The last hours of the Third Reich. The Death of Hitler and the Last Days of the Third Reich

Hugh Trevor-Roper

The Last Days of Hitler. The mystery of the death of the leader of the Third Reich. 1945

Protected by the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of intellectual rights. Reproduction of the entire book or any part of it is prohibited without the written permission of the publisher. Any attempt to break the law will be prosecuted.

Foreword

Ten years have passed since the book was written. During this time, over some secrets of the Second World War, the fog cleared, and over others it became even thicker. New books and articles were written that changed or challenged old judgments. But no new revelation has changed the history of the last ten days of Hitler's life, history as I reconstructed it in 1945 and published it in 1947. For this reason, I see no reason to correct the text of the book in this new edition of it, except, of course, for minor corrections that are inevitable in any reprint. Undoubtedly, I could insert some additions in different places of the text, but since there are no errors in the book that are subject to unconditional correction, and there are no gaps that need to be filled, I decided to follow the wise example of Pontius Pilate: what I wrote, I wrote.

I felt that any book worth republishing should bear the imprint of the time in which it was written. Any new comments that came to my mind I have included in the footnotes and in this preface. In this preface I will try to do two things. First, I will describe in detail my research that led to the writing of the book. Secondly, I will summarize some data that have appeared since the publication of the first edition, data that, without changing the essence of the whole story, can shed light on certain circumstances and facts of Hitler's last days.

In September 1945, the circumstances of Hitler's death or disappearance had been shrouded in an impenetrable darkness of mystery for five months. A great many versions of his death or his flight were made public. Some claimed that he was killed in battle, others said that he was killed by German officers in the Tiergarten. Many believed that he fled - by plane or submarine - and settled either on a foggy island in the Baltic Sea or in a mountain fortress in the Rhineland; according to other sources, he hid either in a Spanish monastery, or on a South American ranch. There were people who thought that Hitler hid in the mountains of Albania, among friendly robbers. The Russians, who had the most reliable information about Hitler's fate, preferred to stir up uncertainty. First they declared Hitler dead, then this statement was refuted. The Russians later announced the discovery of the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun, identified by their teeth. After that, the Russians accused the British of hiding Eva Braun, and possibly Hitler, in their zone of occupation. It was after this that the Office of British Intelligence in Germany, considering that all this hoax creates unnecessary difficulties, decided to collect all the data and finally find out the truth, if it turns out to be possible. This task was entrusted to me. In the British zone, I was given all the necessary powers, and the American authorities in Frankfurt without delay placed at my disposal all the material they had on the subject. I was allowed to interrogate the prisoners, and besides, the Americans provided me with support from their counterintelligence.

What was the state of affairs at that time? The only authoritative evidence of Hitler's death was a radio speech by Admiral Dönitz, with which he addressed the German people on the evening of May 1, 1945. In his speech, Dönitz announced that Hitler died in Berlin on the afternoon of May 1, fighting at the head of troops loyal to him. At that time, Dönitz's statement was considered reliable for purely practical reasons. A note on Hitler's death was printed in The Times the next day. M. de Valera visited the German ambassador in Dublin and expressed his condolences, and the name of Hitler (in contrast to the name of Bormann, about whose fate no statements were made) was deleted from the list of war criminals who were to be tried in Nuremberg. On the other hand, there was no more reason to believe Dönitz's report than some other statements. Dönitz's statement was corroborated by a certain Dr. Karl Heinz Speth of Stuttgart, who, while in Illertissen (Bavaria) testified under oath that he personally examined Hitler in connection with a chest wound he received in Berlin during an artillery attack, and declared his death in a bunker near the zoo. This allegedly happened on the afternoon of May 1. However, at the same time in Hamburg, the Swiss journalist Carmen Mori testified under oath that Hitler, according to irrefutable information, was in the same Bavarian estate with Eva Braun, her sister Gretl and Gretl's husband Hermann Fegelein. Carmen Mori herself offered to investigate this fact, using her own connections (she was sent to a German concentration camp for espionage and had a good intelligence network). Maury, however, warned the British authorities that an attempt to find Hitler and the others without her participation could end in failure, for, noticing the approach of people in a foreign military uniform, all four will immediately commit suicide. Both of these stories did not inspire any credibility from the very beginning, as did many other oral and affidavits.

Anyone who conducts investigations of this kind will soon be faced with one important fact: such evidence cannot be trusted. Any historian is ashamed at the mere thought of how much of history is based on foundations as dubious as the statements of Admiral Dönitz, Dr. Shpet, or Carmen Maury. If such statements were made regarding some of the obscure circumstances of the death of the Russian Tsar Alexander I, then many historians, perhaps, would take them seriously. Fortunately, in this case, these were the statements of contemporaries, and they could be verified.

The English historian James Spedding said that each of his colleagues, faced with a statement regarding any fact, should ask himself the question: who first said this and did this person have the opportunity to know this? Many historical testimonies crumble to dust when subjected to this test. In search of Dr. Karl Heinz Speth, I went to the address he himself had given in Stuttgart. It turned out, however, that this was not a residential building, but the building of a technical school. No one at the school knew who Dr. Shpet was. Moreover, I could not find this name in any city directory. It became clear that he introduced himself with a fictitious name and made public a fictitious address. Since his testimony turned out to be false, it became clear that this man could not be trusted in other matters where ignorance could be excusable. As for the testimony of Carmen Mori, it did not withstand even light criticism. She never saw Hitler and never talked to people who might know the facts. The facts that she presented were obviously fakes, and the arguments with which she connected these facts were completely devoid of logic. Mori's statements, like Dr. Shpet's, were pure fantasy.

But why did these people bear false witness? Interpreting human motives is a thankless task, but sometimes they can be guessed. Carmen Mori, once in a concentration camp, became a Gestapo agent who selected victims among prisoners for murders and criminal medical experiments. The prisoners knew this, and when the Allies took over the camp and freed the prisoners, it was only a matter of time before Maury was accused of collaborating with the Nazis. Perhaps Maury thought that by making up this story, which she herself wanted to investigate, she could delay retribution and enlist the support of the British occupation authorities. If this was the case, then Maury was mistaken: the British did not need her help, and she herself was soon arrested, tried and sentenced to death. On the eve of the execution, Mori managed to commit suicide.

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Chapter 7
Death of Hitler

When von Below left the bunker, Hitler was already preparing for the final act of his play. In the afternoon, another piece of news was delivered to the bunker from outside world: Mussolini was dead. An accomplice in Hitler's crimes, a herald of fascism, who was the first to show Hitler the possibility of establishing a dictatorship in modern Europe and outstripped him in disillusionment and defeat, now clearly showed him what fate awaits the defeated tyrant. Captured by partisans during a general uprising in northern Italy, Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were executed and their bodies hung by their feet in Milan's market square. The enraged mob beat their corpses and threw stones at them. If these details had become known to Hitler and Eva Braun, they would have once again repeated their dying orders: their bodies must be destroyed so that "there is nothing left of them at all." "I do not wish to fall into the hands of an enemy who needs a new spectacle to distract his hysterical masses." In fact, it is incredible that the details of the execution of Mussolini and Petacci were known to Hitler and strengthened him in decision. The fate of the overthrown despots has always been the same; and Hitler, who had the body of a general field marshal hung on a hook like the carcass of a slaughtered cow, did not need abstract historical examples in order to understand what fate awaits his own corpse if it is found 223
People whose imagination is more developed than memory often claimed that Mussolini's fate influenced Hitler's decision. In a story about a table-talk of prisoners at Nuremberg, attributed to the chief psychiatrist of the trial and published in the Sunday Express on August 25, 1946, Goering was even quoted as saying: “Do you remember what happened to Mussolini? We saw a photograph of him and his mistress lying dead in a ditch and then hung upside down. They looked terrible! Hitler went berserk and started yelling, "This will never happen to me!" But just a comparison of dates refutes this fiction. Göring's last time saw Hitler eight days before Mussolini's death. Goering himself, while in prison, could see the photographs, Hitler could not. Such is the value of human evidence, on which, however, written history is often based.

In the afternoon, Hitler ordered the killing of his beloved Alsatian Shepherd Blondie. Professor Haase, who was now treating the wounded in his Berlin clinic, came to the bunker and poisoned the dog. Two other dogs, who lived in the imperial office, were shot dead by the sergeant major who looked after them. After that, Hitler gave poison capsules to two of his secretaries to use in case of emergency. He apologized for not being able to give them a better parting gift, praised their courage, and in his usual manner added that he wished his generals were as reliable as they were. 224
Frau Junge's testimony.

In the evening, when the inhabitants of the two outer bunkers were having lunch in a makeshift dining room arranged in the central aisle of the Fuhrer's bunker, one of the SS guards appeared there, telling those present that the Fuhrer wanted to say goodbye to the ladies, and ordered no one to go to bed until the order was received. About half past three in the morning this order came. Everyone was called by telephone to the bunker and again gathered in the dining room - officers and women, about twenty people in total. When everyone had gathered, Hitler came out of his private quarters, accompanied by Bormann. Hitler's gaze was distant, his eyes glittering from the wet film covering them, which Hannah Reitsch so colorfully described. Some of those present even decided that Hitler was under the influence of drugs; but such an explanation could not occur to those who watched Hitler day in and day out in his last days. Silently, Hitler walked down the aisle, shaking hands with the women. Some of them spoke to him, but he was either silent in response, or mumbled something inarticulate. On that day, a silent shake of hands was customary for Hitler. 225
The story of Baroness von Varo.

When Hitler left, the participants and witnesses of this strange scene discussed its significance for some time. They agreed that there could be only one meaning: the Fuhrer was about to commit suicide. After that, something incredible happened in the bunker. It seemed that a heavy and dark cloud had fallen from the souls of the inhabitants of the bunker. The terrible sorcerer, the tyrant who filled their days with unbearable melodramatic tension, will soon die, and in a brief moment of twilight they will finally be able to play freely. In the dining room, where there were soldiers and orderlies, there were dances. When the news was told to the soldiers, they did not even think of stopping their entertainment. The orderly from the Fuhrer's bunker told them to calm down, but the dancing continued as if nothing had happened. Tailor 226
IN. Muller.

Having worked at Hitler's headquarters and now being held hostage with others in a bunker, he was terribly surprised when Brigadeführer Rattenhuber, head of Hitler's police guard and SS general, patted him heartily on the shoulder and greeted him with democratic familiarity. Accustomed to the strict hierarchy of the bunker, the tailor was unspeakably surprised. He was treated as if he were a senior officer. “For the first time I heard a high-ranking officer say “Good evening!” to me, and I realized that the mood in the bunker had completely changed.” Then, from one of the soldiers, the tailor learned the reason for such a sudden and unexpected friendliness. Nothing erases class distinctions like a common danger and a common relief.

Hitler was preparing to die, but there was at least one person in the bunker who was thinking about life at the time: Martin Bormann. If he could not get the German armies to come to Berlin to save Hitler and himself, then he would at least insist on revenge. Shortly after the farewell ceremony, at a quarter past four on the morning of April 30, Bormann sent one of those telegrams in which the nervous atmosphere that reigned then in the bunker is vividly felt. The telegram was addressed to Dönitz in Ploen. Bormann did not trust the usual communication and sent a telegram through Gauleiter Mecklenburg. Here is its content:

"Dönitz! Our conviction is growing stronger that the divisions in the Berlin direction have been inactive for several days. All communications we receive are controlled, delayed or distorted by Keitel. In general, we can communicate with the outside world only through Keitel. The Führer orders you to deal immediately and mercilessly with the traitors. Borman» 227
In the German text, Keitel's surname is replaced by his code name Theilhaus.

The postscript said: "The Fuhrer is alive and directing the defense of Berlin." These words, in which there is no hint of the end approaching - and, moreover, there is a denial of it - suggest that Bormann, even at this point, refused to accept that his power would soon end, or depend on another, less predictable source.

Later that morning, the daily work began. As usual, the generals came to the bunker with their military reports. Brigadeführer Monke, commandant of the office, reported some improvement in the situation - the Germans managed to drive the Russians out of the Silesian railway station. The rest of the situation remained the same. By noon the situation worsened again. The Russians captured the subway tunnel at the Friedrichstrasse station. The tunnel at the Vossstrasse was partially captured. The entire Tiergarten area was lost. The Russians came close to Potsdamerplatz and to the Weidendam bridge across the Spree. Hitler took these messages without any emotion. About two o'clock he was served dinner. Eva Braun was not with him. Apparently she wasn't hungry or eating alone in her room. Hitler, as always, in the absence of Eva Braun dined in the company of two secretaries and a cook. The conversation was quite normal. Hitler was calm and did not speak about his intentions. Nevertheless, all preparations for the last ceremony were already completed.

In the morning, the guards were ordered to stock up on the day's rations, as they would be prohibited from entering the bunker corridor during the day. At lunchtime, Hitler's adjutant Sturmbannführer Günsche ordered Hitler's personal chauffeur, Sturmbannführer Erich Kempke, to deliver 200 liters of gasoline to the garden of the Imperial Chancellery. Kempka protested that it would be difficult for him to find so much gasoline, but he was told that gasoline had to be found. In the end, Kempke managed to find 180 liters and send them to the imperial office. The soldiers brought them to the garden in 15-litre canisters and placed them at the emergency exit from the bunker. One of the police guards demanded an explanation. He was told that gasoline was needed for the ventilation unit. The guards replied that they would not be considered idiots - the ventilation unit runs on diesel fuel. At that moment, Hitler's valet Heinz Linge appeared. He calmed the guards, stopped the conflict that had begun, and dismissed the people. Soon all the guards, with the exception of sentries, were removed from the imperial office and ordered not to appear in it during the day. There should not have been any extra witnesses at the ceremony.

