Hitler. 1936-1945: Nemesis

35. Koller, 27–8.

36. Below, 411.

37. Koller, 29, comments of Eckhard Christian.

38. Joachimsthaler, 150–51 (photocopy of a report — ‘Meldung uber Fuhrerlage am 22.4.1945’ — by Oberleutnant Hans Volck, adjutant of Major-General Eckhard Christian, from 25 April 1945, containing an extract from notes of General Karl Koller’s discussion with Jodl of 23 April 1945, dated 25 April 1945), and 148–54 (post- war accounts); Koller, 28–33; Keitel, 346–8; and ‘Die Vernehmung von Generalfeldmarschall Keitel durch die Sowjets’, Wehrwissenschaftliche Rundschau, 11 (1966), 651–62, here 656 (for Hitler’s angry ejection of Keitel from the room, and Keitel’s remark to Jodl: ‘That’s the collapse’ (‘Das ist der Zusammenbruch’); IfZ, ED 100, Irving-Sammlung, Traudl Junge Memoirs, Fols.130–32; Galante, 2–3 (Junge); Boldt, 121–3. See also Trevor-Roper, 157ff.

39. Joachimsthaler, 152 (account of Schaub); IfZ, ED 100, Irving-Sammlung, Traudl Junge Memoirs, Fols.131–2, describes Hitler standing in the small ante-chamber to his room ‘motionless. His face has lost all expression, his eyes are dim. He looks like his own death-mask.’ [‘In dem kleinen Vorraum vor seinem Zimmer steht Hitler regungslos. Sein Gesicht hat jeden Ausdruckverloren, die Augen sind erloschen. Er sieht aus wie seine eigene Totenmaske.’)

40. IfZ, ED 100, Irving-Sammlung, Traudl Junge Memoirs, Fols.131–2, 137 (slightly revised text); Galante, 2–3 (Junge, with inaccurate translation). In a letter to her sister, Gretl Braun-Fegelein, the next day, 23 April, Eva stated that Hitler had ‘lost all hope of a desirable conclusion (Der Fuhrer selbst hat jeden Glauben an einen glucklichen Ausgang verloren)’, and that they would not let themselves be captured alive. She made arrangements to pass some of her jewellery to Gretl, and also asked her to destroy some private letters, including an envelope addressed to the Fuhrer. (NA, Washington, NND 901065, Folder 5, text and translation of letter from Eva Braun to Gretl Braun Fegelein, 23 April 1945.)

41. Joachimsthaler, 150 (Volck report).

42. Reuth, Goebbels, 599–600.

43. See Linge, Bis zum Untergang; 275.

44. Koller, 29–30.

45. Koller, 29.

46. Linge, Bis zum Untergang, 275.

47. KTB OKW, iv/2, 1454.

48. Joachimsthaler, 156.

49. DZW, vi.711.

50. This idea was in any case already next day given up by Keitel, after speaking to Jodl, as impractical (Keitel, 352).

51. Keitel, 348; KTB OKW, iv/2, 1454.

52. Michael A. Musmanno Collection, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, interview with Julius Schaub (March, 1948), FF39a, Fols.2–3, 7; Amtsgericht Laufen, Verfahren des Amtsgerichts Berchtesgaden zur Todeserklarung bzw. Feststellung der Todeszeit von Adolf Hitler, testimony of Otto Gunsche, 19–21.6.56, Bl.9; Joachimsthaler, 157 (testimony of Gunsche and Schaub); Below, 411; Michael A. Musmanno, Ten Days to Die, London, 1951, 32. Traudl Junge (IfZ, ED 100, Irving-Sammlung, Traudl Junge Memoirs, Fol.139; Galante, 3 (Junge)), stated that Schaub flew out that day (22 April). (Earlier in her text (Fol.133), Junge had ‘am nachsten Morgen’ (i.e. 23 April) for packing a chest with documents and Schaub reluctantly leaving to fly south.) Schaub repeated in his Musmanno interview that he left on 25 April.

