The Final Days of the Third Reich As Told To Woodward and Bernstein
Levine, Arthur
The Final Days of theThird Reich As Told To Woodward and Bernstein bv Arthur Levine Following the critical and commercial success of our book The Final Days, our publishers have prevailed on us...
...Himmler was disturbed...
...Bob Woodward Carl Bernstein THIS WAS an extraordinary mission, Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo chief, settled in for the two-hour train trip to Berchtesgaden...
...Yes, Goering said, that was a good idea, The train pulled into the Berchtesgaden station at 5:22 p. m., sending clouds of steam 18 feet into the air...
...Beats me, Hermann,” Himmler answered...
...With his lacquered fingernails and green velvet capes, he cut an impressive figure at the Reichschancellery...
...They kept their concerns to themselves, however...
...He was reading a travel guide to Argentina when they came in...
...I’m so glad you could come here,” Bormann said, adjusting his argyle socks...
...That’s the plan...
...It was April 21, 1945...
...He tugged absent-mindedly on his lapels with their provocative death’s-head insignia...
...No anti-Semite should continue to lead the German people, they agreed...
...he pleaded...
...The two sensitive and brilliant aides were leaving behind a hot, sunny Munich...
...Events were closing in on him...
...In the course of reconstructing events, we interviewed 586 Nazis and checked every detail with at least two sources...
...The Jews, Goering thought, were bright, hard-working, patriotic...
...It’s the ball game...
...The way you’ve handled it has been very skillful...
...As the train moved through western Germany, the amiable, flarnboyant Goering mused about his own attitudes towards the Jewish people...
...We have avoided those pitfalls here...
...Now he would be called a war criminal by close-minded critics...
...He had not been sleeping well...
...I’m going to convert to Judaism the first chance I get, as a small symbol of atonement for your immoral atrocities, which you implemented without my knowledge...
...They had just learned of a signed memo linking Hitler to concentration camps...
...The Fuhrer’s team could pull through, but it would not be easy...
...It was September 15, 1943...
...Now Himmler knew...
...Privately, the two men were troubled by the meeting...
...Hello, Ilse...
...For years, they had faithfully served Hitler, never once imagining that he was capable of such depravity...
...Many supplied us with notes, memos, letters, and diaries, which were of immeasurable benefit...
...They had heard him do it before...
...It was eerie...
...It was all hearsay, innuendo, but, still, the two men were troubled...
...There it was, in black and white...
...Finally, he asked point-blank: “Mein Fuhrer, what are your true feelings about the Jewish people...
...Of course, we could lean on the Poles, too,” he added...
...They exchanged brief pleasantries...
...Goebbels would relay their answers...
...There had been some talk that the Fuhrer was anti-Semitic...
...Our ability to penetrate the innermost workings of the Third Reich should provide valuable insights for those interested in our methodology...
...Not really, Himmler said...
...But they were committed to serve, and they would do their best...
...Ahead of them lay the mountains and lakes of western Germany and Austria...
...The two men got off the train and looked for their chauffeured automobiles, which would take them to the Berghof, the Fuhrer’s mountain retreat...
...Goering and Himmler were finally led into Hitler’s office...
...He had always despised anti-Semites, and although he had never personally met any, he had heard that they were without a smattering of human decency...
...They did not wish to add to the Fuhrer’s burdens...
...He tapped his engraved swastika ring on the armrest as he recalled his lifelong admiration for the Jews...
...His decisions were unpredictable: one day, silence, the next day, they invaded Russia...
...Churchill was an “asshole,” Mussolini “that fat wop...
...It was a shame, but he would bear up under the burden...
...There was not much room for maneuvering here...
...Wimmler asked...
...How could you lie to us all these years...
...Suddenly, Himmler flashed with anger...
...A plump, avuncular man with a fondness for expensive paintings, Goering had many Jewish friends from his days as a World War I air force hero...
...He had made prolonged concealment possible...
...Until they uncovered the death-camp memo...
...Proof...
...He was, perhaps, not without guilt...
...Several of the principals met with each other to refresh their memories on these important events...
...Himmler looked at the pathetic figure before him with a mixture of loathing and contempt...
...It was something I had to do if I were to trick good people like yourself into devoting themselves to the national interest,” Hitler said, glancing at his Timex...
...The two men greeted these remarks with a disappointed silence...
...He thought to himself that the world will never know the full truth...
...Nothing was black and white, he said...
