Nazi Millionaires

by Kenneth A. Alford

  In the middle of April 1945, Gruppenführer (Major General) Hermann Fegelein and his senior staff arrived at Fischhorn from Berlin for an important war conference. Amidst gloomy forecasts Fegelein adamantly proclaimed that the war was not lost because jet fighters were now operational. The war, he predicted, was about to take a dramatic new turn in Germany’s favor. The Alpine Redoubt was defensible for two or three years, more than enough time to mass produce jets and wipe out Allied fighters and bombers. SS Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Erwin Haufler listened quietly. As he later recalled, “It was perfectly clear to me that this was impossible. But I am a soldier, and must accede to the orders of my superiors, no matter what my personal opinion may be.” Much of the conference centered on the defense of the Alpine passes. Later, however, Fegelein took Haufler aside. “If things do get so bad that we must retreat into the mountains, hide everything you can, above all my personal belongings.” Apparently Fegelein was not as sanguine of ultimate success as he would have others believe.1

  Fischhorn was stocked and readied as a logistical center and fortress for Fegelein and his staff, who had temporarily returned to Berlin. Captain Haufler, in contact each day by phone with Fegelein, had four truckloads of the general’s personal belongings evacuated from his home in Munich. He also arranged for a convoy of trucks to head south from Berlin stuffed with rugs, furs, and other valuables—much of it plundered from Warsaw earlier in the war. As the Allies advanced, phone connections were cut between Fischhorn and Berlin. Thereafter, Haufler drove each night 30 miles north to Hitler’s southern headquarters near Berchtesgaden, the famed Berghof, in order to converse with Fegelein, who was working as Himmler’s liaison officer between Führer Headquarters in the Reich Chancellery and the bunker.2

  Many from Hitler’s inner circle were staying at the Berghof. In addition to Dr. Theodor Morell, Hitler’s personal physician, the group included the wives of several high-ranking Nazi officials. Among them was Eva Braun’s plump (and pregnant) younger sister Gretl Fegelein, a generous and good natured woman with a deserved reputation as a nymphomaniac. Accompanying her was her good friend Herta Schneider, a petite dark-haired mother of two small children. Recently arrived were SS Sturmbannführer (Major) Johannes Göhler, Fegelein’s 27-year-old adjutant, and SS Obergruppenführer (Lieutenant General) Julius Schaub, one of Hitler’s closest adjutants. The pair had flown out of Berlin on a Junkers 290 aircraft on April 24. They were among the last to arrive at the Berghof.

  Julius Schaub had served Hitler from his inauspicious beginnings. Born in 1898, Schaub took part in the 1923 Munich putsch and was sent to jail in Landsberg with the future leader of Germany. The pair struck up a friendship behind bars. From that point on, Schaub was responsible for Hitler’s personal affairs, food, lodging, and the organization of many of his campaigns and speeches. Hitler valued nothing above absolute loyalty, and in Schaub he discovered his most faithful servant. The sycophant had been promoted regularly through the ranks of the SS well beyond his capacity for performance. Schaub had removed many of Hitler’s personal papers from the Berlin bunker to the gardens above ground where, between the sporadic Russian artillery bombardments, he burned them. Thereafter, Hitler dispatched his trusted servant with the keys to his several large cabinets in the Berghof in southern Germany. Fly there and burn their contents, Hitler ordered. Schaub arrived at the Berghof drunk. According to witnesses he refused the help of two of Hitler’s longtime secretaries, Johanna Wolf and Christa Schroeder, and instead, combed through the files with the assistance of his mistress. Supposedly he burned Hitler’s belongings. Schaub may have refused help so he would have a free hand in concealing some of Hitler’s private possessions and valuables. Neither woman thought much of the man, and now that it was obvious Hitler would never leave the bunker, they no longer had to be kind to him.3

  It was during her final hours in Berlin that Christa Schroeder typed the last letter dictated by Eva Braun. The private message was intended for Gretl, her sister and Hermann Fegelein’s wife. “How it hurts me to write such lines to you,” Eva’s letter began. Schroeder, who had worked for Hitler since 1933, was an intelligent and energetic assistant who had once taken dictation for several days and nights without an extended period of rest. She accompanied Hitler on almost all of his trips and was present during most of the important events of his life. As a result, Schroeder became Hitler’s friend and confidant. He shared with her many of his most intimate thoughts. She recalled after the war that during their tea sessions each evening Hitler would repeat himself like a gramophone record, monotonously reliving his early days in Vienna and personal history. The monologues, she claimed, bored her to death.4

