Wednesday, May 2, 1945
WITH THE FIRST CANADIAN ARMY, Germany (UP) – A Canadian soldier, hearing of Adolf Hitler’s reported death, said, “It save us a lot of trouble.”
Another Canadian trooper said the event was “too sudden. It deprived us of the joy of hearing that we hanged him.”
Wednesday, May 2, 1945
NEW YORK (UP) – Astrologist Helen Paul read of Adolf Hitler’s reported death, checked over the same horoscope Der Fuehrer used to use, and decided that “it couldn’t be so.”
The charts showed Hitler left Germany last week on a long journey, Mrs. Paul said. The charts didn’t name the destination.
Reds scoff at report of Hitler’s death
MOSCOW, USSR (UP) – Reports of Adolf Hitler’s death were described by the official TASS News Agency today as a Nazi trick.
It appeared the Russians were not likely to accept the German radio announcement without independent supporting evidence.
The TASS dispatch said the Nazis, by disseminating news of Hitler’s death, “obviously hope to enable Hitler to vanish from the scene and assume an illegal underground position.”
Called usual propaganda
It charged that the appeal by Adm. Karl Doenitz was the “usual fabrication of German propaganda calculated to provoke discord among members of the anti-Hitlerite coalition.”
It can be assumed reasonably that until the Russians actually see Hitler’s body, they will not be convinced he is dead.
Other recent events also caused considerable skepticism here over the authenticity of the report. Some sources pointed out that the report was made even more suspicious by the fact that not only Hitler, but Reich Marshal Hermann Goering, Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels and Gestapo Heinrich Himmler allegedly vanished from the scene when Doenitz was elevated to Fuehrer.
Disguise hinted
Only two days ago, in commenting on Goering’s rumored execution, Leonid Leonov wrote in the newspaper Izvestia that plastic surgeons probably were working hard on Hitler, Goebbels and other Nazis to change their physical appearance so they could escape.
The general feeling here was that, regardless of the truth of the report, Hitler’s death would not materially affect the duration of the war. The Russians believe the German Army has been crushed decisively and its days of continued resistance numbered.
If true, it may have little effect
WASHINGTON (UP) – This capital calmly awaited the unfolding of events today to show whether the German radio report of Adolf Hitler’s death is true and how the alleged succession of Adm. Karl Doenitz will affect the supposed surrender negotiations.
Though there has been no official comment as yet, the general opinion is that German disintegration is now so nearly complete that even if the Nazis are telling the truth, it will make little difference at this stage of the war.
Consequently, there is little tendency to rejoice over the news of Hitler’s death, just a general feeling of relief that the world is well rid of him – if he is really dead.
Voices skepticism
The general skepticism felt throughout the Allied world was expressed here by Sen. Edwin C. Johnson (D-Colorado), a member of the Senate Military Affairs Committee.
“I’d suspect the report and would like to see the body,” Mr. Johnson said. “I don’t believe those darn hounds at all. They might pull anything.”
Important questions arise if Doenitz really has taken command of the German nation. One is whether he will attempt to make new contacts with the Allies. Another is the question of how serious he can be about continuing the fight in view of the rapid overrunning of the Reich by Allied Armies.
Where is Himmler?
A third question is what has happened to Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler, who was reported to be conducting surrender negotiations with the Allies.
The possibility was not overlooked that Himmler, if he is in control in Germany, might have staged the whole show in keeping with his purported promise to deliver Hitler’s body as a token of good faith. Doenitz could be a figurehead set up to carry out the actual capitulation.
There were divergent views expressed on Doenitz himself. Military observers believed he might have been chosen because he was the strongest possible leader and that he might continue to lead a last-ditch stand in Denmark, Norway and the German ports.
Strong party man
These observers pointed out that Doenitz was recognized as a strong Nazi Party man. At the same time, they said, he was the only German commander who had not been thoroughly whipped. His U-boats were reported increasingly active after the first of this year.
However, it was felt at the State Department that despite Doenitz’s rise to top rank through his espousal of Nazism he still thinks like old-line German High Command military men. This would make him a possible choice to lead a peace move in keeping with the High Command’s suspected desire to save what it can from the ruins.
One theory advanced at the State Department to explain Doenitz’s getting control rather than Himmler is that Doenitz “just happened to be there” at the right time and decided to take over.
May be hoax
This could portend a scrap between Doenitz and the men behind him with Himmler and his Nazi adherents, presumably including what remains of the Gestapo and other Nazi groups.
The possibility is also seen, however, that the whole affair is a hoax designed to cover Hitler’s whereabouts and plans and confuse the Allies on the question of ending hostilities.
Adm. Doenitz devoted most of his 53 years of life to fanatical slaughter
LONDON, England (UP) – Grand Adm. Karl Doenitz, self-announced successor to Adolf Hitler as Nazi overlord of dying Germany, ended the last war as an inmate of a British insane asylum and emerged in this one with the fanatical credo “Kill! Kill! Kill!”
Doenitz scuttled and abandoned the submarine he commanded during a battle in the Mediterranean in October 1918. Then he surrendered to the British.
Taken to England, he was committed to the Manchester Insane Asylum. Some who knew him said he feigned insanity. But he was later repatriated to Germany as insane.
Veteran at killing
In this war, Doenitz sent his U-boat crews into battle with the cry:
Kill! Kill! Kill! That is your duty to the Fatherland and Der Fuehrer. Have no humanity in your labor. Humanity means weakness.
His record shows no signs of humanity and few of weakness. Most of his 53 years have been devoted to the art of killing. It was he who ordered U-boat crews to strafe the survivors of torpedoed ships as they tried to escape in lifeboats.
Doenitz is a navy man who hates ships, and his whole life has been centered on means of sinking them. His ruthlessness brought him quick favor from Hitler, who raised him from commodore to grand admiral in four years.
Hair close-cropped
Doenitz is a small, mean man with a tight jaw and close-set, shrewd eyes. He has close-cropped hair, a severe mouth, long nose and overhanging eyebrows.