...Himmler noted that all people, even dictators, said things they don’t mean...
...He hit his fists together in exasperation...
...Traditional history, with its cumbersome reliance on footnotes and attributed statements, is too often marred by the desire by participants to “sanitize” the record for posterity...
...I accept your apologies, Mein Fuhrer,” Himmler responded...
...The Final Days of theThird Reich As Told To Woodward and Bernstein bv Arthur Levine Following the critical and commercial success of our book The Final Days, our publishers have prevailed on us to bring out a new edition of our early work on Adolf Hitler’s downfall, first published in 1947...
...He was sitting on a brown leather couch in a small 12-by-9-foot room with a gun pointed at his head...
...Hitler rambled on about nothing, making little sense...
...For most of the travelers, the trip was an occasion for relaxation, a brief respite from the war...
...Yet now Hitler acted as if he were reaching out to Himmler for forgiveness, some sign of absolution...
...A fly hovered two inches above the window sill...
...Goering asked...
...You know,” he remarked, “Hess just didn’t have his head screwed on right,” “The Jews, Mein Fuhrer, what’s happened to all the Jews...
...He should have known, goddammit...
...It was, he realized now, all too true...
...Himmler was skeptical, but he didn’t press the point with Hitler...
...It could be a problem...
...Goering was well equipped to judge the finer qualities of man...
...He kept up his contacts after he joined the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (“Nazis”) in the 1920s...
...He collapsed with laughter, then composed himself...
...As the pastoral scene outside sped by their windows, Himmler and Goering were in a reflective mood...
...They walked quickly down the hall and strode 29 yards into an empty office...
...But it would be wrong...
...He went to his office to write a letter of resignation on a yellow legal pad...
...We made it clear that we would check all facts with other participants...
...Of course, he had been careful not to participate...
...The two Nazi leaders realized that the Fuhrer was probably thinking out loud- trying out outrageous alternatives as a way of reaching decisions...
...The Fuhrer, Bormann said, had been withdrawn and uncommunicative, making decisions in isolation...
...Where have they gone...
...Himmler and Goering were shocked by the new evidence...
...Goering was an aesthete and an elegant dresser...
...Hitler seemed preoccupied...
...Hitler exploded, “1 don’t give a shit how you do it, just get rid of them...
...Bormann felt he didn’t really know the Fuhrer...
...Himmler was reminded once again of the enormous distance between them...
...Goering and Himmler met secretly in the fashionable conference room of the Reichschancellery bunker...
...They had reached an inescapable conclusion: they must go to Berchtesgaden, confront the Fuhrer with these allegations, and ask him to put all doubts to rest...
...From these and other areas of inquiry, we drew up a list of several hundred persons to be interviewed...
...Absolutely not, Hitler said...
...The foreign press still had questions, they learned...
...And I would have joined the Allies and brought you to justice, too...
...The soft-spoken Martin Bormaim, often called the conscience of the Reichschancellery, greeted them in the anteroom outside Hitler’s office...
...WHEN THEY arrived at the chalet, the two men were led through a living room that was 60 feet long and 50 feet wide, with Italian paintings and Gobelin tapestries hanging on the walls...
...Then they got to the point...
...Rumors here and there, but nothing solid, no firm evidence...
...Standing up to leave, Himrnler said, “Thanks for giving us fresh insights into your views on the Jewish people...
...He looked pale and exhausted...
...Some spent many hours with us, and v o 1 u n t e er e d inform at i o n freely...
...Himmler exclaimed...
...Finally, Goering asked, “Have you heard anything about these so-called concentration camps...
...They would stand by the Fuhrer...
...He had been in this mood for at least five years, maybe more...
...Bormann tells me what a good job you’ve been doing...
...More in sorrow than in anger, they decided that Himmler should arrange to meet the Fuhrer one last time...
...I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the concentration camps, Heinrich,” Hitler said, tears coming to his eyes...
...You’re damn right, Hitler,” he shot back...
...The results speak for themselves...
...There used to be so many of them...
...They must ask the Fuhrer about them...
...The Fuhrer was not being very cooperative in dispelling any lingering doubts...
...Now and then there were the occasional dulled reverberations of artillery shells overhead...
...The end was near, he realized, and as he strolled along the corridors he pondered his own role...
...Was the Fuhrer an anti-Semite...
...There used to be so many of them, and now I can’t seem to get them on the phone any more...
...The Fuhrer glanced at a picture of his dog, Blondi...
