Hitler's Last Witness (7 page)

Next day my work began.

In the SS Bodyguard

There were about twenty of us and we worked three shifts around the clock: from six to two; two to ten; and ten to six (the night shift). Each shift had one senior and three men on detached duty, a messenger and two men on watch duties. In order to raise alertness, the watch, telephone, courier and messenger duties were alternated.

One of us would sit on sentry duty at a small table downstairs, at the kitchen entrance to the Old Reich Chancellery. From there, a stairway led directly up to Hitler's suite, twenty-two steps in all. It was guarded by just one man. In my first days, the sparse security precautions struck me. Before going on duty, I had a long walk through the New and Old Chancelleries, from which it was easy to notice that the security watch on the head of state was not especially thorough.

I was living in Gerda's parents' house, sleeping in a tiny room, and continued to do so until Gerda and I were married. Every morning, unless I had been on night shift, I went from Rudow by tram to the Potsdamerplatz, then through the Wertheim department store on Leipzigerplatz, leaving by the deliveries door on Voss-Strasse. The nearest entry into the complex of buildings was at Voss-Strasse 6, the entrance into the president's Chancellery headed by Otto Meissner.
[2]
In the reception foyer there would be somebody seated in a glass box, but he had only the usual information function. One did not have to report to him or explain oneself. From there one proceeded through the interior to the New Reich Chancellery. I walked along endless corridors until I reached the adjutants' wing in the Old Reich Chancellery. On leaving the Great Reception Hall behind me, I crossed the 150-metre-long Marble Gallery with long strides. Leading off from it was Hitler's study, which incidentally he never used as such; it was only occupied as a reception room. Then one reached the two floors of offices occupied by assistants to Hans Heinrich Lammers, Hitler's head of the Reich Chancellery throughout all his time in government. On again through the Dome and Mosaic Hall to the dining room, and the steps leading down into the Old Reich Chancellery. In contrast to the New Reich Chancellery, the ground floor was level with the ground outside. The Führer's Chancellery
[3]
was in the building between the Old and New Chancellery, the area being called Borsig Palace.
[4]
I cannot recall having met a security man once on the whole walk. There was simply nobody about. The Reich security service, SD, used to stroll round to make sure everything was as it should be, but no more than that.

My room in the Old Reich Chancellery had a view of Wilhelm-Strasse and was situated in the adjutants' wing, not more than twelve or fifteen metres from Hitler's private rooms. Nearby was a room for laundry; the toilet and shower were along the corridor. Dwellings had been built on the garden side of the New Reich Chancellery for those employed in the Reich Chancellery, but when I joined the bodyguard they were all taken.

In the five years that I was with Hitler, I got to know five of his servants: Hermann Bussmann, Willy Arndt, Hans Junge, Fehrs Linge and Heinz Linge.
[5]
Karl Krause, Hitler's first servant, already had another function when I came to the bodyguard. Hitler did not have his own valet from the outset – the job was initially rotated between members of the bodyguard. It became obvious that it had to be somebody's sole responsibility, so that ‘the boss' always had the right clothes to hand. A valet was employed. At first, this was the naval rating Krause, who took up his duties having watched training films at the Servant School, Munich-Pasing.

Krause was a really droll type. I believed him immediately when he recounted liberties that he had taken with Hitler pre-war. He said that once he planted himself before him and, in a tone of voice that brooked no contradiction, stated: ‘Mein Führer, today you have to wear the black shoes; I have forgotten the brown ones.' When on another occasion Hitler did not really want to accept an invitation to the opera, he asked Krause what he should wear. The servant suggested he should toss for it. Hitler lost. Krause fetched the dress uniform and ‘the boss' resigned himself to wearing it without a word.

