The Original Bunker Scene (aka OBS) is one of the many scenes used for Hitler Parodies. It's called "original" because the earliest parodies (like Sim Heil and Hitler Gets Banned from Xbox Live) are made with it. The OBS is thus the nucleation site of the whole Downfall parody meme, and to this day remains the most widely used scene for Downfall parodies worldwide. It also came to represent the meme as a whole, completely disregarding years of development in the meme to the disdain of Untergangers.
In Downfall
The scene took place during 21 April 1945, in a military briefing with a lot of generals. Krebs informs that the enemy has broken through a wide front, while in the background, Fegelein enters. Günsche is also briefly seen. Krebs also informs of other suburbs of Berlin under attack, pointing at a map around the Berlin area. Hitler assures that Steiner's assault will bring it under control. His statement evokes dead silence in the room. Krebs attempts to explain the situation, but falters, leaving Jodl to break the news that Steiner couldn't get enough soldiers to ward off Soviet troops.
Visibly upset, Hitler tells everyone to leave except Generals Keitel, Jodl, Krebs, and Burgdorf, and after the last person closes the door immediately flies into a rage, where he states that Steiner's attack was an order. Outside, everyone listens, and Gerda cries. He declares that the military has been lying to him from the very beginning; even the SS. As he rants that the generals are cowards, Burgdorf tells him that he shouldn't insult the soldiers, but Hitler continues that they are betrayers, cowards and failures. Burgdorf declares that Hitler's accusations are outrageous, but Hitler doesn't listen and says how they are the scum of the German people, throws down his pencils at the map, and yells, "Sie ist ohne Ehre!" (literally: "it [viz. the army leadership] is without honor").
Continuing, Hitler goes on about how years at a military academy have only taught the generals how to hold a knife and fork, and how the military has hindered his plans. Around this time, Eva arrives to the hallway outside listening and Gerda cries even harder. Meanwhile, Hitler accuses the military of putting obstacles in his way, and goes as far as saying that he should've executed his high officials like Stalin did during the Great Purge.
Sitting down in his chair, he continues to talk about how he who didn't attended an academy, yet managed to conquer Europe all by himself. He calls the army leadership traitors who had betrayed him since the beginning, and that they will pay with their own blood. Outside, Traudl tries to comfort Gerda, while Eva looks on in shock from the background.
Hitler realizes the war has been lost, but tells them that he will not leave Berlin, and that he'd rather stay until the end and shoot himself. It ends with Hitler telling his generals, with tears running down his eyes, to "do whatever you like."
In the Parodies
The Original Bunker Scene is the basis of the whole meme, with multiple websites such as Know Your Meme referencing parodies from this scene to refer to the meme as a whole. Usually titled Hitler rants about... or Hitler finds out..., The scene is used for Hitler being banned from somewhere, Hitler being informed about world events, etc. Its use by major Untergangers declined when the Hitler Reviews Scene, among other scenes, was introduced, though upstarts and one-timers still produces them in abundance. In fact, most of the parodies that made it to mainstream media uses this scene, with most of the uploaders uncommon in the Unterganging circle.
The general structure of this scene's use in the original meme is as follows: At the beginning, Krebs gives a brief summary about the situation of the parody, for example the events of the latest episode of a popular series, a new update of a computer game or something happening in the real world, while using his maps as a reference. After the summary, Hitler gives a brief statement about what he hopes will happen regarding the subject. This is followed by Krebs attempting to give Hitler bad news, but as he fears the Führer's violent outburst, he is unable to finish his sentence. A good example of bad news is a disappointing plot twist in a series Hitler really likes.
Seeing his colleague Krebs struggle, Jodl musters the courage and finishes giving Hitler the bad news. Upon receiving the news, Hitler calmly orders everyone, but Krebs, Jodl and Burgdorf to leave the room. This is usually done with a statement relating to the parody (i.e. "Everyone who liked the previous episode, please leave this room"). After almost everyone leaves the room, Hitler starts the iconic violent outburst he is known (and loved?) for. He angrily rants for a good two minutes, after which he calms down sits on his chair and sadly states how faith, in whatever he is ranting about, is now forever lost.
Parts of this scene, however, found separate uses. The part with Fegelein waiting outside the room has been combined with other scenes when he has something to do with the rest of the bunker (eg Hitler is informed by everyone by Hitler Rants Parodies and Traudl's secret admirers by 1979Onetime). The part with Hitler throwing his pencils at the map became the basis of a weapon called the Pencil of Doom and Mass Destruction. Krebs' map pointing trait also originated form this scene.
