Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Archivist at the National Archives at College Park. This is the fifth post in a multi-part series.
It was now shortly after 4pm, April 30, 1945. Both Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were dead, having committed suicide some ten minutes earlier. Linge, Hitler’s valet, placed Hitler’s body on a blanket and wrapped it around him, and he and another man picked up the body and moved it into the central corridor. There, Linge at the front end carrying the legs and Hoegl, Ewald Lindloff, and Hans Reisser at the back end carrying the head and shoulders, and possibly Sturmbannfuehrer Franz Schedle (commander of the SS Escort), immediately moved through the central corridor in the direction of the bunker’s emergency exit that led into the Chancellery garden. As they moved through the bunker, only the lower extremities – clad in black trousers, black silk socks and black leather shoes, such as Hitler habitually wore – were visible to Axmann, Mohnke (who had just shown up) and others and clearly recognizable. Initially following Hitler’s body upstairs out of the bunker were Goebbels, Krebs, and Burgdorf. Guensche, after interacting with Eric Kempka, who had just shown up, followed the others up the stairs.[1]
Meanwhile, Kempka, who had been tasked with finding petrol and having it placed near the garden exit and then to report to Guensche, hurried by the quickest route over rubble and wrecked vehicles in the Chancellery area to Guensche, to find out what was happening. At the moment he entered the bunker, Guensche was leaving Hitler’s room, and they met in the lobby to the situation conference room. Kempka wrote “His features had changed visibly. As white as chalk and distraught, he stared at me.” Kempka told Guensche that he must be mad asking him to endanger the lives of a half dozen of his men to bring petrol under the extensive and continuing artillery bombardment. Guensche told him Hitler was dead. Kempka asked where Braun was. Guensche said she was still in Hitler’s room and briefly told him about the suicides. Just then Bormann came out of the antechamber with Braun’s body in his arms. Those that witnessed this could see that the blanket she had been wrapped in did not cover her head and feet. Kempka felt that Bormann “was carrying her as if she were a sack of potatoes…So I grabbed the body of Eva Braun Hitler from Bormann and began to carry her up the stairs myself. I think if Bormann had resisted my effort, I would have hauled him off and clobbered him, but he made no protest.” Kempka noticed that she bore no signs of injuries or blood. When he had reached the middle landing of the staircase with her body, Guensche came down the steps toward him, and noticing that Kempka’s strength was failing, took the body from Kempka without saying a word. Guensche immediately noticed an intense smell of almonds emanating from the body and noticed that the body showed no signs of injury. Guensche turned the body over to SS officers as he reached the top of stairs. Kempka would be behind them.[2]
As the guard, Hans Hofbeck, opened the emergency exit door, Erich Mansfeld, on duty at the guard station in the bunker’s concrete tower, opened the iron window of the tower and noticed who he thought to be Hofbeck and three members of Hitler’s bodyguard running out. A few minutes later Mansfeld left the tower and went over to the emergency exit to see what was happening. He went into the exit and immediately met several SS officers carrying a body wrapped in a blanket, with black-trousered legs up to the knees protruding from it, as well as part of the left arm and all of the right arm. Mansfeld immediately believed it was Hitler based on the black trousers and the shoes he recognized. Then Mansfeld saw another SS officer carrying the unmistakable corpse of Braun, who he had seen on many occasions and who was wearing the same dress she had been wearing when Mansfeld had talked to her about 12 hours earlier. Behind them followed Bormann, Goebbels, Guensche, Linge, Kempka, Burdorf, and possibly Stumpfegger. Guensche shouted at Mansfeld to get out of the way quickly and return to his post. In the excitement of the moment Mansfled remained a few minutes on the stairway leading from the bunker and then he returned to his tower.[3]
As the bodies were on the verge of being carried out the emergency exit door to the garden, the Reich Chancellery area was being heavily shelled by the Russians. There were explosions very close by. Numerous fountains of soil plumed up. The air was filled with dust and smoke. Waiting for a pause between the shelling, both corpses were carried out through the exit, where they were laid down next to each other about two to four meters from the garden exit. At the moment Braun’s body was being put down, Bormann stepped up to Hitler’s body and freed the head from the blanket and stared at him for several seconds. While Guensche was still bent over, having helped put Braun’s body down, he again saw Hitler’s head for a short moment. In the meantime the bloodstains from the temple had spread further over the face. Then Bormann pulled the blanket over him again. [4]
