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When writer-producer Bernd Eichinger read the galleys of historian Joachim Fest's book Der Untergang (The Downfall: Inside Hitler's Bunker, The Last Days of the Third Reich), he knew he had found the dramatic key to a film he had wanted to make for decades, but never thought possible due to its scope. Fest's book focuses on the final days of the Reich, and Eichinger saw that the horrifying epic of Hitler and his people during his twelve years in power was reflected in those last twelve days in the bunker. The final days tell us a lot about how the mass fanaticism functioned in the regime's earlier years and how it continued to reign until the bitter end, says Eichinger. Eichinger read another very important book around the same time: the memoirs of Traudl Junge, Hitler's private secretary. He recounts, Fest gave me the time frame, Traudl Junge gave me the character who could hold it all together. Downfall is the first German film to broach the subject of Hitler straight-on since