[GRAPHIC] The death of Adolf Hitler (4-30-45)

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DISCLAIMER: In light of the news from Berlin of the battle’s end, and partly as a criticism of Sparty’s approach to the topic in the comments section, I have created a new thread solely focused on the death of Adolf Hitler. The deaths of Dr. Goebbels and others are also mentioned here.

The articles up to May 4 posted here were already posted in the “Battle of Berlin” and “America at war” threads, with new articles published after May 4 to be posted in this thread alone.

Товарищу СТАЛИНУ.

  1. Сегодня, 1 мая в 4 часа, на участок 8-й гвардейской армии явился начальник генштаба сухопутных войск немецкой армии генерал инфантерии КРЕБС, который передал ЧУЙКОВУ для передачи Верховному Советскому командованию письменное заявление за подписью ГЕББЕЛЬСА и БОРМАНА следующего содержания:

Берлин, 30 апреля 1945 г.
Имперская канцелярия.

Сообщение.

Мы уполномочиваем начальника генерального штаба сухопутной армии генерала пехоты Ганса КРЕБС для передачи следующего сообщения: Я сообщаю вождю Советских народов, как первому из не немцев, что сегодня 30 апреля 1945 г. в 15.50 вождь немецкого народа Адольф ГИТЛЕР покончил жизнь самоубийством.

Соответственно законно отданных им распоряжений (завещания), он передал свою власть и ответственность гросс-адмиралу ДЕНИЦ, как президенту империи и министру доктору ГЕББЕЛЬС, как Имперскому канцлеру, а также назначил исполнителем своего завещания своего секретаря Рейхсляйтера Мартина БОРМАН.

Я уполномочен новым Имперским канцлером и секретарем Адольфа ГИТЛЕРА Мартином БОРМАН, установить непосредственный контакт с вождем Советских народов. Этот контакт имеет целью выяснить в какой мере существует возможность установить основы для мира между немецким народом и Советским Союзом, которые будут служить для блага и будущего обоих народов, понесших наибольшие потери в войне.

Доктор ГЕББЕЛЬС
БОРМАН

ПРИМЕЧАНИЕ К СООБЩЕНИЮ:

  1. Причина смерти Адольфа ГИТЛЕРА - военное поражение в войне, надежда освободить для немецкого народа дорогу для нового будущего, для которого он сам более не может создать достаточные предпосылки.

  2. Состав единственного легального правительства в Германии назначенного фюрером:

Имперский президент - Гросс Адмирал ДЕНИЦ;
Имперский канцлер - доктор ГЕББЕЛЬС;
Министр иностранных дел - доктор ЗЕЙССС-ИНКВАРТ;
Министр по делам партии Мартин БОРМАН;
Главнокомандующий сухопутной армией - генерал-фельдмаршал ШЕРНЕР;
Главнокомандующий ВВС - фельдмаршал фон-ГРЕЙМ;
Главнокомандующий морским флотом - Гросс-Адмирал ДЕНИЦ;
Министр внутренних дел - гауляйтер ГИСЛЕР;
Командующий войсками СС и начальник немецкой полиции - гауляйтер ХАНКЕ.

  1. На наши вопросы:

а) Где застрелился Гитлер и где находится сейчас его труп?

Кребс ответил -
Что Гитлер застрелился в Берлине, а труп сожжен согласно завещания 30.4.45 г.

б) Когда Геббельс и Борман будут объявлять народу о самоубийстве Гитлера и о его завещании?

Кребс ответил -
Объявлять о самоубийстве Гитлера и его завещании мы не будем, т.к. об этом узнает Гимлер и воспользуется этим для создания своего правительства.

Кроме того у нас в Берлине нет средств связи для объявления. Мы думаем объявить о смерти Гитлера и о создании нового правительства после перемирия и открытия переговоров о мире.

в) Знает ли Геббельс, Борман и другие о том, что Гимлер обращался к англичанам и американцам с предложением о безоговорочной капитуляции?

Кребс ответил -
Что об этом ему стало известно только от Советского Командования и что Геббельс, Борман и другие об этом, якобы, не знают. Насчет Гимлера, Кребс добавил, что Гимлер - это предатель, он очень нечестно относился к Гитлеру, обманывал его, не выполнил приказа о снятии войск с западного фронта на защиту Берлина и за это исключен из партии.