As time passed, this scene as a whole has been considered overused, thus losing popularity among new and established Untergangers alike. If the scene is used by an established Unterganger, it is almost always meant to be as self-parody, or with an added twist to avoid overusing the original joke. A good example of this is Hitler finds no one has found a cure for his 8-bit voice.
Popular culture references
Some popular culture references featured in the parodies include, among others:
- Upset results in sports, including State of Origin, tennis, Formula One, MotoGP, cricket, Australian rules football, rugby league, soccer, rugby union, ice hockey, basketball, boxing and golf, amongst others
- Contestants being eliminated from The X Factor, The Voice, Idol, etc.
- Being banned from Xbox Live
- Functionality of the PlayStation network
- Finding out there is no Santa
- Politics
- Apple's latest products
- Mass Effect 3's controversial ending
- Finding Justin Bieber was released from jail
- Maria Sharapova's grunting
- The war on terrorism
- Barack Obama eating his dog
- Vuvuzelas at the 2010 FIFA World Cup
- Parodies being uploaded or taken down
- His generals' incompetence
- Fegelein's antics (very rarely)
- Being Bruno Ganz
- Facebook, YouTube and/or Twitter's new layout
- Deaths of celebrities
- WikiLeaks
- Losing his voice and making do with a vocoder
- Movies getting pushed back.
Transcript
Full translation can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2fl-sHUwrc (Kakashiballz).
| German transcript and English translation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Speaker | English | German |
| KREBS | The enemy has made breakthroughs on a broad front. | Es ist dem Feind gelungen, die Front in breiter Formation zu durchbrechen. |
| In the south, the adversary took Zossen and is pushing forward to Stahnsdorf. | Im Süden hat der Gegner Zossen genommen und stößt auf Stahnsdorf vor. | |
| The enemy is currently operating on the northern outskirts between Frohnau and Pankow... | Der Feind operiert jetzt am nördlichen Stadtrand zwischen Frohnau und Pankow... | |
| ...and in the east, the enemy has made its way up to the Lichtenberg-Mahlsdorf-Karlshorst line. | ...und im Osten ist der Feind bis zur Linie Lichtenberg, Mahlsdorf und Kahrlshorst gelangt. | |
| HITLER | With Steiner's assault, that will all come into order. | Mit dem Angriff Steiners wird das alles in Ordnung kommen. |
| KREBS | My Führer... Steiner... | Mein Führer... Steiner... |
| JODL | Steiner couldn't mass sufficient forces for an assault. | Steiner konnte nicht genügend Kräfte für einen Angriff massieren. |
| Steiner's assault never took place. | Der Angriff Steiners ist nicht erfolgt. | |
| HITLER | Remain in the room: Keitel, Jodl, Krebs, and Burgdorf. | Es bleiben im Raum: Keitel, Jodl, Krebs und Burgdorf. |
| That was an order! | Das war ein Befehl! | |
| Steiner’s attack was an order! | Der Angriff Steiners war ein Befehl! | |
| Who are you that you dare set yourself against my order? | Wer sind Sie, dass Sie es wagen, sich meinem Befehl zu widersetzen? | |
| Has it now come so far? | So weit ist es also gekommen? | |
| The military has been lying to me! | Das Militär hat mich belogen! | |
| Everybody's been lying to me, even the SS! | Jeder hat mich belogen, sogar die SS! | |
| All the generals are nothing but a bunch of lousy, faithless cowards! | Die gesamte Generalität ist nichts als ein Haufen niederträchtiger, treuloser Feiglinge! | |
| BURGDORF | My Führer I can't allow it, that the soldiers who have given their blood for you... | Mein Führer ich kann nicht zulassen, dass sie Soldaten, die für Sie verbluten… |
| HITLER | Nothing but cowards, traitors, failures!!! | Nichts als Feiglinge, Verräter, Versager!!! |
| BURGDORF | My Führer, what you're saying is outrageous! | Mein Führer, was Sie da sagen, ist ungeheuerlich! |
| HITLER | The generals are dregs of the German people! | Die Generalität ist ein Geschmeiß des deutschen Volkes! |
| They are without honor! | Sie ist ohne Ehre! | |
| They call themselves generals, because they've spent years at the military academy only to learn how to hold a knife and fork. | Sie nennen sich Generale, weil sie Jahre an der Militärakademie zugebracht haben, nur um zu lernen, wie man Messer und Gabel hält. | |