In the meantime, Hitler finished his lunch and let the women go. For some time he sat alone at the table, and then left the apartment, accompanied by Eva Braun, and the farewell scene was repeated, in which Bormann, Goebbels, Burgdorf, Krebs, Hevel, Naumann, Voss, Rattenhuber, Högl, Günsche, Linge participated and four women - Frau Christian, Frau Junge, Fraulein Krueger and Fraulein Manziali. Magda Goebbels was not there. She was very worried about the imminent death of the children and spent the whole day with them in their room. Hitler and Eva Braun shook hands with everyone and returned to their apartments. Only high-ranking persons and those who were supposed to finish the ceremony remained. These people were waiting for a call in the aisle. All the rest were dismissed. Then one shot rang out. After a while, the officers entered the apartments. Hitler lay on a couch soaked in blood. He fired a pistol into his mouth. Eva Braun was next to Hitler on the couch, also dead. A pistol lay next to her, but she did not use it, but took poison. All this happened at half past three in the afternoon. 228
The method of suicide chosen by Hitler and Eva Braun was equally told by Fraulein Krueger and Frau Junge (according to Günsche) and Frau Christian (according to Linge), as well as others who heard the description of death from the same sources. In addition, the method of suicide is described by Axman, who personally examined the bodies. Kempka, who carried the corpse of Eva Braun out of the bunker, did not notice traces of blood on it.

Shortly thereafter, Arthur Axman, head of the youth organization of the Hitler Youth, arrived at the bunker. He was late for the farewell ceremony, but he was allowed into Hitler's apartment to look at the dead. He examined them and stayed in the room for several minutes, talking with Goebbels. Then Goebbels left, and Axman stayed in the room with the corpses for some time. At this time, in the garden of the imperial office, the last preparations for the burial according to the Viking rite were going on.

Having sent gasoline to the garden, Kempka came to the bunker through an underground passage that connected his apartment on Hermann Goering Street with the building of the imperial chancellery. Günsche greeted him with the words: "Chief is dead" 229
"Der Chef ist tot". Hitler's personal servant called him "chef" ("der Chef").

At that moment, the doors of the Nazi apartments opened, and Kempka became a witness and participant in the burial.

While Axman was contemplating the corpses, two SS men - one of them Linge - entered the room. They wrapped Hitler's corpse in a blanket, covering his bloody, split head, and carried him out into the aisle, where everyone present immediately identified the Fuhrer by his black trousers. Two other SS officers carried the body up the four flights of stairs to the emergency exit, and from there into the garden. After that, Bormann entered the room and picked up the body of Eva Braun. Her death was cleaner, and no blanket was needed to cover her wounds. Bormann carried the body out into the passage and handed it to Kempke, who carried it to the foot of the stairs. Günsche took the corpse there and handed it over to the third SS officer, who carried the corpse into the garden. As a precaution, to avoid the appearance of uninvited witnesses, they hastily locked the second door of the bunker leading to the imperial office, and some exits from the bunker to the garden.

Unfortunately, the most careful precautions are often in vain; the direct result of these precautions was that two random people became unwitting witnesses to the scene that they wanted to hide from them. One of these witnesses was a member of the police guard, one Erich Mansfeld, who was on duty on a concrete tower near the corner of the bunker. Through a veil of smoke, he noticed some strange fuss at the entrance to the bunker, the slamming of closing doors, and decided to find out what was the matter. Descending the spiral staircase from the tower, he went to the emergency exit from the bunker to see what was happening there. On the porch, he encountered a funeral procession leaving the bunker. The first to go were two SS officers, carrying a corpse wrapped in a blanket with black trousers sticking out. Behind them was another SS man, carrying the naked corpse of Eva Braun in his arms. They were followed by mourners - Bormann, Burgdorf, Goebbels, Günsche, Linge and Kempka. Günsche in a loud voice ordered Mansfeld to get out, and he, having managed to see the forbidden but intriguing scene, again went up to the tower 230
Kempka and Mansfeld shared the same story about this episode. Kempka mentions an incident where a guard (i.e. Mansfeld) ran into a procession on the porch and was driven off by Günsche. Some details of this incident were accidentally noticed by Schwegerman.

After this hitch, the ritual continued. Both corpses were placed side by side a few meters from the porch and poured abundantly with gasoline from a canister. The continued Russian shelling made the scene truly apocalyptic and very dangerous. The mourners decided, out of harm's way, to take refuge on the porch. Then Günsche dipped a rag in gasoline, set it on fire and threw it on the corpses, which immediately disappeared from view in a sea of ​​fire. Those present pulled themselves to attention and saluted their Fuhrer, and after that they went down to the bunker, where they went to their rooms. Günsche told about the ceremony to those who did not see it. He said that burning Hitler's body was the worst experience of his life. 231
Statements of Fraulein Krueger and Frau Junge.

Meanwhile, the scene of burning bodies was observed by another involuntary witness. It turned out to be another police guard, who also watched her precisely because of the precautions taken. His name is Hermann Karnau. Karnau, like other security officers who were not on duty at that moment, was ordered by one of the officers of the SS escort to leave the bunker and go to the dining room of the imperial chancellery. Karnau, after some deliberation, decided not to obey the order, but to return to the bunker. When he returned, he found that the door was locked. Then Karnau walked around the building and entered the garden to use the emergency exit. Rounding the tower on which Mansfeld stood on guard, Karnau was amazed to see two corpses lying next to each other near the bunker porch. Almost at the same moment, the corpses erupted into bright flames. Karnau could not understand the reason for such a rapid fire. He did not see the person who set fire to the corpses, but he could vouch that the fire was not the result of shelling, since he himself was a few meters from the flaming bodies. “Probably someone threw a match from the porch,” Karnau suggested, and, in fact, he was right.

For a few moments Karnau looked at the burning corpses. It was easy to recognize them, despite the fact that Hitler's head was blown off by a shot. The spectacle was "disgusting in the extreme," recalls Karnau. Then he went down to the bunker through the emergency exit. In the bunker, he ran into Sturmbannführer Franz Schedle, an SS escort officer. Schedle was recently wounded in the leg by a shell fragment. He was beside himself with grief. "The Fuhrer is dead," he said, "and is now burning in the street." Karnau helped him hobble to his room.

Mansfeld, who was on the tower, also observed the burning of bodies. Climbing the tower after the order of Günsche, he saw through the embrasure huge columns of smoke rising to the sky. When the smoke cleared a little, Mansfeld was able to make out the same bodies that he had seen entering the bunker, burning with bright flames. After everyone present had left, Mansfeld, without hiding, continued to watch. From time to time, SS men came out of the bunker and added gasoline to the fire to keep it burning. Some time later, Mansfeld was replaced on the tower by Karnau. He helped his comrade down from the tower, and together they approached the burning corpses. The lower parts of both bodies were completely burned, and the exposed bones of Hitler's legs became visible. An hour later, Mansfeld went back to the fire. The bodies were still burning, though not with very high flames.

Toward evening, another police officer tried to get a closer look at the burning corpses. This man's name was Hans Hofbeck. Climbing the steps from the bunker, he stopped on the porch, but he did not stay there for long. The unbearable smell of burning meat drove him away.

Late at night, Brigadeführer Rattenhuber, the head of the police guard, came to the "dog bunker" where the guards rested, and turned to the Scharfuehrer of the SS escort. The Brigadeführer ordered him to report to his commander Schedle, pick up three reliable soldiers and bury the corpses. Shortly thereafter, Rattenhuber reappeared in the "dog bunker" and addressed the soldiers, taking from them a solemn oath to keep secret everything that they saw and heard. For disclosure of secrets, the guilty will be immediately shot. Shortly before midnight, Mansfeld again took up his post on the tower. Russian shells continued to fall on the Imperial Chancellery, and the sky now and then was illuminated by flashes of explosions. Mansfeld noticed that one of the craters had been noticeably tweaked, and the bodies had disappeared from the fire. There was no doubt that the funnel was used as a grave for burnt bodies. Not a single shell could have left such an even rectangle in the ground. Around the same time, Karnau was patrolling the Vossstrasse with other police officers, and one of his comrades told him: “It is sad that none of the officers are interested in what became of the Fuhrer's body. I am proud that I alone know where he is buried. 232
In their accounts of the burning of the bodies, Karnau and Mansfeld agree on the details, but disagree on dates and times. Both are uncertain about the dates, but the dates indicated by Mansfeld are confirmed by circumstantial facts, but Karnau is hopelessly confused. If we accept Mansfeld's testimony as true, then the bodies were set on fire at about four o'clock in the afternoon (this is almost exact time) and continued to burn at half past six. Rattenhuber gave the order for burial "late at night", and they were buried at about eleven o'clock at night.

This is all we know about the destruction of the remains of Hitler and Eva Braun. Linge later told one of his secretaries that, as Hitler had ordered, his body was burned until there was "nothing left" of it. But the possibility of such complete combustion is highly doubtful. Slowly burned in the sand, 180 liters of gasoline could char the body and evaporate all the moisture from the tissues, leaving only an unrecognizably mutilated skeleton. But on such a fire it is impossible to burn the bones. But the bones were never found. Perhaps they were broken up and mixed with other bodies - the bodies of soldiers killed in the defense of the imperial office, and the body of Fegelein, also buried in the garden. The Russians dug up the garden and found many such bodies there. Perhaps, according to the words attributed to Günsche, the ashes were collected in a box and taken out of the imperial office. But probably no sophisticated explanation is needed. It is possible that the investigation carried out was simply sloppy. Investigators who did not see Hitler's official diary lying in plain sight for five months could all the more miss deliberately hidden evidence. But whatever the explanation, Hitler got his way: like Alaric, buried at the bottom of Busento, the modern destroyer of mankind will also never be found.

While sentries and guards contemplated the burning bodies in the garden of the Imperial Chancellery, the high-ranking inhabitants of the bunker were engaged in more mundane matters. After putting the bodies on fire and giving them their last respects, they returned to the safety of the basement to consider the future. Again, as after Hitler's farewell, there was such an impression that a gloomy, oppressive cloud had dissipated in the bunker. The nightmare of ideological suppression had disappeared, and although the prospects were more than doubtful, nevertheless, everyone was free to deal with these problems in a businesslike manner. It seemed that from that moment on, no one cared about the past, and even more so the corpses smoldering in the courtyard of the office. This episode was in the past, and now, within the short time still allotted to the inhabitants of the bunker, they had to solve their own problems. Yes, as the melancholy-minded policeman noted, it was a sad sight: no one cared about the body of the Fuhrer.

The first evidence of the changed atmosphere in the bunker was noticed by the secretaries, who were not present at the ceremony, but have now returned to their quarters. Linge and Günsche told them the details of what had happened, but it was not from these stories that it became clear to the women that Hitler was dead. Everyone in the bunker smoked. During the life of the Fuhrer, smoking in the bunker was strictly prohibited. But now the strict teacher was gone, and the boys could play pranks and break all the rules with impunity. Under the calming effect of nicotine, the absence of which probably increased the nervousness of the last week even more, people were finally able to seriously address the administrative problems left to them by Hitler.

First, there is the problem of succession. With Hitler's death, the center of power automatically shifted from the bunker to the new Fuhrer's distant headquarters in Schleswig-Holstein. It was mortally hard for Bormann to realize that after so many years of unlimited power, when he gave orders on behalf of Hitler, he would lose all his privileges if Dönitz did not confirm him as deputy party leader in the new government. On the other hand, it was highly unlikely that a copy of Hitler's will was already in the possession of Dönitz, who, therefore, is still unaware not only of Hitler's death, but also of his appointment as his successor. It is clear that Bormann's direct duty was to inform the new Fuhrer of these facts by telegram. It is interesting to note the ambiguous way in which this was done.

Immediately after Hitler's death, Bormann sent Dönitz the following telegram:

"Grand Admiral Dönitz. Instead of the former Reichsmarschall Goering, the Führer appoints you, Herr Grand Admiral, as his successor. A written confirmation of your authority has been sent to you. You must take all measures that you deem necessary. Borman».

The telegram did not mention the important fact that Hitler was already dead by that time. It seems that Bormann wanted - albeit briefly - to extend his power, which he loved so much, but which, by law, he no longer possessed.

This telegram threw the inhabitants of Ploen into a stupor. The appointment of Dönitz as successor came as a complete surprise to him. Just two days earlier, Dönitz had paid a visit to Himmler and offered him all possible support as Hitler's most likely successor. Himmler at that moment was seriously engaged in the formation of his future government. Now he and Dönitz have switched roles. "Not Himmler, but Dönitz!" exclaimed the amazed Schwerin von Krosig, who, as always, bet on the wrong horse, although his ingenious ability to survive guaranteed him a place in any government. Dönitz himself was not only surprised, but mortally frightened. Among all the Nazi bosses, he was the only one who did not cherish the hope of becoming Hitler's successor. And now this appointment fell on him like snow on his head. Dönitz was nervous, even given only the post of commander of the armies in the northern region; upon receipt of Bormann's telegram, his state of health, as one source indicates 233
Julius Veitman, press officer at Dönitz's headquarters.

Surrounded by Dönitz, things got even worse. However, since it was an order from the Führer, it would not have occurred to anyone, and even less so Dönitz, to disobey this order. There was no conspiracy, no problem. Himmler's tall bodyguard had nothing to do here, and Himmler himself, reluctantly abandoning his unfulfilled hopes, offered his service to Dönitz, and Dönitz himself, just as reluctantly, accepted the heavy responsibility and replied with a telegram to the Fuhrer, whom he considered still alive:

"My Fuehrer! My loyalty to you remains unconditional. I will do everything in my power to get you out of Berlin. But if fate forces me to take the reins of government of the Reich as your successor, then I will continue this war to the end, worthy of the unprecedented heroic struggle of the German people. Grand Admiral Dönitz».

What purpose did Bormann pursue by concealing the fact of Hitler's death and at the same time covering himself with Dönitz's blessing to take power? Talking about human motives is a thankless task, but in this case one thing is clear: Bormann strove to get to Ploen at all costs. He had already considered various options for this difficult journey. It is likely that he expected to become a messenger who personally delivers the news of the death of the Fuhrer to Dönitz. Thus, having reduced the period of his fall from power to a minimum, Bormann probably hoped, having appeared at Dönitz at the most decisive moment, to maintain his authority and power.