Meanwhile Kempka rushed back to the shelter of the bunker, stopping for a moment, waiting for the next salvoes to arrive. Then he seized a canister of petrol, ran out again and placed it near the two bodies. Kempka then took off the cap of the petrol can. But then, shells exploded close by, spattering them with earth and dust, metal splinters whirred and whistled above them. Again he and some of the others who had not returned to inside the bunker exit earlier (probably Guensche and Bormann) ran to the bunker entrance for cover. They waited for the shelling in their area to die down. Then Kempka ran out speedily and grabbed the canister and poured the contents over the two bodies, while Guensche and Linge grabbed canisters, left the bunker exit, and poured petrol on Braun. Flying earth from exploding shells continued to spatter them. Kempka then fetched one fuel canister after another from the bunker entrance and poured them until the bodies were sufficiently soaked. Perhaps 40 to 50 gallons were used. Someone quickly tried to set the corpses on fire with a match, but this proved impossible, because of the various fires in the garden had created a fierce wind circulating in the area. Then the artillery bombardment increased to such an extent that it was no longer possible to leave the safety of the bunker entrance and for a few minutes none ventured out. [5]
Next, either Linge or Guensche acquired a large rag near the fire hoses at the bunker exit. The rag was torn in half, a petrol canister near the exit was opened, and the rag was soaked by Guensche with the contents. Goebbels took a box of matches from his pocket and handed it to either Bormann or Kempka, who lit the rag, handed it to Linge or Guensche who threw it towards the petrol-soaked corpses, which caught fire immediately. A gigantic flame shot upwards, soon followed by billowing black smoke. Standing at the bunker entrance Bormann, Goebbels, Stumpfegger, Guensche, Kempka, Linge, and some of the others, very quickly raised their hands for a last Hitler salute. The door had to be quickly slammed shut against the encroaching fire and fumes. They, the SS officers, and probably Krebs, Burgdorf, and Rattenhuber, lingered in silence by the closed door. Then they went down the stairs into the bunker. Guensche remained in the exit for a short while, and he ordered Hofbeck not to let anyone in or out. Subsequently, Guensche, like all the others, went back down into the bunker. The whole process had taken less than ten minutes. [6]
A few seconds before the burning rag was thrown onto the bodies Sergeant Hermann Karnau, one of the guards, stumbled upon the two bodies lying side by side, close to the door of the Bunker. Karnau had disobeyed orders and out of curiosity, came through the tunnel from the Chancellery to the main entrance of the bunker. When he got there he found the door bolted. So he retraced his steps to the Chancellery. From there he went into the garden, with the intention of entering the bunker from the emergency exit door. As he neared the door, he saw two bodies on the ground. He immediately recognized one of the bodies aa Hitler. It was lying on its back wrapped in a blanket. The blanket was folded open on both sides of the upper body, so that the head and chest were uncovered. The skull was partially caved in and the face encrusted with blood. The second corpse was lying with its back upwards. It was completely covered by the blanket except for the lower legs. He noticed jerricans near the bodies. As he was looking at the bodies, they burst, spontaneously it seemed, into flame. He could not explain the sudden combustion. He saw no one. He was three feet away from the bodies. From his vantage point the interior of the exit was not visible, so he did not see the people in the shelter of the entrance nor the burning rag thrown on the bodies. While this was taking place, the whole complex of the Chancellery lay under heavy fire, so Karnau did not linger to watch the burning corpses. By the time he was entering the emergency exit door, the others had already gone back into the bunker. Hofbeck allowed him entry and he went down to the bunker. There he met Schedle, who told him “The Fuehrer is dead…he is burning outside.” [7]
After the bodies had been set alight and all the people had returned to the interior of the bunker, Hofbeck remained on guard and again opened the door a short time later, which however was only possible for a brief moment because heavy petrol fumes and smoke blew towards him. There was a wind blowing towards the exit. On opening the door he could see that the bodies were still burning.[8]
