Eva Braun
Page 38
27. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 465.
28. See Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, February 6, 1945, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, pp. 174f.
29. See Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, February 9, 1945, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, pp. 180. See also Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen von Martin Bormann, p. 107.
30. See Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, February 9, 1945, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, pp. 180. See also Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen von Martin Bormann, p. 107; Heinz Linge, Bis zum Untergang: Als Chef des Persönlichen Dienstes bei Hitler, ed. Werner Maser (Munich, 1982), pp. 69f. According to Linge, Bormann’s wife and children went with Eva Braun and her sister to Munich.
31. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp. 821f.; Giesler, Ein anderer Hitler, pp. 479f. Neither Bormann, named by Giesler as one of the people present, nor Speer makes reference to this event in his notes. Cf. Hiller von Gaetringen, ed., Das Auge des Dritten Reiches, pp. 86f.; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 403.
32. Speer, Albert Speer: Die Kransberg-Protokolle 1945, p. 133. See also Wilhelm Höttl, Einsatz für das Reich (Koblenz, 1997), p. 117.
33. See Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen von Martin Bormann, p. 147; Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 468.
34. Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, February 18, 1945, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, p. 183. See also Linge, Bis zum Untergang, p. 70.
35. Julius Schaub, quoted from Meissner, “Der letzte Befehl,” p. 34.
36. Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen von Martin Bormann, p. 148. Cf. Gun, Eva Braun, p. 181.
37. Henriette von Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 236.
38. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 465. See also Artur Axmann, “Das kann doch nicht das Ende sein”: Hitlers letzter Reichsjugendführer erinnert sich (Koblenz, 1995), p. 434. Axmann, who moved into the “Führer bunker” on April 23, reports that Eva Braun told him there “that the Führer had sent her to Munich in early March, but that she had returned to Berlin against his will on April 15.”
39. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 465; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 404.
40. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 731. Joachim von Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 268.
41. See the extensive discussion in Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 732. See also Michael Bloch, Ribbentrop: A Biography (New York, 1993), pp. 421ff.; Schmidt, Albert Speer, pp. 151ff.; Fest, Speer, pp. 314ff.; Longerich, Heinrich Himmler, pp. 745ff.
42. Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 198.
43. Ibid., p. 168.
44. Eva Braun to Herta Schneider, Berlin, April 19, 1945, in Gun, Eva Braun, pp. 247–248.
45. See Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 199.
46. Eva Braun to Herta Schneider, Berlin, April 19, 1945, previously cited. Junge also reports that there were gunshots (Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 182). Hitler had apparently tried again and again to persuade her to leave the bunker and get herself to safety. Heinrich Hoffmann reports that Hitler asked him to bring Eva Braun to Munich with him in early April 1945 (Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, pp. 230f.).
47. Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 408. Speer similarly writes (Inside the Third Reich, p. 484) that Eva Braun was “the only prominent candidate for death in this bunker who displayed an admirable and superior composure.” Likewise Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 169, and Axmann, “Das kann doch nicht das Ende sein,” p. 434, who wrote that Eva Braun appeared to him “like an unreal apparition.”
48. See Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 183; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 417.
49. See Lakowski, “Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karpaten,” p. 648.
50. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 411; Speer, Inside the Third Reich, pp. 474; Loringhoven, Mit Hitler im Bunker, p. 145; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 823; Frank, Der Tod im Führerbunker, pp. 34ff. Eva Braun had written to Herta Schneider on the previous day that “getting through with a car” was probably “no longer an option.” But “a way for us all to see you again would surely” turn up (Eva Braun to Herta Schneider, Berlin, April 19, 1945, previously cited).
51. Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 200ff.
52. Statement of Erich Kempka about Hitler’s last days, Berchtesgaden, June 20, 1945, MA 1298/10, Microfilm, Various Documents, DJ-13 (David Irving), IfZ Munich.
53. Cf. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 177, gives the line as “Blood-red roses tell you of my joy.” But this line does not appear in the 1929 song “Bluterote Rosen” [“Blood-Red Roses”]; music by Hans Hünemeyer, lyrics by Alfred Krönkemeier).
54. See Bloch, Ribbentrop p. 425. See also Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 483, which however does not mention a meeting between Eva Braun and Ribbentrop.