г) Будет ли объявлено Гимлеру, армии и народу о том, что Гимлер оказался предателем и что он исключен из партии?

Кребс ответил -
У нас нет связи для передачи и это будет сделано тогда, когда будут налицо условия перемирия и когда будет легализовано новое правительство.

На вопрос, не лучше ли это сделать сейчас, чтобы знали армия и народ о Гимлере, как о предателе, Кребс ответил - это должен сделать Геббельс.

д) Где сейчас находятся: Геринг, Гимлер, Риббентроп, Гудериан и какую роль они будут играть в проектируемом правительстве?

Кребс ответил -
Что завещанием Гитлера в правительство эти лица не включены. Геринг находится в Баварии на территории, уже оккупированной союзниками. Риббентроп и Гимлер находятся в Меклебурге.

Гудериан болен и с 15 марта освобожден от должности начальника Имперского штаба, а вместо него Гитлером на эту должность назначен я - Кребс.

е) Кто сейчас является Верховным Главнокомандующим, кто начальником штаба Ставки?

Кребс ответил -
Верховным главнокомандующим будет Гросс адмирал ДЕНИЦ, сейчас он находится в Меклебурге. Там же находится и Ставка.

ж) На наш вопрос, не думает ли Геббельс сдать Берлин в виду безнадежного положения гарнизона?

Кребс ответил -
Что Геббельс без Деница не может принять решения о капитуляции и сдачи Берлина, но так как Дениц находится в Меклебурге, то Кребс просил разрешения послать своего офицера на машине через линию нашего фронта за получением указаний.

  1. Из разговоров с Кребсом, я сделал вывод, что главной целью Геббельса является прощупать возможность признания со стороны Советского Правительства проектируемого правительства Германии (составленного по указанию Гитлера) и прощупать возможность начать переговоры о перемирии.

Сдавать Берлин на условиях безоговорочной капитуляции до получения гарантии о перемирии Геббельс и Борман не считают возможным. Посылку немецкого офицера в Меклебург к Деницу через линию нашего фронта, я не разрешил.

Примечание: Подлинные документы за подписью Геббельса и Бормана хранятся в штабе фронта.

п.п. Г. ЖУКОВ

Передано по телефону ВЧ в 10.35 1.5.45 г.

Принял дежурный Генерал Генерального Штаба Красной Армии - Генерал-Майор СОКОЛОВ.
Передал генерал-лейтенант И. БОЙКОВ

снята копия в 2 экз. мл.

верно: СТАРШ. ПОМ. НАЧ. ОТДЕЛА ПО ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЮ ОПЫТА ВОЙНЫ ОПЕРУПРАВЛЕНИЯ ПОДПОЛКОВОНИК ПАВЛОВСКИЙ.
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Führer HQ (May 1, 1945)

Kommuniqué

Broadcast audio (RRG):

Unser Führer Adolf Hitler ist heute nachmittags in seinem Befehlsstand in der Reichskanzlei, bis zum letzten Atemzuge gegen den Bolschewismus kämpfend, für Deutschland gefallen.

Am 30. April hat der Führer den Großadmiral Dönitz zu seinem Nachfolger ernannt.

Der Großadmiral ist der Nachfolger des Führers.

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Address by Reich President Doenitz to the German People
May 1, 1945

Dönitz

Broadcast audio (RRG):

Deutsche Männer und Frauen! Soldaten der deutschen Wehrmacht!

Der Führer Adolf Hitler ist gefallen. In tiefster Trauer und Ehrfurcht verneigt sich das deutsche Volk. Frühzeitig hatte Adolf Hitler die furchtbare Gefahr des Bolschewismus erkannt und diesem Ringen fein Dasein geweiht. Am Ende dieses seines Kampfes und seines unbeirrbar geraden Weges steht sein Heldentod in der Hauptstadt des Deutschen Reiches. Sein Leben war ein einziger Dienst für Deutschland. Sein Einsatz im Kampfe gegen die bolschewistische Sturmflut galt darüber hinaus Europa und der gesamten Kulturwelt.