Mansfeld having just returned to the tower, saw through an observations slit in the tower a huge column of black smoke coming from the direction of the emergency exit. A few minutes later, when the smoke had partly cleared, he could see the two burning bodies, about, he thought, two meters, to the left of the emergency exit. He recognized the body of Braun but could not be certain of the other body as that of Hitler’s.[9]
Meanwhile, Gertrude Junge (Hitler’s secretary) in the upper bunker with the Goebbels children, said that shortly after 410pm the smell of gasoline penetrated the bunker. Sometime before 430pm she recalled that Guensche came along, sat down next to her, and said “‘Now I completed the last and most difficult order in my life. I burnt the Chief and Eva. Eva was still warm when I carried her up. But the poison smells terribly, I cannot endure this smell anymore. Sturmbannfuehrer Heinz Linge has carried out the Chief. Now there is a heap of ashes lying and that is all that still remained.’” Sometime later, Junge said she was told by Linge, that both Hitler and Braun had just been cremated in the park of the Reich Chancellery, as was their will. Junge also said she met Kempka later and he told her that the bodies had been consumed.[10]
Guensche, Linge, and Kempka, besides speaking with Junge, would spend time clearing out Hitler’s quarters, retrieving the pistols; removing Hitler’s clothing, his personal effects and his medicine; and having the blood-stained rug taken outside and burned near the burning corpses. Linge burned all the papers that lay on Hitler’s desk.[11]
Meanwhile Mansfeld on duty in the tower, at intervals he saw SS men pour more petrol on the bodies to keep them alight. Around 530pm, Mansfeld was relieved of his post by Karnau. On his way to the emergency exit he recognized the remains of the still burning body of the woman. The other was almost completely burned and no longer recognizable. During the next three hours, Karnau and Mansfeld took turns in the tower. During those hours, when they left the tower, they looked at the bodies, which were charred and no longer identifiable. By 8pm the lower parts of both bodies had been burned away. At 9pm when Mansfeld visited the bodies again, they were still burning, but the flame was low. [12]
What happened next is not clear, especially since much contradictory information was provided by various participants, especially Mansfeld and Kempka, mostly during the early 1950s. It appears, however, whatever remains existed of the two bodies, sometime after 9pm, were moved on a tent shelter-half and dragged to a deep shell crater, about four or five meters from the exit, in the opposite direction of where the bodies were initially laid and burned. There the remains were placed in the crater and covered with earth and rubble. Sometime between 11pm and 1130pm, Mansfeld, from the tower, no longer saw the bodies. He did see, however, a bomb crater four to five meters in front of the emergency exit door, half filled with dirt. He was of the opinion the bodies were buried in the crater.[13]
Footnotes
[1] Testimony of Mr. Erich Kempka on the last days of Hitler, Berchtesgaden, June 20, 1945, File: 3735-PS, United States Evidence Files, 1945-46 (NAID 305264) Record Group 238; Testimony of Erich Kempka, July 3, 1946, Official Transcripts International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany, July 3, 1946, p. 12,897, ibid.; Historical Branch, War Department General Staff, G-2, Historical Interrogation Commission, Oberstrumbanfuehrer Erich Kempka, Chief Driver & Head of the Fuehrer’s Motor Pool, September 26, 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, Lt. Col. O. J. Hale, Interrogator, File: Historical Interrogation Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Special Interrogation of Erich Kempka, at US Third Army Internment Camp No. 6, Moosburg, October 7, 1945, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, ibid.; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 201-202; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 153-154, 192-196; Linge, With Hitler to the End, p. 200; Kempka, I Was Hitler’s Chauffeur, pp. 78, 79; Eberle and Uhl, eds., The Hitler Book, p. 271; Manuscript Statement by Hitler’s Aide-de-Camp, Otto Guensche, May 17, 1945 in Vinogrado, Pogonyi, and Teptzov, Hitler’s Death, p. 164; Evidence of the Head of Hitler’s Bodyguard Hans Rattenhuber, Moscow, May 20, 1945 in Vinogrado, Pogonyi, and Teptzov, Hitler’s Death, p. 195; Interrogation of Arthur Axmann, Palace of Justice, Nuremberg, 1630-1930 hours, January 7, 1948, pp. 33, 35, 41,Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University; [Interrogation of] Erwin Jakubeck, Munich, February 6, 1948, p. 32, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University; [Interrogation of] Christa Schroeder, Ludwigsburg, January 25, 1948, p. 6, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University.