| For years, the military has only hindered my actions. | Jahrelang hat das Militär meine Aktionen nur verhindert. | |
| They’ve put every last conceivable obstacle in my way! | Es hat mir jeden nur erdenklichen Widerstand in den Weg gelegt! | |
| I'd have done well years ago just to have had all the higher officers liquidated, like Stalin! | Ich hätte gut daran getan, vor Jahren alle höheren Offiziere liquidieren zu lassen, wie Stalin! | |
| I was never at an academy. | Ich war nie auf einer Akademie. | |
| And yet, I, alone, have—all by myself—conquered the whole of Europe! | Und doch habe ich allein, allein auf mich gestellt, ganz Europa erobert! | |
| Traitors. | Verräter. | |
| Right from the start, I've been so betrayed and deceived! | Von allem Anfang an bin ich so verraten und betrogen worden! | |
| There's been an egregious betrayal exacted upon the German people. | Es war ein ungeheuerer Verrat geübt am deutschen Volke. | |
| But all these traitors are gonna pay. | Aber alle diese Verräter werden bezahlen. | |
| With their own blood, they're gonna pay! | Mit ihrem eigenen Blut werden sie bezahlen! | |
| They're gonna drown—in their own blood! | Sie werden ersaufen in ihrem eigenen Blut! | |
| TRAUDL | Please, Gerda, calm yourself down! | Bitte, Gerda, jetzt beruhig’ dich doch! |
| HITLER | My orders are spoken into the wind. | Meine Befehle sind in den Wind gesprochen. |
| It is impossible, under these circumstances, to lead…. | Es ist unmöglich, unter diesen Umständen zu führen. | |
| It's over. | Es ist aus. | |
| The war... is lost. | Der Krieg…ist verloren. | |
| But if you, my gentlemen, believe that I am therefore leaving Berlin… you are way off! I'll sooner put a bullet through my head. | Aber wenn Sie, meine Herren, glauben, dass ich deshalb Berlin verlasse, irren Sie sich gewaltig! Eher jage ich mir ‘ne Kugel durch den Kopf. | |
| Do what you want. | Tun Sie, was Sie wollen. | |
- Source: Yahoo! Answers
Trivia
- The room where the scene unfolds is specifically called the "Map room / Situation room." It's no surprise considering all map-pointings in the film take place in this room.
- Out of all 4 generals that Hitler calls out, Keitel is the only one without any lines in this scene.
- The original bunker scene was cut short for television broadcasts of the film. The TV cut can be seen here.
- If you look closely, you could see Günsche and Fegelein in a few scenes, though separately.
- Traudl is the only woman to have a line in the scene; she comforted a crying Gerda.
- Although Gerda cries a lot more, her crying doesn't have as much impact as Erna Flegel does in the parodies, who used it as a superweapon.
- Although Hitler had asked for just Keitel, Jodl, Krebs and Burgdorf remain in the room, Goebbels and Bormann also remain.
- However, for most of the scene, both Goebbels and Bormann are not within Hitler's eyesight, as both men stood behind him.
- Along with the generals, Goebbels and Bormann were in this scene, but had no lines.
- Stalin was mentioned in this scene.
- A complete English Buffalaxing of the entire scene can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Du1he85c58 (as a Hitler Parody)
- If you can hear closely, you can hear Hitler saying "Fight nigga!", "Wikileaks" or "Far out!", which are bufflaxed lines.
- Wikileaks can also be interpreted as "Break ya legs!".
- At around 1:31 in the scene, right before Hitler says "weiter als ein Haufen" (but a bunch) a static noise can be heard. It can be heard in both the theatratical version and the extended one. In the BluRay version, the noise is weaker, but can still be heard. Another explanation for this is that someone is hyperventilating.
- This scene was made famous by Gerhardt Boldt, even though he did not assist directly (as Hitler asked everyone except the 4 generals to leave the room). It's likely however, that he heard the dialogue and the physical manifestations of Hitler were heard from either the generals or Bormann.
- This scene was parodied in the 2012 science-fiction film Iron Sky.
- This is the standard scene for Japanese Unterganger parodies. Hitler rants about mostly political issues in Japan. Sometimes, along with fake lines, Japanese words (often funny) can be heard.
- If you look very closely, it was Neilandis, the third man in Krebs and Theodor von Dufving's delegation to Chuikov who was the last person to leave the room in the scene.
