The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1944–1945

3. BAB, NS19/2454, fos. 1–3^v: SS-Kriegsberichter-Abteilung, SS-Standarte ‘Kurt Eggers’, 26–30.1.45.

4. 1945: Das Jahr der endgültigen Niederlage der faschistischen Wehrmacht. Dokumente, ed. Gerhard Förster and Richard Lakowski, Berlin, 1975, p. 144 (5.2.45).

5. NAL, WO219/4713, SHAEF reports, 15.2.45, 20.2.45. The threat of ‘family liability’ (Sippenhaft) against soldiers judged to be failing in their duty had been issued on numerous occasions by Wehrmacht commanders as a deterrent. It was indeed carried out in some cases, though these were exceptions rather than the rule. See Robert Loeffel, ‘Soldiers and Terror: Re-evaluating the Complicity of the Wehrmacht in Nazi Germany’, German History, 27 (2009), pp. 514–30.

6. Account (in English) of a prisoner of war, captured in the west, who had returned from the eastern front: LHC, Dempsey Papers, no. 273, pt. II, p. 7 (3.3.45).

7. BAB, NS6/135, fos. 44, 118–21, Gauleitung Mageburg-Anhalt, report of 16.2.45; report of Landratsamt in Mähr.-Schönberg, 17.2.45.

8. BAB, NS6/135, fo. 11, Auszug aus einem Bericht des Pg. Waldmann, Inspektion-Mitte, 7.3.45 (referring to impressions gathered in early February).

9. BAB, NS19/3705, fos. 6–13, ‘Beobachtungen im Heimatkriegsgebiet’, 22.2.45 and covering letter of Bormann to Himmler, 1.3.45.

10. BAB, NS19/2068, fos. 6–6^v, 20–20^v, ‘Meldungen aus dem Ostraum’, Müllrose, 16.2.45, Mark Brandenburg, 21.2.45. Reports of widespread looting in the Oder area as an indication of demoralization also in DZW, 6, p. 514. According to Goebbels’ aide, Wilfred von Oven, writing in mid-February, ‘the morale of the German soldiers on the eastern front is becoming worse by the day’.—Wilfred von Oven, Finale Furioso: Mit Goebbels bis zum Ende, Tübingen, 1974, p. 578 (11.2.45).

11. BAB, R55/601, fo. 284, Tätigkeitsbericht der RPÄ, 21.2.45.

12. Das letzte halbe Jahr: Stimmungsberichte der Wehrmachtpropaganda 1944/45, ed. Wolfram Wette, Ricarda Bremer and Detlef Vogel, Essen, 2001, pp. 236–7 (7.2.45).

13. Das letzte halbe Jahr, p. 251 (23.2.45).

14. BHStA, MA 106695, report of RPvOB, 9.2.45. And see further examples in Klaus-Dietmar Henke, Die amerikanische Besetzung Deutschlands, Munich, 1995, pp. 819–20, and Marlis Steinert, Hitlers Krieg und die Deutschen, Düsseldorf and Vienna, 1970, pp. 546ff.

15. BAB, R55/620, fos. 129–131^v, SD report to State Secretary Dr Naumann, Propaganda Ministry, ‘Situation in Wien’, 1.3.45. The popular mood in Vienna had been especially poor, according to a report the previous September, when it was claimed that there was widespread defeatism, making the population open to Communist agitation.—BAB, NS6/166, fos. 23–7, Kaltenbrunner to Bormann, 14.9.44. And see Ludwig Jedlicka, ‘Ein unbekannter Bericht Kaltenbrunners über die Lage in Österreich im September 1944’, in Ludwig Jedlicka, Der 20. Juli 1944, Vienna, 1985, pp. 82–6; and Timothy Kirk, Nazism and the Working Class in Austria, Cambridge, 1996, pp. 130–32.

16. StAM, LRA 29656, fo. 573, SD-Außenstelle Berchtesgaden, 7.3.45.

17. NAL, WO219/1587, SHAEF summary of intelligence reports from informants, 20–25.2.45.

18. Goebbels noted that ‘the fiasco of the East Prussian treks is mainly put down to the Party, and the Party leadership in East Prussia is thoroughly lambasted’.—TBJG, II/15, p. 374 (13.2.45).

19. BAB, NS19/3833, fo. 1, Gottlob Berger to SS-Standartenführer Rudolf Brandt, 18.2.45.

20. BAB, NS6/135, fo. 44, report from Gauleitung Magdeburg-Anhalt, 16.2.45.

21. StAM, NSDAP 35, unfoliated, Gauorganisationsleiter München-Oberbayern to Kreisleiter, etc., 21.2.45. At the beginning of January, the Gauleiter had sharply criticized the wearing of ‘fantasy uniforms’ and ‘costuming’ as Party officials created their own colour or cut of uniform.—StAM, NSDAP 52, unfoliated, Gauorganisationsleiter München-Oberbayern to Gauamtsleiter and Kreisleiter, 3.1.45.

22. See Henke, p. 829.

23. Mark Mazower, Hitler’s Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe, London, 2008, pp. 528–9. Frank was eventually arrested by American troops on 4 May, tried at Nuremberg, and hanged for his part in war crimes and crimes against humanity.