Der Führer hat mich zu seinem Nachfolger bestimmt. Im Bewutztsein der Verantwortung, übernehme ich die Führung des deutschen Volkes in dieser schicksalsschweren Stunde. Meine erste Aufgabe ist es, deutsche Menschen vor der Vernichtung durch den vordringenden bolschewistischen Feind zu retten. Nur für dieses Ziel Kämpfen wir weiter. Soweit und solange die Erreichung dieses Zieles durch Briten und Amerikaner behindert wird, werden wir uns auch gegen sie weiter verteidigen und weiterkämpfen müssen. Die Anglo-Amerikaner setzen dann diesen Krieg nicht für ihre eigenen Völker, sondern allein für die Ausbreitung des Bolschewismus in Europa fort. Was das deutsche Volk im Ringen dieses Krieges kämpfend vollbracht und in der Heimat erfahren hat, ist geschichtlich einmalig.

In der kommenden Notzeit des Volkes werde ich bestrebt sein, unseren tapferen Frauen, Männern und Kindern, soweit dies in meiner Macht steht, erträgliche Lebensbedingungen zu schassen. Zu alledem brauche ich eure Hilfe. Schenkt mir euer Vertrauen, denn euer Weg ist auch mein Weg! Haltet Ordnung und Disziplin in Stadt und Land aufrecht! Tue jeder an seiner Stelle seine Pflicht! Nur so werden wir die Leiden, die die kommende Zeit jedem einzelnen von uns bringen wird, mildern und den Zusammenbruch verhindern können. Wenn wir tun, was in unseren Kräften steht, wird auch der Herrgott nach so viel Leiden und Opfern uns nicht verlassen.

BBC bulletin:

MBS bulletin:

NBCB bulletin:

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The Stars and Stripes (May 2, 1945)

German radio reports:
HITLER DEAD

Wednesday, May 2, 1945

AP410805035
Adolf Hitler at his height

Adolf Hitler, for 12 years the master of Germany and the man who set out to conquer the world, died yesterday afternoon, the German radio at Hamburg announced last night.

Declaring that Grand Adm. Karl Doenitz, commander-in-chief of the German Navy, was Hitler’s successor, the radio states:

It is reported from Der Fuehrer’s headquarters that Der Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, has fallen this afternoon at his command post in the Reich Chancellery, fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany.

Death is not explained

The announcement did not explain how Hitler, who was 56 years old 12 days ago, had “fallen.” Russian forces in recent days have been battling toward the massive Chancellery that Hitler built in the Wilhelmstrasse, in the center of Berlin.

The broadcast reported that on April 13, Hitler named Doenitz as his successor. Then Doenitz came on the program with a fiery promise to keep up what he termed “the struggle against Bolshevism.” He said the German would fight American and British forces to the extent that they hindered his fight against Russia.

There was no indication as to the whereabouts of Heinrich Himmler, Gestapo chief and leader of the German home defense forces, who has been reported offering to surrender. Neither was there any word of Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels or other Hitler henchmen.

The announcement of Hitler’s death was preceded by the playing of solemn Wagnerian music, including “Twilight of the Gods.” The southern German radio kept up a program of light music all through the program from the north, indicating that communication is broken down between the two German pockets.

Doenitz came on the air immediately after the brief announcement of Hitler’s death, saying:

German men and women, soldiers of the German Wehrmacht:

Our Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, has fallen. The German people bow in deepest mourning and veneration.

My first task is to save the German people from destruction by Bolshevism. If only for this task, the struggle will continue.

Adolf Hitler recognized beforehand the terrible danger of Bolshevism and devoted his life to fighting it. At the end of this, his battle, he stands as a hero in the battle of the capital of the Reich.

‘We shall fight’

The Fuehrer has appointed me as his successor. Fully conscious of the responsibility, I take over the leadership of the German people at this fateful hour.

It is my first task to save the German people from destruction by Bolshevists, and it is only to achieve this that the fight continues.

As long as the British and the Americans hamper us from reaching this end, we shall fight to defend ourselves against them as well. The British and Americans are not fighting for their own interests, but for the spreading of Bolshevism.

Doenitz, whose appointment came as a surprise, called on the German people to help him to the utmost and urged them to keep order and discipline. Only by complete fulfillment of every German’s duty, he said, could the country avoid collapse.