Bormann's original plan was for a group breakout through the Russian positions, and all the inhabitants of the bunker were ordered to prepare for such a breakout attempt under cover of night. But such a breakthrough was very dangerous and could end in failure. Hitler had already declared such a breakthrough impossible the day before, when the situation was not so hopeless, and during the course of the day another idea arose of its own accord. Since Bormann and Goebbels, by virtue of Hitler's will, were members of the new government, the Russian command could well recognize their status and, if they offer surrender, send Bormann to Ploen for Dönitz to ratify the terms of such surrender. The Russians would then send Bormann to Ploen as a plenipotentiary diplomatic representative who would enter the new government and take the place of one of the leaders of the new Reich. Such hopes seem ridiculous to us; but there is nothing ridiculous on the Nazi ship of fools. These hopes were no more ludicrous than the political plans of Himmler, Schellenberg, Ribbentrop, Schwerin von Krosig, who all without exception allowed for the possibility of the resurrection of a Nazi or semi-Nazi state. Therefore, such a crazy idea did not seem ridiculous to Bormann either.

The project of establishing contacts and negotiations with the Russians was considered in detail at a lengthy meeting on the evening of 30 April. It was attended by Bormann, Goebbels, Krebs, Burgdorf and Axmann; perhaps also Monke. The Russian command was contacted by radio and asked if Marshal Zhukov would receive a representative of the German command. The answer was positive, and at midnight General Krebs left the bunker, carrying with him a letter from Goebbels and Bormann. Krebs was the most suitable emissary. Having worked for a long time as a military attache in Russia, he knew the Russians and spoke their language; he was known as an ardent supporter of Russian-German friendship. Bormann and Goebbels could with good reason hope that Krebs will be civilly welcomed at the headquarters of the Russian commander as a person who was once publicly embraced by Stalin himself 234
This happened in March 1941, during the seeing-off of Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka from Moscow to Berlin. This incident was told to me by General Game, who heard it from Krebs himself. In addition, this episode is mentioned in Zemler's diary. According to Zemler, Stalin “according to Russian custom, hugged him [Krebs] and said: ‘If we remain brothers, then nothing will ever happen to us in the future. See to it that we continue to be good friends."

In their letter, Bormann and Goebbels informed Zhukov of Hitler's death and, in confirmation of their right to negotiate, indicated to which positions in the new government they were appointed in the Führer's will. They authorized their envoy, General Krebs, to negotiate an armistice or a temporary ceasefire, pending the decision of Reich President Dönitz. 235
Testimony of Frau Christian and Fraulein Krueger.

Throughout the night and the next morning, Goebbels and Bormann waited for a report on the results of Krebs' trip to Zhukov. At eleven o'clock this message arrived, but it turned out to be unsatisfactory. 236
According to a statement by Lieutenant Colonel Troyanovsky, a correspondent for the Russian army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, Zhukov, turning to Krebs through General Chuikov, demanded unconditional surrender. Returning to the bunker, Krebs was again sent by Goebbels and Bormann to the Russians with the consent to surrender on the condition that their "government" would be recognized as Russian. This condition was rejected, and Krebs finally returned to the bunker.

And now, finally, Bormann decided to inform Dönitz that the time of his reign had come. But even this time, Bormann did not explicitly mention Hitler's death in the telegram. This laconic message was more concerned with the position of Bormann himself. The telegram read:

"Grand Admiral Dönitz. The will has come into effect. I will join you as soon as I can. Until then, I recommend refraining from any publications on this topic. Borman».

Dönitz had to content himself with this short and not entirely exhaustive report.

At noon or a little later, Krebs returned to the bunker from Marshal Zhukov's headquarters. The answer he brought back was disappointing. The Russians demanded unconditional and unconditional surrender and the surrender of all the inhabitants of the bunker. There was no question of privileged status, nor of a possible trip to Schleswig-Holstein. Another meeting was held in the bunker, and it was decided to send a radio message to the Russians to end the negotiations. There was only one alternative left - a group breakthrough from the bunker.

At a quarter past four, a third and final telegram was sent to Dönitz, in addition to Bormann's stingy previous message. The telegram was this time signed by Goebbels. Having no political pretensions, Goebbels did not need, unlike Bormann, tricks and tricks; he could afford directness and frankness. The text of the telegram read:

"Grand Admiral Dönitz.

Top secret - urgently - to transfer to the addressee only with an officer.

The Fuhrer died yesterday at 15.30. By his will of April 29 you were appointed Reich President, Reich Minister Dr. Goebbels Reich Chancellor, Reichsleiter Bormann Minister for Party Affairs, Reich Minister Seyss-Inquart Foreign Minister. By order of the Fuhrer, copies of the will were sent to you, Field Marshal Scherner and to Munich, for storage and subsequent publication. Reichsleiter Bormann expects to depart for you today and inform you of the situation. The time and form of the message in the press and in an address to the troops are left to your discretion. Confirm receipt. Goebbels» 237
This telegram to Dönitz was only sent from Goebbels, but this may be a mistake; Dönitz cipher Edmund Kraft subsequently testified under oath that he had accidentally omitted Bormann's signature, and Dönitz's adjutant Walter Ludde-Neurath, in his book Regierung Doenitz (Göttingen, 1950), mentioning only Goebbels' signature, writes that he cannot state with full certainty that the telegram was not signed, moreover, by Bormann.

Upon receiving this telegram, Dönitz not only assumed the burden of responsibility, but also the rights associated with the new appointment, which included the right to accept or reject the advice of the ministers of the former government and the right to appoint members of the new government himself. He decided not to appoint as ministers the people imposed on him by telegram (for he never received, either then or later, full list ministers named in the will), and not wait for the arrival of Bormann to speak on the radio. At half past nine in the evening, the Hamburg radio warned the German people that an important message was about to be broadcast. Then, against the background of heroic motifs from Wagner's operas and slow passages of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, followed by an official announcement of the death of Hitler, who fought to the end with Bolshevism. At twenty minutes past eleven, Dönitz himself addressed the German people, announcing the death of Hitler and his appointment. The Fuhrer, said the Grand Admiral, fell "this afternoon"; he died "fighting ahead of his loyal troops". Both of these statements are false, because Hitler died "yesterday", not "today", and since Dönitz was not informed about exactly how Hitler died, the statement of the new Fuhrer was pure speculation. The first inaccuracy was probably just a mistake; the second is most likely intentional. If Dönitz knew and said that Hitler committed suicide, how would the troops react to such news? Wouldn't the soldiers and officers feel that the Fuhrer had betrayed them by leaving his post, freeing them from their oath of allegiance by his desertion? In any case, this was the reaction of Koller and Jodl on April 22, when Hitler announced his intention to commit suicide, as was the reaction of General Weidling. Weidling, as usual, arrived at the bunker, where he was told that "the Fuhrer had committed hara-kiri"; thereafter, Weidling returned to his command post and released his subordinates from their oath of allegiance to Hitler. Like a new Fuhrer who considered the oath given to his predecessor still valid 238
It was this point of view that Dönitz adhered to in his address to the German people on the evening of May 1. Due to the lack of reliable communication, Dönitz was physically unable to bring the army to a new oath of allegiance to himself.

Dönitz could not allow such a development of events. If he was going to conduct successful negotiations on a separate peace with the West, then he needed the reliable support of the army, which would strengthen his position in such negotiations. That is why, not knowing the real circumstances of Hitler's death, he did not doubt for a minute that it would be most reasonable to say that the Fuhrer died a glorious death as a soldier.

Meanwhile, back in the bunker, Bormann and his colleagues were planning the details of a massive breakthrough that would lead to everyone's rescue and bring Bormann himself back to power. But not all the inhabitants of the bunker were going to run away. Among them were those who lost hope and lost interest in life, those who, like Zander, decided to meet death in the ruins of the imperial office. Among these inhabitants of the bunker was Goebbels. This decision was made a long time ago. He outlined it in the "Supplement" to Hitler's political testament. Goebbels' wife received the last award for loyalty from Hitler, and now the hour has come. After sending his last telegram, Goebbels returned to his quarters with his wife and children. Several friends came to say goodbye to them, among them Axman and Kempka. Then the Goebbelses began to prepare for death. This time there was no Wagnerian drama; Goebbels was not going to compete with the owner. As a tribal leader, Hitler was entitled to a spectacular, symbolic funeral pyre; but Goebbels, as a minor figure, should have followed him slowly and more modestly. He analyzed the situation again and came to the conclusion that the outcome could only be emptiness, nothingness. Self-destruction was the only true conclusion from Goebbels' ideological nihilism. The children were poisoned with a pre-prepared poison. After that, in the evening, Goebbels called his adjutant Günther Schwegermann. “Schwegermann,” Goebbels told him, “the worst betrayal has happened. The generals betrayed the Fuhrer. Everything is lost. I must die with my wife and children. You will burn my corpse. Can you do it?" Schwegermann promised, and Goebbels let him go, giving him a farewell photograph of Hitler in a silver frame, which stood on Goebbels's desk. I said goodbye to the adjutant and Magda Goebbels. Then Schwegermann sent the driver Goebbels and one SS man to get gasoline for the funeral pyre. Yesterday's grotesque scene was to be repeated, but on a less pompous scale. Shortly thereafter (at about half past eight in the evening) Goebbels and his wife walked through the bunker to the exit. At the foot of the stairs leading to the garden of the Imperial Chancellery, without saying a word, they passed by Schwegermann's adjutant and Rakh's driver, who were standing there, and went out into the garden. Immediately after that, two shots were fired. When Rakh and Schwegerman went upstairs, they saw the corpses of Goebbels and his wife lying on the ground, and the SS man who had shot them was standing nearby. Obediently following the last order, they doused the bodies with gasoline, set them on fire and left. The cremation was sloppy, and the next day the Russians found these corpses only slightly charred - no one had bothered to bury them. On their way back, Schwegermann and Rach encountered Brigadeführer Mohncke, who ordered them to set fire to the bunker. They poured the rest of the gasoline in the conference room and set it on fire. It was nine o'clock in the evening when they left the Fuhrer's bunker, after which an exodus from the office began. 239
This account is based largely on the testimony of Schwegermann, supplemented by the testimony of Axman and Kempka.

V. DYMARSKY: Hello. I greet the audience of the Ekho Moskvy radio station and the RTVi TV channel. This is another program from the series "The Price of Victory" and I, its host, Vitaly Dymarsky. My partner, partner Dmitry Zakharov left for a while due to the start of summer holidays. Someday it will be our turn to rest, and then we will make others work. Well, today we are making it work ... I wanted to say, our regular guest and author, although we have not seen you for a long time. This is what I say to Elena Syanova, historian and writer. Good evening.

E. SYANOVA: Good evening.

V. DYMARSKY: I say, we haven't seen each other for a long time.

E. SYANOVA: Well, while they fought, a woman, in general, is not very handy.

V. DYMARSKY: Well, today we continue to fight, by the way. And the theme of our program today is the last days of the Third Reich. Naturally, I must also remind you of the number +7 985 970 4545, this is for your SMS messages. And warn that a webcast has already begun on the website of the Ekho Moskvy radio station. Or has it not started yet? No, it hasn't started yet. We are turning it on right in front of everyone's eyes. And now it has definitely begun. And so we can now begin our conversation with Elena Syanova. " Last days Third Reich" - sounds very good. If someone is waiting for us to talk about the individual fates of the leaders of the Third Reich, about Nazi criminals, then I think that these stories are quite well-known, although sooner or later they must be repeated, and we will also talk about them. But I would be more interested today in a conversation with you, Len, about the fate of the Third Reich as a state, if you like. It is a well-known case that Hitler committed suicide, poisoned himself and poisoned the entire Himmler family ...

E. SYANOVA: Goebbels. Himmler himself.

V.DYMARSKY: Goebbels. All the other Nazi leaders were out of the game in one way or another, so to speak. Someone either ran away, or didn’t run away, someone ended up in the hands ... In general, it’s understandable approximately. Did the Third Reich still exist after that? And if it existed, how long? Because Hitler committed suicide - it was still April.

V. DYMARSKY: By the way, on April 30 the flag was hoisted over the Reichstag.

E. SYANOVA: In principle, this is probably how it would be correct to count. Hitler is gone...

V. DYMARSKY: Yes, and it's all over. But it turns out not?

E. SYANOVA: The spinal cord fell out, that's all.

V.DYMARSKY: But it turns out, no?

E. SYANOVA: Again, how we want to count. Perhaps that would be fair. Still, the Fuhrer leaves, and then all this agony begins. But one can, for example, consider one of the capitulations - well, probably, our capitulation on May 8 in Karlhorst - to be considered final.

V. DYMARSKY: Ours - in the sense, capitulation to us.

E. SYANOVA: I mean the main document signed by the Soviet side.

V. DYMARSKY: Although, this is a well-known thing, there was another capitulation.

E. SYANOVA: Yes, well, we'll talk about it. But actually officially the Third Reich existed. Existed and functioned. There was a question about how long all the political and state institutions of the Third Reich functioned. Until May 23rd. May 23 - the official death of the Third Reich. Therefore, I think that it makes sense, probably, to stay a little bit in the Reich Chancellery, in the bunker, literally there are a few fundamental moments, and then move on to this period, which is somehow not very well known, I guess. Because it is known that the Dönitz government was in Flensburg. What happened there? If you believe the memoirs of Speer, for example, who describes all this very ironically ... well, in general, of course, it is difficult to believe Speer, but still there was some kind of activity there. But in fact, nothing ironic and funny happened there. It was a very stressful time for us. Well, I think that let's start all the same from April 22. This is such a radical, very significant day when Hitler announces to his associates that he remains in Berlin. And the most knowledgeable...