  As the group of survivors gathered in the Berghof to await whatever was coming, Haufler made his way to the basement for his telephone call with General Fegelein. The call was made from a large switchboard. Under glass, on the switchboard desk, was a printed directory of important numbers. It was one of Haufler’s last conversations with Fegelein. “Everything must be well prepared,” the general informed his subordinate. “We must go through with the Were wolf plan [the code name for National Redoubt]. I can not go into more details on the telephone; you will soon receive detailed orders.” According to Haufler, Fegelein’s voice was curt and nervous, the conversation unusually hasty. The clear ring of authority always present in every syllable was noticeably absent. Haufler knew Fegelein as well as anyone. By the time he hung up the receiver he appreciated the import of the call: it was all over for Germany. Haufler was convinced the group in Berlin intended to withdraw into the Alpine Redoubt area and carry on a protracted defensive and sabotage campaign. The SS captain immediately began formulating a plan to hide food, ammunition, and other items for their use.5

  Almost as soon as Haufler hung up the phone an air raid alarm sounded. Haufler, Gretl Fegelein, and Frau Mittelstrasser (a housekeeper at the Berghof) hustled into a shelter located behind the headquarters. At the foot of dozens of steps were long white-walled tunnels leading to a maze of elaborate rooms and storage areas. Haufler had never seen the place before. The two women walked the fascinated captain through the various rooms. The complex included living quarters with adjoining apartments for Hitler and Eva Braun. One wine cellar was stocked with thousands of bottles of superior vintages, pilfered from some of Europe’s finest cellars. Storerooms held truckloads of books, many of them gifts to Hitler from party members and friends. On one shelf was a large enamel-covered picture book entitled Itaila Imperia, a history of the New Roman Empire. Inside were pictures of Hitler’s visit to Italy.6

  Eva Braun’s bomb shelter bedroom was tastefully decorated with pastel-tinted walls, dainty flowered vases, and tinsel clothed dolls. In her study were built-in bookshelves containing a set of Shakespeare and, incongruously, a translated edition of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. On her desk was light blue stationery with the letters “EB” embossed in the corner, together with some of her calling cards. Hitler’s room was spartan by comparison. The only furniture was a combination day-bed couch and a desk. The room also contained some 5,000 phonograph records. Haufler picked up and examined several items bearing the initials “AH.” Several large books were stacked on the desktop. The captain picked one up and flipped through it.

  “What are these?” asked Haufler.

  “Those are the diaries,” replied Frau Mittelstrasser.

  The rumor that Hitler kept personal diaries has been a popular one since before the war ended. According to Haufler, the books he picked up and flipped through were full of handwriting on very thin airmail-type paper, firmly bound or sewn into five large books. Haufler did not ask any other questions, and Frau Mittlestrasser did not say another word on the subject. When the air raid ended, Haufler left the Berghof and drove back to Fischhorn castle.7

  On May 1, 1945, Gretl Fegelein asked Johannes Göhler, who had flown in to the Berghof with Schaub, to take charge of a large chest. “This contains about 200 letters between my sister Eva and H
itler,” she told him. “They are hidden away in a cave near the Berghof.”

  “Yes, of course I will do whatever you ask,” replied Göhler.

  “I am traveling with Frau Schneider to Garmish-Partenkirchen and am unable to take care of these letters. I am expecting a child momentarily,” added Gretl.

