Hitler (158 page)

Read Hitler Online

Authors: Joachim C. Fest

BOOK: Hitler
5.34Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

71. Cf. Trevor-Roper,
Last Days,
p. 175.

72. Hitler's political and personal testaments are both printed in: N.B. 3569-PS.

73. The original text of this document was destroyed; it is given here in von Below's reconstruction as cited by Trevor-Roper,
Last Days,
pp. 194 f.

74. See Lev Bezymenski,
The Death of Adolf Hitler,
p. 72; cf. also Trevor-Roper,
Last Days,
p. 196.

75. Trevor-Roper,
Last Days,
p. 198.

76. The Russian commission's autopsy report, Document 12, claims that remains of a crushed ampoule of poison were found in the mouth of the corpse, which it believed to be Hitler. But the report does not mention the distinct odor of bitter almonds given off by cyanide compounds, which was observed in the other bodies. German participants have denied that any fragments of skull could have been found, given the degree to which the flames consumed the body; cf. Maser,
Hitler,
pp. 432 f. Given Hitler's fear that his suicide might be unsuccessful, it is not out of the question that he may have bitten a poison capsule and simultaneously pressed the trigger of his gun. Bezymenski's effort (p. 72) to exclude this possibility by referring to the “foremost Soviet forensic scientist” is not convincing, not even in the manner of presentation. For the statements of eyewitnesses see Trevor-Roper,
Last Days,
p. 201.

77. Statement of Otto Günsche, cited in Maser,
Hitler,
p. 432. The previous statement was made by the guard Hermann Karnau; see the detailed quotation in Fest,
The Face of the Third Reich,
p. 324, n. 40.

78. Bezymenski alleges (pp. 66 f.) as the motive for Soviet secrecy that the results of the medical investigation were being withheld in case “someone might try to slip into the role of the Führer saved by a miracle.” Also, the aim was to exclude all possibility of error. There is no need to comment on the first argument, since silence could only give support to the claim that the Führer was still alive, and in fact did. The second argument is also scarcely convincing, since the credibility of the autopsy record could not increase in the course of years. For the various rumors see Trevor-Roper,
Last Days,
Preface; he also gives an illuminating account of his vain efforts to obtain information or co-operation from the Russians.

 

CONCLUSION

 

1. Trevor-Roper,
Last Days,
p. 45.

2. Rauschning,
Gespräche,
p. 212.

3. Photo in the author's possession.

4.
Hitlers Zweites Buch,
p. 174, and
Mein Kampf,
p. 646. Cf. also
Le Testament politique de Hitler,
pp. 62 f. (February 4, 1945): “Germany had no choice.... We could not rest content with a sham independence. That might be enough for Swedes or the Swiss, who are always willing to be put off with empty promises so long as their pockets are filled. The Weimar Republic asked for nothing more. But the Third Reich could not be content with such a modest claim. We were condemned to wage war.”

5.
Tischgespräche,
p. 273; also Rauschning,
Gespräche,
p. 105.

6. Best known, and frequently cited in German apologetic works, is Winston Churchill's statement in
Great Contemporaries,
p. 226: “Whatever else may be thought about these exploits, they are certainly among the most remarkable in the whole history of the world.”

7.
Le Testament politique de Hitler,
p. 139 (February 26, 1945).

8.
Tischgespräche,
p. 489.

9. Hitler to the Munich court during his trial, February 26, 1924. See Boepple, p. 110.

10. Cf. Minutes of the Conference of the Expanded Executive Committee of the Communist International, Moscow, June 12–13, 1923, cited in Nolte,
Theorien,
p. 92. The speech is highly interesting because, contrary to all the conspiratorial theories that circulated later, it takes seriously the idea of Fascism as a catch-all for the masses disappointed with socialism.

11. Nietzsche,
The Dawn
(Morgenröte), aphorism 534.

12. Speech of January 25, 1939, cited in Jacobsen and Jochmann,
Ausgewählte Dokumente,
p. 9. For the remark on German Social Democracy, cf.
Libres propos,
p. 36. American social scientists, in order to avoid the peculiar moral problems of terminology, have introduced the concept of “modernization” into the discussion. The Fascist systems in Italy or Germany, it is argued, represent above all stages in the process of repressing traditional social structures. Much of this argument fails to consider adequately that “modernization” can be only one interpretative aspect and that Fascism cannot be defined exclusively by its attitude toward the process of industrialization, urbanization, and rationalization. A detailed and satisfying study remains to be published. Cf. David Apter,
The Politics of Modernization;
H. A. Turner, Jr., “Faschismus und Anti-Modernismus,” in:
Faschismus und Kapitalismus in Deutschland,
pp. 157 ff., with further references.