Issues order to troops

Doenitz also issued an order of the day to the Reich’s armed forces in which he repeated the same determination to “save” the Germans from Bolshevism. Assuming supreme command of all the armed forces, he said Germany would continue the fight to save “hundreds of thousands of German families from slavery and destruction.”

“The situation,” he added, “demands from you who have already accomplished such momentous deeds – and who are now wishing for the end of the war – unconditional exertions.” The latter was an obvious answer to the Allied demand for unconditional surrender.

He told his decimated Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and navy:

Only by executing my orders without reserve can chaos and annihilation be avoided. The coward and traitor is he who just now shirks his duty – and who thus brings death or slavery upon German women and children.

The oath of allegiance which you have given the Fuehrer is now for every one of you immediately due to me as the successor whom the Fuehrer appointed.

German soldiers, do your duty! The very lives of our people are at stake!

The 50-year-old Doenitz, regarded as the Nazis’ top man in the navy, has always been held high in Hitler’s esteem and has been classified as a fervent party man from the outset of the Nazi movement. He led the Atlantic submarine wolfpacks before he became navy chief two years ago. He was confined in an insane asylum in Manchester, England, during the First World War.

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Innsbrucker Nachrichten (May 2, 1945)

Unser Führer in Berlin gefallen

Aus dem Führerhauptquartier, 1. Mai – Unser Führer Adolf Hitler ist heute nachmittags in seinem Befehlsstand in der Reichskanzlei, bis zum letzten Atemzuge gegen den Bolschewismus kämpfend, für Deutschland gefallen.

Am 30. April hat der Führer den Großadmiral Dönitz zu seinem Nachfolger ernannt.

Der Großadmiral ist der Nachfolger des Führers.

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Soviet Information Bureau (May 2, 1945)

Оперативная сводка за 2 мая

Войска 1-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО фронта под командованием Маршала Советского Союза ЖУКОВА, при содействии войск 1-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта под командованием Маршала Советского Союза КОНЕВА, после упорных уличных боёв завершили разгром Берлинской группы немецких войск и сегодня, 2 мая, полностью овладели столицей Германии городом БЕРЛИН – центром немецкого империализма и очагом немецкой агрессии.

Берлинский гарнизон, оборонявший город, Во главе с начальником обороны БЕРЛИНА генералом от артиллерии Вейдлингом и его штабом, 2 мая в 15 часов прекратил сопротивление, сложил оружие и сдался в плен.

2 мая к 21 часу нашими войсками взято в плен в городе БЕРЛИНЕ более 70.000 немецких солдат и офицеров. В числе пленных: генералы для особых поручений при начальнике обороны БЕРЛИНА генерал-лейтенант Курт Веташ и генерал-лейтенант Вальтер Шмидт-Данкверт, представитель ставки вице-адмирал Фосс, начальник штаба обороны БЕРЛИНА полковник Ганс Рехиор, начальник штаба 56 немецкого танкового корпуса полковник Теодор фон Дифвинг. Взяты также в плен первый заместитель Геббельса по пропаганде и печати – доктор философии и истории Фриче, руководитель печати доктор философии и истории Клик, правительственный советник доктор философии и истории Хайнрихсдорф. Фриче при опросе показал, что Гитлер, Геббельс и вновь назначенный начальник Генерального штаба генерал пехоты Кребс покончили жизнь самоубийством.

Юго-восточнее БЕРЛИНА войска 1-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО и 1-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронтов завершили ликвидацию окружённой группы немецких войск.

За время боёв с 24 апреля по 2 мая в этом районе наши войска захватили в плен более 120.000 немецких солдат и офицеров. За это же время немцы потеряли только убитыми более 60.000 человек. В числе пленных заместитель командующего 9 немецкой армией генерал-лейтенант Бернгард, командир 5 немецкого корпуса СС генерал-лейтенант Эккель, командир 21 немецкой танковой дивизии СС генерал-лейтенант Маркс, командир 169 немецкой пехотной дивизии генерал-лейтенант Радчий, комендант крепости ФРАНКФУРТ-на-ОДЕРЕ генерал-майор Биль, начальник артиллерии 11 немецкого танкового корпуса СС генерал-майор Штраммер и генерал авиации Цандер. За зто же время нашими войсками захвачены следующие трофеи: танков и самоходных орудий – 304, полевых орудий – более 1.500, пулемётов – 2.180, автомашин – 17.600 и много другого вооружения и военного имущества.