55. Eva Braun, quoted from Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 178.
56. Hitler, quoted from Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 1,032.
57. See Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 189; Loringhoven, Mit Hitler im Bunker, p. 150. See also Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 205. Eva Braun wrote to her sister Gretl on April 23, 1945: “I hope Morell has safely arrived with my jewelry. It would be terrible if something had happened.” (Eva Braun to Gretl Fegelein, Berlin, April 23, 1945, in Gun, Eva Braun, p. 254.)
58. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp. 824f. Cf. Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 411. See also Frank, Der Tod im Führerbunker, pp. 63ff.
59. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 180.
60. See Meissner, “Der letzte Befehl,” pp. 2 and 16. These notes are based on what Schaub, who shared “time and a cell” with Meissner “in the witness wing of the Nuremberg prison,” apparently told Meissner about “his last days with Adolf Hitler.” Schaub mentioned Hitler’s “last command”: the “order to destroy the secret Führer archive” (p. 6). Hitler allegedly said: “No scrap of it must fall into enemy hands” (p. 2). Cf. Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 411.
61. Eva Braun to Herta Schneider, Berlin, April 22, 1945, in Gun, Eva Braun, 252. See also Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 476: According to Speer Eva Braun had told him during his last visit to the bunker that Hitler “had wanted to take his own life on April 22.”
62. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 826.
63. Eva Braun to Gretl Fegelein, Berlin, April 23, 1945, in Gun, Eva Braun. Eva Braun mentions here an additional letter that Hitler’s servant Wilhelm Arndt had been given to bring to the family at the Berghof, together with a suitcase. They had heard, Braun writes, that his airplane was “overdue.” In fact, the plane, having taken off from Berlin-Staaken on April 22, crashed in Börnersdorf. Arndt lost his life. See Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 362. Decades later, a reporter for the Stern, Gerd Heidemann, reported that “Diaries” by Adolf Hitler had been salvaged from the wreckage in Börnersdorf. See Michael Seufert, Der Skandal um die Hitler-Tagebücher (Frankfurt am Main, 2008), p. 15.
64. See Lakowski, “Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karpaten,” pp. 664f.; Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen von Martin Bormann, p. 230.
65. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 476.
66. Ibid., p. 484.
67. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 187.
68. Speer, Albert Speer: Die Kransberg-Protokolle 1945, p. 119.
69. “Report of Conversation among Gretl Braun Fegelein, Frau Herta Schneider, and Walter Hirschfeld (undercover), 25 September 1945,” in F 135/2, vol. 2, p. 367, IfZ Munich. See also Riefenstahl, Memoiren, p. 405; Hiller von Gaetringen, Das Auge des Dritten Reiches, p. 32.
70. “Report of Conversation among Gretl Braun Fegelein, Frau Herta Schneider, and Walter Hirschfeld (undercover), 25 September 1945,” p. 368. See also Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 213f.
71. Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 414.
72. Expert assessment in the matter of Adolf Hitler, Berchtesgaden District Court, August 1, 1956 (Ref.: Z.: II 48/52), copy, Gb 05.01/2, pp. 30ff., IfZ Munich. See also Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 1038.
73. See Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 196.
; 74. See Loringhoven, Mit Hitler im Bunker, pp. 157ff.; Gerhard Boldt, Die letzten Tage der Reichskanzlei (Hamburg, 1964), pp. 128ff.
75. See Boldt, Die letzten Tage der Reichskanzlei, pp. 135f. Extensive discussion in Schellenberg, Aufzeichnungen, pp. 355ff.
76. See Longerich, Heinrich Himmler, pp. 750f.; Folke Bernadotte, Das Ende: Meine Verhandlungen in Deutschland im Frühjahr 1945 und ihre politischen Folgen (Zürich and New York, 1945).
77. Eva Braun to Gretl Fegelein, Berlin, April 23, 1945, previously cited. Thus Fegelein in no way “left the Chancellery unnoticed” on April 26, as Gerhard Boldt claims (Die letzten Tage der Reichskanzlei, p. 133). Boldt was a member of General Wilhelm Krebs’s staff and spent the last weeks in the bunker.
78. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 197. Below and Loringhoven also report that they received a call from Fegelein from his Berlin apartment (Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 415; Loringhoven, Mit Hitler im Bunker, p. 167).
79. “Report of Conversation among Gretl Braun Fegelein, Frau Herta Schneider, and Walter Hirschfeld (undercover), 25 September 1945,” p. 367.
80. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 415. Below dates these events to April 28, whereas Traudl Junge writes that Fegelein was already being sought on the previous day and was brought to the Chancellery on the evening of April 27 (Bis zur letzten Stunde, pp. 197ff.).
81. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p.823
82. Adolf Hitler, “Mein privates Testament,” Berlin, April 29, 1945, 4 o’clock (transcription of a copy of a notarized testament), in Adolf Hitler Papers, N 1128/38, BA Koblenz. On the testament, see Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 823
83. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 415; Henrik Eberle and Matthias Uhl, eds., Das Buch Hitler: Geheimdossier des NKWD für Josef W. Stalin, zusammengestellt aufgrund der Verhörprotokolle des Persönlichen Adjutanten Hitlers, Otto Günsche, und des Kammerdieners Heinz Linge (Bergisch Gladbach, 2005 [Moscow, 1948–1949]), p. 436. Hitler’s servant Heinz Linge gave the impression in his memoir, published in 1980, that he had been present (Linge, Bis zum Untergang, pp. 281f.). A few years after the fact, Otto Meissner recalled that Hitler had had “the authorized registrar” brought on April 28 in an “armored car” (Staatssekretär, p. 610).
84. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 416. See also Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 823
85. Expert assessment in the matter of Adolf Hitler, Berchtesgaden District Court, August 1, 1956 (Ref.: Z.: II 48/52), copy, Gb 05.01/2, pp. 34f., IfZ Munich.
86. See Lakowski, “Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karpaten,” p. 671.
87. See “Ergebnisse der gerichtsmedizinischen Untersuchung durch sowjetische Ärzte,” in Hitlers Tod, ed. Völklein, pp. 121ff.
12. AFTER DEATH
1. Notes by the translator, Pavlov, on the conversation between Stalin and Harry Hopkins, May 26, 1945, in the Russian Presidential Archives, Moscow, quoted from Völklein, Hitlers Tod, p. 60.
2. See Charles L. Mee Jr., Meeting at Potsdam (New York, 1975), p. 94.
3. “Report of Conversation among Gretl Braun Fegelein, Frau Herta Schneider, und Walter Hirschfeld (undercover), 25 September 1945,” p. 368.
4. Personal telegram from the Commander of the First Belorussian Front, Marshall Georgy Zhukov, May 1, 1945, Dossier No. 41-Sh/2-w/I, Russian Presidential Archives, Moscow, quoted in Völklein, Hitlers Tod, p. 47. See also Lew Besymenski, Der Tod des Adolf Hitler (Hamburg, 1968).
5. See autopsy records for Adolf Hitler (File 12) and Eva Braun (File 13), Archive of the President of the Russian Federation in the Archive of the Federal Counterintelligence Service, Moscow, quoted in Völklein, Hitlers Tod, pp. 126ff.
6. Anonymous letter to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Amsterdam, November 22, 1948. (Glenn H. Palmer, Chief, Intelligence & Security Branch) in David Irving Collection, “Adolph Hitler 1944–1953,” vol. 1, pp. 16ff., F 135/1, IfZ Munich.
7. “Presse-Information des Bayerischen Staatsministeriums der Justiz, Betreff: Verfahren zur Feststellung des Todes Hitlers, München, 25. Oktober 1956 [Press release from the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice, re: Proceedings to Determine Hitler’s Death, Munich, October 25, 1956]” (copy), Gb 05.01/1, IfZ Munich.
8. See expert assessment in the matter of Adolf Hitler, Berchtesgaden District Court, August 1, 1956 (Ref.: Z.: II 48/52), copy, Gb 05.01/2, pp. 2f., IfZ Munich.
9. Ibid., pp. 71ff.
10. See Völklein, ed., Hitlers Tod, pp. 194f.
CONCLUSION
1. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 196.
2. Fritz Braun, statement of December 1, 1947, public hearing of the Munich District Court for oral arguments in the case of Braun, Fritz Wilhelm, in Denazification Court Records, box 188, State Archives, Munich.
3. Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 215.
4. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 166ff.
5. Christa Schroeder to Johanna Nusser, Führer Headquarters, June 28, 1941, in ED 524, IfZ Munich.
6. See Walther Darré, Aufzeichnungen.
7. See Ilse Fucke-Michels to State Commissioner for Refugees, Ruhpolding, October 20, 1946, in Denazification Court Records, box 468, State Archives, Munich.
8. Herta Schneider, statement of June 23, 1949, “Öffentliche Sitzung der Hauptkammer München zur mündlichen Verhandlung in dem Verfahren gegen Herta Schneider, geb. Ostermayr,” in Denazification Court Records, box 1670, State Archives, Munich.
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