Although he never was known particularly as an ardent Nazi, Doenitz has served their cause well. His last known public statement of prominence was on the occasion of the attempt on Hitler’s life last July. Doenitz condemned the plotters as “a small clique of mad generals” who would be destroyed ruthlessly.
Doenitz rated as one of the great German heroes of this war in the eyes of the German people because of the U-boat campaign against Allied shipping. Even when his submarines weren’t doing very well, the Germans never knew that for the Nazi high command communiqué still told of one success after another for them.
Suffered defeat
The new Nazi master ultimately suffered defeat in his attempts to blockade Britain by cutting the lifelines across the Atlantic. But he came perilously close to success sometimes, and the battle against the U-boats was one of the toughest the Allies ever fought.
Doenitz invented the wolfpack method of U-boat warfare, teaching his submarine skippers to travel in pairs or packs in their attacks against Allied convoys. He developed many new devices for submarines, including the long-range radio communication by which he directed their activities from his headquarters in France.
Doenitz was given charge of the German Navy’s submarine service in 1935, when Germany’s rearmament was still under cover. Under his supervision submarines were built in parts and packed in crates, ready to be assembled when the Versailles Treaty finally was flouted openly.
Succeeded Raeder
He became commander-in-chief of the German Navy in 1943, after a battle with the man he replaced, Grand Adm. Erich Raeder. Oddly enough, Doenitz protested against Gestapo and Storm Trooper activities at U-boat bases.
Doenitz also accused Raeder of falsifying the reports of Allied sinkings, a practice that did not noticeably cease when he took over.
Doenitz was born in the Baltic Province of Mecklenburg in 1892, the son of an engineer. He entered the navy as an ensign when he was 18.
It was Raeder, the man whose job he ultimately stole away, who persuaded Doenitz to remain in the navy after the war. He became a U-boat commander at 35, and reached the rank of captain in 1939. After a brief term as commodore, he became a rear admiral the same year. He was made a grand admiral when he became commander-in-chief.
Lost two sons
Doenitz has lost two sons in this war. The elder, Klaus, was killed when a British destroyer attacked a German motor torpedo boat in May 1944. Peter, the younger, was an officer aboard one of his father’s U-boats. He was killed in March of last year in the Atlantic.
Over Doenitz’s desk at his headquarters in Kiel hung the picture of Adm. Tirpitz, German naval commander in the First World War and like himself a past master at sea war without rules. An inscription on the Tirpitz picture says “die tat is alles” – “the acting is everywhere.”
Just before this war began, a German submarine reportedly was detected in the English harbor of Portland. A British destroyer dropped depth charges, and the U-boat surfaced. The commander apologized for being out of bounds. The admiralty later learned Doenitz was also aboard.
He was hiding in the torpedo room.
U.S. soldiers in London howl with joy until they realize war’s not over yet
LONDON, England (UP) – Morning newspapers today generally “greeted” the reported death of Adolf Hitler and bannered the news in the largest type used since President Roosevelt’s death.
The Daily Express, however, went a step further with a three-column box headed “Obituary.” It said:
The Daily Express rejoices to announce the report of Adolf Hitler’s death. It prints today every line of information regarding the manner of his death.
Deeds well known
It wastes no inch of space on his career. The evil of his deeds are all too well known. It gives no picture of the world’s most hated face. It records that Hitler was born Schickelgruber at Braunau, Austria, April 20, 1889. and his days upon the earth he sought to conquer were too long.
The British people were jubilant over the report, although a number still were skeptical that Hitler had died. When a group of Cockney youths as asked what they thought, one replied: “I don’t believe it.” Another insisted that “He’s halfway to Stockholm by now;” while a third said “It’s a pity a British housewife couldn’t have given it to him – that would have been a real show.”
Howl with joy
American soldiers howled with joy when the report was announced at the Rainbow Corner Red Cross Club. Cpl. Charles Cummings of Omaha, Nebraska, was the first to hear the news.
He said:
I grabbed the mike and shouted: “Hitler’s kicked the bucket. Adm. Donuts has taken over.”
I don’t think they heard that last part. They really howled. In about 15 minutes they subsided – I guess they realized the war wasn’t over yet and they wouldn’t be catching no boats tomorrow.
ROME, Italy (UP) – The German announcement of Adolf Hitler’s death caused remarkably little excitement in Italy, once a co-partner in the Axis.
Newspapers were not printing because of the May Day holiday and publishers told the United Press that “Hitler’s death is not worth an extra or publication on an off-day.”
“We are waiting for the German surrender, nothing else,” one publisher said.
U.S. diplomatic quarters were skeptical of the report.
Egoist Fuehrer raised double-cross art to its highest pitch of all history
By S. Burton Heath
In 20 years, to the exact day, Adolf Hitler talked and double-crossed his way from the Austro-Hungarian lent of a Bowery bum to dictator over one of the world’s great nations.
On August 2, 1914, when World War I started, Hitler was existing in the squalor and degradation to which laziness, egotism and the complete lack of any constructive talent had brought him.
On August 2, 1934, he declared himself complete dictator of the Reich, and made good his presumption.
Hitler has boasted that history will remember him long after it has forgotten all his predecessors. Probably that is true.
It will recall him as an egotist who raised the double-cross to an art which nobody else in the world’s history ever achieved.
Alois Hitler, illegitimately born Schickelgruber, but legitimized by one George Hiedler, described his son, Adolf, as “good for nothing.” The description was apt from the day of his birth, April 20, 1889, to the outbreak of the First World War.
Adolf Hitler lived in Vienna, in a sort of flophouse, from 1907 to 1913. His fellow roomers gave him crusts of bread and bits of horse sausage, which he supplemented at a free soup kitchen.
In 1913, he went to Munich, where he continued his low life until the Germans marched on France.
His war service was ordinary. He won the Iron Cross twice, was wounded twice and gassed once.
He got into politics by double-crossing the German Army. In July 1919, he was assigned by the Propaganda and Espionage Division, which used him as a snooper, to observe a “meeting” of the German Workers Party, consisting of six men devoted to pan-Germanism and certain quasi-socialistic dogma. He joined them, on the spot, and thereafter combined politics with his “military” duties.