V. DYMARSKY: Were there any offers for him to leave Berlin?

E. SYANOVA: Yes, of course. They will continue to be given to the end.

V. DYMARSKY: And what were the proposals?

E. SYANOVA: Well, firstly, to evacuate, calmly leave to the south, to the so-called. "Alpine fortress", which was actually not a fortress, but they equipped some kind of headquarters. The archives went there, a lot of documentation and officials were evacuated there. It was possible to settle there, it was quite possible to establish some kind of leadership there, they pushed him to this. In general, it would be a reasonable step in terms of continuing some kind of struggle. You know, this has been described several times, this scene, when he is sitting over the map at the afternoon meeting on the 22nd, the operational map, and in his eyes the understanding suddenly appears that the Red Army created the conditions for the encirclement of Berlin. That is, in fact, it has already been done. His famous hysteria. He shouts that I was not reported that way, I was not informed. In fact, he was, of course, informed. And Keitel tried, and Wenck tried to tell him something, but it doesn't matter. It suddenly dawned on him that this was a disaster. Map - everything is visible on it.

V. DYMARSKY: Were there any illusions before that?

E. SYANOVA: Well, here he saw breakthroughs - from the north, from the west, from the east. Here they are, breakthroughs. Now you need to close it, and that's it. Actually, what is left? He makes a fairly sensible decision at this meeting, they worked out the only possible, probably, course of action, that is, it was necessary to deploy Wenck's army, which was from the west, against the Americans, turn it back to the Americans and move to Berlin. From the north - Steiner. And from the south was Busse's 9th Army, and Wenck was to link up south of Berlin with Busse's army. This, as Hitler imagined, was a fairly significant force. In fact, of course, someone asked about the army of Wenck - that the army of Wenck, that the army of Busse, these are, of course, some remnants already. There were no tanks... Then, they were burdened with a huge number of refugees. Still, it was the only sound solution. You could try. And Hitler on the 22nd is still in control of the situation after all. He still has the will, they still listen to him. He so convinced everyone of the possibility of implementing this plan, its implementation, that many in the bunker were sure that it was about to begin, this movement towards Berlin had already begun with a large army. Well, of course, Goering, Bormann, Himmler were better informed. They understood, of course, that if Hitler remained in Berlin, that was the end. Well, both left on the 23rd and 24th. This famous history. Himmler sat out somewhere in a sanatorium until May 15, Goering - we'll talk about him a little later, but he also tried to play some kind of independent game. And here was the question here about betrayal, who, in fact, betrayed whom. Now, if we talk about personal betrayal, then yes, Goering and Himmler personally betrayed Hitler, but they did not betray the state, they tried to act, they tried to find some options. So they are by no means state traitors.

V. DYMARSKY: Lena, I'm sorry, I'll interrupt you. Thus, you answer the question of the builder from Tver, he was just asking about the betrayal of Goering and Himmler.

E. SYANOVA: Yes. So, within 5-6 days, many in the bunker were sure that this whole plan was being implemented gradually, after all, a real breakthrough was expected, the connection of the 12th and 9th armies and a breakthrough to Berlin. By the way, it was the 28th when it became known about the negotiations between Himmler and Bernadotte. There was a question there about the son-in-law of Eva Braun, Fegelein - they shot him or he fled. Well, he couldn't run anywhere, it's a known fact - he was shot. But they shot him, by the way, not even entirely because he fled. The fact is that Fegelein, being Himmler's representative at headquarters, made a report to his boss on the situation. We do not know the report, but how this report was handed over to Hitler can be guessed. And Hitler had a big grudge against Fegelein, starting with this phone conversation. Then, when he decided to run away, well, that's all. Because it is not entirely clear what this Fegelein was like, what kind of person he was ... And then there was irritation on his boss. Well, you can't get Himmler, at least shoot the representative. So, on the 29th, another well-known such sacramental scene, when Hitler shouts in hysterics where Wenck is. In fact, there is nothing so fantastic, hysterical here. Indeed, Wenck, in theory, should have somehow already declared himself. Well, in general, yes. By the way, he did it. Wenk is generally an amazing person. This is a talented person, he did the almost impossible. He succeeded in breaking through to Potsdam, an absolutely incredible operation. But she didn't give anything. And on the 28th, Hitler once again realizes that the attempt took place, but it did not give anything. Here's the map again, here's all the breakthroughs again. And before that there was a meeting on the Elbe, and the connection of fronts. All. Basically, everything is finished. From the 28th, probably, Hitler experienced such a real turning point, when he realized that this was a collapse - the collapse of the state, the collapse of an idea, this was his personal collapse. And he made the decision to commit suicide. And endlessly sending him somewhere to Argentina, to Shambhala, of course, is absolutely stupid. The man was just consistent. Let's not deny him this.

V. DYMARSKY: Although it must be repeated once again that he was still persuaded to leave.

E. SYANOVA: Yes, he was persuaded to the last. They persuaded, for example, to try to fly away, it was still possible.

V. DYMARSKY: Where to?

E. SYANOVA: To the south. The main thing is to break through our air blockade. And he didn't believe it. He was very afraid of captivity. He was afraid that he would be shot down, like Greim, wounded, imprisoned somewhere, and then what? So, basically, he didn't have an option. And on the 29th we have a marriage with Eva Braun, on the 30th - suicide. How did he kill himself? Let's confess, finally tell the truth that we do not know and will never know thoroughly, for certain. All examinations do not give ...

V.DYMARSKY: Potassium cyanide…

E. SYANOVA: You know, there's probably a 90% chance - after all, he put a capsule in his mouth and shot himself in the mouth. Probably, there was some kind of closing, and she was crushed simply from the blow. He remembered how Robespierre tried to commit suicide when he shot himself in the mouth, shot through his jaw, then suffered terribly for several days. So he put the capsule down just in case. Well, that's the most likely way. Probably so it was. Even though they don't say anything.

V.DYMARSKY: Was it without witnesses?

E. SYANOVA: The witness was Eva Braun, all the others were outside the door.

V. DYMARSKY: First… We also don’t know who is first and who is second, right?

E. SYANOVA: Again, logically, of course, first she, then he. But nonetheless. Then we have May 1st. This is the sad fate of the Goebbels family. By the way, why Goebbels committed suicide was the question. Briefly. Look here. Goering represented a real force, Goering had contacts with the West, he had trump cards, he had something to defend himself. Borman. Bormann receives official succession power in the party from Hitler. He knew perfectly well that the Fuhrer-principle was so arranged that he would actually become the head of state, the Fourth Reich, he was like the head of the party. Himmler. Well, Himmler had a lot of things at his disposal, this is generally a separate conversation. And, again, some contacts have been established. And this is not fiction, and not the notorious Odessa group, an organization that has existed quite realistically since 1945, an organization that has done a lot of things to transport SS men - mainly, of course, to Latin America. Then, Himmler also had troops, in principle, SS troops. They were in excellent condition. That is, all these people had some kind of cards. And what did Goebbels have? After all, he was the Minister of Propaganda, and all propaganda burst like a soap bubble with the onset of the Red Army. And Goebbels also burst. He understood this very well too. Was he a fanatic? Yes, there was. But he left because he is just like Hitler, in fact... It was a crash.

V. DYMARSKY: Yes. But, on the one hand, still leave on your own, but also drag you along with you.

E. SYANOVA: Well, you know, I have my own version of this. I cannot prove it, because there are only indirect, of course, confirmations. I don't think that Magda herself put the capsules in their mouths or gave them injections. I think it was the doctor of this family who did it.

V. DYMARSKY: All right, but the doctor did it on their instructions, anyway.

E. SYANOVA: This does not diminish this nightmare. It's just that he later blamed it on Magda during interrogations. You understand, the Goebbelses were dead, and he still had to live. In principle, poisoning children is a crime by all standards. He just whitewashed himself, so to speak. There were no witnesses. But this is just my version. In no way am I forcing it on anyone.

V. DYMARSKY: By the way, here is an interesting question: “Did Hitler find out that a red flag was hung over the Reichstag?” So what happened before?

E. SYANOVA: Yes, it's interesting. Don't know. Most likely no.

V. DYMARSKY: When did he commit suicide? In the morning?

E. SYANOVA: Yes, somewhere at night. Oh no, it's the day! Three PM.

V.DYMARSKY: Because the first flag was, judging by what we were told here, at 2:25 pm. Coincidence.

E. SYANOVA: But I don't think he knew, of course. Yes, coincidence.

V. DYMARSKY: And then - these are different districts of Berlin, the chancellery and the Reichstag.

E. SYANOVA: No, I didn't know, I guess. Here we stopped. Well, we have Bormann. Bormann was also sent everywhere ...

V. DYMARSKY: Well, yes, it must be said about Bormann that there were the most persistent rumors that he was in Latin America.

E. SYANOVA: Yes. By the way, I recently read such an interesting document. After Hitler's suicide, they found somewhere in his documents or in some of his papers a photograph of a boy. And there was a version that this is a son. We dealt with this for a very long time. Then they found out that this was Martin Bormann Jr., Hitler's godson. And so it was. Well, about Bormann, of course, there were rumors - the body was not found. There were a lot of testimonies about Bormann. Someone saw him lying in one place, someone in another. And now, apparently, Axman gave the most accurate testimony, since he described the lying Bormann and next to Dr. Stumpfeger. And when these two skeletons were found in the 80s, it turned out that way, they were identified - Bormann and this doctor. Somewhere very, very early in the morning, an hour or two with something on the morning of May 2 - Bormann went to the next world.

V.DYMARSKY: Are you sure about that?

E. SYANOVA: I am sure of it. But I understand that this is such a topic that it will still be possible to compose a lot of things here.

V. DYMARSKY: We have a few minutes left. Let's pedal.

E. SYANOVA: Yes, Bormann managed to inform Dönitz that he was receiving successive legitimate power from Hitler's hands as Reich President. Moreover, he signed this telegram himself, he did not give it to Goebbels. And, of course, he said that he, Bormann, would soon arrive in Flensburg as head of the party. And here begins, probably, this Flensburg story, that is, the functioning of the Dönitz government, which was absolutely officially engaged in the implementation of official activities.

V.DYMARSKY: That is, it controlled what was left of the country.

E. SYANOVA: Well, yes, and not only.

V. DYMARSKY: Not from the country as from the territory, but as from certain state structures.

E. SYANOVA: You know, it was impossible to govern the country, of course. But all the structures functioned simply because the all-clear was not given, they were not turned off, they worked automatically. And Dönitz basically tried to somehow preserve the largest groupings that still existed, military groups. This is Scherner's Army Group Center. Or, in my opinion, she was called "A" in the 45th year. This is Narvik. By the way, Scherner had a million soldiers. This is Narvik, Austria, part of Army Group E, this is the Baltics. Enough such weighty forces were still there. And at the same time, the government tried to establish ties with the allies. Naturally, behind Soviet Union.

V. DYMARSKY: Two more minutes. To finish with Hitler. Here is this story, around which a lot of things are also twisted - about the burning of his body.

E. SYANOVA: Well, you can imagine it. He was taken out, doused with gasoline, lit it all. But all around there is a terrible shelling - and explosions, and fragments are pouring. He probably didn’t quite, of course, manage to burn out. I don't see any contradictions here. I think it's all described.

V. DYMARSKY: No, no, not a contradiction. Because Stalin really wanted to get the remains, right?

E. SYANOVA: Well, what do we have? We really have this jaw here.

V.DYMARSKY: Does it really exist?

E. SYANOVA: Yes. By the way, no one denies this. And the Americans, by the way, never encroached on her. Another thing is that no one has ever claimed in our country that we have Hitler's skull. We have never stated this. But for some reason, one of the Americans came, did some scrapings. It turned out to be the skull of a woman. Well, we didn’t pretend that it was Hitler’s skull. And the jaw is interesting. You know, I found a very funny remark on the Internet: if we really have his jaw, no one disputes this, but at the same time they say that he is in Argentina, but how did he live without a jaw? Not quite clear.

V.DYMARSKY: Yes, this is to refute this Argentine version. Well, let's go to all the other questions related to this topic, and maybe we can really move away from personalities and generally talk about government structures in a few minutes, after a short break. In the meantime, we will reflect on the questions that we have already been asked. "Why the Reich President and not the Reich Chancellor?" - Ilya from Tula asks. This is after a short break.

NEWS

V. DYMARSKY: Once again I welcome our audience on television and radio, we continue the program "The Price of Victory". My name is Vitaly Dymarsky, and my guest today is Elena Syanova, writer, historian. And we are talking about the last days of the Third Reich. Still, we have not fully completed our program. We wanted to finish before a short break with personalities, but you still wanted to say something about ... Here, in fact, one question came to us - apparently, they are correcting you that you said something wrong in the program, Ivan writes to us from Orenburg, you said that seven children were poisoned. And who is the seventh?

E. SYANOVA: Well, yes, it was one of the little tragedies. It did not say that the child was poisoned. It was just the child of the woman who was doing the laundry. Therefore, there were seven children there. That's all.

V.DYMARSKY: I see. Everything, we have cleared this matter. Of course, the jaw aroused everyone. The jaw is separate from the skull.

E. SYANOVA: This is a dark story. There will be so many more speculations here, they will all look for it, find it, prove it or not prove it. And no matter how many last points you put, there will still be one more last one. Well, it's a timeless story.

V. DYMARSKY: So, Hitler is gone, Goebbels is gone, the second person.

E. SYANOVA: In fact, no one became.

V.DYMARSKY: Well, not right away.

E. SYANOVA: A succession government has appeared. Head of government - Dönitz, Flensburg.

V. DYMARSKY: Which, as we managed to say, began to collect the remains, or rather, not so much to collect, but to at least understand where they are and what they are.

E. SYANOVA: Yes. Here is an interesting moment. He had the list of the government, he had Hitler's will, they left him. Actually, he had all the instructions on how to act in the near future. But Dönitz gradually got a taste, began to show some kind of his own initiatives, me members of the government. But his main task was, of course, to hold on and play for time. Because the main calculation of the Dönitz government is the conflict between the Allies and the Soviet Union. Hitler was counting on this, in fact, only Dönitz and company could count on this. And, of course, there were trump cards. I will repeat these large groups: the north-west of Europe, Norway, Denmark, the Baltic States - all these are large forces that could be trumped up. Well, maybe a little more about Bormann to finish. Actually, after all, they waited for a very long time, but did not wait. And by the way, Himmler visited governments. Yes, Himmler visited on the 20th of some date.