[2] Testimony of Mr. Erich Kempka on the last days of Hitler, Berchtesgaden, June 20, 1945, File: 3735-PS, United States Evidence Files, 1945-46 (NAID 305264) Record Group 238; Testimony of Erich Kempka, July 3, 1946, Official Transcripts International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany, July 3, 1946, p. 12,897, ibid.; Historical Branch, War Department General Staff, G-2, Historical Interrogation Commission, Oberstrumbanfuehrer Erich Kempka, Chief Driver & Head of the Fuehrer’s Motor Pool, September 26, 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, Lt. Col. O. J. Hale, Interrogator, File: Historical Interrogation Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Special Interrogation of Erich Kempka, at US Third Army Internment Camp No. 6, Moosburg, October 7, 1945, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, ibid.; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 201-202; Kempka, I Was Hitler’s Chauffeur, pp. 76-78; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 193, 195, 196, 197; Linge, With Hitler to the End, p. 200; Eberle and Uhl, eds., The Hitler Book, p. 271; Manuscript Statement by Hitler’s Aide-de-Camp, Otto Guensche, May 17, 1945 in Vinogrado, Pogonyi, and Teptzov, Hitler’s Death, p. 164; Evidence of the Head of Hitler’s Bodyguard Hans Rattenhuber, Moscow, May 20, 1945 in Vinogrado, Pogonyi, and Teptzov, Hitler’s Death, p. 195; O’Donnell, The Berlin Bunker, p. 260; [Interrogation of] Erich Kempka, Munich, February 8, 1948, p. 14, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University; Interrogation of Arthur Axmann, Palace of Justice, Nuremberg, 1630-1930 hours, January 7, 1948, pp. 33, 34, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University; [Interrogation of] Erwin Jakubeck, Munich, February 6, 1948, p. 32, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University; [Interrogation of] Christa Schroeder, Ludwigsburg, January 25, 1948, p. 6, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University.
[3] Maj. Robert W. Minor, Acting Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Bremen Interrogation Center, Bremen Enclave Military District, Intermediate Interrogation Report (IRR), Erich Mansfield, Alias Erich Skrzipczk, July 30, 1945, File: Mansfeld, Erich M-7, Reports, Interrogations, and Other Records Received from Various Allied Military Agencies, 1945-1947 (NAID 647749) Record Group 238 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M-1270, Roll 25); Capt. James A. Love, Executive Officer, Bremen Interrogation Center, Enclave Military District, Final Interrogation Report (FIR) No. 43, Erich Mansfeld, August 3, 1945, File: 100-578, Persons and Places Case File (Dossier File), 1946-1949 (NAID 1688112) Record Group 153; Special Interrogation of Erich Kempka, at US Third Army Internment Camp No. 6, Moosburg, October 7, 1945, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Historical Branch, War Department General Staff, G-2, Historical Interrogation Commission, Oberstrumbanfuehrer Erich Kempka, Chief Driver & Head of the Fuehrer’s Motor Pool, September 26, 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, Lt. Col. O. J. Hale, Interrogator, File: Historical Interrogation Report, ibid.; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 202-203.
[4] Testimony of Mr. Erich Kempka on the last days of Hitler, Berchtesgaden, June 20, 1945, File: 3735-PS, United States Evidence Files, 1945-46 (NAID 305264) Record Group 238; Special Interrogation of Erich Kempka, at US Third Army Internment Camp No. 6, Moosburg, October 7, 1945, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Points emerging from special interrogation of Else Krueger, September 25, 1945, ibid.; Historical Branch, War Department General Staff, G-2, Historical Interrogation Commission, Oberstrumbanfuehrer Erich Kempka, Chief Driver & Head of the Fuehrer’s Motor Pool, September 26, 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, Lt. Col. O. J. Hale, Interrogator, File: Historical Interrogation Report, ibid.; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 203; Kempka, I Was Hitler’s Chauffeur, pp. 78-79; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 192, 193, 202-203; Linge, With Hitler to the End, p. 200; Eberle and Uhl, eds., The Hitler Book, p. 272; Evidence of the Head of Hitler’s Bodyguard Hans Rattenhuber, Moscow, May 20, 1945 in Vinogrado, Pogonyi, and Teptzov, Hitler’s Death, p. 195. Kempka said that when the bodies were laid down nobody lifted the blanket. He may have been correct, but it is also possible that he was still in the exit entrance or in the process of retrieving the first canister of fuel and did not witness what was happening to the bodies. [Interrogation of] Erich Kempka, Munich, February 8, 1948, p. 22, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University.