  The SS major immediately placed a call to Captain Haufler at Fischhorn and instructed him to send a truck to the Berghof to pick up the chest. “In case of any danger,” Göhler warned, “these items must be destroyed.” Haufler agreed to do so. That same day Göhler made his way to Berchtesgaden, where he witnessed a disturbing event: “The personnel there were emptying the bunkers of the uniforms, photo albums, tablecloths, and other personal items belonging to Hitler and his close associates, and burning them.” As Göhler explained it, “this was before any report had been made of Hitler’s death. Ostensibly, the idea was to keep these items from the hands of the Americans.”8

  The truck sent by Haufler arrived the next night. Several other items in addition to the chest were loaded aboard. These included valuable paintings, a leather case with photo equipment belonging to Gretl Fegelein, and a small suitcase stuffed with Eva’s clothing. A metal trunk and an open laundry basket were also packed aboard. The trunk contained several items, including a sketch book with drawings from both Eva and Hitler. Most of Hitler’s sketches were pencil drawings of floor plans, churches, and other architectural renderings. The trunk also held a pair of badly ripped black trousers and a coat of field gray bearing a swastika. Hitler was wearing these garments on July 20, 1944, when a bomb exploded under his conference table and almost ended his life at his Wolfschanze headquarters in Rastenberg. The laundry basket contained 25 to 30 photo albums, some small framed pictures, and rolls of color movie film. Major Göhler and Ursula, his eye-catching young wife and mother of two children, accompanied the truckload of valuables to Fischhorn.9

  Fischhorn castle was being utterly transformed from a lovely medieval fortress into a gigantic warehouse packed with everything imaginable. Daily convoys of trucks and trains arrived from Vienna and central and southern Germany. On May 3, a large steel chest about four feet square arrived under heavy guard. The locked, beige-colored strongbox belonged to Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler. The shipment also included many of the SS leader’s uniforms from Berchtesgaden. Erika Lorenz, Himmler’s tall, 40-year-old blond secretary accompanied the delivery. Himmler’s former secretary, 30-year-old Hedwig Potthast, had trained Lorenz. In 1940, Potthast left her position as Himmler’s secretary in order to give birth to his child. She remained Himmler’s loyal and devoted mistress until the end of the war. Himmler refused to divorce his wife because of his Catholic background. He also believed that the shock of a divorce might result in her death. This from the squeamish exterminator of millions.10

  On May 5, Haufler began burning the letters of Hitler and Eva Braun at Fischhorn. Each was read or at least skimmed before being tossed into the fiery central furnace. As the missives were going up in smoke, in walked SS Captain Franz Konrad—whom we met earlier during his ruthless Warsaw sojourn. It quickly became evident to Haufler that Konrad was searching for items of value to steal. The former king of the Warsaw Ghetto set his eyes on a small casket-like chest containing letters, stationery with the monogram of Eva Braun, and two other books. One was on Italian architecture, the other was a book full of collectable stamps. Konrad grabbed the chest and added the stamps to the gigantic collection he had stolen from Poland’s Jews. After a few more searching glances he left. Haufler turned back to his task of burning correspondence. One letter, in particular, stood out from the others. The subject matter was the failed assassination effort in July 1944, and the handwriting was Hitler’s. “My hand is still trembling from the attempt on my life,” he wrote Eva Braun. It ended with the words, “I am full of hope for our coming victory.” Haufler kept at least two pieces of correspondence, one a postcard from Hitler beginning with “Dear Tschapperl” (a Bavarian peasant pet name), and the other a letter from Eva beginning “Liebster” (beloved) describing a day in her life.11

  While Haufler dutifully turned the Führer’s love letters and those of his mistress into bits of ash, others in Fischhorn were also busy collecting materials slated for destruction. Erika Lorenz, Himmler’s secretary, opened her boss’s steel cabinet, removed the contents, and placed them on the floor. In addition to a large number of files were envelopes containing letters from Himmler’s wife and parents. She packed all of this memoranda into a wash basin and, with the help of an unnamed SS sergeant, carried the papers to the castle’s basement and threw them into the raging furnace. Whether Haufler was still at his job in the same furnace room is not known. During the sorting process the ubiquitous Franz Konrad made another appearance in the basement. Without a word he rifled through Himmler’s materials, pulling out and setting aside several folders for himself. Of special interest to him were SS badges, the type Himmler awarded to SS maidens for their contributions to the breeding of a “superior Aryan race.” Konrad took several handfuls. He later told Haufler, “Too bad you were not there; I read some really interesting correspondence between Hitler and Himmler.”12