...The Fuhrer was seated at his desk, drinking a Lowenbrau...
...We divided this massive undertaking into several areas of inquiry, including: Adolf Hitler the Reichschancellery staff the SS the Gestapo the Propaganda Ministry the Luftwaffe the Nazi Party Hitler’s personal physicians the public record-statements by Nazi leaders, newspaper articles, memArthur Levine is a contributing editor of The Washington Monthly...
...No, Himmler said, Hitler was not an antiSemite...
...Hitler shrugged...
...Goering and Himmler had heard rumors that the Fuhrer was anti-Semitic...
...You know, Heinrich,” Goering said, twirling his three-foot gold baton, “lately, I sure miss having my close Jewish friends around to talk to...
...He sighed with stoic resignation...
...They sat across from each other in two leather chairs, and sorted out their feelings...
...The biggest problem here, Goering thought, is credibility...
...Drawing on their reserves of inner strength, they summoned up the courage to walk out of the office with big smiles on their faces...
...They themselves didn’t believe the charges, they made clear, but it was important for the sake of the country that Hitler lay the rumors to rest...
...He had wanted a Third Reich devoted to civil liberties and racial equality, but his efforts apparently had had no im52 pact on Hitler’s policies...
...Still, he hadn’t known of any specific piece of evidence...
...Here, in embryo form, are the journalistic techniques that were later brought to fruition in The Final Days...
...We’re definitely out of the woods,” THE RUSSIAN troops had reached the outskirts of Berlin...
...All life is sacred, down to the lowliest animal in God’s creation...
...Yet these two public servants were not in a holiday mood...
...The three men shook hands, and Himmler and Goering simultaneously realized how little they really knew the Fullrer, even after all these years...
...Excuse me for a moment,” the Fuhrer said, picking up a bright red phone on his desk...
...He was tough, shrewd, and loyal...
...He had unwittingly helped keep things going...
...I’m dying to find out,” Hitler said, winking broadly...
...Himmler and Goering finally wanted to get ahead of the problem, meet the current charges, anticipate future ones, answer them all...
...Then he walked out, never once looking back at his nation’s leader...
...48 oirs, and official documents of the Third Reich...
...The skies were overcast...
...Himmler and Goering were beset with fresh doubts...
...He had been troubled by the defeat at Stalingrad, the Allied landing in Italy, the fall of Africa...
...The sun poured in at a 47-degree angle through the windows...
...Will you ever forgive me...
...Which one of us is without sin...
...Don’t do that, Hermann...
...You know how strongly I feel about religious freedom and the sacredness of human life...
...Himmler got up to leave...
...Hitler turned back to face his confused assistants...
...The two men nodded in agreement...
...The gossips in the Reichschancellery had been asking the same question for over two years: What did the Fuhrer know and when did he know it...
...All interviewees were assured that their identities would remain forever secret, We vowed to go to our graves with the names of our sources locked within our hearts, Without this rigid security, we would never have been able to get an honest picture of the last days of the Third Reich...
...As President of the Reichstag, then as Air Minister and founder of the Gestapo, Goering had impressed associates with his willingness to work long hours and his insider’s knowledge of the bureaucracy...
...I know that you are completely innocent and I only hope that you have an opportunity to vindicate yourself in a court of daw, or, failing that, in any con temporary histories produced by journalists after my downfall...
...He paused for a long moment...
...Had Hitler played any role in mistreating Jews...
...If you knew my real thoughts about the Jewish people, I’m sure you would have left the country in the 1930s...
...It was part of the process...
...Himmler the monster,” the Allies would probably call him...
...He lowered his eyes...
...We’ve found the smoking Luger,” Himmler told Goering, his voice calm and emotionless...
...Goering nodded sol em n 1 y . Furthermore, Himmler added, the Fuhrer’s approach to the Jewish question had to be understood in the context of Hjtler’s global plans for the security of the Third Reich...
...He might tell himself that he hadn’t known what was going on, But there had been hints and signs everywhere, all along the way...
...Get it...
...The problem is behind us,” Goering added...
...The two men lapsed into silence for 72 seconds...
...They had pledged their lives to him, and he had betrayed them...
...Somehow, it didn’t make him feel much better...
...Goering moved over to crush it, but Himmler reached out instinctively to grab his hand...
...The image of antiSemitism was hampering foreign policy...
...They were nervous and tense as they contemplated their upcoming meeting with Adolf Hitler...
Vol. 8 • September 1976 • No. 7