[5] Testimony of Mr. Erich Kempka on the last days of Hitler, Berchtesgaden, June 20, 1945, File: 3735-PS, United States Evidence Files, 1945-46 (NAID 305264) Record Group 238; Special Interrogation of Erich Kempka, at US Third Army Internment Camp No. 6, Moosburg, October 7, 1945, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Points emerging from special interrogation of Else Krueger, September 25, 1945, ibid.; Historical Branch, War Department General Staff, G-2, Historical Interrogation Commission, Oberstrumbanfuehrer Erich Kempka, Chief Driver & Head of the Fuehrer’s Motor Pool, September 26, 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, Lt. Col. O. J. Hale, Interrogator, File: Historical Interrogation Report, ibid.; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, p. 203; Linge, With Hitler to the End, p. 200; Kempka, I Was Hitler’s Chauffeur, pp. 79-80; Evidence of the Head of Hitler’s Bodyguard Hans Rattenhuber, Moscow, May 20, 1945 in Vinogrado, Pogonyi, and Teptzov, Hitler’s Death, p. 195; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 197, 198, 199, 211; Eberle and Uhl, eds., The Hitler Book, p. 272; [Interrogation of] Christa Schroeder, Ludwigsburg, January 25, 1948, p. 6, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University; [Interrogation of] Erich Kempka, Munich, February 8, 1948, p. 19, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University.
[6] Testimony of Mr. Erich Kempka on the last days of Hitler, Berchtesgaden, June 20, 1945, File: 3735-PS, United States Evidence Files, 1945-46 (NAID 305264) Record Group 238; Special Interrogation of Erich Kempka, at US Third Army Internment Camp No. 6, Moosburg, October 7, 1945, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Points emerging from special interrogation of Else Krueger, September 25, 1945, ibid.; Historical Branch, War Department General Staff, G-2, Historical Interrogation Commission, Oberstrumbanfuehrer Erich Kempka, Chief Driver & Head of the Fuehrer’s Motor Pool, September 26, 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, Lt. Col. O. J. Hale, Interrogator, File: Historical Interrogation Report, ibid.; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 203; Kempka, I Was Hitler’s Chauffeur, p. 80; Linge, With Hitler to the End, p. 200; Manuscript Statement by Hitler’s Aide-de-Camp, Otto Guensche, May 17, 1945 in Vinogrado, Pogonyi, and Teptzov, Hitler’s Death, p. 164; Evidence of the Head of Hitler’s Bodyguard Hans Rattenhuber, Moscow, May 20, 1945 in Vinogrado, Pogonyi, and Teptzov, Hitler’s Death, p. 195; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 197-199; Eberle and Uhl, eds., The Hitler Book, p. 272; [Interrogation of] Erich Kempka, Munich, February 8, 1948, p. 23, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University. The cremation Axmann believed took place about 430pm. Interrogation of Arthur Axmann, Palace of Justice, Nuremberg, 1630-1930 hours, January 7, 1948, p. 38, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University.
[7] Interrogation of Hermann Karnau on September 26, 1945, on the subject of burning Hitler’s body, in continuation of previous interrogation reports on the same subject, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 203-204; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, p. 200; O’Donnell, The Berlin Bunker, pp. 263-264.
[8] Interrogation of Hermann Karnau on September 26, 1945, on the subject of burning Hitler’s body, in continuation of previous interrogation reports on the same subject, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, p. 199.
[9] Maj. Robert W. Minor, Acting Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Bremen Interrogation Center, Bremen Enclave Military District, Intermediate Interrogation Report (IRR), Erich Mansfield, Alias Erich Skrzipczk, July 30, 1945, File: Mansfeld, Erich M-7, Reports, Interrogations, and Other Records Received from Various Allied Military Agencies, 1945-1947 (NAID 647749) Record Group 238 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M-1270, Roll 25); Capt. James A. Love, Executive Officer, Bremen Interrogation Center, Enclave Military District, Final Interrogation Report (FIR) No. 43, Erich Mansfeld, August 3, 1945, File: 100-578, Persons and Places Case File (Dossier File), 1946-1949 (NAID 1688112) Record Group 153.