V. DYMARSKY: From far away.

E. SYANOVA: Yes, he stayed until the 15th in his sanatorium somewhere, and then he nevertheless appeared there. But this is probably a little later. So, it is interesting that on the 4th, a representative of the Dönitz government was sent to the Allies with a request for a tactical truce, a purely military truce.

V.DYMARSKY: Some respite.

E. SYANOVA: Yes, so that these large groups in the north can be preserved, restrained, not disarmed. Eisenhower firmly said no, only three parties should be involved in any negotiations. And Montgomery, who did not claim a political role, agreed to this. And this truce came into force at about 8 a.m. on May 5th. Of course, we were very indignant about this. Well, the next two capitulations: on May 7th - this is Reims, the surrender was signed by Jodl. By the way, it was called preliminary, and it was considered that way - as a preliminary surrender. And on May 8th - the main one.

V. DYMARSKY: But our officer, who signed it, in my opinion, paid for it?

E. SYANOVA: No, you mean General Susloparov. Yes, I specifically dealt with this person. He was a witness, he had the status of a witness from the Soviet side. In fact, there certainly was a dramatic story. He sent a request to Moscow, but did not have time to receive precise instructions on how to act, and he acted at his own peril and risk, signing this document. This, of course, is a very strong man, very insightful, very wonderfully feeling the moment, because he acted perfectly, as Stalin later considered. He acted the way he was supposed to act. No separate peace was signed. Let as a witness, but we were declared here. And then this capitulation was called preliminary, and then the main one took place. He didn't pay the price. He was transferred to a teaching job, so to speak. Basic surrender - Karlhorst, 8th, signed by Keitel. That's interesting: what do you think, where did Keitel go after the signing of the surrender in Karlhorst? And the second question: what was Walter Schellenberg doing at that time, what was he doing? Now, if you answer these two questions, it immediately becomes clear what the ambiguous situation was.

V. DYMARSKY: Regarding Schellenberg, I will answer you with a note, a text message sent to us by one of our listeners: "Schellenberg refused the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and left as Dönitz's special envoy for negotiations in Sweden."

E. SYANOVA: Well, why did you refuse, why? This is how he wrote it, apparently. Hard to say. We don't know this. He was indeed appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. A somewhat strange appointment to such a post in the SS. Yes, he left for another meeting with Bernadotte, but this time he got a turn from the gate. Because Bernadotte understood perfectly well that now these contacts would lead to nothing. So where did Keitel go after all? When I was at school, I was sure that he was signing, suppose they celebrated something symbolically there, but he must have already been arrested, right? No. Both Keitel and Jodl returned to Flensburg. And starting from the 9th, they return to the head of their government, they hold a series of meetings together with him, they decide how to act in this situation, make plans, perform some functions.

V. DYMARSKY: Excuse me, what are the allies doing at this time? I mean both Soviet and American.

E. SYANOVA: The British somehow allowed the creation in this Flensburg of a provincial, quiet, calm town, clean, everything was preserved there, all hung with flags with a swastika, SS posts everywhere, since the SS, great Germany, carried out putting things in order, all this were SS. Officers, soldiers - all walk around with perfectly polished weapons. That is, the British allowed the creation of such a German enclave in this Flensburg.

V. DYMARSKY: Nobody touched them?

E. SYANOVA: Well, everything for the time being. Here we are talking about some days. Here are the 9th, 10th. In general, until the 11th, the Dönitz government had something else to trump with, something to operate on. But on the 11th...

V. DYMARSKY: And what, excuse me?

E. SYANOVA: With these large groups.

V. DYMARSKY: All right. The surrender has already been signed.

E. SYANOVA: It doesn't matter that it is signed.

V. DYMARSKY: The groups were ordered to stop resisting.

E. SYANOVA: It doesn't matter. They didn't actually have an order. Who gave them the order?

V. DYMARSKY: The same Dönitz.

E. SYANOVA: No. You forget that our tanks only entered Prague on the 9th. Here it is, Army Group "Center" or "A". They fought there for two more days.

V.DYMARSKY: Well, it has its own history.

E. SYANOVA: They have their own history, but no one listened to the order. This millionth army capitulated only on the 11th. It was a very loud surrender. But it was forced, because everyone was smashed. Well, Narvik capitulated. It is less numerous, but also on the 11th. In fact, since the 11th, Dönitz has had nothing. There were some disparate groups. By the way, some SS groups, there is such a version and there is such information, it is not entirely direct, there are such indirect confirmations - they have been wandering around Germany all summer. By the way, there was such a Soviet film. Either in May, or in June, after all the capitulations there, ours stumble upon such a grouping making its way to the west. They all made their way to the allies.

V. DYMARSKY: Are they already some kind of partisans?

E. SYANOVA: Well, probably. Actually, they did not partisan, they just made their way to the west. So, the task of the Dönitz government was to transfer, deliver or save the largest possible German contingent for the Western allies. Do you know how many aircraft were handed over to the Allies during the Dönitz government? 2.5 thousand. 250-something warships. True, we later also made claims, and they were satisfied. But nonetheless. Here is what they actually did.

V.DYMARSKY: But our ships also received, and not only the military, by the way, passenger ships too. The same "Russia" went along the Black Sea.

E. SYANOVA: Yes, then, of course, we had to share. And on the 12th, after the defeat, after the surrender of the main forces, Dönitz addresses the German people on the radio and declares that he, as head of state, will exercise all the powers that were given to him by the Fuhrer, until the moment when the German people elect the revered Fuhrer.

V. DYMARSKY: And exactly the Fuhrer?

E. SYANOVA: Yes, exactly the Fuhrer. This is from his statement. What impudence!

V. DYMARSKY: Maybe the person had no other schemes in his head at all.

E. SYANOVA: No, he understood very well that he had support in the West. After all, Churchill was still active during this period. Churchill, in my opinion, also sends a telegram to Truman on the 12th or 13th that the moment has come when you need to stop reckoning with the Russians. That is, now, he says, the Soviet threat dominates. The Nazi threat has been virtually eliminated, now we have a Soviet threat. I'm not talking about the "Unthinkable" plan, this is generally a separate conversation. No fantasy. Everything is declassified, the whole plan hangs on the Internet. The British themselves have already admitted that it was. Well, now it's safe to admit. This plan was put on the table on May 22 to Churchill. Well, briefly. There the military opposed, of course. There was no way to implement it. Then Churchill resigned, and the plan was sent to the archive. But still it is done, still it is done. And the Germans know this. The Germans know that work is underway, that the allies are somehow trying to preserve the remnants of this statehood of theirs. At least for the transitional period. That is, there is still some possibility for the Dönitz government to survive this transitional period and leave with dignity, not to Nuremberg, there still seems to be, there is still hope for this.

V. DYMARSKY: And what happened on May 23? Why do you think this is the last day of the Third Reich?

E. SYANOVA: You know, before May 23 there were a few more interesting moments. Firstly, she arrived in Flensburg, to be fair, the Allied Control Commission, to figure out what was happening there. But until May 17, in my opinion, our representative appeared there, that is, he entered the control commission, all these flags, all these SS posts in Flensburg existed. And, by the way, in my opinion, there was such a question about greetings.

V. DYMARSKY: "Heil" - was it only Hitler who was welcomed?

E. SYANOVA: Yes. So, in Flensburg, SS men from great Germany greeted each other "Heil, Dönitz." It's fixed. So you see, in general, what impudence. I'm just saying this out of outrage. And, by the way, Stalin was also indignant - he called Zhukov and ordered him to figure out what was happening there. And Zhukov proposed to send Major General Trusov as a representative, so that he would enter this control commission and finally dot the i's. Trusov showed up there, he was very tough. He was given authority, he was instructed to act no matter what. He even managed to get a meeting with Dönitz, although the allies, of course, prevented this with all their might. This conversation took place in the presence of the British and Americans, and Trusov was quite tough. By the way, Dönitz told him at that moment that he had Himmler here with proposals, and he, Dönitz, sent him, roughly speaking, sent him, and he departed in an unknown direction. Well, we know where he went - to Montgomery's headquarters. By the way, in my opinion, the 23rd is the last day of Himmler's life. It’s also a fairly well-known story, it’s not worth repeating it, how he was arrested, how at the last moment, fearing the shame of captivity, he bit through this capsule. At least, Himmler's corpse with this red spot in the middle of his forehead, with a hemorrhage from the action of potassium cyanide, bypassed the press. So death is fixed. Nobody ever sent Himmler by any rat trails to any Latin America. So, the will of Stalin, in general, worked here. And from the 21st to the 23rd, active work begins to prepare for the arrest of the Dönitz government. On the 23rd this arrest finally took place in the presence of our representatives. Therefore, no worthy ...

V.DYMARSKY: Were the allies arrested?

E. SYANOVA: Yes, the British, the Americans and our representatives arrested. That is, the outcome, at least ...

V. DYMARSKY: And after that, power in the country passed to the occupation administrations in the respective zones - in the British, American and Soviet?

E. SYANOVA: On the 23rd, this shutdown of the former state structures is officially taking place.

V. DYMARSKY: The switch was turned off.

E. SYANOVA: The switch is turned off, yes. This does not mean at all that they all ceased to function at once at their own peril and risk.

V. DYMARSKY: No, but how? Here are even utilities in cities ...

E. SYANOVA: The administration used to fix things there.

V. DYMARSKY: Did the local administrations continue to operate?

E. SYANOVA: Of course, yes.

V. DYMARSKY: There was no central government and no central apparatus.

E. SYANOVA: There was none. This is where the whole program of occupation comes into play, and the division into zones comes into force, begins to operate. By the way, it is interesting that all the time they tried to somehow set the local population on the Red Army, on some of our representatives. And Dönitz was very raging about when he was informed that the metro was already operating in Berlin, cinemas were operating in Berlin, the Soviet administration was establishing a peaceful life there, but he really hoped that ... in general, they were counting, of course, on resistance, on more resistance from the Germans, from the civilian population. Well, there was a calculation for the partisan movement, but they did not have time to properly organize it. But you know, I would not say that there was no resistance at all. There were pockets of resistance, there was sabotage, there were explosions at enterprises.

V. DYMARSKY: By the way, Evgeny writes to us. Well, all this is impossible to verify, these messages. “On a peninsula in the Baltic, three SS divisions were destroyed only by October 1945.”

E. SYANOVA: Yes, it is quite possible. Surely it was.

V. DYMARSKY: In Western Ukraine, the story is somewhat different. There were no Germans there, of course, but there were also battles, skirmishes.

E. SYANOVA: Yes, but it must be said that on the 23rd, not only the Dönitz government went under arrest, but such a systematic, roughly speaking, capture of this entire Nazi company began. Goering was arrested, arrested ...

V. DYMARSKY: Here Peter asks: What kind of operation was in Switzerland "Sunrise"? Have you heard?

E. SYANOVA: If he clarifies what he means...

V. DYMARSKY: Peter, please clarify. And what kind of people in masks were allegedly taken away by German submariners? This means an expedition to Antarctica, or what?

E. SYANOVA: No. You know, you understand, there are not even versions, but such plans as, for example, the Unthinkable or the Calypso plan, announced by the British, which for some reason was also considered some versions for a long time. This is when it was necessary to create an intermediate German military organization the command of the aged Bush in order to somehow involve the Germans in this process. You see, these are not versions, these are facts. But when it starts about people in masks, about Shambhala and about Antarctica… As a writer, I am actively working with this material, it is very interesting. Do you know what's the matter? In fact, these projects really existed. If you look at the documents of Ananerbe, there were so many amazingly interesting projects there, but this does not mean that they were implemented. Most of them simply, roughly speaking, were not given any funding, they remained in the papers. But to dream up how they could be realized, how they could be launched, we love this.

V.DYMARSKY: Alas, we have to finish. Here the question is why Schellenberg was not tried in Nuremberg. By the way, he was tried in Nuremberg. He got 4 years, as far as I remember. And he was buried in Switzerland. Coco Chanel buried him.

E. SYANOVA: Yes. But Schellenberg left an extremely false memoir.

V. DYMARSKY: Well, you know, few people have true memoirs.

E. SYANOVA: He continued to cover his tracks even after his death.

V. DYMARSKY: It was Elena Syanova. This concludes this part of the program. Another - a portrait of Tikhon Dzyadko. And we'll see you in a week.

PORTRAIT

In the well-known photograph of the first five marshals of the Soviet Union, Alexander Yegorov is the first on the right, Tukhachevsky and Voroshilov are sitting with him, next to him are Budyonny and Blucher. Yegorov did not live long after this picture was taken. His fate is a clear indicator of how the Soviet machine swept away even the people it needed so much, real professionals. And Yegorov, without a doubt, was exactly that. A career officer, he became a colonel even before the revolution. With coming new government immediately joined the Red Army. Hero civil war. As you know, these indicators were not the main ones for Stalin. He valued personal loyalty and political reliability above military leadership talents, believing that the correct policy of the country's leadership compensates for the lack of bright military leadership talents among disciplined red military leaders. Speaking in January 1938, he made this very clear, and later confirmation appeared in the form of specific destinies. Marshal Alexander Yegorov, not only his career, but also his life, was worth a country trip and lunch in Sosny. The denunciation of him was written by the chief personnel officer of the Red Army - Yefim Shchadenko. A denunciation that Yegorov is not satisfied with how his merits during the years of the Civil War are covered. Retribution followed fairly quickly, although not as instantly as in some other cases. Yegorov was accused of having groundlessly dissatisfied with his position in the Red Army and knowing something about the conspiratorial groups existing in the army, he decided to organize his own anti-party group. In March 1938, he was arrested. Four months later, Yezhov submitted to Stalin for approval a list of persons to be shot, which included 139 names. Stalin crossed out the name of Yegorov from the list, but he was shot anyway - on the day of the Red Army, February 23, 1939.