Северо-западнее БЕРЛИНА войска 1-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО фронта, продолжая наступление, с боями заняли города НОЙ-РУППИН, КИРИТЦ, ВУСТЕРХАУЗЕН, НОЙШТАДТ, ФЕРБЕЛЛИН, ФРИЗАК.

Войска 2-го БЕЛОРУССКОГО фронта, развивая наступление, 2 мая овладели городами РОСТОК, ВАРНЕМЮНДЕ – крупными портами и важными военно-морскими базами немцев на Балтийском море, а также заняли города РИБНИТЦ, МАРЛОВ, ЛААГЕ, ТЕТЕРОВ, МИРОВ и крупные населённые пункты АЛЬТЕНПЛЕН, РЕХТЕНБЕРГ, ФРАНЦБУРГ, ТРИБЗЕС, ЗЮЛЬЦЕ, ДАРГУН, ТЮРКОВ, ЯБЕЛЬ, ЦЕХЛИН, ГЕРЦШПРУНГ. В боях за 1 мая войска фронта взяли в плен 5.450 немецких солдат и офицеров и захватили 78 самолётов и 178 полевых орудий.

Войска 4-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта, продолжая наступление в полосе Западных Карпат, с боями заняли крупные населённые пункты ПАСКОВ, ОРЛОВА, ДЕМБОВЕЦ, ГОРДЗИШУВ, ТУРЗОВКА, ДЛГЕ ПОЛЕ, ВЕЛИКОЕ РОВНЕ, ШТЯВНИК, ПАПРАДНО, МОДЛАТИН. В боях за 1 мая войска фронта взяли в плен более 5.000 немецких солдат и офицеров и захватили 196 полевых орудий.

Войска 2-го УКРАИНСКОГО фронта, продолжая наступление восточнее города БРНО, с боями заняли крупные населённые пункты БРУМОВ, ВАЛАСШКЕ, КЛОБОУКИ, СЛАВИЧИН, ЛУГАЧОВИЦЕ, БРЖАЗУВКИ, УГЕРЕСКИ ГРАДИШТЕФ, НАПАЕДЛА.

На других участках фронта существенных изменений не произошло.

За 1 мая подбито и уничтожено 37 немецких танков. В воздушных боях и огнём зенитной артиллерии сбито 10 самолётов противника.

image

Налёт нашей авиации на Свинемюнде

В ночь на 2 мая наши тяжёлые бомбардировщики нанесли удар по военным объектам немцев в Свинемюнде. В результате этого удара на территории судоверфей и в порту возникло много пожаров, сопровождавшихся сильными взрывами.

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АКТ

2 мая 1945 года город Берлин

Мы, нижеподписавшиеся – начальник отдела контрразведки «Смерш» 79-го стрелкового корпуса подполковник КЛИМЕНКО, начальник 4-го отделения отдела контрразведки «Смерш» 3-й ударной армии майор БЫСТРОВ и заместитель начальника отдела контрразведки «Смерш» 207 стрелковой дивизии майор ХАЗИН составили настоящий акт о нижеследующем:

2-го мая, имея при себе опознавателей из немцев – ЛАНГЕ, ВИЛЬГЕЛЬМА и ШНАЙДЕРА КАРЛА – прибыли в район рейхстага, где в 17.00 сего числа у бомбоубежища Геббельса, в нескольких метрах от входных дверей были обнаружены два обгоревших трупа – мужчины и женщины.

Опознаватели Ланге и Шнайдер после внимательного осмотра трупа мужчины опознали в нем труп рейхсминистра пропаганды Германии – доктора ГЕББЕЛЬСА.

В целях сохранения от посторонних влияний и для проведения дальнейшей экспертизы по опознанию Геббельса, труп доставлен в отдел контрразведки «Смерш» 79-го стрелкового корпуса, о чем и составлен настоящий акт.

