01 – WHAT IS ‘DOKUMENTATION FÜHRERBUNKER‘?
Responsible education, not mystification: Dokumentation Führerbunker is a historically authentic, interactive documentary for VR and non-VR systems (Windows PC) about the horror of World War II and the last days of the so called Third Reich in the air raid shelters of the Berlin Reich Chancellery, known as the Führerbunker.
Development of this project was in part funded by the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Bremen through their funding institution NORDMEDIA. It was developed by VR expert studio NORD XR for the interactive documentary series TIME & HISORY.
Dokumentation Führerbunker is the only academically supervised and historically authentic reconstruction of the air raid shelters of the Berlin Reich Chancellery. It was used in many popular TV documentaries e.g. by NationalGeographic and ZDF / TerraX etc.
02 – CAN I JUST DOWNLOAD THIS?
Yes. You can buy and download Dokumentation Führerbunker right now. If you are a private user, simply follow THIS LINK to purchase and download your copy.
If you represent an educational institution, museum, event center, TV station, VR café, etc., please contact us at licensing@timeandhistory.com for terms tailored to your intended use.
03 – DO I NEED A VR HEADSET?
No. A VR headset is recommended, but not required.
The best way to experience our projects is via a VR headset connected to your PC (PC VR), as this gives you the possibility to visit places as if you were there, move around freely and inspect the environment from every angle in true 3D. That’s what our projects are developed for.
However, if there are no VR glasses connected to your PC, you can still run Dokumentation Führerbunker on a standard 2D display. The user interface (menu, navigation, etc.) adapts automatically, allowing you to use it without a VR headset.
04 – DOES THIS RUN ON QUEST VR HEADSETS?
You can run Dokumentation Führerbunker on a META Quest (1,2,3)-Headset, but it needs to be connected to a VR-ready Windows PC via Oculus Link. The project was developed for Windows PC based VR (so called PCVR). We may, however, develop a version of Dokumentation Führerbunker that supports Quest stand-alone modes in the future.
05 – WHAT LANGUAGES ARE SUPPORTED?
Dokumentation Führerbunker allows you to choose your language: As of now, you may pick between German and English. More languages may follow later.
06 – IS THE PROJECT HISTORICALLY AUTHENTIC?
Yes. Dokumentation Führerbunker is the only academically supervised reconstruction of the so called Führerbunker. Lead advisor is Sven Felix Kellerhoff, a historian, publicist and author of many renowned books on contemporary German history (including The Führerbunker – Hitler’s last refuge). He has been dealing with the Führerbunker for around 20 years and was the first researcher to evaluate the construction files in the German Federal Archives (Staatsarchiv) and the GDR’s “Stasi protocols” on the 1973 inspection on the remnants of the bunker.
The floor plan of the bunker and the purpose of the individual rooms were researched and authentically reconstructed. All rooms are equipped according to the latest scientific knowledge. All scenes shown in the experience are historically authentic.
The depiction of people, uniforms, medals and faces is to be understood symbolically. A detailed representation of the characters shown is deliberately omitted, as it would serve no purpose for the experience or for understanding the historical background of the events shown.
07 – WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DOKUMENTATION FÜHRERBUNKER?
The project is a virtual museum for PCVR and can be used with VR headsets that connect to your PC. It is intended to help ensure that an important memorial of the absurdity of totalitarian systems with all its historical errors and human catastrophes does not fall into oblivion.
There are countless locations and events that are suitable for conveying the absurdity and cruelty of National Socialism. But especially the so-called Führerbunker offers a spatial and temporal concentrate of the madness that was so characteristic of the Third Reich.
While the visitor explores the facility, the bunker reveals its history: the conference room in which Hitler accused his generals of treason, the room in which Eva Braun became Frau Hitler, the accommodations of the Göbbels family, in which Magda Göbbels killed her six children, the lounge in which Hitler was talking about miracle weapons and secret military plans, the hallway in which Hitler made his adjutant promise to burn his corpse, Hitler’s study in which he and Eva Braun committed suicide and many more.
08 – WHERE CAN I EXPERIENCE THIS?
The core idea behind TIME & HISTORY is to make interesting, but destroyed or ‘hard-to-get-to’ places accessible to EVERYONE without having to spend a lot of money or the need to travel.
You can simply buy & download Dokumenation Führerbunker and experience it with your VR headset or on your Windows PC screen in the comfort of your home.
09 – ROOM-SCALE OR SEATED VR?
The choice is yours: With a compatible VR setup, you can explore the world both walking (room-scale), as well as via teleport movement sitting at your desk (seated experience).
If you do not have VR glasses, you can also experience Dokumenation Führerbunker on a standard PC screen.
10 – SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS?
System requirements depend on whether you want to run the experience with a VR headset or on a standard monitor.
When running Dokumenation Führerbunker on an HMD (Head Mounted Display), we recommend a GTX 1060 as the minimum GPU, 16 GB of RAM and an adequate processor.
With a standard PC monitor, you can run the project on a significantly less meaty system. A GTX 950 (or equivalent) GPU and 8 GB of RAM should be sufficient for full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels). If you launch Dokumenation Führerbunker at lower resolutions, even less powerful systems should be able to run the application.
11 – WHO DEVELOPED DOKUMENTATION FÜHRERBUNKER?
Dokumenation Führerbunker was developed by NORD XR with the latest iteration of UNREAL ENGINE. For a full list of all people involved and all sources and literature consulted, please see the project’s CREDITS.
12 – MORE QUESTIONS?
If you have further questions, please get in touch with us at info@timeandhistory.com. We’ll get back to you ASAP (usually within 48 hour on work-days).