Hitler’s platform of pan-Germanism, anti-Versailles, anti-Semitism appealed to enough persons to convince him that politics was his forte.
Then came the foundation for another piece of double-crossing. A pervert named Ernest Roehm had raised a large secret army. Hitler was made public spokesman. When the Allies forced that army underground, Hitler adopted it as the Gymnastics and Sports Division of the Nazi Party.
An ex-military flier named Hermann Goering lent Hitler money and joined the party. A year later, he was put in command of Roehm’s army, the brown-shirted SA.
Beer hall putsch put down
Nor was that all that Roehm contributed to Hitler’s rise. In 1923, the Nazis and other strongarm groups held a Congress of some 100,000 persons in Nuremberg and formed a German Combat Union. Roehm maneuvered so that within a month Hitler, who had wangled dictatorship over the numerically small Nazi Party because political head of the whole combat union.
On May Day, 1923, Hitler’s SA men stole weapons from the Reichswehr barracks, undeterred because Roehm had arranged that the guards would not resist. And in November, 600 SA men kidnapped the entire government of Bavaria in the celebrated beer hall putsch.
Here, again, double-crossing was the order of the occasion. Wilhelm Frick had ordered his police to close their eyes to Hitler’s gangster’s activities. The ample guard at the beer hall did nothing, though it outnumbered the SA contingent. It was only Gen. von Seekt’s orders to the Reichswehr, after the conspirators thought they had won, that put an end to the coup and sent Hitler to prison.
Throughout this turbulent period, Gen. Ludendorff was used as a tool by the rising Austrian gang chief. Hitler used him on the theory that, when the time came for violence, the Army never would fire on its hero.
From 1923 to 1933 was a period of growth in Hitler’s fortunes and those of his party. Both were supported by contributions from big industrialists who approved Hitler’s opposition to the Treaty of Versailles, his desire to gather all Germans of the world into a greater Germany, his anti-Communism.
And finally, there was the military caste. The Junkers thought they were using Hitler to promote their own ends and woke up, much too late, to discover that Hitler had done the using.
Then, in 1932, the conservative von Papen felt obliged to offer him a cabinet seat, which he left Munich to take, only to be brought back by Goering and Goebbels.
The day after he became chancellor. Hitler dissolved the Reichstag and set March 5 for new elections. On February 27, the Reichstag building burned. It is commonly believed that the fire was set by the Nazis. but the arson was blamed on Communists and was used by Hitler to get from old man Hindenburg a decree suspending all the basic freedoms.
Storm troopers arrested political opponents. Hitler swept the elections. On March 23, a rubber-stamp Reichstag made Hitler dictator over Germany.
In June 1934, he persuaded Roehm to give the SA a month’s furlough, after which he promised to incorporate the SA into the Reichswehr as soon as sick President Hindenburg should die.
Roehm killed in blood purge
Then Hitler and Goebbels, with a picked SS group, killed Roehm and most of his closest friends while Goering, back in Berlin, purged other enemies and settled a few personal grudges with the pistol and the headsman’s help.
By 1938, Hitler felt strong enough to violate the Locarno Pact by marching into the demilitarized Rhineland. Commanding officers carried sealed orders which, if the French had objected with show of force, would have directed the Nazis to match back home again. But the French did nothing.
Hitler and Mussolini created the Rome-Berlin Axis on January 13, 1937.
Japan joined in November.
German troops marched into Austria in March – and that nation was annexed to the Reich.
Neither France nor England liked the way Hitler was stepping out. But he got Chamberlain and Daladier together with Mussolini and himself at Munich, and on September 30, the Anglo-French negotiators signed a pact authorizing Hitler to take the Sudetenland.
In each of these steps for new territory, Hitler double-crossed the nation concerned, the Anglo-French allies and the world at large. In each he used the fifth-column technique.
Hitler had signed a 10-year non-aggression pact with Poland in 1934, and the sanctity and importance of this he had reaffirmed publicly January 30, 1939.
On August 25, 1939, he signed a non-aggression pact with Stalin of Russia. Two days later, Poland concluded a defensive alliance with Great Britain, one week thereafter, German planes began bombing Polish cities and German troops crossed the frontier.
Everything went according to plan. Russia stepped in the back door September 17. Hitler and Stalin divided Poland between them the next day, and by September 29, Poland as a nation no longer existed.
But Hitler had driven England and France too far. They had declared war. Too weak really to help Poland, they stalled along behind the Maginot Line.
In April, he took over Denmark and Norway – again with fifth-column assistance. In May, he invaded Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.
On June 14, Paris fell. On June 17, Petain asked for an armistice for France, and on June 25, hostilities ceased. The British evacuated their men from Dunkirk and left their armament.
Mussolini, who came into the war just as France was ready to capitulate, polished off much of North Africa for the Axis, but came to grief when he tried to sneak-attack little Greece near the end of 1940.
In April 1941, Hitler forces knocked off Yugoslavia, drove the British from Greece and subjugated that brave little nation, took Crete from the air in a completely novel type of campaign, and regained in North Africa much of what the Italians had lost to the British.
Then Hitler made a second great mistake. (The first, by general consensus, was putting off too long the invasion of Great Britain.) He pulled another double-cross – this time on Stalin.
At 3 a.m. of June 22, German troops crossed the dividing line in Poland and attacked Russia.
By December 14, Moscow had been under siege for two months, and only optimists even hoped that the Reds could survive. On December 15, the German invaders began to withdraw.
From then on, Hitler’s star began to fade.
Technically the United States did not enter the war until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. Actually, her entire weight except for actual shooting was on the side of the Allies at least from September 3, 1940, when President Roosevelt and Premier Churchill agreed that, in return for leases on certain defensive bases, this country should turn 50 overage destroyers over to the British for use against submarines.
On March 11, 1941, Mr. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill.
He escapes bomb plot
Then, in December, the United States entered the war.
Hitler began fading even faster from official gatherings as his armies began withdrawing from the stolen reaches of his “European Fortress.”