THE LAST DAYS OF THE THIRD REICH

Hitler planned to leave Berlin and head to Obersalzberg on April 20, the day he turned 56, from there, from the legendary mountain stronghold of Frederick Barbarossa, to lead the last battle of the Third Reich. Most of the ministries have already moved south, transporting government documents and panic-stricken officials in overcrowded trucks, desperate to break out of doomed Berlin. Ten days earlier, Hitler had sent most of the domestic staff to Berchtesgaden to prepare the mountain villa Berghof for his arrival.

However, fate decreed otherwise and he no longer saw his favorite haven in the Alps. The end was approaching much faster than the Fuhrer expected. The Americans and Russians were rapidly advancing towards the meeting point on the Elbe. The British stood at the gates of Hamburg and Bremen, threatening to cut Germany off from occupied Denmark. In Italy, Bologna fell, and the allied forces under the command of Alexander entered the Po valley. Having captured Vienna on April 13, the Russians continued to advance up the Danube, and the American 3rd Army marched down the river to meet them. They met in Linz, Hitler's hometown. Nuremberg, on the squares and stadiums of which demonstrations and rallies were held throughout the war, which should have meant the transformation of this ancient city to the capital of Nazism, was now besieged, and parts of the American 7th Army bypassed it and moved to Munich? home of the Nazi movement. In Berlin, the thunder of Russian heavy artillery was already heard.

"In a week, ? noted in his diary for April 23, Count Schwerin von Krosig, the frivolous Minister of Finance, who fled headlong from Berlin to the north at the first report of the approach of the Bolsheviks, ? nothing happened, only the messengers of Job came in an endless stream. To all appearances, a terrible fate is destined for our people.”

The last time Hitler left his headquarters in Rastenburg was on November 20, as the Russians were approaching, and from then until December 10 he stayed in Berlin, which had hardly been seen since the beginning of the war in the East. He then proceeded to his western headquarters at Ziegenberg, near Bad Nauheim, to direct the colossal adventure in the Ardennes. After her failure, he returned on January 16 to Berlin, where he remained until the end. From here he led his crumbling armies. His headquarters was located in a bunker located 15 meters below the Imperial Chancellery, whose huge marble halls were left in ruins as a result of Allied air raids.

Physically, he noticeably deteriorated. The young army captain, who first saw the Fuhrer in February, later described his appearance as follows:

“His head was shaking a little. His left hand hung like a whip, and his hand trembled. His eyes sparkled with an indescribable feverish brilliance, causing fear and some strange numbness. His face and bags under his eyes gave the impression of complete exhaustion. All movements betrayed in him a decrepit old man.

Since the attempt on his life on July 20, he has ceased to trust anyone, even old party comrades. "I'm being lied to from all sides," he indignantly told one of his secretaries in March.

“I can't rely on anyone. I'm being betrayed all around. All this just makes me sick... If anything happens to me, Germany will be left without a leader. I don't have a successor. Hess? crazy, Goering is unsympathetic to the people, Himmler will be rejected by the party, besides, he is completely unartistic. Break your head and tell me who can be my successor.

It seemed that at this historical period of time the question of a successor was purely abstract, but this was not so, and it could not have been otherwise in the crazy country of Nazism. Not only did the Fuhrer suffer from this question, but, as we shall soon see, the leading candidates for his successor.

Although Hitler was already physically a complete ruin and faced with impending disaster, as the Russians advanced towards Berlin and the Allies devastated the Reich, he and his most fanatical minions, Goebbels above all, stubbornly believed that a miracle would save them at the last moment.

One fine evening in early April, Goebbels read aloud to Hitler his favorite book, The History of Frederick II by Carlyle. The chapter recounted the dark days of the Seven Years' War, when the great king felt the approach of death and told his ministers that if there was no turn for the better in his fate before February 15, he would surrender and take poison. This historical episode, of course, evoked associations, and Goebbels, of course, read this passage with a special, inherent drama...

"Our brave king! ? continued reading Goebbels. ? Wait a little longer and your days of suffering will be behind you. The sun of your happy fate has already appeared in the sky and will soon rise over you. Queen Elizabeth died, and a miracle happened for the Brandenburg dynasty.

Goebbels told Krosig, from whose diary we learned about this touching scene, that the Fuhrer's eyes filled with tears. Having received such moral support, and even from an English source, they demanded to bring them two horoscopes, stored in the materials of one of Himmler's numerous "research" departments. One horoscope was drawn up for the Fuhrer on January 30, 1933, the day he came to power, another? was compiled by a famous astrologer on November 9, 1918, the birthday of the Weimar Republic. Goebbels later reported to Krosig the result of a re-examination of these amazing documents.

“A startling fact has been discovered? both horoscopes predicted the beginning of the war in 1939 and victories until 1941, as well as the subsequent series of defeats, with the heaviest blows to fall in the first months of 1945, especially in the first half of April. In the second half of April we expect a temporary success. Then there will be a lull until August, and then peace will come. Over the next three years, Germany will have to go through hard times, but from 1948 it will begin to revive again.

Encouraged by Carlyle and the startling predictions of the stars, Goebbels issued an appeal to the retreating troops on April 6:

“The Fuhrer said that already this year there should be a change in fate ... The true essence of a genius? it is foresight and firm confidence in the coming changes. The Führer knows the exact hour of their attack. Fate sent us this man so that at the hour of great internal and external upheavals we would become witnesses of a miracle ... "

Barely a week had passed when, on the night of April 12, Goebbels convinced himself that the hour of the miracle had come. On this day, new bad news came. Americans appeared on the Dessau freeway? Berlin, and the high command hastily ordered the destruction of the last two gunpowder factories located near it. From now on, German soldiers will have to make do with the ammunition they had available. Goebbels spent the whole day at the headquarters of General Busse in Kustrin in the Oder direction. As Goebbels told Krosig, the general assured him that a Russian breakthrough was impossible, that he "would stay here until he received a kick in the ass from the British."

“In the evening they sat together with the general at the headquarters, and he, Goebbels, developed his thesis that, according to historical logic and justice, the course of events should change, as miraculously happened in the Seven Years' War with the Brandenburg dynasty.

"Which queen will die this time?" ? asked the general. Goebbels did not know. "But fate, ? he replied, has many possibilities."

When the Minister of Propaganda returned to Berlin late in the evening, the center of the capital was on fire after another British air raid. The fire engulfed the surviving part of the office building and the Adlon Hotel on Wilhelmstrasse. At the entrance to the Propaganda Ministry, Goebbels was greeted by a secretary who told him the urgent news: "Roosevelt is dead." The Minister's face lit up in the reflections of the fire that engulfed the office building on opposite side Wilhelmstrasse, and everyone saw it. "Bring me the best champagne, ? exclaimed Goebbels, and put me in touch with the Fuhrer." Hitler waited out the bombing in an underground bunker. He went to the phone.

"My Fuehrer! ? exclaimed Goebbels. ? I congratulate you! Roosevelt is dead! The stars predicted that the second half of April would be a turning point for us. Today is Friday, April 13th. (It was past midnight.) This is the turning point!” Hitler's reaction to this news is not recorded in the documents, although it is not difficult to imagine, given the inspiration he drew from Carlyle and horoscopes. Evidence of Goebbels' reaction has survived. In the words of his secretary, "he fell into ecstasy." His feelings were shared by the well-known Count Schwerin von Krosig. When Goebbels' secretary of state informed him by telephone that Roosevelt had died, Krosig, according to the entry in his diary, exclaimed:

“It is the angel of history who has descended! We feel the flutter of its wings all around us. Isn’t this the gift of fate that we have been waiting for with such impatience?!”

The next morning, Krosig called Goebbels, conveyed his congratulations to him, which he proudly wrote in his diary, and, apparently not considering this sufficient, sent a letter welcoming Roosevelt's death. "God's judgment ... God's gift ..."? so he wrote in a letter. Government ministers like Krosig and Goebbels, educated at the oldest universities in Europe and long in power, seized on the predictions of the stars and rejoiced wildly at the death of the American president, considering it a sure sign that now, in last minute, the Almighty will save the Third Reich from inevitable disaster. And in this atmosphere of a madhouse, as the capital engulfed in flames seemed to be, the last act of the tragedy was played out until the moment when the curtain was supposed to fall.

Eva Braun arrived in Berlin to join Hitler on 15 April. Only very few Germans knew about its existence and few? about her relationship with Hitler. She had been his mistress for over twelve years. Now, in April, she has arrived, according to Trevor-Roper, for her wedding and ceremonial death.

Her role in the last chapter of this story is rather curious, but as a person she is of little interest. She was neither the Marchioness of Pompadour nor Lola Montez.

The daughter of poor Bavarian burghers, who at first strongly objected to her connection with Hitler, although he was a dictator, she served in the Munich photograph of Heinrich Hoffmann, who introduced her to the Fuhrer. This happened a year or two after the suicide of Geli Raubal, Hitler's niece, for whom, alone in his life, he apparently had a passionate love. Eva Braun was also driven to despair by her lover, though for a different reason than Geli Raubal. Eva Braun, although she was given spacious apartments in Hitler's Alpine villa, did not tolerate long separation from him well and tried to commit suicide twice in the first years of their friendship. But gradually she came to terms with her incomprehensible role? not a wife, not a lover.

Hitler's last major decision

Hitler's birthday, April 20, passed quietly enough, although General Karl Koller, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, who attended the celebration in the bunker, noted it in his diary as a day of new disasters on rapidly collapsing fronts. In the bunker were the Nazis of the old guard Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Ribbentrop and Bormann, as well as the surviving military leaders? Doenitz, Keitel, Jodl and Krebs? and new boss general staff ground forces. He congratulated the Fuhrer on his birthday.

The Supreme Commander was not, as usual, gloomy, despite the prevailing situation. He still believed, as he had told his generals three days earlier, that on the outskirts of Berlin the Russians would suffer the most brutal defeat they had ever suffered. However, the generals were not so stupid and at a military meeting held after the festive ceremony, they began to persuade Hitler to leave Berlin and move south. "In a day or two, ? did they explain? the Russians will cut the last withdrawal corridor in this direction.” Hitler hesitated. He didn't say yes or no. Obviously, he could not comprehend the terrifying fact that the capital of the Third Reich was about to be captured by the Russians, whose armies, as he assured many years ago, were "completely destroyed." As a concession to the generals, he agreed to form two separate commands in case the Americans and Russians linked up on the Elbe. Then Admiral Doenitz will lead the northern command, and Kesselring? southern. The Fuhrer was not quite sure of the suitability of the latter's candidacy for this post.

That evening began a mass exodus from Berlin. Two of the most trusted and trusted associates? Himmler and Goering were among those who left the capital. Goering was leaving with a column of cars and trucks filled to the brim with trophies and property from his fabulously rich Karinhalle estate. Each of these Nazis of the old guard left Berlin in the belief that his beloved Fuhrer would soon be gone and that he would come to replace him.

They did not get to see him again, nor did Ribbentrop, who hurried to safer places that same day, late in the evening.

But Hitler still did not give up. The day after his birth, he ordered SS General Felix Steiner to launch a counterattack on the Russians in the area south of the suburbs of Berlin. It was supposed to throw into battle all the soldiers that could be found in Berlin and its environs, including those from the ground services of the Luftwaffe.

“Each commander who evades the order and does not throw his troops into battle, ? Hitler shouted at General Koller, who remained in command of the Air Force, ? pay with his life within five hours. You are personally responsible for ensuring that everything is up to the last soldier were thrown into battle.

All that day and most of the next, Hitler waited impatiently for the results of Steiner's counterattack. But no attempt was even made to carry it out, since it existed only in the inflamed brain of a desperate dictator. When the meaning of what was happening finally reached him, a storm broke out.

April 22 marked the last turn on Hitler's path to collapse. From early morning until 3 pm, like the previous day, he sat on the phone and tried to find out at various CPs how Steyier's counterattack was developing. Nobody knew anything. Neither the planes of General Koller, nor the commanders of the ground units were able to detect it, although presumably it was supposed to be applied two to three kilometers south of the capital. Even Steiner, although he existed, could not be found, let alone his army.

A storm erupted at a 3 o'clock afternoon meeting in the bunker An angry Hitler demanded a report on Steiner's actions. But neither Keitel, nor Jodl, nor anyone else had information on this score. The generals had news of a completely different nature. The withdrawal of troops from positions north of Berlin to support Steiner weakened the front there so much that it led to a breakthrough by the Russians, whose tanks crossed the city limits.

For the Supreme Commander, this turned out to be too much. All survivors testify that he has completely lost control of himself. So he never got angry. "This is the end, ? he squealed piercingly. ? Everyone left me. Around treason, lies, venality, cowardice. Everything is over. Wonderful. I am staying in Berlin. I will personally take charge of the defense of the capital of the Third Reich. The rest can go wherever they want. This is where I will meet my end."

Those present protested. They said that there was still hope if the Fuhrer retreated to the south. Field Marshal Ferdinand Scherner's army group and Kesselring's significant forces are concentrated in Czechoslovakia. Dönitz, who had traveled to the northwest to take command of the troops, and Himmler, who, as we shall see, still played his own game, telephoned the Fuehrer, urging him to leave Berlin. Even Ribbentrop contacted him by phone and said that he was ready to organize a "diplomatic coup" that would save everything. But Hitler no longer believed any of them, even the “second Bismarck,” as once, in a moment of disposition, he, without thinking, called his foreign minister. He said he had finally made up his mind. And, to show that this decision was irrevocable, he called the secretary and in their presence dictated a statement that was to be read immediately over the radio. It said that the Fuhrer remained in Berlin and would defend it to the end.