This composure disappeared when the war broke out. During the Polish campaign Krause fell out of favour when he gave Hitler spring water instead of the Fachingen cure water he always took, and lied when asked about it. Martin Bormann insisted on consequences, stating that Krause was unreliable, was not to be tolerated in Hitler's immediate entourage, and that Hitler could have got sick drinking spring water.
[6]
Krause swore to the effect that everybody without exception had drunk the spring water and additionally he had asked the doctor if it would be all right to give it to Hitler. Somebody even suggested he had wanted to poison the Führer; this was downright nonsense. Krause often complained that he attracted undeserved criticism, and that day during the Polish campaign when Hitler had received a bad report was a prime opportunity for him to feel Hitler's wrath.
[7]

Krause was transferred to working in the Reich Chancellery kitchens, but returned to the Kriegsmarine at his own request. Some time later he was back, after Hitler enquired of Krause's wife – who had continued to be employed at the Reich Chancellery – where her husband was at present. She told him that he was in a military hospital after the destroyer on which he had been serving had been sunk. This was the third sinking that had happened to Krause. On hearing it, Hitler recalled him to his personal staff, though he never again served as his valet. Krause enjoyed relating how, in their first conversation after his return, the Führer had said to him: ‘Krause, I had to take you out of it, every one of the ships on which you were serving has been sunk. Better you are here than that you sink my whole fleet all by yourself.'

The temperament of the former valet soon did for him again, however. One day in our restroom he was boasting about his shooting prowess, and his colleagues – I was not there – scoffed at him until he jumped up and shot the hanging lamps with his service pistol. That was the end of his service with Hitler. Later, we heard that Krause had been enormously successful in the SS flak section of his division and finished the war highly decorated. So he was probably not such a bad shot after all.

I was also quite good at shooting, as my placing at the 1936 rifle festival confirmed. Once I had to provide my comrade Max Wünsche with shooting instruction at the cadet establishment.
[8]
The most important thing is a steady hand. I got Max to keep lifting a bucket filled with sand and then pick up the weapon. This gives you the feeling that the weapon is light as a feather, and one can control it easily.

In the early days at the Reich Chancellery, my main job involved messenger duties inside the building complex. My rounds took me mostly to Hans Heinrich Lammers, Otto Meissner, Walther Hewel, the liaison officer to the Foreign Ministry headed by Joachim von Ribbentrop, and to Otto Dietrich, Reich press chief, for whom Heinz Lorenz and Helmut Sündermann worked. Since the outbreak of war, the traffic in paper between all these important functionaries had significantly increased; this was also one of the reasons for my employment there.

But what if I unexpectedly ran across Hitler – ‘the boss' as he was always called. I kept wondering. I could not imagine it happening, but I was sure I would do something wrong at that moment – and the idea panicked me. Let anything happen, but don't run across the Führer. However, I now lived in his immediate vicinity.

My new colleague Hauptscharführer Erich Kraut shared my fear and advised me to avoid the lobby. The way through the courtyard and the personnel entrance was ‘safe'. I accepted his advice gratefully and made every detour necessary to escape a meeting. I could see that this was ultimately inevitable, but I convinced myself that I had to work my way into the new environment a little before I would feel ready for the inevitable encounter. In reality, I would not have had the courage to plan a chance meeting even then, but when it came, luckily, it was totally unexpected.

‘The Boss'

Around a week after I began my service – it must have been 8 or 9 May 1940
[9]
– my meeting with Hitler finally came about. It occurred in connection with a friendly talk I had with Chief Adjutant Brückner. In his office we discussed my comrades-in-arms and the decorations I had received during the Polish campaign – the Iron Cross Second Class and the Wound Badge – and the fact that I had also been promoted to NCO as an Unterscharführer.
**
He also mentioned my turnout. I should change my footwear as soon as possible. ‘The boss does not like to see them' – by this he meant the deep impressions on the thick carpet made by heavy military boots. We went together to the door, which I, a well-drilled soldier, opened smartly to allow Brückner to pass ahead. He made no move. I followed his stare in surprise. In the doorway, holding a letter in his hand, stood Hitler.