Начальник ОКР «Смерш» 79 ск
подполковник КЛИМЕНКО

Начальник 4 отделения ОКР «Смерш» 3 уд. армии
майор БЫСТРОВ

Зам. нач. ОКР «Смерш» 207 стр. дивизии
майор ХАЗИН

Ф. К-1 ос; оп. 4, д. 6, л. 19-20 (подлинник)
8

The Pittsburgh Press (May 2, 1945)

REDS CAPTURE BERLIN
Stalin tells of victory in Nazi capital

120,000 Nazis taken below German city

BULLETINS

LONDON, England (UP) – The Red Army captured Berlin today.

Marshal Stalin announced the Red Army’s greatest victory of the war, in a triumphant order of the day broadcast from Moscow.

Berlin fell after 12 days of siege.

The first reports from Moscow did not indicate whether the Soviets found evidence – positive or negative – of the accuracy of the Nazi report that Adolf Hitler had died in battle.

LONDON, England (UP) – The Red Army captured the great Baltic port of Rostock today in a drive within 30 miles of the Allied armies sweeping eastward along the Baltic. The German radio said that the 12-day siege of Berlin was nearly over.

LONDON, England (UP) – Marshal Stalin announced tonight that Red Armies had captured more than 120,000 German prisoners in the liquidation of a pocket southeast of Berlin.

Inside Berlin, Russian forces were storming the ramparts of the Reich Chancellery, where the Nazis said Adolf Hitler died yesterday, and where evidence of the accuracy of the report might be found.

United Press writer Henry Shapiro reported from Moscow that the Soviet siege forces were now fighting for German strongpoints on the Wilhelmstrasse, Unter den Linden and Alexander Platz. Only “small remnants” of the Berlin garrison were defying the “greatest concentration of fire and metal to which any single objective has been subjected in this war,” he said.

About 8,000 of the ragtag band of mauled SS troops, women’s “death battalions” and Volkssturmers (home guards) – were killed yesterday in the heart of Berlin, Soviet reports said.

Plunging through a choking pall of smoke and flame thrown up by the ceaseless cannonading, the first Soviet assault waves stormed in from three sides to within 200 yards of the Chancellery building against maniacal enemy resistance.

An equally furious battle swirled through Berlin’s famed Tiergarten, a few hundred yards to the west, where the rest of the Nazi garrison was being cut to pieces by attacks from all directions.

The trapped Germans, apparently told by their leaders that Hitler had fallen at his command post in the Chancellery, showed no signs of quitting. They fought back with a hopeless fury behind thick stone walls and inside deep cellars, taking a bloody toll for every yard of lost ground.

But Moscow dispatches and somber enemy broadcasts made it clear that the battle of Berlin was roaring into its final hours.

The Russians captured another 100 city blocks in Berlin yesterday.

The main German force locked in the Chancellery and a cluster of adjoining streets to the east appeared to be well supplied with arms and ammunition, tanks and self-propelled guns that made the Russian onslaught a slow and costly slugging match.

Russian forces swung out north and northwest of Berlin on a 110-mile front in a new drive to link up with the British Second Army and finish off the Nazi’s northern redoubt.

Capture port

They captured the Baltic port of Stralsund and took Gnoien and Waren farther to the south, the latter town only 82 miles east of the British bridgehead across the Elbe River.

The German High Command said the whirlwind sweep of Marshal Konstantin K. Rokossovsky’s Second White Russian Army had carried to the area of Rostock, the last major Baltic port short of the neck of the Danish peninsula.

The Russians also struck out westward toward a new linkup with U.S. Ninth Army troops along the Elbe, capturing Alt-Ruppin, 27 miles northwest of Berlin and 33 miles away from the U.S. lines, and Brandenburg, capital of Brandenburg Province.

Clean up pocket

Far to the southeast, the Second and Fourth Ukrainian Armies finally joined forces in the disputed corridor on the Polish-Czechoslovak border, clearing out practically all of the enemy-held pocket there.

The Fourth Ukrainians, advancing south and west along a 60-mile front, captured the Polish cities of Bogumin and Frysztat and the Slovak towns of Skoczow, Cadca and Veika Bvtca, virtually encircling the industrial center of Teschen.

They also seized Plevnik, six miles southwest of Velka Bytca, and pushed on to join up with the Second Ukrainian Army in the Puchov sector eight miles to the south.

The Second Ukrainian Army took Puchov after wheeling back to slash 28 miles through the Nazi defenses east of Brno.