A bomb planted by German officers on July 20, 1944, hastened his withdrawal from the spotlight. This attempt on Hitler’s life left him bruised and burned, killed one of his aides and wounded 12 others.
Wrathfully, Hitler converted the plot into a purge of the German Army. Eight Junker officers were hanged August 8, 1944.
Then, on January 1, 1945, in a New Year’s message, he promised the German nation new weapons, new troops and a bright future. None materialized.
On February 16, Hitler decreed martial law in German areas threatened by advancing Allied armies. He threatened Germans who shirked their duty with court martial and death.
On March 9, when U.S. troops were expanding their Remagen bridgehead on Germany’s side of the Rhine, Hitler was reported to have visited the Oder River front facing the Russians.
Two days later, Hitler spoke by proxy to his people in observance of “Heroes Day” ceremonies at the War Memorial in Berlin.
On March 16, official British quarters confirmed rumors that an emissary of the German government had made peace overtures in Stockholm.
The gist of these feelers was that Hitler would quit if the Allies would recognize him as Germany’s post-war ruler.
Early in April, Hitler was reported again in complete command of the German armies.
Unsubstantiated reports on April 11 quoted some circles as saying that Hitler was dying, that Nazi Party leaders were split and that, Heinrich Himmler had succeeded Hitler as Germany’s dictator.
Yesterday came the final report: Hitler died in Berlin even as it was being cleared of all German troops by triumphant Russian invading forces.
The Nazi radio says Hitler is dead.
Strong evidence that this is true is provided by Gen. Eisenhower’s statement today telling of a conference between the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte and two German representatives, Heinrich Himmler and Gen. Schellenberg, on April 24.
The two Germans told the Swedish Red Cross head at that time that Hitler had had a brain hemorrhage and might not live 48 hours.
We hope these reports are accurate. But it would not be difficult for the Nazis to fake the story. Hitler had several doubles good enough to deceive the Germans in public appearances. The Nazis might make a corpse of one of these.
According to Adm. Doenitz’s radio announcement, on April 30 the Fuehrer appointed him successor and on May 1 was killed: “Adolf Hitler this afternoon at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting till his last breath against Bolshevism, fell for Germany.”
That, of course, is precisely what the Nazi propaganda line would be in any event. If true, it would be the perfect cap for the Hitler myth, particularly to the German mind. If untrue, it would serve the same purpose – and also pave the way for a fadeout, escape, and future underground operation as leader or front for the real one.
There can be no doubt that the Nazis plan an underground movement. The Allies already have ample evidence that it is in operation even now. Though the Allies are forewarned and forearmed against this strategy, it will be exceedingly difficult to combat.
Certainly some, and probably many, of the “political prisoners” and alleged victims of Nazi terror now being rescued from concentration camps by the Allies, are in fact Nazi plants. Some will get away with it, and live to do their dirty work again when they think the time is ripe.
Whether or not Hitler would be an asset to such a movement is a question. But we are inclined to believe that “a martyr who died a hero’s death” would be worth much more to them than a defeated leader, who had led Germany to its doom – especially if he were a mental and physical wreck.
The Allies will have to be very careful when it comes to checking on Hitler’s death. This is no case for wishful thinking.
Seeing is believing, so report is doubted
Wednesday, May 2, 1945
The report of Hitler’s death greeted Pittsburghers as they left their jobs last evening and they stampeded newsstands to buy “extras” telling of the long-awaited event.
But they took the report with a grain of salt.
“Oh, that’s his double!” said a woman as she peered at the big black headlines.
“That’s just German propaganda!” exclaimed another homeward-bound worker.
Bet he’s a suicide
“Seeing is believing – I’d have to see him dead!” said still another.
“I wonder if it’s true.” “Oh, that’s his stand-in.” “I’ll bet he committed suicide.” And so on.
Even among those who apparently believed the report, there wasn’t the elation that might have been evident at an earlier date. “That’s good,” said one “Extra” purchaser, “but it came too late.”
A soldier laughed. “Damn! I had designs on him myself.”
Good thing he did
A pretty office worker, reading the headlines, remarked: “So he died. That’s one good thing he did.”
An elderly man, glancing at a newsstand, opened his mouth in astonishment and, without a word, bought a paper.
Fervent eulogy
Some of the younger and less inhibited citizens let out whoops ay they heard the news, but their elders, by and large. just tucked their papers under their arms and went on home.
The most fervent eulogy was muttered by a husky individual who stood with his hands in his pockets, considering the event.
“The son of a bitch,” he said, and turned away.
Neues Österreich (May 3, 1945)
Gestern, den 2. Mai, haben die Truppen des Marschalls Konjew und des Marschalls Shukow das Zentrum des deutschen Imperialismus in Europa, den Herd der deutschen Aggression, die Reichshauptstadt-Berlin erobert.
Die Garnison der Hauptstadt hat um 15 Uhr kapituliert und sich gefangengegeben.
Bis 21 Uhr betrug die Zahl der Soldaten und Offiziere, die hier die Waffen streckten, 70.000.
Nun ist auch hinter dieses Kapitel der Schlusspunkt gesetzt: Berlin ist gefallen, die Reste der deutschen Verteidigungstruppen haben kapituliert und die Trümmer der durch viele Bombenangriffe und die Sturmangriffe der Roten Armee besiegten Stadt dem Sieger übergeben. Wenn irgendeine Stadt eines Reiches, so war diese Stadt das Zentrum des Landes, dem sie zugehört, nicht bloß Hauptstadt des Reiches in geopolitischer Hinsicht, sondern der Kopf zugleich des Preußentums, der Kopf des Hitlerismus, des Nazitums.