13. At the beginning was the celebrated article in the New York
Post
of December 20,1941, on the gassing of a thousand Warsaw Jews.

14. Bertolt Brecht, “An die Nachgeborenen” (“To Posterity”), in:
Selected Poems,
trans. H. R. Hays, New York, 1947, p. 173.

15. Carlo Sforza,
European Dictatorships,
pp. 138 f.

16. Cf. Nolte,
Theorien,
p. 71.

17. Rauschning,
Gespräche,
p. 212.

18.
Ibid.,
pp. 150, 262, 264.

Bibliography

(with Abbreviations)

 

ADAP =
Akten zur Deutschen Auswärtigen Politik 1918–1945,
Serie D: 1937–1945, Baden-Baden, 1950 ff.

Adorno, Theodor W.,
Versuch über Wagner,
Munich, 1964.

Anatomie des SS-Staates,
Olten and Freiburg i. Br., 1965.

Andics, Hellmuth,
Der ewige Jude: Ursachen und Geschichte des Antisemitismus,
Vienna, 1965.

Anonymous,
Rudolf Hess, der Stellvertreter des Führers
(in the series
Zeitgeschichte),
Berlin, 1933.

Apter, David,
The Politics of Modernization,
Chicago, 1965.

Arendt, Hannah,
Eichmann in Jerusalem,
New York, 1963.

Bahr, Hermann,
Der Antisemitismus: Ein internationales Interview,
Berlin, 1894.

BAK = Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

Baumgart, Winfried, “Zur Ansprache Hitlers vor den Führern der Wehrmacht am 22. August 1939,” VJHfZ, 1968:2.

Baynes, Norman H.,
The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939,
2 vols., London, 1942; New York, 1943.

Benda, Julien,
The Betrayal of the Intellectuals,
trans. Richard Aldington, Boston, 1955 (Beaconpaperback).

Benn, Gottfried,
Doppelleben,
Wiesbaden, 1950.

—,
Gesammelte Werke,
Wiesbaden, 1958–61.

Bennecke, Heinrich,
Die Reichswehr und der “Röhm-Putsch,
” Vienna, 1964.

—,
Wirtschaftliche Depression und politischer Radikalismus,
Munich, 1968.

Bezymenski, Lev,
The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives,
New York and London, 1968.

BHStA = Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv.

Boberach, Heinz, ed.,
Meldungen aus dem Reich: Auswahl aus den geheimen Lageberichten des Sicherheitsdienstes der SS 1939–1944,
Neuwied, 1965.

Boepple, Ernst, ed.,
Adolf Hitlers Reden,
3rd ed., Munich, 1933.

Böhme, Helmut,
Deutschlands Weg zur Grossmacht,
Cologne and Berlin, 1966.

Boldt, Gerhard,
Die letzten Tage der Reichskanzlei,
Hamburg, 1947
(In the Shelter with Hitler,
London, 1948).

Borgese, Giuseppe A.,
Goliath: The March of Fascism,
New York, 1937.

Bormann Letters, The,
see Trevor-Roper, H. R., ed.

Bracher, Karl Dietrich,
Auflösung
=
Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratie,
Stuttgart and Düsseldorf, 1955.

—,
Diktatur
=
Die deutsche Diktatur: Entstehung, Struktur, Folgen des Nationalsozialismus,
Cologne and Berlin, 1969
(The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism,
New York, 1970).

Bracher, Karl Dietrich; Sauer, Wolfgang; Schulz, Gerhard;
Machtergreifung
=
Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung: Studien zur Errichtung des totalitären Herrschaftssystems in Deutschland 1933/34,
Cologne and Opladen, 1960.

Brecht, Arnold,
Vorspiel zum Schweigen: Das Ende der deutschen Republik,
Vienna, 1948
(Prelude to Silence: The End of the German Republic,
New York, 1944; London, 1945).

Brenner, Hildegard,
Die Kunstpolitik des Nationalsozialismus,
Reinbek, 1963.

Broszat, Martin,
Der Staat Hitlers,
Munich, 1969.

Brüning, Heinrich, “Ein Brief,”
Deutsche Rundschau
(July, 1947).

—,
Memoiren 1918–1934,
Stuttgart, 1970.

Bryant, Arthur,
The Turn of the Tide, 1939–1943,
London, 1957.

Bucher, Peter,
Der Reichswehrprozess: Der Hochverrat der Ulmer Reichswehroffiziere 1929/30,
Boppard, 1967.

Buchheim, Hans, “Die SS—das Herrschaftsinstrument. Befehl und Gehorsam,” in:
A natomie des SS-Staates.

Bullock, Alan,
Hitler: A Study in Tyranny,
rev. ed., New York and Evanston, 1964 (Harper Torchbook ed.).