9

Brain stroke killed Hitler, Eisenhower’s evidence indicates

Wednesday, May 2, 1945

Highlights on Hitler’s ‘death’

Gen. Eisenhower doubts Nazi version that Hitler died in battle; reveals authentic Himmler report that Hitler suffered stroke and was dying eight days ago.

Surrender of Germany regarded as hastened by elevation of Adm. Doenitz and his ousting of Foreign Minister Ribbentrop.

Doubt cast on report of death by Moscow. Washington skeptical. British believe Hitler is dead; doubt Nazi version.

Goebbels’ death in Berlin regarded as highly probable by well-informed quarters in London.

LONDON, England (UP) – Gen. Dwight. D. Eisenhower said today there was some evidence that Adolf Hitler had died of a brain hemorrhage instead of a hero’s death in battle as the Nazis claimed.

The statement by Gen. Eisenhower was the first from any Allied official to shed light on the mystery of Hitler’s reported death.

Gen. Eisenhower said the enemy claim that Hitler died fighting the Russians in Berlin was “in contradiction of facts” given by Heinrich Himmler at a conference with Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden at Luebeck eight days ago.

Himmler and a Gen. Schellenberg, who accompanied him to the conference, said Hitler had a brain hemorrhage and could not live 48 hours and even then might be dead, Gen. Eisenhower said in a statement issued through Supreme Headquarters in France.

Through neutral source

Even though this version of Hitler’s death was based on Nazi information, it had the merit of coming to Gen. Eisenhower through Count Bernadotte, a neutral. Observers were inclined to put more credence in the Himmler version than in the melodramatic account broadcast by the Hamburg radio yesterday.

A high British source at the San Francisco conference told the United Press Saturday that Hitler had suffered a stroke and could not live more than 24 hours. That raised the possibility that Hitler’s death might have been covered up for two or three days to give time to build up a legend of a hero’s death.

Germany finished

Himmler admitted that Germany was finished, Gen. Eisenhower said in the official confirmation of the Luebeck conference. Bernadotte said in Stockholm yesterday that he could make no disclosure of his activity as the reported intermediary in Nazi-Allied negotiations.

Gen. Eisenhower said the radio statement by Adm. Karl Doenitz, announcing Hitler’s death and proclaiming himself as his successor, represented an attempt to drive a wedge between the Russians and Anglo-Americans.

The attempt “will be as completely ineffective as many previous efforts which have been made,” Gen. Eisenhower said. “Nothing which either Doenitz or Himmler may say or do can change in any way the agreed operations of the Allied Armies.”

Doenitz was reported already to have ousted Joachim von Ribbentrop as foreign minister in what may be the first move toward trying to save Germany from further battering.

London circles with excellent sources circulated a report that Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels probably had died in Berlin with Hitler.

Radio Hamburg, voice of the new Doenitz government, said the admiral had appointed British-educated Count Ludwig (also known as Lutz) Schwerin von Krosigk, 58-year-old nephew of the late Kaiser Wilhelm, as foreign minister.

Allied and neutral sources predicted that the death – real or fictional – of Hitler, and elevation of Adm. Doenitz to Fuehrer will hasten Germany’s collapse.

Belief persisted in London that victory in Europe will come this week. Prime Minister Winston Churchill conferred with his cabinet until early this morning on the swift sequence of events.

No Churchill statement

In the House of Commons, the question period passed today without any statement by the Prime Minister on the war situation or Hitler’s reported death.

German preparations to quit Denmark and possibly even Norway continued in what Stockholm suggested was the first step toward Germany’s full capitulation.

The first meeting of top-ranking Allied and German officials on the Western Front was disclosed by Supreme Allied Headquarters. It resulted in an agreement to ship food by air, sea and highway into German-occupied Holland, and a dispatch from headquarters added:

“The implications of a face-to-face meeting of high SHAEF and German officers at this time are obvious.”

Lt. Gen. W. Bedell Smith, chief of staff to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, headed the Allied delegation and Arthur Seyss-Inquart, governor of German-occupied Holland, the German group.

Rhodes scholar

The new German Foreign Minister Schwerin von Krosigk, a former Rhodes scholar at Oxford, speaks fluent English and it was suggested that Doenitz may have called upon him as a man capable of negotiating with the Allies.