[10] Memorandum, Karl Sussman, CIC Special Agent, Region IV, Garmish Sub-Region, Headquarters Counter Intelligence Corps, United States Forces European Theater to Commanding Officer, Garmish Sub-Region, Subject: Interrogation of Junge, Gertrude, August 30, 1946, pp. 5-6, File: XA085512, Junge, Gertrude, Intelligence and Investigative Dossiers Personal Files, 1977-2004 (NAID 645054) Record Group 319, (the Junge file, while part of the Army CIC Personal Files is described with another National Archives Identifying Number: 12191624); [Interrogation of] Gertraud [Gertrude] Junge, Munich, February 7, 1948, pp. 48, 50, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University.
[11] Special Interrogation of Erich Kempka, at US Third Army Internment Camp No. 6, Moosburg, October 7, 1945, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Historical Branch, War Department General Staff, G-2, Historical Interrogation Commission, Oberstrumbanfuehrer Erich Kempka, Chief Driver & Head of the Fuehrer’s Motor Pool, September 26, 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, Lt. Col. O. J. Hale, Interrogator, File: Historical Interrogation Report, ibid.; Kempka, I Was Hitler’s Chauffeur, p. 89; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 161, 162, 175; Eberle and Uhl, eds., The Hitler Book, pp. 272, 273.
[12] Maj. Robert W. Minor, Acting Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Bremen Interrogation Center, Bremen Enclave Military District, Intermediate Interrogation Report (IRR), Erich Mansfield, Alias Erich Skrzipczk, July 30, 1945, File: Mansfeld, Erich M-7, Reports, Interrogations, and Other Records Received from Various Allied Military Agencies, 1945-1947 (NAID 647749) Record Group 238 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M-1270, Roll 25); Interrogation of Hermann Karnau on September 26, 1945, on the subject of burning Hitler’s body, in continuation of previous interrogation reports on the same subject, enclosure to Memorandum, Brigadier [no name given], Counter Intelligence Bureau (CIB), GSI (b), Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (CI), Headquarters, US Forces European Theater, Subject: Investigation into the Death of Hitler, November 22, 1945, Document No. CIB/B3/PF.582, File: Major Trevor-Roper Interrogations, Reports Relating to Prisoner of War Interrogations, 1943-1945 (NAID 2790598) Record Group 165; Capt. James A. Love, Executive Officer, Bremen Interrogation Center, Enclave Military District, Final Interrogation Report (FIR) No. 43, Erich Mansfeld, August 3, 1945, File: 100-578, Persons and Places Case File (Dossier File), 1946-1949 (NAID 1688112) Record Group 153; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, p. 204; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, p. 214.
[13] Capt. James A. Love, Executive Officer, Bremen Interrogation Center, Enclave Military District, Final Interrogation Report (FIR) No. 43, Erich Mansfeld, August 3, 1945, File: 100-578, Persons and Places Case File (Dossier File), 1946-1949 (NAID 1688112) Record Group 153; Maj. Robert W. Minor, Acting Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Bremen Interrogation Center, Bremen Enclave Military District, Intermediate Interrogation Report (IRR), Erich Mansfield, Alias Erich Skrzipczk, July 30, 1945, File: Mansfeld, Erich M-7, Reports, Interrogations, and Other Records Received from Various Allied Military Agencies, 1945-1947 (NAID 647749) Record Group 238 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M-1270, Roll 25); [Interrogation of] Erich Kempka, Munich, February 8, 1948, pp. 17, 25, Interrogations of Hitler Associates, Musmanno Collection, Gumberg Library Digital Collections, Duquesne University; Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, p. 55, n. 70; 148, 149, 211, 212, 213, 214, 216, 217, 218-219, 220-222; Musmanno, Ten Days to Die, p. 221; O’Donnell, The Berlin Bunker, p. 266, 267, 268; Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, pp. 204-205, 205, n. 11; Fest, Inside Hitler’s Bunker, pp. 121-122.