Hitler then sent for Goebbels and invited him, his wife and six children, to move into a bunker from his heavily bombed house in the Wilhelmstrasse. He was sure that at least this fanatical follower would stay with him and his family until the end. Then Hitler busied himself with his papers, selecting those he thought should be destroyed and handing them over to one of his adjutants? Julius Schaub, who carried them into the garden and burned them.

Finally, in the evening, he called Keitel and Jodl to him and ordered them to move south and take direct command of the remaining troops. Both generals, who were next to Hitler throughout the war, left a rather colorful description of the last parting with the supreme commander. Keitel, who never disobeyed the Führer's orders, even when he ordered the most vile war crimes to be committed, remained silent. In contrast, Jodl, who was less of a lackey, replied. In the eyes of this soldier, who, despite fanatical devotion and faithful service to the Fuhrer, still remained faithful to military traditions, the supreme commander abandoned his troops, shifting responsibility to them at the time of the catastrophe.

"You can't lead from here, ? Yodl said. ? If there is no headquarters near you, how can you manage anything at all?

"Well, then Goering will take over the leadership there,"? Hitler objected.

One of those present remarked that no soldier would fight for the Reichsmarschall, and Hitler interrupted him: “What do you mean by 'fight'? How much is left to fight? Nothing at all." Even the mad conqueror had finally lifted the veil from his eyes.

Or the gods sent him enlightenment for a moment in these last days of his life, similar to a waking nightmare.

The Fuhrer's violent outbursts on 22 April and his decision to remain in Berlin were not without consequences. When Himmler, who was in Hohenlichen, northwest of Berlin, received a telephone report from Hermann Fegelein, his liaison officer from the SS headquarters, he exclaimed in the presence of subordinates: “Everyone has gone crazy in Berlin. What should I do?" "Go straight to Berlin"? answered one of his chief assistants, Gottlieb Berger, chief of staff of the SS. Berger was one of those simple-hearted Germans who sincerely believed in National Socialism. He had no idea that his venerable chief Himmler, instigated by Walter Schellenberg, had already established contact with the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte regarding the surrender of the German armies in the West. "I'm going to Berlin, ? Berger said to Himmler, and your duty is the same.

That same evening Berger, not Himmler, went to Berlin, and his trip is of interest because of the description he left as an eyewitness to Hitler's momentous decision. When Berger arrived in Berlin, Russian shells were already exploding not far from the office. The sight of Hitler, who appeared to be "a broken, broken man," shocked him. Berger dared to express admiration for Hitler's decision to remain in Berlin. According to him, he told Hitler: "It is impossible to leave the people after they have held on so long and so faithfully." And again these words infuriated the Fuhrer.

"All this time, ? Berger later recalled, The Fuhrer didn't say a word. Then he suddenly shouted: “Everyone has deceived me! Nobody told me the truth. The military lied to me." And then in the same spirit, louder and louder. Then his face turned purple-purple. I thought that at any moment he could have a stroke.

Berger was also Himmler's head of administration for prisoners of war, and after the Führer calmed down, they discussed the fate of eminent English, French and American prisoners, as well as Germans such as Halder and Schacht, and the former Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg, who were transferred to the south east to prevent their release by the Americans advancing deep into Germany. That night, Berger was to fly to Bavaria and deal with their fate. The interlocutors discussed, in addition, reports of separatist actions in Austria and Bavaria. The thought of what's in his native Austria and his second homeland? Bavaria may break out a rebellion, again caused Hitler to convulse.

“His arm, leg and head were shaking, and, according to Berger, he kept repeating: “Shoot them all! Shoot them all!"

Whether this order meant to shoot all the separatists or all the eminent prisoners, or maybe both, Berger was not clear. And this narrow-minded person, obviously, decided to shoot everyone in a row.

Goering and Himmler's attempts to take power into their own hands

General Koller refrained from attending a meeting with Hitler on 22 April. He was responsible for the Luftwaffe, and, as he notes in his diary, he could not bear to be insulted all day long. His communications officer in the bunker, General Eckard Christian, called him at 6.15 p.m. and said in a broken voice, barely audible: “There are historical events decisive for the outcome of the war. About two hours later, Christian arrived at the headquarters of the Air Force in Wildpark-Werder, located on the outskirts of Berlin, to personally report everything to Koller.

"The Fuhrer is broken!" ? gasped Christian, a committed Nazi married to one of Hitler's secretaries. It was impossible to make out anything other than the fact that the Fuhrer had decided to meet his end in Berlin and was burning papers. Therefore, the chief of staff of the Luftwaffe, despite the heavy bombing that the British had just begun, urgently flew to headquarters. He was going to look for Jodl and find out what happened that day in the bunker.

He found Jodl in Krampnitz, located between Berlin and Potsdam, where the high command, having lost the Fuhrer, organized a temporary headquarters. He told his friend from the Air Force the whole sad story from beginning to end. In secret, he also told something that no one had yet told Koller and that should have led to a denouement in the coming terrible days.

“When it comes to negotiations (for peace), ? the Fuhrer once said to Keitel and Jodl, Göring is more suitable than me. Goering does it much better, he can get along with the other side much faster. Now Jodl repeated this to Koller. Air force general realized that his duty? fly immediately to Goering. It was difficult, and even dangerous, to explain the current situation in a radiogram, given that the enemy was listening to the air. If Goering, whom Hitler officially appointed as his successor a few years ago, is to enter into peace negotiations, as the Fuehrer suggests, then there is not a moment to lose. Jodl agreed with this. At 3.20 am on April 23, Koller took off in a fighter, which immediately headed for Munich.

In the afternoon he arrived at Obersalzberg and delivered the news to the Reichsmarschall. Goering, who, to put it mildly, had long looked forward to the day when he would succeed Hitler, nevertheless showed more discretion than one might have expected. He did not want to become a victim of his mortal enemy? Bormann. The precaution, as it turned out, was well justified. He even broke into a sweat, solving the dilemma that confronted him. “If I take action now,” he told his advisers, “? I may be branded as a traitor. If I remain inactive, I will be accused of not doing anything in the hour of trial.

Goering sent for Hans Lammers, Secretary of State of the Reich Chancellery, who was in Berchtesgaden, to seek legal advice from him, and also took from his safe a copy of the Führer Decree of June 29, 1941. The decree defined everything clearly. It provided that in the event of Hitler's death, Goering would become his successor. In the event of Hitler's temporary inability to lead the state, Goering acts as his deputy. Everyone agreed that, left to die in Berlin, deprived in his last hours of the opportunity to direct military and state affairs, Hitler is unable to perform these functions, so Goering's duty according to the decree? take power into your own hands.

Nevertheless, the Reichsmarschall compiled the text of the telegram very carefully. He wanted to be firmly convinced that power was really transferred to him.

My Fuehrer!

In view of your decision to remain in Fortress Berlin, do you agree that I immediately take over the overall leadership of the Reich, with full freedom of action in the country and abroad, as your deputy in accordance with your decree of June 29, 1941? If there is no reply by 10 p.m. today, I will take it for granted that you have lost your freedom of action and that the conditions for the entry into force of your decree have arisen. I will also act in the best interests of our country and our people. You know what feelings I have for you at this difficult hour of my life. I don't have words to express it. May the Almighty protect you and send you here as soon as possible, no matter what.

Loyal to you

Hermann Goering.

That same evening, several hundred miles away, Heinrich Himmler met with Count Bernadotte at the Swedish consulate in Lübeck on the Baltic coast. "Faithful Heinrich", as Hitler often affably addressed him, did not ask for power as a successor. He had already taken her into his own hands.

“The great life of the Fuhrer, ? he told the Swedish count, is nearing the end. In a day or two, Hitler will die." Himmler then asked Bernadotte to immediately inform General Eisenhower of Germany's readiness to capitulate in the West. In the East, he added, the war would continue until the Western powers themselves opened a front against the Russians. Such was the naivete, or stupidity, or both, of this SS arbiter of destinies, who in this moment, sought for himself dictatorial powers in the Third Reich. When Bernadotte asked Himmler to put his offer to surrender in writing, the letter was hastily drafted. This was done by candlelight, since the British air raids that evening deprived Lübeck of electrical lighting and forced the deliberators to go down to the cellar. Himmler signed the letter.

But both Goering and Himmler acted, as they quickly realized, prematurely. Although Hitler was completely cut off from the outside world, except for limited radio communications with the armies and ministries, since by the evening of April 23 the Russians completed the encirclement of the capital, he still sought to show that he was able to rule Germany by the sheer force of his authority and suppress any treason, even from especially close followers, for which one word was enough, transmitted over a crackling radio transmitter, the antenna of which was attached to a balloon hanging over his bunker.

Albert Speer and one witness, a very remarkable lady, whose dramatic appearance in the last act in Berlin will soon be outlined, left a description of Hitler's reaction to Goering's telegram. Speer flew into the besieged capital on the night of April 23, landing a tiny plane at the eastern end of the Vostok freeway? West? wide street that ran through the Tiergarten, ? at the Brandenburg Gate, a block from the Chancellery. Learning that Hitler had decided to stay in Berlin until the end, which was not far off, Speer went to say goodbye to the Führer and confess to him that "the conflict between personal loyalty and public duty," as he called it, was forcing him to sabotage the "scorched earth" tactics. He believed, not without reason, that he would be arrested "for treason" and possibly shot. And it certainly would have happened if the dictator knew that two months ago Speer made an attempt to kill him and everyone else who managed to escape the Stauffenberg bomb. The brilliant architect and minister of armaments, although he always prided himself on his apolitical nature, finally had a belated epiphany. When he realized that his adored Fuhrer intended to destroy the German people through scorched earth decrees, he decided to kill Hitler. His plan was to inject poisonous gas into the ventilation system of a bunker in Berlin at the time of a major military meeting. Since they were now invariably attended not only by generals, but also by Göring, Himmler and Goebbels, Speer hoped to destroy the entire Nazi leadership of the Third Reich, as well as the high military command. He got the right gas and checked the air conditioning system. But then he discovered, as he later said, that the air intake in the garden was protected by a pipe about 4 meters high. This pipe was recently installed on Hitler's personal order to avoid sabotage. Speer realized that it was impossible to supply gas there, since this would be immediately prevented by the SS guards in the garden. Therefore, he abandoned his plan, and Hitler again managed to avoid an assassination attempt.

Now, on the evening of April 23, Speer admitted that he did not obey the order and did not carry out the senseless destruction of objects vital to Germany. To his surprise, Hitler showed neither indignation nor anger. Perhaps the Fuhrer was touched by the sincerity and courage of his young friend? Speer just turned forty, ? to whom he had a long attachment and whom he regarded as a "companion in art". Hitler, Keitel noted, was strangely calm that evening, as if the decision to die here in the coming days brought peace to his soul. This calm was not so much the calm after the storm as it was the calm before the storm.

Before the conversation ended, he dictated a telegram, prompted by Bormann, accusing Göring of committing "high treason" for which only death could be the penalty, but given his long service to the Nazi Party and state, his life could be spared if he immediately resign from all posts. Was he asked to answer in monosyllables? Yes or no. However, this was not enough for the sycophant Bormann. At his own peril and risk, he sent a radiogram to the SS headquarters in Berchtesgaden, ordering Goering to be immediately arrested for treason. The next day, before dawn, the second most important person in the Third Reich, the most arrogant and richest of the Nazi bosses, the only Reichsmarschall in German history, the commander-in-chief of the Air Force, became a prisoner of the SS.

Three days later, on the evening of April 26, Hitler spoke out against Goering even more harshly than in the presence of Speer.

The last visitors to the bunker

In the meantime, two more interesting visitors had arrived at Hitler's madhouse-like bunker: Hannah Reitsch, a brave test pilot who, among other virtues, had a deep hatred of Goering, and General Ritter von Greim, who was ordered to come from Munich on April 24 to the Supreme Commander, which he did. True, on the evening of the 26th, when they flew up to Berlin, their plane was shot down over the Tiergarten by Russian anti-aircraft guns and General Greim's leg was crushed.

Hitler came to the operating room, where the doctor was dressing the general's wound.

Hitler: Do you know why I called you?

Greim: No, my Fuhrer.

Hitler: Hermann Goering betrayed me and the fatherland and deserted. He made contact with the enemy behind my back. His actions can only be regarded as cowardice. Against orders, he fled to Berchtesgaden to save himself. From there, he sent me an irreverent radiogram. It was…

"Here, ? recalls Hanna Reich, who was present at the conversation, ? the Führer's face twitched, his breathing became heavy and short.

Hitler: ...Ultimatum! Rough ultimatum! Now there's nothing left. Nothing got past me. There is no such betrayal, such betrayal, which I would not have experienced. They are not faithful to the oath, they do not value honor. And now this too! Nothing left. There is no evil that has not been done to me.

I ordered Goering to be immediately arrested as a traitor to the Reich. Removed him from all posts, expelled him from all organizations. That's why I called you!

After that, he appointed the discouraged general, who was lying on his bed, the new commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe. Hitler could announce this appointment over the radio. This would have allowed Greim to avoid injury and be at Air Force Headquarters, the only place from where he could still manage what was left of the Air Force.

Three days later, Hitler ordered Greim, who by this time, like Fraulein Reich, expected and wished for death in a bunker next to the Fuhrer, to fly to the place and deal with a new betrayal. And treason among the leaders of the Third Reich, as we have seen, was not limited to the actions of Hermann Goering.

During these three days, Hannah Reitsch had ample opportunities to observe the life of madmen in the underground lunatic asylum and, of course, to participate in it. Since she was emotionally as unstable as the high-ranking owner who sheltered her, her recordings are ominous and at the same time melodramatic. And yet, in the main, they obviously correspond to reality and are even quite complete, since they are confirmed by the testimonies of other eyewitnesses, which makes them an important document in the final chapter of the history of the Reich.

On the night of April 26, after her arrival with General Greim, Russian shells began to fall on the office, and the dull sounds of explosions and crumbling walls from above only exacerbated the tension in the bunker. Hitler took the pilot aside.

My Fuhrer, why are you staying here? ? she asked. ? Why should Germany lose you?! The Fuhrer must live so that Germany can live. This is what the people demand.