Mag sein, dass München mit Recht den Titel der Stadt der Bewegung trug – Berlin war doch mehr. Es war, entsprechend der ganzen Technik des nationalsozialistischen Partei- und Staatsaufbaues die Zentrale, der Mittelpunkt für alles. Hier liefen die Fäden zusammen, hier betätigte sich der Mephistogeist eines Goebbels mit seiner so teuflischen, intriganten und doch für die dumme Masse der ihm Glaubenden so wirksamen Propaganda, nach Berlin musste alles fahren, das irgendetwas von irgendeiner Behörde erreichen wollte. Mit berechnender Systematik war Berlin seit der Wilhelminischen Ära großgepäppelt worden, der Hitlerismus, oder vielleicht richtiger, die Strategie Goebbels machten dann Berlin zu dem, was es in den letzten Jahren war: zu dem künstlich aufgeplusterten Monstrum, dem alles Liebe, alle Grazie fehlte.
Berlin gefallen… Mit welchem Theateraufwand das der deutsche Sender wohl Propaganda des Herrn Ministers Goebbels die Eroberung durch deutsche Truppen prophezeit hatte. Zuerst wars London gewesen. „Denn wir fahren nun nach Engelland.“ Die Fahrten nach London waren Todesfahrten und das Englandlied verstummte. Dann wurde Leningrad als die Stadt genannt, die unmittelbar vor ihrem Fall stehe. Die deutschen Truppen hatten sich ja auch lange genug um diese Großstadt bemüht. Mit Moskau wars dann auch nicht anders, obwohl der deutsche Rundfunk – damals hieß er noch Reichssender – oft genug die bevorstehende Eroberung von Moskau angesagt hatte. Aber den Höhepunkt auf diesem Gebiet bildet wohl Stalingrad. Was hätten Hitler und Goebbels darum gegeben, wenn sie ihre Versprechungen um Stalingrad hätten einlösen können!
Nicht London, nicht Leningrad, sondern Berlin. „Das Schicksal wird dem den Sieg schenken, auf dessen Seite das Recht ist.“ Oft genug hatte Deutschlands Zerstörer, Adolf Hitler, diesen Satz ausgesprochen – eine Blasphemie aus solchem Verbrechermunde. Aber das Schicksal hat ihn beim Wort genommen, es musste das tun. Nicht das Überwiegen irgendeines Machtpotentials gab und gibt bei solchen Auseinandersetzungen den Ausschlag. Wäre das der Fall gewesen, so hätten Hitler und die anderen seiner Bande ja in den Jahren zwischen 1939 und 1941 lange genug Gelegenheit gehabt, ihre Regimenter zum Siege, zum Endsiege zu führen.
Aber Blitze gehen vorüber, und Blitzsiege sind keine Dauerware. Und so hastete Hitler von Niederlage zu Niederlage, und nun liegt Berlin in Trümmern und auch diese wurden dem Sieger übergeben. An dieser Stadt, die so befestigt war wie sicher keine andere Hauptstadt, deren Festungsgürtel so tief reichte, so tief gegliedert war und die doch nicht imstande war, das Schicksal Berlins auch nur zu verzögern, an dieser Kapitulation ist die alte, die uralte Erkenntnis wieder wahrzunehmen, dass alle Machtmittel nichts sind, wenn nicht die moralische Kraft eines Volkes, das sittliche Gewissen, das gerechte Wollen sich ihrer bedient. Nicht die Philosophen oder Moraltheologen, die großen Strategen selbst haben diese Erkenntnis längst akzeptiert; man braucht nur den großen Clausewitz zu lesen, dessen Worte ja Dr. Goebbels so gerne zu zitieren pflegte.
Als die Stadt Lyon sich gegen die Große Revolution von 1789 wendete, stellte jemand den Antrag, Lyon zu zerstören und dort eine Säule mit der Inschrift anzubringen: „Lyon hat sich gegen die Freiheit versündigt, Lyon ist nicht mehr.“ Aus Berlin haben die Nationalsozialisten eine Stadt der Lüge, eine Stadt der Entartung gemacht. Nun ist ihr Werk vollendet.
Die rasende Verbrecherbande, an deren Spitze Hitler steht, hat weite Teile Europas in eine Wüstenei, Deutschland in einen riesigen Scherbenberg, in eine grausige Schädelstätte verwandelt. Es ist ein Zusammenbruch von beispiellosen Ausmaßen, eine Hölle, vor der das Herz erstarrt, das Wort verstummt. Aufgestiegen aus den Sümpfen, aus der Unterwelt einer brüchig gewordenen Gesellschaft, hat die „verschworene Gemeinschaft“ verlumpter Agitatoren und krimineller Abenteurer sich eine furchtbare Macht ergaunert – mit Hilfe kriegslüsterner Junker und beutegieriger Industriemagnaten, die für den schändlichsten Raubkrieg aller Zeiten ein Regime der Schande, der Lüge und des Mordes benötigten. Ein Schwindler aus Braunau, ein verkrachter Literat und ein heimtückischer Provokateur konnten nur darum eine Welt in Brand stecken, weil die industriellen und junkerlichen Machthaber Deutschlands ihnen den gesamten Machtapparat auslieferten, weil auch ein lausiger Tunichtgut, an den Schalthebel eines ungeheuren Kraftwerkes gestellt, unermesslichen Schaden anrichten kann. Die technischen und gesellschaftlichen Energien eines großen Staates des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts in den unkontrollierten Händen von ein paar apokalyptischen Spitzbuben – das hat die gigantische Katastrophe herbeigeführt.