53. Below, 412; IfZ, ED 100, Irving-Sammlung, Traudl Junge Memoirs, Fol.133; Galante, 3 (Junge); Joachimsthaler, 158.

54. Michael A. Musmanno Collection, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, testimony of Major Bernd von Loringhoven, 14 March 1948, FF51, Fol.41 (quotations in English); Joachimsthaler, 152. See also Koller, 29.

55. KTB OKW, iv/2, 1454; Boldt, 123; Domarus, 2228; Joachimsthaler, 160– 61.

56. ’ “… warum dann uberhaupt noch leben!” Hitlers Lagebesprechungen am 23., 25. und 27. April 1945’, Der Spiegel, 10 January 1966, 32–46, here 32–3. The typescripts of the briefings (Lagebesprechungen) are contained in PRO, WO208/3791, Fols.89–111.

57. The initiative for this had come from Goebbels in mid-March. (LB Darmstadt, 343–5 (23 March 1945).)

58. Speer, 479–81. And see Sereny, Albert Speer, 517–19, 523–33; Fest, Speer, 360–65.

59. Speer, 482–3.

60. Once Keitel had departed, only General Krebs, Chief of the General Staff, supported by his junior officers Major Bernd Freiherr von Freytag-Loringhoven and Captain of Cavalry Gerhard Boldt, and Wehrmacht adjutant General Burgdorf remained of the military advisers. Liaison with Donitz continued to be maintained through Admiral Vo?; Below provided the links with the Luftwaffe. (Keitel, 348–9; Below, 412. See also Trevor-Roper, 181, for the personnel remaining in the bunker after 25 April.)

61. Speer, 483–4.

62. Koller, 35–40. Text: Below, 412; Domarus, 2228 n.165; Joachimsthaler, 162.

63. Speer, 485–6; Lang, Der Sekretar, 329–30.

64. Koller, 42–3; Schroeder, 210–11.

65. Speer, 487–8.

66. Keitel, 366; Irving, HW, 803.

67. Joachimsthaler, 163–4; Irving, HW 811–12. For Weidling’s account of his meeting with Hitler, see ‘Der Endkampf in Berlin (23.4–2.5.1945)’, Wehrwissenschaftliche Rundschau, 12/I (1962), 40–52, 111–18, 169–74, here 43. He found Hitler, face like a ‘smiling mask (gleich einer lachelnden Maske)’, both hands and one of his legs constantly trembling, hardly able to rise from his seat.

68. Joachimsthaler, 164–7; Boldt, 142–5. Towards the end of March, Eisenhower had changed the strategic plan of the western Allies. Concerned about the possibility of prolonged fighting even once the war had ended, centred on notions of a ‘National Redoubt’ in the Alps, probably with its headquarters at the Berghof, he made no attempt to advance on Berlin but, instead, directed US forces to the south of the capital into Saxony, into what had been foreseen as the Soviet zone after the war. It was as part of this advance that soldiers from the 1st US Army met Konev’s troops on 25 April at Torgau.

69. For a description, see Schroeder, 211–12; also Koller, 49, 51.

70. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 34.

71. Keitel, 356.

72. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 34 (and 37–8 for similar comments). See also Boldt, 145–6 for Hitler’s reaction to news of what turned out to be minor disagreements between Soviet and American commanders when they met at Torgau.

73. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 37.

74. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 34.

75. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 37–9.

76. Boldt, 150.

77. Boldt, 149.

78. Boldt, 157.

79. Joachimsthaler, 168.

80. Boldt, 153.

81. Koller, 48; Hanna Reitsch, Fliegen — Mein Leben, Stuttgart, 1951, 292ff. (and for the following); also NA, Washington, NND 901065, Folder, 2, US interrogation of Hanna Reitsch, 8 October 1945, Fols. 1–14; and PRO, London, WO208/4475, Fols.7–8 of undated (1945?) intelligence report on Hanna Reitsch.

82. Koller, 60–61; Trevor-Roper, 186–91; Below, 413–14; ?A, Washington, NND 901065, Folder, 2, US interrogation of Hanna Reitsch, 8 October 1945, Fol. 4.

83. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 40–2.