Burckhardt, Carl Jacob,
Meine Danziger Mission 1937–1939,
Zurich and Munich, 1960.

Burckhardt, Jacob,
Force and Freedom:. Reflections on History,
New York,1943.

Butler, James R. M.,
Lord Lothian “Philip Kerr” 1882—1940,
London and New York, 1960.

Butler, Rohan D. O.,
The Roots of National Socialism,
New York, 1942.

Calic, Edouard,
Ohne Maske: Hitler-Breiting Geheimgespräche 1931,
Frankfurt a. M., 1968
(Secret Conversations with Hitler,
New York, 1971).

Cartier, Raymond,
La seconde guerre mondiale, 2
vols., Paris, 1965.

Chamberlain, Houston Stewart,
Die Grundlagen des 19. Jahrhunderts,
6th ed., Munich, 1906
(The Foundations of the 19th Century,
London and New York, 1911).

Churchill, Winston,
Blood, Sweat and Tears,
New York, 1941 (English title:
Into Battle,
London, 1941).

—,
Great Contemporaries,
New York, 1937.

—,
The Second World War,
Vol. 1,
The Gathering Storm,
1948; Vol. 2,
Their Finest Hour,
1959–61.

Ciano, Count Galeazzo, see: Gibson, Hugh, ed.

Ciano's Hidden Diary 1937–1938,
trans. Andreas Mayor, New York, 1953.

Collins, Larry, and Lapierre, Dominique,
Is Paris Burning?,
New York, 1965.

Conze, W., “Zum Sturz Brünings,” VJHfZ, 1952:3.

Cooper, Duff,
Old Men Forget: The Autobiography of Duff Cooper,
London, 1953.

Coulondre, Robert,
De Staline ä Hitler,
Paris, 1950.

Curtius, Julius,
Sechs Jahre Minister der deutschen Republik,
Heidelberg, 1938.

Czichon, Eberhard,
Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht?,
Cologne, 1967.

Dahlerus, Birger,
The Last Attempt,
London, 1948.

Dahrendorf, Ralf,
Gesellschaft und Demokratie in Deutschland,
Munich, 1965.

Daim, Wilfried,
Der Mann, der Hitler die Ideen gab,
Munich, 1958.

Dallin, Alexander,
German Rule in Russia 1941–1945,
London and New York, 1957.

Deakin, F. W.,
The Brutal Friendship: Mussolini, Hitler and the Fall of Italian Fascism,
London, 1962; New York, 1963.

Delmer, Sefton,
Die Deutschen und ich,
Hamburg, 1963.

Deuerlein, Ernst, ed.,
Aufstieg
=
Der Aufstieg der NSDAP 1919–1933 in Augenzeugenberichten,
Düsseldorf, 1968.

Deuerlein, Ernst, “Eintritt” = “Hitlers Eintritt in die Politik und die Reichswehr,” VJHfZ, 1959:2.

-
, Der Hitler-Putsch,
Stuttgart, 1962.

Deutsch, Harold C.,
The Conspiracy Against Hitler in the Twilight War,
Minneapolis, 1968.

Diels, Rudolf,
Lucifer ante portas... Es spricht der erste Chef der Gestapo
..., Stuttgart, 1950.

Dietrich, Otto,
Mit Hitler in die Macht,
Munich, 1934.

—,
Zwölf Jahre
=
Zwölf Jahre mit Hitler,
Munich, 1955 (
Hitler,
Chicago, 1955; British title:
The Hitler I Knew,
London, 1957).

Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919–1939,
Second Series (1930 ff.), London, 1950 ff.

Dönitz, Karl,
Zehn Jahre und Zwanzig Tage,
Frankfurt a. M. & Bonn, 1964
(Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days,
Cleveland, 1959).

Dollmann, Eugen,
Dolmetscher der Diktatoren,
Bayreuth, 1963.

Domarus = Domarus, Max,
Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen 1932—1945, kommentiert von einem deutschen Zeitgenossen, 2
vols., Würzburg, 1962—63.

Dörner, Klaus, “Nationalsozialismus und Lebensvernichtung,” VJHfZ, 1967:2.

Dulles, Allen Welsh,
Germany's Underground,
New York and London, 1947.

Eden, Anthony,
Facing the Dictators: The Eden Memoirs,
London and Boston, 1962.

Ehlers, Dietrich,
Technik und Moral einer Verschwörung,
Frankfurt a. M. & Bonn, 1964.

Other books

Black by Aria Cole
Honest Doubt by Amanda Cross
Bajo el sol de Kenia by Barbara Wood
1 Target of Death by Madison Johns
Trepidation by Chrissy Peebles
Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani
Minty by M. Garnet