He was Minister of Finance in Adolf Hitler’s government, but had been active in German politics long before Hitler’s advent. He became head of the German budget department in 1929 and served in the von Papen and Schleicher cabinets before Hitler came into power.

Like all members of the Hitler government, Schwerin von Krosigk was made a member of the Nazi Party. But he was regarded the least Nazi of those in the cabinet.

Radio Hamburg made no mention of Ribbentrop. He was last reported in Southern Germany two weeks ago.

Goebbels last in Berlin

London sources which reported that Goebbels may have died with Hitler in Berlin pointed out that he had not been mentioned by the German radio for more than a week, though as Nazi leader of the capital he then was directing its defense.

Thus, within six days, four of the top Nazi leaders of Germany have disappeared from the scene – Hitler, Goebbels, Ribbentrop and Reich Marshal Hermann Goering. The German radio announced last Friday that Goering had resigned as commander of the Luftwaffe because of poor health.

Whereabout and status of the other top Nazi, Gestapo Chief and Interior Minister Himmler, were not known. Doenitz did not signify immediately whether he considered Himmler part of his regime.

The surrender of German forces in Denmark may already be underway. A Stockholm dispatch to the London Evening News said that German naval forces in Denmark had begun to surrender.

Norway reports conflict

Conflicting reports were received from Norway. Some said the Germans were determined to fight to the death there, but others asserted the surrender of those forces was also likely.

One source said Doenitz had discharged Adm. Otto Ciliax, German naval commander in Norway, because he desired to capitulate. Adm. Theodor Kranke, formerly assistant to Gen. Fritz Boehme, German Army commander in Norway, was named to succeed Ciliax, it was said.

The announcement of Hitler’s death met a mixed reception in Allied capitals.

A British Foreign Office commentator said there appeared little doubt that Hitler was dead. Far from dying a “hero’s death,” however, the spokesman said all reliable reports indicated the Fuehrer died of a stroke.

Moscow sees trick

Moscow, on the other hand, inclined to the belief that the death report was a blind to enable Hitler and his henchmen to go underground.

Allied officials expressed surprise at Doenitz’s announcement that Hitler had designated him rather than Gestapo Chief Himmler as his successor.

They theorized, however, that Himmler must have approved the appointment since he still controlled the dreaded, all-powerful SS and Gestapo, without whose support no German official could remain in office.

Himmler may have decided that Doenitz as a non-war criminal might better be able to deal with the Allies.

Allied authorities were far from convinced that Hitler actually was dead.

One British official said he would have to see Hitler’s body before he would believe the Nazi leader was dead. Measurements of Hitler’s head taken by doctors before the war might clinch final identification.

Fight on, Doenitz says

Announcing Hitler’s death over the Hamburg radio last night, Doenitz called on the German Army to continue the struggle against Bolshevism “until the fighting troops and hundreds of thousands of families of the German eastern territories are rescued from enslavement or extermination.”

“Against the British and the Americans,” he said, “I shall continue the struggle in as far and so long as they will hinder me in carrying out the fight against Bolshevism.”

Observers pointed out that Doenitz’s anti-Bolshevist pronouncements followed the pattern laid down by Himmler who within the past fortnight offered to surrender Germany unconditionally to the United States and Britain.

The Western Allies replied that surrender could only be accepted if addressed to Russia as well. A British spokesman reiterated last night that Doenitz’s emergence as Fuehrer would have no effect on the Allies’ demand for Germany’s unconditional surrender to all of the “Big Three.”

10

‘Saves us trouble,’ Canadian thinks

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.”

11

Hitler’s on trip, astrologist says

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.

12

Trick by Nazis, Russians charge

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.

13

Hitler death news results in skepticism

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.

14

Jubilant but dubious – that’s reaction of British

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.

15

Hitler’s death not worth an extra in Rome

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.

16

Adolf Hitler’s story: From Vienna bum to dictator – to death

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.

17

Editorial: Hitler, dead or alive

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.

18

City skeptical of Hitler’s death

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.

19

Neues Österreich (May 3, 1945)

Leitartikel: Götzendämmerung

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.

20

Soviet Information Bureau (May 3, 1945)

Оперативная сводка за 3 мая

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.