What Happened in the Bunker in April 1945

[drmessimer]

This is my recommended bibliography for those who are interested in knowing what happened in the Führer bunker in April 1945. Each of these books can be found online at BookFinder.com: New & Used Books, Rare Books, Textbooks, Out of Print Books costing from $3 to $20. Bookfinder.com also offers them at much higher prices, but if you don’t want to go broke, buy at the lowest cost you can; the information is the same whether you pay $3 or $300. I am a trained historian who writes for publication and I taught military history at San Jose State University for 14 years. I found that this collection of books gave me the most detailed, and most accurate account of what transpired in the Bunker during April 1945.

H. R. Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, New York: Macmillan Company, 1947, 254 pp., hardback, Source notes serve as a Bibliography, index.
Assessment: Trevor-Roper was an experienced historian and this book provides a good starting point. Very Reliable

Bezymenski, Lev, The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from the Soviet
Archives, originally published in Germany as Der Tod des Adolf Hitlers, Hamburg: Christian Wegner Verlag, 1968; New York: Harcourt Brace & World, 1968, New York: Pyramid Book, 1969, paperback, 142 pages, Foot Notes; no Bibliography; Appendix: Protocol Concerning the Discovery of the Goebbels Family; Autopsy Reports; no index.
Assessment :Bezymenski served as an interpreter in the Battle of Berlin under Red Army Marshal Georgy Zhukov. The book is useful, but some of his conclusions have been disproven. Never-the-less, his verbatim autopsy reports are enormously interesting and useful.
Assessment: Very useful, especially the autopsy reports, but only reliable up to a point.

James P. O’Donnell, The Bunker: The History of the Reich Chancellery Group[/I], Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1978, hardback, 399 pp. informational foot notes, no Bibliography, index.
O’Donnell was an Army captain with a journalism background who entered Berlin with the American occupation troops on 4 July 1945. News Week secured his release from the Army and assigned him to organize a Berlin Bureau. His advantage was that he had the opportunity to interview several of the people who had been in the Bunker and were now in British and American custody. He also made several trips into the bunker.
Assessment: Generally reliable and useful

Pierre Galante and Eugene Silianoff, Voices from the Bunker, tr. Jan Dally, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1989, 172 pp. no source notes, no Bibliography, index. Both authors are experienced researchers and writers. The importance of this book is that they were allowed to use Traudl Junge’s, Hitler’s personal secretary, unpublished memoir of her time as Hitler’s secretary. She was in the Bunker until the end. No source notes and no Bibliography. Index.
Assessment: Reliable in-so-far as Frau Junge’s memoirs are concerned, good first-person material.

Ada Petrova & Peter Watson, The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with New Evidence from Secret Russian Archives, New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1995, softback, 180 pp. Annotated Bibliography, Index. Assessment: Very reliable

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Thanks for the recommendations Dwight.

Cheers,
Steve

[JMM]

Dwight, once Rochus Misch was in the bunker until the end, would you consider his book too?

[Pauls1970]

Hi Dwight,
I read JP Donnell's book quite a few years ago, very interesting. Recently I read the Hitler book (translation of the dossier prepared for Stalin, post 1945) which is based on the interrogations of Linge & Gunsche & Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter which details the identification of AH's remains, both interesting books. I think that Hugh Trevor Roper's book (wish I'd read it first) wraps it up pretty well, pretty amazing the detective work he carried out in 1945, considering the country was 'upside down' & the resources he had to hand, that book stands the test of time !
Regards
Paul

[drmessimer]

I haven't seen that one, but I will certainly look for it. Can you give me the title? Thanks for the heads-up.
JMM has recommende a book by Mich Rochus who was Hitler's telephonist in the bunker, titled Der Letzte Zeuge that is also available in English as Hitler's Last Witness. Both versions are available on bookfinder.com I cannot comment on either version, but I ordered the book in German and after I read it I will tell you what I think. Dwight

[drmessimer]

Paul; indeed, Hugh Trevor-Roper did a fine job and was the first reliable historian to tell the world what happened to AH. I was just a boy when the war ended in Europe and I remember all the wild speculation about Hitler being in Argentina. Trevor-Roper put that fantasy to rest, but there were still people who believed otherwise, which was not unexpected considering the secrecy the Russians maintained about Hitler's death. I was stationed in Berlin before the Wall went up, and the field where the Bunker was located was open to view even though it was in the East Sector. Only the air-shaft was visible above ground. I was back in Berlin when the Communists destroyed the underground chambers of the Bunker in July 1988. We stood on a platform that allowed us to see over the wall and into the open bunker. There wasn't much to see, but I found it interesting just to be able to see what a rabbit warren it was. Dwight

[Pauls1970]

Fascinating for you to have actually laid eyes on the bunker remains, gone forever now, I only remember it through a couple of documentaries during the 80s, a grassed over pile of rubble, a direct link to when the whole complex was razed to the ground. There have been a few other few memoirs that I have read by Von Below, Heinz Linge, Erich Kempka, Traudl Junge, the first three were only translated into english in the last 10-15 years, all give different insights into the life of the 'inner circle' & the final event, all very interesting !
Here's a couple of links to the two other books I initially meentioned Sorry! Something went wrong! & Sorry! Something went wrong! , you'll probably be able to get them cheaper on the site you mentioned, think you'll enjoy them !
Regards
Paul

[JMM]

Further reading:

The Death of Hitler: The Final Word
by Jean-Christophe Brisard, Lana Parshina

Bis zur letzten Stunde: Hitlers Sekretärin erzählt ihr Leben
by Traudl Junge (already mentioned by Paul)

Inside Hitler’s Bunker
by Joachim Fest

In The Bunker With Hitler - The Last Witness Speaks
By Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven

With Hitler to the End: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Valet
By Heinz Linge (already mentioned by Paul)

I Was Hitler's Chauffeur: The Memoir of Erich Kempka
by Erich Kempka (already mentioned by Paul)

Hitlers letzte Zeugen (Ten Days to Die)
by Michael A Musmanno

In Hitler's Bunker: A Boy Soldier's Eyewitness Account of the Fuhrer's Last Days
by Armin D. Lehmann

The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, the Evidence, the Truth
by Anton Joachimsthaler

Hitler's Death: Russia's Last Great Secret from the Files of the KGB
by V.K. Vinogradov


complementary reading:

He Was My Chief: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Secretary
by Christa Schroeder


At Hitler's Side: The Memoirs of Hitler's Luftwaffe Adjutant
by Nicolaus Von Below (already mentioned by Paul)

[drmessimer]

JMM: Thanks for posting those titles which are an excellent addition to the thread. Dwight

[Ramius]

There was an interesting film that came out a few years ago, "The Day Hitler Died". Or rather, had almost been lost to time, and was released by the Smithsonian channel. Original archive film by Musmanno, Nuremburg judge.

Article: Rare Interviews With Hitler's Inner Circle Reveal What Truly Happened on "The Day Hitler Died"
|
History

| Smithsonian Magazine
Video: YouTube