No Hannah? answered, according to her, the Fuhrer. ? If I die, I will die for the honor of our country, because, as a soldier, I must obey my own order? defend Berlin to the end. My dear girl, he continued, I didn't expect this to happen. I firmly believed that we would be able to defend Berlin on the banks of the Oder ... When all our efforts ended in nothing, I was more horrified than everyone else. Later, when the encirclement of the city began ... I thought that by staying in Berlin, I would set an example for all ground troops and they would come to the rescue of the city ... But, my Hannah, I still hope. General Wenck's army is approaching from the south. He must? and can? drive the Russians far enough to save our people. We will retreat, but we will hold on.

Hitler was in this mood at the beginning of the evening. He still hoped that General Wenck would liberate Berlin. But just a few minutes later, when the Russian shelling of the office intensified, he again fell into despair. He handed Rach the poison pods: one? for herself, another? for Graham.

"Hanna, ? he said, ? you are one of those who will die with me ... I do not want even one of us to fall into the hands of the Russians alive, I do not want them to find our bodies. Eve's body and my body will be burned. And you choose your path."

Hannah took the poison capsule to Greim, and they decided that if "the end really comes," they would swallow the poison and then, to be sure, pull the pin from the heavy grenade and hold it tightly to themselves.

On the 28th, Hitler seemed to have new hopes, or at least illusions. He radioed Keitel: “I expect the pressure on Berlin to ease. What is Henry's army doing? Where is Wenck? What's going on with the 9th Army? When will Wenk link up with the 9th Army?"

Reich describes how, on that day, the Supreme Commander restlessly paced "through the hideout, waving the road map that was rapidly spreading in his sweaty hands, and discussing Wenck's campaign plan with anyone who was willing to listen to him."

But Wenck's "campaign", like Steiner's "strike" a week earlier, existed only in the Führer's imagination. Wenk's army was already destroyed, as was the 9th Army. North of Berlin, Henry's army quickly retreated to the West to surrender to the Western Allies, and not to the Russians.

All day on April 28, the desperate inhabitants of the bunker waited for the results of the counterattacks of these three armies, especially Wenck's army. The Russian wedges were already at a distance of several blocks from the office and were slowly approaching it along several streets from the east and north, as well as through the Tiergarten. When no news was received from the troops coming to the aid, Hitler, instigated by Bormann, suspected new perfidy. At 8 pm Bormann sent a radiogram to Doenitz:

“Instead of urging the troops to move forward in the name of our salvation, the responsible persons remain silent. Apparently, betrayal has replaced fidelity. We are staying here. The office is in ruins.

Later that night, Bormann sent another telegram to Doenitz:

"Scherner, Wenck and others must prove their loyalty to the Führer by coming to his aid as soon as possible."

Bormann now spoke in his own name. Hitler decided to die in a day or two, but Bormann wanted to live. He probably could not be Hitler's successor, but he wanted to be able in the future to press the secret springs behind the back of anyone who comes to power.

On the same night, Admiral Foss sent a telegram to Doenitz, informing him that communication with the army was broken, and demanded that he urgently report on the fleet's radio channels about the most important events in the world. Soon some news arrived, not from the Navy, but from the Ministry of Propaganda, from its listening posts. For Adolf Hitler, the news was devastating.

In addition to Bormann, there was another Nazi figure in the bunker who wanted to stay alive. It was Hermann Fegelein, Himmler's representative at headquarters, a typical example of a German who came to the fore under Hitler's rule. A former groom, then jockey, completely uneducated, he was the protégé of the notorious Christian Weber, one of Hitler's old party comrades. After 1933, through the machinations of Weber, he amassed a solid fortune and, being obsessed with horses, started a large stable of horses. With the support of Weber, Fegelein managed to rise high in the Third Reich. He became a general of the Waffen-SS, and in 1944, shortly after Himmler's appointment as liaison officer at the Fuhrer's headquarters, he further strengthened his position at the top by marrying Eva Braun's sister Gretel. All the surviving SS leaders unanimously note that Fegelein, having agreed with Bormann, did not hesitate to betray his SS chief Himmler to Hitler. This infamous illiterate and ignorant man, such as Fegelein, seemed to have an amazing instinct for self-preservation. He knew how to determine in time whether the ship was sinking or not.

On April 26, he quietly left the bunker. The next evening, Hitler discovered his disappearance. The Fuhrer, already wary, had a suspicion, and he immediately sent a group of SS men to search for the missing person. He was found already in civilian clothes at his home in the Charlottenburg region, which was about to be captured by the Russians. He was taken to the office and there, stripped of the rank of SS Ober-Gruppenführer, was put under arrest. Fegelein's attempt to defect made Hitler suspicious of Himmler. What was the SS chief up to now, having left Berlin? There has been no news since his liaison officer, Fegelein, left his post. Now the news has finally arrived.

April 28, as we have seen, was a difficult day for the inhabitants of the bunker. The Russians were getting closer. The long-awaited news of Wenck's counterattack still did not arrive. In desperation, the besieged inquired over the radio network of the Navy about the situation outside the besieged city.

A radio eavesdropping post at the Ministry of Propaganda picked up a report from the BBC radio station in London about events taking place outside Berlin. On the evening of April 28, the Reuters news agency transmitted such a sensational and incredible message from Stockholm that one of Goebbels' assistants, Heinz Lorenz, rushed headlong through the area riddled with shells into the bunker. He brought several copies of this message to his minister and the Führer.

The news, according to Hannah Reich, “fell upon society like a death blow. Men and women screamed in rage, fear and despair, their voices merging into one emotional spasm. Hitler had it much stronger than the rest. According to the pilot, "he raged like crazy."

Heinrich Himmler, "faithful Heinrich", also fled from the sinking ship of the Reich. The Reuters report spoke of his secret negotiations with Count Bernadotte and the readiness of the German armies in the West to surrender to Eisenhower.

For Hitler, who never doubted Himmler's absolute loyalty, this was a severe blow. "His face, Reich remembered, became crimson red and literally unrecognizable ... After a rather long fit of anger and indignation, Hitler fell into some kind of stupor, and silence reigned in the bunker for a while. Goering at least asked the Führer for permission to continue his work. And the "faithful" SS chief and Reichsführer treacherously made contact with the enemy, without a word notifying Hitler of this. And Hitler told his henchmen, when he came to his senses a little, what is it? the meanest act of betrayal he had ever encountered.

This strike, along with the news received a few minutes later that the Russians were closing in on Potsdamerplatz, located just a block away from the bunker, and likely to storm the Chancellery on the morning of April 30, that is, 30 hours later, meant that the end was coming. This forced Hitler to make the last decisions of his life. Before dawn, he married Eva Braun, then laid out his last will, made a will, sent Greim and Hannah Reitsch to collect the remnants of the Luftwaffe for a massive bombardment of Russian troops approaching the office, and also ordered the two of them to arrest the traitor Himmler.

“After me, a traitor will never become the head of state! ? said, according to Hannah, Hitler. ? And you have to make sure that doesn't happen."

Hitler burned with impatience to take revenge on Himmler. In his hands was the liaison officer of the SS chief Fegelein. This former jockey and current SS general was immediately taken from the cell, carefully interrogated for Himmler's treason, accused of complicity and, on the orders of the Fuhrer, was taken to the garden of the office, where he was shot. Fegelein did not help even the fact that he was married to the sister of Eva Braun. And Eve did not lift a finger to save the life of her son-in-law.

On the night of April 29, somewhere between one and three, Hitler married Eva Braun. He fulfilled the desire of his mistress, crowning her with legal bonds as a reward for loyalty to the end.

Hitler's last will and testament

As Hitler wished, both of these documents survived. Like his other documents, they are essential to our narrative. They confirm that the man who ruled Germany with an iron fist for more than twelve years, and most of Europe? four years, learned nothing. Even failures and crushing defeat did not teach him anything.

True, in the last hours of his life, he mentally returned to the days of his reckless youth, which passed in Vienna, to noisy gatherings in Munich pubs, where he cursed the Jews for all the troubles in the world, to far-fetched universal theories and lamentations that fate again deceived Germany , depriving her of victory and conquest. This farewell speech, addressed to the German nation and the whole world, which was supposed to be the final appeal to history, Adolf Hitler composed from empty phrases calculated for a cheap effect, pulled from Mein Kampf, adding to them his own false fabrications. This speech was a natural epitaph for a tyrant whom absolute power had completely corrupted and destroyed.

The "political testament," as he called it, is divided into two parts. The first is an appeal to descendants, the second? his special plans for the future.

“More than thirty years have passed since I, as a volunteer, made my modest contribution to the First World War imposed on the Reich.

Over these three decades, all my thoughts, actions and life have been guided only by love and devotion to my people. They have given me the strength to make the most difficult decisions a mortal has ever made...

It is not true that I or anyone else in Germany wanted war in 1939. It was coveted and provoked by those statesmen of other countries who were either themselves Jewish origin or worked in the name of the interests of the Jews.

This text is an introductory piece.

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We all celebrate Victory Day on May 9, but most of us absolutely do not think about this date, established by the decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 8:

It turned out like this because of the difference between Moscow and Central European time, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Already at the end of April, the days of the Reich were numbered, the Soviet troops were taking Berlin, and everyone who had something in their heads other than fanaticism was only thinking about how it would be more profitable to surrender. In principle, you can choose almost any date for the beginning of the end of the fascist empire, but April 28, 1945 is the best for this.

On this day, the Italian partisans shot Mussolini, and Himmler:
"I established contact with the head of the Swedish Red Cross Society, Count Folke Bernadotte, for negotiations with the Western powers on a separate peace. Himmler informed Count Bernadotte that the Fuhrer was blocked in Berlin and, moreover, was suffering from brain disorders." (c)

British information Agency Reiter. At that time, Hitler’s head was really so-so, he could not get to Heinrich Himmler and shot his representative at headquarters, his brother-in-law SS Gruppenfuehrer Hermann Fegelein.

Fegelein was in love with Eva Braun, although he was married to her younger sister, on the night of April 28, he offered her to escape from besieged Berlin together, but she refused. The next day, Fegelein was arrested in his apartment and, unfortunately, some "red-haired woman" turned out to be in it, Eva Braun found out about this and immediately informed Hitler about the nightly conversation. Fegelein was shot in the garden of the Imperial Chancellery. A few days later, his legal wife, Gretel Brown, gave birth to a girl, who, ironically, was named Eve.

This "insanely romantic story" would not have been of great historical value if it had not resulted in the deprivation of Himmler of all powers and the "political testament" signed by Hitler on April 29 at four o'clock in the morning. Hitler appointed Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels as his successor as Chancellor of Germany.

On May 1, Goebbels decided to enter into negotiations with the Soviet troops, who were already 200 meters from him, and offered them ... a truce. The USSR demanded not a "truce", but "complete unconditional surrender". Goebbels refused this and committed suicide, taking his wife and six children into the next world. At 18.00, the Soviet troops continued the assault, and on May 2, "unconditional surrender" was received, it was signed at 6 o'clock in the morning by General of Artillery Weidling, who surrendered.

At the same time, starting from April 30, Karl Dönitz became the actual leader of the Reich, commander-in-chief navy. On May 2, Dönitz published an Appeal to the German People:

German men and women, soldiers of the German Wehrmacht! Our Fuhrer Adolf Hitler is dead. The German people bow in the deepest sorrow and reverence. He recognized in advance the terrible danger of Bolshevism and devoted his life to this struggle. At the end of this struggle and his unwavering direct life path worth his heroic death in the capital German Empire. His life was the only service for Germany. Moreover, his participation in the struggle against the Bolshevik storm tide concerned Europe and the entire cultural world.
The Fuhrer has designated me as his successor. Responsibly, I accept the leadership of the German people in this fateful hour. My first assignment is to save the Germans from annihilation by the advancing Bolshevik enemy. The armed struggle will continue only for this purpose. If and for as long as the achievement of this goal is hindered by the British and Americans, we will have to continue to defend and fight against them as well. The Anglo-Americans in this case continue the war no longer for their own peoples, but only for the spread of Bolshevism in Europe.
What the German people, fighting, did in the battles of this war and endured in their homeland, has no analogues in history. In times of the coming calamity of our people, I will strive to create acceptable living conditions for our brave women, men and children, as far as it is in my power.
For all this I need your help! Give me your trust, because your path is also my path! Maintain order and discipline in the city and the countryside! Let everyone do their duty in their place! Only in this way will we alleviate the suffering that the coming years will bring to each of us, and we can prevent the crash. If we do what is in our power, the Lord God will also not leave us after such great grief and sacrifice.
Grand Admiral Dönitz.
Berlin, 1945.
Fuhrer headquarters
("The Kiel Gazette", Wednesday, May 2, 1945)

Himmler tried to enter the Dönitz government, but was sent away and for a long time, after which he fled to Denmark, where he surrendered and poisoned himself.

On May 4, Admiral of the Fleet Hans-Georg Friedeburg, newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, signed the act of surrender of all German armed forces in Holland, Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein and North-West Germany to Field Marshal B. Montgomery's 21st Army Group.

On May 5, Infantry General F. Schultz, who commanded Army Group G, operating in Bavaria and Western Austria, surrendered to the American General D. Devers.

On May 7, Dönitz's representative, Alfred Jodel, signed the "Act of Surrender of Germany" in Reims, and on May 8, at the request of the USSR, his representative, Field Marshal Keitel, re-signed the "Act of Unconditional Surrender". Both documents came into force at 23:01 CET on May 8, 1945. This is 1.01 May 9, 1945 in Moscow. That is why we celebrate Victory Day on May 9th.

The fate of all the surviving participants in these events turned out differently: Jodel and Keitel were hanged by the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal, Dönitz served 10 years and died a natural death at the age of 89.

With the signing of acts of surrender, the war on Eastern Front ended on paper, but even after that, some parts of the Wehrmacht and the SS continued to resist. I will cover this in more detail in the next post.