(May 21, 1945:"Adolf Hitler's last hours", TIME)
[In Berchtesgaden, last week, Gerhard Herrgesell, stenographer to
Germany's Supreme Headquarters Staff, told TIME Correspondent Percival
Knauth the story of the last recorded conferences which the Supreme
Command held, in a little bomb- proof room deep in the earth under the
Berlin Chancellery:]
 
"I Must Die Here." Said Herrgesell: "The decisive briefing which
determined the fate of all of us began at 3 o'clock on the afternoon
of April 22 and lasted until nearly 8 o'clock that evening. At this
briefing Adolf Hitler declared that he wanted to die in Berlin. He
repeated this 10 or 20 times in various phrases. He would say: `I will
fall here' or `I will fall before the Chancellery' or `I must die here
in Berlin.' He reasoned that the cause was irretrievably lost, in
complete contrast to his previous attitude, which had always been: `We
will fight to the last tip of the German Reich.'"
 
"What reasons motivated his change of heart no one knows. He
expressed the fact that his confidence was shaken. He had lost
confidence in the Wehrmacht quite a while ago, saying that he had not
gotten true reports, that bad news had been withheld from him. This
afternoon he said that he was losing confidence in the Waffen SS, for
the first time. He had always counted on the Waffen SS as elite troops
which would never fail him. Now he pointed out a series of reports
which he declared were false."
 
This, and the failure of the SS troops to hold the Russians north
of Berlin, Herrgesell said, had apparently convinced Hitler that his
elite troops had lost heart. "The Fuhrer always maintained that no
force, however well trained and equipped, could fight if it lost
heart, and now he felt his last reserve was gone."
 
Nerve Control. "During all this time participants in this
conference were changing constantly. Hitler himself was generally
composed. Every time he really began to get angry or excited, he would
quickly get himself under control again. His face was flushed and red,
however, and he paced the floor almost constantly, walking back &
forth, sometimes smacking his fist into his hand. But of all the
participants at all the conferences, the Fuhrer was generally the one
who kept his nerves best under control.
 
"The really decisive conference took place in late afternoon. It
lasted only about 15 minutes. Present were Hitler, Martin Bormann,
successor to Hess as the Fuhrer's personal representative, Field
Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Colonel General Alfred Jodl. All others
were sent away except the two stenographers.
 
"Hitler again expressed his determination to stay in Berlin, and
said he wanted to die there. He thought it would be the greatest
service he could render to the honor of the German nation. In this
conference his desire to stay in the Chancellery was violently
opposed. Keitel spoke to him in really sharp terms, reminding him that
his new attitude was contradictory to his former plans. Bormann
supported Keitel no less strongly."
 
Out of the Mousetrap. "Jodl was a quiet man who spoke little, but
when he spoke, it was always clearly, frankly and to the point. Now he
also came out strongly against Hitler. He declared very firmly that
he, personally, would not stay in Berlin; he thought it was a
mousetrap, and his job was to lead the troops, not stand with a
flintlock in his hand defending the city and in the end dying in the
rubble of its ruins.
 
"When Keitel and Bormann saw that they could not move Hitler to
change his mind, they said that in spite of his orders, they would
also stay. Hitler again ordered them to leave; in ten minutes, he
said, the Russians might be before the Chancellery. Keitel and Bormann
repeated that they would stay. Keitel added: `We would never be able
to confront our wives and children if we left.'"
 
"Hitler then said that in two or three days, in a week at the
very most, Berlin would be finished and the Chancellery taken. He said
that he had considered what would happen after his own death. He gave
an order to the other three men--it was not clear to whom he gave it,
or whether he actually meant it as an order to one of them
specifically. He said: `You must go to southern Germany, form a
government, and Goring will be my successor. Goring wird
verhandeln--Goring will negotiate.'"
 
Vague & Uncertain. "Whether this last statement was an order or a
prophecy, no one knows. He might have said it in a spirit of
resignation, realizing that if Goring were to succeed him, he would
undertake negotiations. He might also have meant it as a direct order
to negotiate after his death. The Fuhrer was by now rather vague and
uncertain, giving no direct orders, apparently preoccupied with the
prospect of his own imminent death.
 
"Jodl interjected that Germany still had some armies capable of
action. He mentioned the Central Army Group under Field Marshal
Schorner which was disposed south of Berlin in the direction of
Dresden, and the Twelfth Army of General Wenck, a newly formed army
which was to stand against the Americans on the Elbe. Perhaps, said
Jodl, these armies could change the course of events around Berlin.
Hitler evidenced little interest. He gave no orders, shrugged his
shoulders and said: `You do whatever you want.'"
 
Search for Death. "As to Hitler's death, I don't believe we will
ever find a witness who can tell us how it happened. But I don't
believe the Fuhrer remained in the cellar. I believe he went out,
possibly several times, looking for death to which he was now so
completely resigned, and that he may have died by artillery fire. One
thing we do know--he was not the last man alive in the Chancellery
bunker, because after his death we still received some radio reports
from there."
 
At this point Correspondent Knauth told Herrgesell of reports he
had heard from U.S. security officers: that Hitler had been killed by
SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Guensche, the Fuhrer's personal adjutant.
 
Said Herrgesell: "Guensche was a giant of a man and very violent.
He would be capable of doing it if he were asked to, or if he thought
the time had come to shoot the Fuhrer and then himself. But I don't
believe it happened that way. I honestly believe that Hitler sought
his death. He was convinced that all was irretrievably lost, that he
could trust nobody any more and that he must die.
 
"During all this time, artillery fire on the Chancellery was
increasing and even deep down in the cellar we could feel concussions
shaking the building. The conference finally broke up in indecision. I
was ordered to leave Berlin with my stenographic reports but my
partner was to remain. He pointed out that in that case the reports
were valueless, because if he stayed no one would be able to
transcribe his records, and without his, mine would be incomplete.
Bormann then ordered us both to leave that evening by plane.
 
"That was the last plane and we were the last people to leave Berlin."



Hitler greets General Goring and other Nazi officers at Compeigne, France after arriving for the French surrender to Germany, June 21, 1940.

The Many Deaths Of Adolf Hitler






(this page is not about cons or pros, it's about facts)
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