Und diese Katastrophe, dieses von brennenden Städten durchloderte, vom Millionenschrei der Verzweiflung durchgellte, von Leichendunst durchqualmte Chaos war für die blutbesudelten Spitzbuben nur der Hintergrund für eine Dreigroschenoper mit Wagnermusik. Als schmutzige Possenreißer haben sie ihre Laufbahn begonnen, als schmutzige Possenreißer treten sie nun von der Bühne ihrer zerstörenden Tätigkeit. Es war ein Totentanz der Propaganda, der über den Trümmerhaufen Deutschland hinweglärmte. Unter dem Aufgebot aller verfügbaren Trommelwirbeln, Trauermärsche, Walkürenritt und Götterdämmerungsmotive teilte der deutsche Rundfunk mit, Adolf Hitler sei im Kampfe gefallen und Admiral Dönitz habe die Führung übernommen. Vorher hatte der Reichshenker Himmler mit einem dummen Gaunertrick vergeblich versucht, England und Amerika gegen die Sowjetunion auszuspielen und mit den Methoden eines provinziellen Rosstäuschers die verbündeten Großmächte zu trennen. Nach dem vollkommenen Misserfolg dieses albernen Manövers verschwand Hitler unbemerkt von der Bildfläche. Der Fluchtplan war längst bis ins Detail ausgearbeitet, die Flugzeuge waren startbereit, die Führer schwangen sich auf und davon. Er werde dem deutschen Volk keine Träne nachweinen, hat Hitler schon vor einem halben Jahr verkündet, das Volk hatte seine Schuldigkeit getan, es hatte sein Blut, seine Lebenskraft für eine Schimäre von „Weltherrschaft“ und Größenwahn vergeudet; für Geopferte hatte Hitler kein Interesse mehr. Der Auftakt vom 9. November 1923 wurde zur schauerlichen Erfüllung gesteigert: auch damals hatte sich Hitler, als seine Gefolgschaft an den Stufen der Feldherrnhalle sterbend zusammenbrach, schleunigst in ein Auto geschwungen, um Hals über Kopf davonzubrausen und später in einer komfortablen Festungshaft einen Sommerurlaub zu verbringen. Diesmal vollzog sich dasselbe in phantastischer Inszenierung: die Karikatur einer Wagneroper im Scheinwerferlicht des verbrennenden Deutschen Reiches, mit Trommelwirbeln von Millionen Gerippen auf der zerfetzten, blutdampfenden Erde, die einst für das deutsche Volk eine Heimat war und jetzt eine Hölle ist.
Der letzte Propagandatrick, das Märchen von Hitlers „Heldentod,“ soll dazu dienen, die letzten verendenden deutschen Divisionen noch einmal zu „bedingungslosem Einsatz“ aufzustacheln, noch einmal eine sich selbstzerfleischende Nation „zum Sterben zu berauschen“ und den Boden für eine Fortsetzung der verbrecherischen Tätigkeit auch nach der totalen Niederlage vorzubereiten, den Boden für die künftige Entfesselung eines dritten deutschen Wahnsinnskrieges. Es soll den gerissenen Propagandisten nicht gelingen, durch ihre letzte und frechste Lüge den Blick der Schlachtopfer zu vernebeln. Es soll ihnen nicht gelingen, durch eine grelle „nordische List“ der strafenden Gerechtigkeit zu entrinnen. Es soll ihnen nicht gelingen, den Fluch der Menschheit und auch den Fluch des missbrauchten, von Schlachtbank zu Schlachtbank geschleiften deutschen Volkes auszulöschen.
Unter den Leichen von Berlin hat niemand den verschollenen Hitler gefunden. Die Richter werden ihn finden – und möge er sich im letzten Winkel der Welt verstecken.
Soviet Information Bureau (May 3, 1945)
В течение 3 мая юго-западнее города и порта ПИЛЛАУ войска 3-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО фронта продолжали вести бои по очищению от противника косы ФРИШ НЕРУНГ и заняли населённые пункты КАЛЬБЕРГ ЛИП, КАЙЗЕРХОФ.
Войска 2-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО фронта, развивая наступление, овладели городами БАРТ, БАД ДОБЕРАН, НОЙБУКОВ, ВАРИН, ВИТТЕНБЕРГЕ и 3 мая на линии ВИСМАР-ВИТТЕНБЕРГЕ соединились с союзными нам английскими войсками. Войска фронта заняли также крупные населённые пункты КРЕПЕЛИН, НОЙ КЛОСТЕ, БЮТЦОВ, ГЮСТРОВ, ГОЛЬДБЕРГ, КАРОВ, МЕЙЕНБУРГ, ПУТЛИТЦ, ПРИТЦВАЛЬК и ПЕРЛЕБЕРГ. В боях за 2 мая войска Фронта взяли в плен 10.600 немецких солдат и офицеров и захватили 328 самолётов. В числе пленных командующий 5 Штеттинским округом по делам трудовой повинности генерал-майор Мато.
Северо-западнее Берлина войска 1-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО фронта, продолжая наступление, с боями заняли крупные населённые пункты ВИЛЬСНАК, ГЛЕВЕН, ШТЮДЕНИТЦ, НИТЦОВ, ВЕЛЬГАСТ, ШТРОДЕНЕ, РИНОВ, ШПАТЦ; ХОЗН-НАУЕН и, выйдя ка реку ЭЛЬБА юго-восточнее города ВИТТЕНБЕРГЕ, соединились с союзными нам американскими войсками.
2 мая после 21 часа в БЕРЛИНЕ войска фронта дополнительно взяли в плен более 20.000 немецких солдат и офицеров; кроме того, взято в госпиталях 10.700 раненых немецких солдат. Всего в БЕРЛИНЕ 2 мая войсками фронта взято в плен 100.700 немецких солдат и офицеров. В числе пленных командир воздушной правительственной эскадры генерал-лейтенант Баур, начальник медицинской службы полиции Берлина генерал-майор медицинской службы Врубель, генерал-лейтенант полиции Раттенхубер, начальник канцелярии Геббельса Сайлер.
За 2 мая войска 1-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта в районе БЕРЛИНА взяли в плен более 34.000 немецких солдат и офицеров и захватили 37 танков и свыше 140 полевых орудий. В числе пленных командир 236 немецкой пехотной дивизии генерал-майор Робен.
Всего, таким образом, в районе БЕРЛИНА 2 мая взято в плен более 134.000 немецких солдат и офицеров, из коих 100.000 взято войсками 1-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО Фронта и 34.000 войсками 1-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта.
Войска 4-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта, продолжая наступление, 3 мая овладели городом ЦЕШИН, важным узлом дорог и сильным опорным пунктом обороны немцев, а также заняли крупные населённые пункты ВАЛЬТЕРСДОРФ, БУТОВИЦЕ, ФРИДЭК, КАРВИННА, ПОГВИЗДУВ, ГОЛЕШУВ, ЛЕШНА, МАКОВ. В боях за 2 мая войска фронта взяли в плен более 1.400 немецких солдат и офицеров.
