Henrik Eberle, Matthias Uhl: Stalins Hitler dossier. Publisher Aschehoug 2005. 500 s. 349 dkr.
This book was actually written by NKVD (The Soviet Intelligence Service) by the order of Josef Stalin about Adolf Hitler. The main purpose was to find out what went through Hitler’s mind in his bunker in Berlin at the end of the war.
It starts with the question: Why would Hitler attack the Soviet Union after they had signed the non-aggression pact? There isn’t any answer for that question. But one theory says that Hitler was afraid that Stalin would attack. Stalin received this book, which he read and made personal comments on. But that version of the book lies deep in the archives in Russia, and it will probably never be released. But we can read this version without Stalins comments. What did Hitler do? How was he? Who was he, would be a better question to ask.
This book is a little quite special in regard to the evidence that is presented to substantiate the information we are presented with. We have two reliable sources who knew Adolf Hitler intimately. They were both captured by the Soviet troops when they entered Berlin from the eastern front and they were taken to a secret base, where a chief investigator interrogated them about the Adolf Hitler. They were two SS-officers Heinz Linge and Otto Günsche. They worked as Hitler’s personal servants. For days on end they were asked specific questions about their former leader. The chief investigator finally compiled the book and sent it to Josef Stalin.
The book gives us a detailed account of what Hitler has done and what he has said. We get an insight in the way he acted, talked and how he went on with his life even when the Soviet troops were closing in on Berlin. The text goes on saying that Hitler goes from being charismatic and strong-willed, to a person who needed to keep himself going by using drugs, which were vitamine and caffeine injections. Dr. Morel, his private doctor, injected him on a daily basis, sometimes even twice a day. A part of his physiological and psychological decline was because of the continuous misuse of the drugs. He was once a leader of a nation where people followed him blindly, now he had become a person who couldn’t maintain the loyalty of his nearest staff. They slowly began to leave him at the end of the war.
The big turning point in Hitler’s life was when his troops lost Stalingrad and began to retreat back towards the German homeland. Hitler was furious when he received reports from his chief of staff about the war on the Russian front. He blamed everything on the generals out in the frontline. He even had his officers executed for defeatism. The book gives an account of how he treated his subordinates and people who questioned his orders. Rommel, the Nazi-commander who led the battles in northern Africa, was murdered after he retreated back to Germany. Rommel didn’t have any supplies or troops, even though Hitler had promised him to give the things he required and needed. But Hitler’s policy on no retreat got him executed. Hitler didn’t want to accept that his soldiers had suffered a lot. He didn’t think about the people’s morals out in the frontline. Hitler believed that the Nazi ideology would keep them on fighting until they would give him victory. But fatigue and continuous losses on the battlefield was very demoralizing for the troops. Victory wasn’t possible.
Sadly, when the Soviet troops took Berlin, he knew his time was over. He began the plans to kill himself and his girlfriend, Eva Braun. He told Linge, his personal servant, to take his and Eva Braun’s bodies outside and burn them, because he didn’t want his body to be in a museum in the Soviet Union. People in the bunker with him tried to convince him to leave Berlin before it was too late, but Hitler refused. When the Soviet artillery was shelling Berlin, he and Eva Braun got married and later committed suicide. This, however, has been disputed as a historical fact. According to Linge and Günsche, the way Eva Braun died, was by taking a cyancalium pill, whereas Hitler shot himself in the head. The bodies were then carried out and burned outside an emergency exit of the bunker. One of the problems the book neglects to solve is the question of where the cartridge went. It is stated in the book that no one found the cartridge. Of course, it is hard to say whether or not it did happen.
The book also states that because of Hitler’s suicide, the Goebbels family all killed themselves. Frau Goebbels killed her 6 children with pills, after which she and her husband took their own lives. This very disturbing event can be experienced through all its horror in the movie “Der Untergang”.
Heinze and Linge could be lying about a lot of things. But the question isn’t whether or not they were lying or telling the truth. But this book certainly gives us an insight in the events, which cannot be purely dismissed as non-factual evidence of what Hitler has done.
The 8th Of May 1945, Germany, The Third Reich, capitulated. The Allied Forces had won a terrible war, which had taken millions of lives. Innocent people on both sides got killed. Lets make sure that history never forgets the horrific events that took place. It is important to know what happened in that bunker, to understand the essence of one mans insanity.