the Goebbels is the guard and guest quarters.
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This area slept Hitler's personal staff.
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including his three secretaries, military personnel, bodyguards and temporary guests.
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Weidling is currently the head of the Berlin Defense Area, the last thing stopping the Soviets from completely taking over the city.
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Despite this high rank, he still might not get permission to pass this second checkpoint.
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I need to speak to the Führer, says Weidling.
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What's your business? replies the guard.
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Viadling looks at him sternly and says, That's not for you to know.
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The guard inspects his identification and picks up the phone.
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The Fuhrer bunker is protected by a nearly 12-foot thick steel reinforced concrete ceiling.
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On top of that is a few feet of compacted earth.
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Alongside this, to give the High Command more protection, the floor is 6.5 feet thick, and each room is protected by walls over 1 meter wide.
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This guard post is his only way in or out.
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Your weapons, please.
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Weidling hands the soldier at the door his pistol.
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Go through.
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Replies the guard at the desk.
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Weidling walks down the stairs.
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As he approaches the next door, Juhlheim Bergdorf comes out and asks Weidling what he needs that's so urgent.
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Weidling responds, I need to speak to the Führer immediately.
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The Führer cannot speak to you right now.
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I will relay the message.
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This message is for me to give to the Führer.
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This city is in chaos.
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Let me through.
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Bergdorf looks at him suspiciously.
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The soldiers gripped their guns tighter.
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By this stage of the war, trust had nearly vanished.
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Veidling's letter could save thousands of lives, but he won't be let through this final checkpoint unless he can convince them of his urgency.
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A large airplane shell hits nearby, causing the bunker to shake and dust falls from the ceiling.
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Weidling.
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I must deliver this message.
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Brigdorf quickly grabs Weidling's arm and pulls him through the last security checkpoint.
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As Weidling enters the Fuhrer bunker, the tensions grow stronger.
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Even though he has managed to pass all three checkpoints, Hitler has executed officers for less extreme messages.
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Despite housing the most important Nazis, what you find inside the Fuhrer bunker is far from what you might imagine.
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Meters of damp air and mold stand in the way of General Weidling and Hitler.
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The whole bunker was built underneath the water table, so generators in the room to his left work overtime to keep the lights on.
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To the right is the typewriter's room.
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Young women sit at their desks.
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Not even a week ago, they were transcribing orders and working diligently, but now they sit idly.
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The men pierce their gaze up and see into the furthest room.
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A man begins walking towards them.
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Initially this room was one of the staff bedrooms, but it's been taken over by the man approaching.
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Inside there's a small single bed, desk and closet.
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This man is Martin Bormann, Hitler's most trusted secretary.
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Bormann knows that Weidling and Bergdorf standing together is not good news.
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Huddled and speaking in low tones, Weidling explains the situation.
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Bergdorf agrees to get Goebbels, and Bormann agrees to fetch Hitler.
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Then they will all meet in the map room where Weidling will break the news.
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On the walls of this corridor hang paintings espousing the Nazi ideology that is crumbling outside.
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This large corridor serves two purposes.
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The top command rooms are connected to this space, which is where they gather and discuss strategy.
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It also serves as the waiting area for the more intimate conference area, the map room.
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Almost everyone, including Helmut Weidling, had witnessed Hitler full of rage, madness, and pity curse out high command.
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Bergdorf knocks on the door to the right of the conference room.
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After a moment, he hears, Come here, rein.
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He enters.
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This part of the Fuhrer bunker serves several roles.
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The room is both Goebbels and the bunker's doctor's office.
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Inside there's a small medical bed and cabinets with medicines and tools.
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There's also a desk where Goebbels works.
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The farthest back is Dr. Ludwig Stumpfeger's bedroom.
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He is Hitler's personal physician and surgeon.
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Inside there's a small cramped bed and nightstand with a lamp.
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Next to it is Goebbels' personal bedroom.
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He switches between sleeping here and his family's room above in the Vorbunker.
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Bergdorf gets Gerbel's attention and tells him there is an emergency
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and that he needs to join them in the map room immediately.
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Opposite to Gerbel's office, across the corridor, is Hitler's section of the bunker.
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The first room is Hitler's office.
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Inside, Bormann sees modest items and a small desk with a black phone.
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He walks into the next room.
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This is Hitler's lounge.
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It has a wide couch placed against the back wall.
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In the corner is an oxygen tank.
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He always kept one nearby because he feared suffocating.
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In front is a small coffee table with papers and a thick red rug underneath.
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On the opposite wall is a small desk with some books and a large painting of Frederick the Great, Hitler's hero, hanging on the wall.
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Hitler shared this living space with Bondi, his German Shepherd.
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To the left of this is his partner Eva Braun's room.
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Inside, there's a small bed, closet, and table.
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Hitler's room is not much different.
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It has a slightly larger table with two chairs, a small bed, some cabinets, and a picture of his mother, which he would take wherever he went.
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The room also contains a large safe.
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Rather than expensive belongings, experts believe sensitive documents were locked inside, including Nazi dealings with foreign governments and highly classified intelligence.
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As it was lost to history, the truth will never be known.
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Orman tells Hitler that Weidling has an urgent message that they both need to attend to in the map room.
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Inside the small war room, the decorations are sparse.
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It has a cold metal table at its center and a large outdated map hanging on the wall.
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It shows the greatest extent of the now long gone Nazi empire.
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Weidling takes out a map and extends it on the table.
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Whatever happens next is beyond his control.
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Not too long ago, Hitler experienced one of the darkest moments of his life.
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His second in command, Heinrich Himmler, the chief architect of the Holocaust, had gone behind his back and tried to negotiate a peace treaty with the Allies.
