Adolf Hitler's Last Hours

In Berchtesgaden, last week, Gerhard Herrgesell, stenographer to Germany's Supreme Headquarters Staff, told TIME Cor respondent Perci-ual Knauth the story of the last recorded conferences which the Supreme Command held, in a little bomb proof room deep in the earth under the Berlin Chancellery: "I Must Die Here." Said Herrgesell: "The decisive briefing which determined the fate of all of us began at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of April 22 and lasted until nearly 8 o'clock that evening. At this briefing Adolf Hitler declared that he wanted to die in Berlin. He repeated this 10 or 20 times in various phrases. He would say: 'I will fall here' or T will fall before the Chancellery' or 'I must die here in Berlin.' He reasoned that the cause was irretrievably lost, in com plete contrast to his previous attitude, which had always been: 'We will fight to the last tip of the German Reich.' "What reasons motivated his change of heart no one knows. He expressed the fact that his confidence was shaken. He had lost confidence in the Wehrmacht quite a while ago, saying that he had not gotten true reports, that bad news had been withheld from him. This afternoon he said that he was losing confidence in the Waffen SS, for the first time. He had always counted on the Waffen SS as elite troops which would never fail him. Now he pointed out a series of reports which he declared were false."

This, and the failure of the 55 troops to hold the Russians north of Berlin. Herrgesell said, had apparently convinced Hitler that his elite troops had lost heart. "The F&252hrer always maintained that no force, however well trained and equipped, could fight if it lost heart, and now he felt his last reserve was gone."

Nerve Control. "During all this time participants in this conference were changing constantly. Hitler himself was generally composed. Every time he really began to get angry or excited, he would quickly get himself under control again. His face was flushed and red, however, and he paced the floor almost constantly, walking back & forth, sometimes smacking his fist into his hand. But of all the participants at all the conferences, the F&252hrer was generally the one who kept his nerves best under control.

"The really decisive conference took place in late afternoon. It lasted only about 15 minutes. Present were Hitler, Martin Bormann, successor to Hess as the F&252hrer's personal representative, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Colonel General Alfred Jodl. All others were sent away except the two stenographers.

''Hitler again expressed his determination to stay in Berlin, and said he wanted to die there. He thought it would be the greatest service he could render to the honor of the German nation. In this conference his desire to stay in the Chancellery was violently opposed. Keitel spoke to him in really sharp terms, reminding him that his new attitude was contradictory to his former plans. Bormann supported Keitel no less strongly."

Out of the Mousetrap. "Jodl was a quiet man who spoke little, but when he spoke, it was always clearly, frankly and to the point. Now he also came out strongly against Hitler. He declared very firmly that he, personally, would not stay in Berlin; he thought it was a mousetrap, and his job was to lead the troops, not stand with a flintlock in his hand defending the city and in the end dying in the rubble of its ruins.

"When Keitel and Bormann saw that they could not move Hitler to change his mind, they said that in spite of his orders, they would also stay. Hitler again ordered them to leave; in ten minutes, he said, the Russians might be before the Chancellery. Keitel and Bormann repeated that they would stay. Keitel added: 'We would never be able to confront our wives and children if we left.'

"Hitler then said that in two or three days, in a week at the very most, Berlin would be finished and the Chancellery taken. He said that he had considered what would happen after his own death. He gave an order to the other three men--it was not clear to whom he gave it, or whether he actually meant it as an order to one of them specifically. He said: 'You must go to southern Germany, form a government, and G&246ring will be my successor. G&246ringwird verhandeln--G&246ring will negotiate.' "

Vague & Uncertain. "Whether this last statement was an order or a prophecy, no one knows. He might have said it in a spirit of resignation, realizing that if G&246ring were to succeed him, he would undertake negotiations. He might also have meant it as a direct order to negotiate after his death. The F&252hrer was by now rather vague and uncertain, giving no direct orders, apparently preoccupied with the prospect of his own imminent death.

"Jodl interjected that Germany still had some armies capable of action. He mentioned the Central Army Group under Field Marshal Schorner which was disposed south of Berlin in the direction of Dresden, and the Twelfth Army of General Wenck, a newly formed army which was to stand against the Americans on the Elbe. Perhaps, said Jodl, these armies could change the course of events around Berlin. Hitler evidenced little interest. He gave no orders, shrugged his shoulders and said: 'You do whatever you want.' "

Search for Death. "As to Hitler's death. I don't believe we will ever find a witness who can tell us how it happened. But I don't believe the F&252hrer remained in the cellar. I believe he went out, possibly several times, looking for death to which he was now so completely resigned, and that he may have died by artillery fire. One thing we do know--he was not the last man alive in the Chancellery bunker, because after his death we still received some radio reports from there."

At this point Correspondent Knauth told Herrgesell of reports he had heard from U.S. security officers: that Hitler had been killed by 55 Hauptsturmfuhrer Guensche, the F&252hrer's personal adjutant.

Said Herrgesell: "Guensche was a giant of a man and very violent. He would be capable of doing it if he were asked to, or if he thought the time had come to shoot the F&252hrer and then himself. But I don't believe it happened that way. I honestly believe that Hitler sought his death. He was convinced that all was irretrievably lost, that he could trust nobody any more and that he must die.

"During all this time, artillery fire on the Chancellery was increasing and even deep down in the cellar we could feel concussions shaking the building. The conference finally broke up in indecision. I was ordered to leave Berlin with my stenographic reports but my partner was to remain. He pointed out that in that case the reports were valueless, because if he stayed no one would be able to transcribe his records, and without his, mine would be incomplete. Bormann then ordered us both to leave that evening by plane.

"That was the last plane and we were the last people to leave Berlin."

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