In Other Media
This scene, being the turnaround point of Hitler's last days, is portrayed in many films, and owing to the popularity of parodies of the OBS, was parodied in several others.
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Steiner's failed attack is explained in great detail. After the generals leave the room, Hitler locks the door and begins to rant. During the rant, he bangs the table 5 times and shouts "Nothing!". He then slams the phone on the table and on the fallen map.
The Bunker
The scene starts abruptly with the two generals coming down the stairs while Hitler has already begun ranting and shouting to them that they had betrayed him. Hitler then shouts to everybody to "Bring me general Steiner!", to which the generals tell him that Steiner must have been captured. He also brings the Luftwaffe into the discussion. The two generals urge him to leave Berlin and Hitler refuses, shouting at Bormann that he will not leave Berlin and go to Berchtesgaden.
War and Remembrance
The scene begins with all the general staff talking and shouting at the conference table (which is much bigger than the one from Downfall). Hitler breaks the noise by asking everybody what is going on with Steiner and that "if I do not hear from Steiner within 15 minutes, somebody will be shot!". Hans Krebs, then enters the room and tells him that "there can be no Steiner attack!". At this point Hitler begins to erupt with massive shouts telling everybody to get out and tells Keitel, Bormann, Krebs, Jodl, and Goebbels to remain. He then begins to shout that he will kill himself, and accuses everybody that he has been betrayed. He continues to shout that the war is lost, and that "eeeeverybody iiiis aaaaagainst me *pant*, *pant*"! This is considered, by many, to be the most violent and angry reenactment of the famous scene.
Dear Friend Hitler
The scene appears in the second half of the film, almost half an hour before the end. Even more interesting, it happens right after Fegelein is executed. Hitler asks why isn't Steiner attacking. A general (possibly Krebs, in keeping with the Downfall tradition) tells him that the Russian army is very large, which angers Hitler, who shouts that Steiner alone is equal to millions of soldiers. Another General (either Burgdorf of Jodl) tells him that Steiner has refused to attack, because all he has is a few starving civilians. This angers Hitler, who snaps and rants that everybody has deceived him. He then calls the soldiers worthless. He then sits in his chair and says that he'll commit suicide and never leave Berlin. Throughout the scene he constantly bangs the desk with his fist. The camera will sometimes move outside the room, showing Eva and the other people gathered, just like in Der Untergang.
Iron Sky
The scene is parodied in Iron Sky, when the US president's campaigning department in New York failed to produce a decent presidential campaign poster. Vivian Wagner, who heads the presidential campaign, puts down her glasses and commands that "anyone who is not head of the department should leave." She then rants, calling them idiots and morons. She told them that she had a meeting with the United States of America the next morning and not the "President of Zambia", throwing her pen on the table.
The Cleveland Show
A spoof of the scene appears the 4th season episode Wide World of Cleveland Show, that aired on 27 January 2013. In the scene, it's shown how the eponymous series would look like in Germany, Das Cleveland Showzen. In the scene, Hitler, portrayed by the main character Cleveland Brown, rants about the show itself being written by Jews (a nod to the fact that many of the writers of the show are Jewish) in an inexistent German. Almost all the characters in the scene don't look like their Downfall counterparts (e.g. Burgdorf is portrayed by Cleveland Jr. and Jodl by Lester Krinklesac).
Notable Quotes
- Hitler: Mit dem angriff Steiners...wird das alles in Ordnung kommen. ("With Steiner's assault, that will all come into order.")
- Krebs: Mein Führer...Steiner... ("My Führer...Steiner...")
- Jodl: Steiner konnte nicht genügend Kräfte für einen Angriff massieren. Der Angriff Steiners ist nicht erfolgt. ("Steiner couldn't mass sufficient forces for an assault. Steiner's assault didn't happen.")
- Hitler: Es bleiben im raum: Keitel, Jodl, Krebs und Burgdorf. ("[Let] there remain in the room: Keitel, Jodl, Krebs, and Burgdorf.")
- Hitler (ranting): Das war ein Befehl! ("That was an order!")
- Hitler: Sie ist ohne Ehre! ("[The generals] are without honor!") - This has been interpreted (bufflaxed) as: "She stole the heroin!"
- Hitler: Der krieg...ist verloren. ("The war...is lost.")
Gallery
Downfall
In Other Media
Videos
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Original Bunker Scene View Template Page |
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