Hitler. 1936-1945: Nemesis

32. Koller, 25. See also the telegram sent to Mussolini on 21 April, speaking of ‘the spirit of dogged contempt of death’, in which the German people would halt the assault of ‘Bolshevism and the troop of Jewry’ set upon ‘plunging our continent into chaos’ (Domarus, 2226).

33. Cit. Irving, Doctor, 219. See also IfZ, ED 100, Irving-Sammlung, Traudl Junge Memoirs, Fol. 143.

34. Keitel, 346.

35. Koller, 27–8.

36. Below, 411.

37. Koller, 29, comments of Eckhard Christian.

38. Joachimsthaler, 150–51 (photocopy of a report — ‘Meldung über Führerlage 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 Führer selbst hat jeden Glauben an einen glücklichen 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 Führer. (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 Todeserklärung bzw. Feststellung der Todeszeit von Adolf Hitler, testimony of Otto Günsche, 19–21.6.56, Bl.9; Joachimsthaler, 157 (testimony of Günsche 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 nächsten 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 überhaupt 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.