Войска 2-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта, продолжая наступление восточнее города БРНО, с боями заняли крупные населённые пункты ЛАЧНОВ, ЗЛИН, ОСТРОКОВИЦЕ, ШЕЛЕШОВИЦЕ, РАТАЕ, КРЖЕНОВИЦЕ. За 2 мая войска фронта взяли в плен более 1.000 немецких солдат и офицеров, Партизанами Чехословакии взят в плен и передан нашим войскам командир 16 немецкой танковой дивизии генерал-майор Мюллер.
На других участках фронта – существенных изменений не было.
За 2 мая на всех фронтах подбито и уничтожено 53 немецких танка и самоходных орудия.
The Pittsburgh Press (May 3, 1945)
Fuehrer killed self, Goebbels’ aide says
LONDON, England (UP) – Victorious Red Army troops searched the rubble of captured Berlin today for the bodies of Adolf Hitler and his crippled henchman, Paul Joseph Goebbels.
On the success of their hunt hinged the solution to the greatest mystery of the war – whether Hitler and Goebbels were actually dead, and if so, whether they committed suicide, were killed by Soviet shells or died of natural causes.
The Russians may also find among the dead and 70,000 prisoners in Berlin such personages as Reich Marshal Hermann Goering, Joachim von Ribbentrop, ousted only yesterday as German Foreign Minister, and other leading Nazis.
Reports suicides
Hans Fritzsche, Goebbels’ deputy propaganda chief, told Red Army troops who captured him that Hitler, Goebbels and Gen. Krebs, newly-appointed chief of the German Army General Staff, had killed themselves in tine final hours of the battle of Berlin.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and a British Foreign Office spokesman said all evidence at hand indicated that Hitler had died of a brain hemorrhage.
The German radio version of Hitler’s death was that he “fell” a hero while directing the defense of Berlin.
Moscow remained unconvinced that Hitler was actually dead and suggested that he may have gone underground with other key Nazi Party leaders to plot an eventual return to power.
Cremation reported
A high officer of the German Foreign Office captured on the U.S. First Army front said he believed Hitler had died of a brain hemorrhage and his body had been taken to Berlin for propaganda purposes.
The officer said the Nazis had probably cremated Hitler’s body and scattered the ashes to prevent the remains from falling into Allied hands.
Fritzsche’s report that Goebbels had also committed suicide was the first word from a German source on the whereabouts of the propaganda minister in more than a week.
Goebbels had announced at that time that as gauleiter of Berlin he and his family would remain in the city.
Issues order of day
Russian troops centered their search for the bodies of Hitler, Goebbels and other high Nazis in the area around the Reich Chancellery and the Tiergarten, beneath both of which Hitler was rumored to have maintained underground headquarters.
Premier Marshal Stalin announced the capture of Berlin last night in a triumphant order of the day. He called the ruined capital “the center of German imperialism and the nest of German aggression.”
Resistance ended when Gen. Weidling, commander, and the 70,000 haggard survivors of the original garrison of perhaps 500,000 troops surrendered to Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov’s First White Russian and Marshal Ivan S. Konev’s First Ukrainian Armies.
City in ruins
Eight other generals were taken in the final mop-up, which was concluded three years, 10 months and 10 days after German armies attacked the Soviet Union.
The Germans made their final stand in the Tiergarten, around the Alexanderplatz and in the Wilhelmstrasse, the latter the site of Hitler’s Reich Chancellery.
Front dispatches to Soviet newspapers said most of Berlin was in ruins. Large sections previously had been blasted into rubble by Allied bombs, and Russian and German guns and mortars added to the wreckage.
DUBLIN, Ireland (UP) – Prime Minister Eamon de Valera of neutral Eire expressed condolences for the death of Adolf Hitler in a personal call at the German Embassy yesterday.
He was accompanied by Joseph Walsh, secretary of the Department of External Affairs, and was received by German Minister Dr. E. Hemphill.
LISBON, Portugal (UP) – An official two-day period of mourning for Adolf Hitler began in Portugal today.
The government decreed the mourning period yesterday and ordered all flags on official buildings to be lowered to half-mast.
Flags also flew at half-mast from the Spanish Embassy and Jap Legation buildings.
Why though? What does portugal have do Failed Austrain Painter?
Why though? Britain is a stone throw away. Why take a piss right at their doorstep?
Soviet Information Bureau (May 4, 1945)
Войска 2-го БЕЛОРУССНОГО фронта, форсировав пролив ДИВЕНОВ севернее ШТЕТТИНА, овладели городом ВОЛЛИН и заняли населённые пункты ЛЮСКОВ, КЕРТЕНТИН, ЯРМБОВ, КОДРАМ, РЕБЕРГ, ГРОСС и КЛАЙН МОКРАТЦ, ЗОЛЬДЕМИН. Севернее города ВИТТЕНБЕРГЕ войска фронта, продолжая наступление, заняли города ШТЕРНБЕРГ, ЛЮБЦ, ПАРХИМ, ГРАБОВ и крупные населённые пункты ДАБЕЛЬ, ДЕМЕН, ГОЛЬДЕНБОВ, РАДУН, ШПОРНИТЦ, БЛИВЕНСТОРФ, ЦИРЦОВ, ЛЕНЦЕН.
За 3 мая войска фронта взяли в плен более 22.000 немецких солдат и офицеров и захватили на аэродромах 240 самолётов противника.