While Brückner was introducing me as a new man, Hitler glanced at me briefly but seemed not to be interested in what Brückner was telling him about me. Apparently, he had heard the last part of our conversation near the door. I went hot and cold. Hitler turned to his chief adjutant: ‘Where does the young man come from?'

‘Silesia, I think,' Brückner answered.

Hitler looked at me: ‘Is that so?'

I replied: ‘
Jawohl
' – forgetting to add ‘
Mein Führer
' – ‘from Upper Silesia, near Oppeln.'

Turning to Brückner again, Hitler asked: ‘Do we have any more people from Silesia among us?'

‘I do not believe so,' Brückner said.

‘Well, the young man can do something for me,' Hitler went on. Handing me a letter he said: ‘Take that to my sister in Vienna.' With that, he turned and went out.

A heavy weight dropped from my heart. Now I had it behind me. He was for me, as for most of the German people, ‘the Führer'. I do not know what I had been expecting, but it had all been quite mundane, no trace of anything extraordinary. I had seen neither a monster nor a superman. This first impression was confirmed over the years. The private individual Hitler was a normal, simple man, the simplest man I ever knew. Only outside did he slip into his Führer role; only then did everything have to go according to protocol – the stage settings perfect. Privately however – and we of the
SS-Begleitkommando
(bodyguard) belonged to his private life – he was uncomplicated. Larger than life and dominating, that was the statesman and everybody who surrounded him in this function. In himself, as a private person, Hitler was extremely unpretentious. After this first meeting I felt relieved. Now ten Hitlers could come; my fears had gone.

House administrator Arthur Kannenberg gave me a package to go with the letter I had been handed. There were some sweets or coffee in it. After receiving a provisional identification paper with Hitler's signature, I took the night train for Vienna, travelling in the separate couriers' compartment. On arrival, I went to the fourth floor of a block of flats and pressed a door bell with no name tag.

Paula Hitler was expecting me. She was pleasant and considerate, gave me tea and biscuits.
[10]
I thought she looked like Hitler – she had the same facial structure. While nervously sipping my tea, she asked after her brother. She wanted to learn something about him – from me, his courier. Proudly and a little self-consciously I told her that I had only been a short time in his service, and was therefore unable to tell her much. Nevertheless, I spent a good half hour with her. I only saw her on one other occasion, at the Berghof, when she visited her brother.

I also got to know Hitler's half-brother Alois.
[11]
He was the landlord of the inn Zum Alois on Berlin's Wittenbergplatz. This was not far from the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) department store, which had opened in 1907. The inn suited Alois, or Alois suited the inn. In keeping with his peasant background, he had had the place done up in rustic style; it was all very cosy. I only ever went there twice, bringing some envelopes at the behest of Albert Bormann, which I assumed contained cheques.
[12]
Then I would stay for a beer. Today, there is still an inn on the site – the taproom and the bar on the back wall are the same as they were.

In Dresden, I occasionally visited Angela Hammitzsch, Hitler's half-sister, whom everybody continued to call Frau Raubal although she had remarried. Each time she would give me fruit tarts for her brother, which I would deliver to house administrator Kannenberg.

After fulfilling my mission at Paula Hitler's, I was expected to spend the night in Vienna. At the imposing Hotel Imperial three rooms were constantly reserved for state visitors and anyone attached to the Reich Chancellery.
[13]
The hotel was much too grand for me, and I lacked the confidence to go in.

Before I left for Vienna, Brückner had indicated that I could attach three days' leave at my grandmother's to my courier trip, so I decided to go straight to the railway station and take the next train for Breslau. ‘It's not far from there to your home province,' Brückner had told me. As a soldier, I was completely unaccustomed to this laxity. From my training all I knew was a strict organisation, clear instructions and orders. Total obedience was the supreme duty, and independent thinking, even one's own decision-making, did not exist. Thinking, we were informed, was best left to horses, because they had bigger heads. It seemed that it was time for me to forget the barracks. Things here were different.