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Hitler found out about this secret negotiation through a BBC radio report.
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Hitler raged at this betrayal and told those still with him in the bunker complex
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that Himmler's secret negotiations were the worst treachery he had ever known.
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Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest and the people associated with the negotiations were to be shot on sight.
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Weidling is deeply concerned about the punishment he might face, even though his circumstances are very different.
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A small crowd begins to gather, and the various members of the remaining High Command are inspecting Weidling's map.
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Hitler walks into the room.
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Place at ease, he says.
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Weidling's moment of truth arrives.
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He knows it can't possibly go well.
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The Soviets are achieving consistent major breakthroughs.
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We have been pushed back hundreds of meters from all major directions.
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They are less than a kilometer away from the bunker.
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There is worse news, my Führer.
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Weidling feels the room close in on him as he delivers the important message.
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Berlin will run out of ammunition within the next 24 hours.
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We have only a small number of bullets.
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Airdrops are no longer reaching our defenses and we have only a small amount of soldiers left.
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Hitler does not interrupt him.
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He stares at the map.
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My Führer, I suggest we try to escape this city.
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We have already lost fifteen thousands of our youngest soldiers.
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Hitler breaks his sentence.
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That's what young people are for.
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Weidling almost stutters.
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He goes for his trump card.
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I have already drafted an order.
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We can begin the escape immediately.
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All we need is your signature.
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At this moment, Goebbels speaks up.
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What you are suggesting is a fantasy.
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The Fuhrer cannot simply run away.
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Feidling's heart beats rapidly.
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Sweat forms on his forehead.
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Everyone in the room knows that the once almighty Fuhrer is no longer the commander he once was.
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Within the last weeks, he has become delusional and refuses to believe that victory is not possible.
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He speaks one last time.
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Gentlemen, we won't leave Berlin.
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Reach out to the generals outside the city.
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They will be able to deliver the decisive blow to the Soviets.
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He stands up and exits the room.
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Weidling stands in silence.
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On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler was found dead alongside Eva Braun, whom he married in the conference room less than 40 hours earlier.
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Einzlinge, Hitler's valet, was the first to discover the scene.
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While looking for Hitler, he smelt gunpowder in the damp air outside his living quarters.
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However, he could not enter the room due to the door being locked.
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He immediately called for Bormann, and the two men kicked open the door and laid eyes upon the aftermath.
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Both bodies were taken to the Führerbunker's emergency exit, which led to the Reich Chancellery Garden above the bunker.
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Resources were so scarce that SS guards hastily buried Hitler's body in a shell crater
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and siphoned gasoline from abandoned cars nearby to burn the remains.
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Once the fire had died down, the leftovers were buried with mud and dirt to conceal them entirely.
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In the hours that followed, several high-ranking Nazi officials in the bunker also refused to surrender.
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This includes Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, who manipulated the entire country,
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laid to rest his six innocent children before himself alongside his wife, Magda.
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Magda.
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General Weidling decided to surrender, hoping to save the remaining lives under his command.
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On May 2nd, he ordered the last defenders of Berlin to lay down their arms.
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However, isolated groups of German troops without this knowledge continued to resist until the unconditional surrender on May 7th.
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The structure that once housed Nazi Germany's high command
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was blown up by Soviet and later East German forces in the post-war years.
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However, because of its robust design, some of it still remains today, dismantled and abandoned.
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The man responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews, 2 million Poles, 3 million Soviet prisoners of war alongside the destruction of Europe,
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was unceremoniously buried in an unmarked grave that today is a parking lot.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 201 sentences and 2317 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:00. The speaker talks at a steady 145 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bunker noun | /ˈbʌŋ.kə/ | A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks. |
| desk noun | /dɛsk/ | A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a… |
| corridor noun | /ˈkɒɹɪdɔː/ | A narrow hall or passage with rooms leading off it, as in a building or in a railway carriage. |
| bedroom noun | /ˈbɛdˌɹum/ | A room in a house, apartment, hotel, or other dwelling where a bed is kept for sleeping. |
| thick adjective | /θɪk/ | Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension. |
| alongside | /əˌlɔŋˈsaɪd/ | Side by side with. |
| soldier noun | /ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/ | A member of a ground-based army, of any rank, but especially an enlisted member. |
| rank noun | /ˈɹæŋk/ | A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers. |
| ceiling noun | /ˈsilɪŋ/ | The overhead closure of a room. |
| surrender verb | /səˈɹɛndə(ɹ)/ | To give up into the power, control, or possession of another. |
| underneath adverb | /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/ | Below; in a place beneath. |
| bury verb | /ˈbɛɹi/ | To outlive. |
| negotiation noun | /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The process of achieving agreement through discussion. |
| concrete adjective | /ˌkɑnˈkɹit/ | Real, actual, tangible. |
| capture verb | /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/ | To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| take out verb | To remove. | |
| take over verb | To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force. | |
| walk down verb | To continually advance (on an opponent) and punch (the opponent) in order to control the fight and dominate the opponent, while shrugging off the opponent's… | |
| blow up verb | To explode or be destroyed by explosion. | |
| close in on verb | To enclose around; to tighten or shrink; to collapse. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| die down verb | To become less virulent or strong; to subside. | |
| get off verb | To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as won't, can't, he'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thick /θɪk/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, breathe /bɹiːð/, theft /θɛft/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, shell /ʃɛl/, identification /aɪˌdɛn(t)ɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, shock /ʃɔk/
- Long words — get the stress right: negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/, identification /aɪˌdɛn(t)ɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, temporary /ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/, anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/, repeatedly /ɹɪˈpiːtɪdli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like bunker, desk, corridor.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | has been sponsored · is broken · is passed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been sponsored · has just entered · has managed |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.