  The Ghetto King had been a very busy man. Just a week earlier he and SS Unterscharführer (Sergeant) Johannes Haferkamp had driven a heavily-laden, wood-burning truck from Fischhorn castle to Konrad’s brother-in-law’s home in the little town of Schladming, Austria, a trip of about fifty miles. Konrad had selected Haferkamp because the sergeant was unmatched in his ability to handle the temperamental vehicle. By this late date gasoline was a scarce commodity in much of Europe, so many trucks had been converted to run on wood and charcoal. Oddly, Konrad used the wood-burning truck even though 80,000 liters of gasoline had been hoarded at Fischhorn. Willy Pichler was surprised when his brother-in-law woke him up just a few minutes before midnight. In keeping with his usual secrecy, Konrad introduced Haferkamp as “Karl Heinz.”13

  “I have my luggage, some foodstuffs, and some radio sets. I need you to take good care of my luggage.” Konrad hesitated, then added. “The radios are my property. You should sell them.”

  Pichler merely looked on in amazement and agreed to do as Konrad suggested. There were twenty-four radio sets. In addition to the radios were several tin chests, three leather suitcases, and several boxes of food and liquor. The tin chests were the standard type used by German officers for their personal belongings. Haferkamp passed the cargo by hand from the back of the black truck to Konrad, who passed each piece through a window to Pichler, who in turn stacked the mysterious merchandise in the tiny cellar. The unloading took about thirty minutes.14

  Afterward the men sat in the kitchen and conversed about the collapsing Third Reich and what it might mean for them. While a light meal was being served Konrad turned to Pichler’s wife Miezi, who had heard the truck arrive, and said, “Just a moment, Miezi, I’ll bring you something.” The captain went back down into the cellar and returned a few minutes later with $1,000 in U.S. currency. Pichler asked Konrad if he had any additional money, and Konrad pulled out 5,000 Reichsmarks. Because it was late the men decided to stay the night. Konrad and the driver slept in the livingroom, one on a sofa and the other on some cushions on the floor.15

  Pichler was up early the next morning, probably because he was a nervous wreck. His brother-in-law’s nocturnal visit and deposit of what were obviously stolen items caused him no little concern. While Konrad slept Pichler walked briskly a few blocks to Fritz Konrad’s house to tell him his brother Franz had arrived the night before. Fritz accompanied Willy back to his home, where the brothers greeted each other warmly. after a quick breakfast, they made their way into Pichler’s small cellar. The food parcels Franz had stolen and deposited there were divided between Pichler and Fritz.

  The brothers’ mother, Frau Konrad, lived with the Pichlers but had been asleep when Franz had arrived the night before. After greeting her that morning at 9:00 a.m. he guided the elderly woman back to her room and
gave her two suitcases, one containing film, and the other with four gold watches. The two suitcases were placed on top of her wardrobe chest, the small watch box hidden away inside.

  “I am entrusting this to you,” he told her. “Do not surrender it to anyone until I come to pick it up.” Lowering his voice he whispered, “I have a large collection of Hitler’s personal papers and have to find a safe place to hide them.”

  Additional conversation led his mother to believe that her son might have hidden the “personal papers” at Fischhorn castle, but that he would never let them fall into the wrong hands. It was shortly thereafter, about 10:00 a.m., when the family members gathered around the smoking and wheezing truck parked in front of the house. Frau Konrad noticed Franz clutching a suitcase. It was small and made of brown leather. When asked about it he told her not to worry about it. “I will take this with me,” was all he said.

  Franz placed the leather bag in the back of the vehicle and covered it with a tarp. There was nothing else in the truck. “I think that Franz did not want to leave it here with us because he would have involved us too deeply with it,” Frau Konrad later told an Allied investigator. “I think he intended at first to leave it here, but then decided to take it back after all.” With that Franz and his driver, “Karl Heinz” Haferkamp, returned to Fischhorn.16

  Pichler wasted little time. He immediately turned to Fritz and pleaded with him to take some of the items to his home, claiming that his cellar was just too small to house all the cases. It was one thing to hide a few items; having an entire cellar crammed with stolen goods was something else altogether. Fritz readily agreed and the pair hauled out two or three tin chests and two small suitcases. The chests and suitcases were loaded onto a small hand-pulled wagon and hauled to Fritz’s house. Some of the items were hidden away in the attic, where Fritz carefully lowered them down between the walls on a rope or wire. Neither man, Fritz or Willy, seemed to know exactly what it was they were concealing. At least, that is what they would later tell Allied investigators.17