they slept either out in the open or inside railway stations during the remaining days of their flight to the south. Himmler could think of only two things, how he could have saved his position and bargained with the Western Allies, and what was happening now to his two families in the south.
Eventually four cars reached the mouth of the Elbe, and it proved impossible to take them further; the distance across the water was about five miles. Reluctantly the little group of S.S. refugees, no better off now than hundreds of thousands of Germans wandering homeless on the roads, abandoned their vehicles and crossed the Elbe; they were ferried over the estuary unrecognized in a fishing boat with other refugees for the price of 500 Marks. There was nothing for them to do now but walk, passing the nights in peasant farmsteads and covering a few miles each day on foot. During the next five days they tramped slowly south through Neuhaus to Bremervorde, which they reached on the morning of 21 May. They had travelled in all little more than a hundred miles from Flensburg.
They were a strange contingent. In addition to Kiermaier, the group still included Brandt, Ohlendorf, Karl Gebhardt,
At Bremervorde they realized they needed travel documents to pass through the check-point set up by the British Military Authority. Kiermaier confirmed this with the local District Councillor. They then decided that Kiermaier should apply to the British for these travel permits while another member of their party stood outside to watch the result and warn Himmler if Kiermaier were arrested. Since the Secret Field Police were in any case on the British Army’s black list, Kiermaier was kept in custody. When he did not reappear, Himmler and his companions slipped away.
Captain Tom Selvester was in command of 031 Civilian Interrogation Camp, which was based near Luneburg.19 Since large numbers of German troops were trying to make their way home, they were constantly being stopped at check-points set up by the British and held as prisoners-of-war while their documents were examined. If there was any doubt about their identities, they were sent on for further questioning to an Interrogation Camp of the kind Captain Selvester controlled. Here they were paraded outside the Commandant’s office, and then sent in singly to account for themselves. After this they were searched, and their possessions carefully listed.
It was at two o’clock in the afternoon of 23 May that a convoy arrived at the 031 Interrogation Camp with a party of suspects who had been arrested earlier on at a check-point on a bridge near Bremervorde. After a while the men were paraded as usual, but around four o’clock Captain Selvester was told there were three men in the party who were giving some trouble and were insisting on seeing the officer in charge without delay. Since the prisoners were usually very docile and only too anxious to create a good impression, Captain Selvester’s curiosity was immediately aroused, and he ordered these three men to be sent to him one by one. Captain Selvester has described what followed:
‘The first man to enter my office was small, ill-looking and shabbily dressed, but he was immediately followed by two other men, both of whom were tall and soldierly looking, one slim, and one well-built. The well-built man walked with a limp. I sensed something unusual, and ordered one of my sergeants to place the two men in close custody, and not to allow anyone to speak to them without my authority. They were then removed from my office, whereupon the small man, who was wearing a black patch over his left eye, removed the patch and put on a pair of spectacles. His identity was at once obvious, and he said, “Heinrich Himmler” in a very quiet voice.’
Captain Selvester immediately placed his office under armed guard, and sent for an officer from the Intelligence Corps to help him. After he had arrived, the two officers asked Himmler to sign his name in order to compare it with a signature they had in their records. Himmler, thinking he was being asked to present them with a souvenir, appeared very reluctant to write his name, but eventually he agreed to do so provided the paper was destroyed immediately after it had been examined.
The next stage was to search the prisoner; in Captain Selvester’s own words:
‘This I carried out personally, handing each item of clothing as it was removed to my sergeant, who re- examined it. Himmler was carrying documents bearing the name of Heinrich Hitzinger, who I think was described as a postman. In his jacket I found a small brass case, similar to a cartridge case, which contained a small glass phial. I recognized it for what it was, but asked Himmler what it contained, and he said, “That is my medicine. It cures stomach cramp.” I also found a similar brass case, but without the phial, and came to the conclusion that the phial was hidden somewhere on the prisoner’s person. When all Himmler’s clothing had been removed and searched, all the orifices of his body were searched, also his hair combed and any likely hiding place examined, but no trace of the phial was found. At this stage he was not asked to open his mouth, as I considered that if the phial was hidden in his mouth and we tried to remove it, it might precipitate some action that would be regretted. I did however send for thick bread and cheese sandwiches and tea, which I offered to Himmler, hoping that I would see if he removed anything from his mouth. I watched him closely, whilst he was eating, but did not notice anything unusual.’
Meanwhile, word had been sent to 2nd Army Headquarters about Himmler’s arrest. While Captain Selvester was waiting for senior Intelligence officers to arrive from Luneburg, he offered Himmler a British Army uniform in exchange for the clothes that had been taken from him. This was all that was available, but when Himmler saw what he was required to put on, he refused; it seemed he was afraid he would be photographed in the uniform of the enemy and that the picture would be published. The only clothing he later accepted were a shirt, underpants and socks; so he was given an Army blanket to wrap round his half-clothed body.
Captain Selvester was obsessed by the thought of the missing phial. For the whole of the time Himmler was in his charge, he watched him as closely as possible. He has described the curiosity this strange man roused in him:
‘During the time Himmler was in my custody he behaved perfectly correctly, and gave me the impression that he realized things had caught up with him. He was quite prepared to talk, and indeed at times appeared almost jovial. He looked ill when I first saw him, but improved tremendously after a meal and a wash (he was not permitted to shave). He was in my custody for approximately eight hours, and during that time, whilst not being interrogated, asked repeatedly about the whereabouts of his “Adjutants”, appearing genuinely worried over their welfare. I found it impossible to believe that he could be the arrogant man portrayed by the press before and during the war.’
Later that evening, around eight o’clock, Colonel Michael Murphy, the Chief of Intelligence on General Montgomery’s staff, arrived to interrogate Himmler. He told him that he intended to search him and his bodyguards. But Himmler re-asserted who he was, evidently expecting to receive special treatment. He had, he insisted, a letter for General Montgomery. Colonel Murphy cannot recollect ever seeing this letter.
Apart from the phial found in the lining of his jacket, no other trace of poison was discovered on Himmler’s person. Colonel Murphy decided that Himmler should be taken over to Second Army Headquarters. He was taken there by car, a drive of about ten miles, escorted by Colonel Murphy and another Intelligence Officer. That was the last that Captain Selvester saw of him.
Colonel Murphy writes:
‘It was clear to me that it was still possible for Himmler to have poison hidden about him, the most obvious places being his mouth and his buttocks. I therefore told him to dress, and wishing to have a medical search conducted, telephoned my second-incommand at my headquarters and told him to get a doctor to stand by at a house I had had prepared for such men as Himmler.’
Himmler was taken to the interrogation centre which had been set up at a house in the Uelznerstrasse, and put in the charge of Sergeant-Major Edwin Austin, who was not told at first the identity of the prisoner. But, according to his own account which he broadcast the following day for the B.B.C., Austin recognized him immediately he saw him standing in the room to which he had been led.20 He still wore only the