Войска 1-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО фронта, наступая южнее города БРАНДЕНБУРГ, с боями заняли города БЕЛЬЦИГ, ВИЗЕНБУРГ, НИМЕГК, КОСВИГ и крупные населённые пункты ГЕТТИН, КРАНЕ, ГОЛЬЦОВ, ГРЕБЕН, ГЕРЦКЕ, РЕЕТЦ. В боях за 3 мая войска фронта взяли в плен 23.700 немецких солдат и офицеров и захватили на аэродромах 57 самолётов противника. По дополнительным данным, в БЕРЛИНЕ взяты в плен полицей-президент города Берлина генерал-лейтенант полиции ГЕРУМ, начальник берлинской полиции генерал-майор полиции ХАЙНБУРГ, начальник охраны имперской канцелярии бригаде фюрер СС МОНКЕ, начальник сан службы берлинского гарнизона генерал-майор медицинской службы ШРЕЙБЕР, руководитель Красного Креста города БЕРЛИН и провинции Бранденбург генерал-лейтенант медицинской службы БРЕНЕНФЕЛЬД, командир 18 мотодивизии генерал-майор РАУХ.
Войска 4-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта, продолжая наступление в полосе Западных Карпат, с боями заняли город ВИГШТАДТЛЬ (ВИТКОВ) и крупные населённые пункты ПУСТЕЙОВ, МОШНОВ, БРУШПЕРК, ДОМАСЛАВИЦЕ, ОСТРАВИЦЕ, ГОРНАЯ БЕЧВА, ВЕЛИКИЕ КАРЛОВИЦЕ, ГОВЕЗИ. В боях за 3 мая войска фронта взяли в плен более 1.000 немецких солдат и офицеров.
Войсками 2-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта восточнее города БРНО с боями заняты крупные населённые пункты ЛУЖНА, ПОЗДЕХОВ, ЯСЕННА, ВИЗОВИЦЕ, СЛУШОВИЦЕ, ЛУЖКОВИЦЕ, КВАСИЦЕ, ТЕШНОВИЦЕ, ВАЖАНЫ, ЗЛОБИЦЕ, КРЖЕНОВИЦЕ.
На других участках фронта существенных изменений не произошло.
За 3 мая на всех фронтах подбито и уничтожено 50 немецких танков и самоходных орудий.
Reading Eagle (May 4, 1945)
By Dorothy Thompson
JERUSALEM – Perhaps we will never know how Hitler died or when he really died, but it is clear just what a myth this is intended to create around his name.
With the Red flag flying over the Reichstag and American and British troops unfortunately not in Berlin, with the Soviets taking unilateral action in Poland and Austria, with France registering an unprecedented Communist vote in municipal elections, it is the intention of German leaders to dramatize in Hitler’s death the role of Germany as a last bulwark against radical Bolshevism sweeping over all Europe.
This undoubtedly is also the reason for launching the story that Himmler was willing to surrender to the British and Americans. While not confirmed, it bolsters the myth that Germany fought for Western civilization against military Bolshevism. This, therefore, will recall clearly how Hitler set about saving Europe from Bolshevism.
He, first, in his own country, destroyed all historic and traditional institutions of Western civilization, representative government, impartial courts, orderly processes and based regime on a naked force. He then made a pact with the Soviet Union, encouraged the Soviet entrance into Finland and partitioned Poland with the Soviets along the Molotov-Ribbentrop line. He then attacked the west, destroyed entire defense systems and broke down again Western civilization’s most cherished institutions, creating everywhere moral and political chaos.
Then, because he feared the Soviet Union on the rear and thought he could play on British conservatism, he attacked the Soviet Union.
Finally, by insisting that Germany fight on for months after the war was definitely lost, he brought about the utter ruin of Germany herself, leaving the country a wilderness of rubble without government, communications or food.
He who in death is proclaimed the protector of Europe is the destroyer of Europe. He and his spokesman, Goebbels, repeatedly said that either Nazism would conquer or would pull civilization down with it into chaos. That promise and that promise alone Hitler kept, but the evil that he did lives after him. That is why, here in their national home, among his worst victims, the Jews, there is no wild rejoicing.
Jewry’s worst enemy has been defeated and his country literally brought to dust, but the seeds of hatred he sowed throughout the world flourish still. Reports received here from all parts of Europe, including France and Yugoslavia, reveal great hostility over returning to European Jews property expropriated from them and resold to non-Jews under the Nazi regime.
The feeling of democracy and Sovietism based on freedom proved weak, inefficient and widespread. Though the root of Nazism is unabridged in nationalism which elevates a nation into a god, there is no sign that such nationalism is not extirpated with Hitler’s fall. Our civilization therefore confronts in victory an undiminished crisis.
The Pittsburgh Press (May 4, 1945)
Berliners believe he shot himself
LONDON, England (UP) – Radio Moscow said today that inhabitants of Berlin believe Adolf Hitler shot himself and Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels swallowed poison.
The report came as Red Army troops searched the ruins of Central Berlin for the third straight day for the bodies of Hitler, Goebbels and others of the Nazi hierarchy.
Some Nazi bigwigs may also be found among German prisoners taken in Berlin, at last count more than 134,000. One neutral report last week said Hitler and other Nazis were fighting as army privates in an attempt to escape detection when surrender came.
Tokyo pipes up
Not until Hitler’s body has been found can the Allies be certain that he is dead. The suicide version was first advanced for both Hitler and Goebbels by Hans Fritzsche, Goebbels’ deputy propaganda chief, who was captured by the Russians.
Tokyo Radio sought to bolster the illusion that Hitler died a hero by quoting a Domei dispatch which it said had been sent from Hamburg just before that city fell to the British.
The broadcast said Hitler was descending a flight of stairs in his official residence when a Soviet shell exploded “right in front of him and took his life.” Domei attributed the report to a “trusted bodyguard” of Hitler.
Capture 134,000
A Soviet announcement that the number of prisoners captured in Berlin had risen to 134,000 boosted total German casualties in the 12-day battle for and in the city to roughly 450,000.
Radio Moscow said some buildings were still standing in the outskirts of Berlin, but the center of the city, including Hitler’s Reich Chancellery, had been flattened by aerial bombs and Soviet shells.
Reich Marshal Hermann Goering’s air ministry was levelled by bombs, the broadcast said. Gestapo headquarters burned down.
The broadcast said German civilians had begun to emerge from cellars and were lining up at food depots for bread.
Radio Berlin was heard yesterday broadcasting in Russian for the first time.