THE LAST
DAYS OF HITLER BY TREVOR ROPER 13.09.17
There are tons of books on Hitler. Mostly they are centered
around his military conquest of Europe. Between 1939 and June 1941 the German army invaded and occupied many
countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg,
France, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Greece, Norway
and Western Poland. However there are few books which describes the last
days of Hitler and fewer which are authentically based on credible research.
This particular book belongs to the latter category. The author of this book
Trevor was a intelligence officer in the British intelligence service and
actively served in the British occupied
portion of Berlin in 1945. At that time it was widely rumoured that Hitler
never died in his bunker but escaped with his mistress Eva Braun to some
western country. The Russian Army which was first to enter his bunker claimed
that they never found his body and it
was they who said that he had probably escaped. In order to put to rest all
type of speculations regarding Hitlers death the British Army decided to officially
appoint Trevor to investigate the matter and unravel the truth. Trevor went
through thousands of war documents and interviewed hundreds of German military
officers including those who were present in the bunker during the last days.
This is what the book is all about.
History is a wayward
maiden. Its interpretation vary according to the political beliefs of the
person handling it. The actual events are either distorted or changed to arrive
at a particular conclusion depending upon the political leaning of the person.
However the results and affects of events cannot be hidden since it is there
for everybody to see. For example the deaths and cruelty carried out by Nazi
Germany easily proves that Hitler was a psychopath but some describe him as a
nationalist. I have tried to give below some of the highlights of the book and
their significance in understanding the issues which they represent .
1. As the Russian army
closed on Berlin in the last days of August 1945 Hitler holed himself in a
bunker 50 feet below the Chancellery. The man who roared liked a lion became a
mad roaring lion. He was not able to digest his defeat and constantly rebuked
and abused his Generals and close associates. He began blaming the Nazi Army
which he said was a bunch of cowards and lacked the qualities of a true Aryan.
The army has let him down. The fact was that there was never a structure in
place which decided the course of war and strategies by discussions and consensus.
A sort of Military High Command. It was Hitler and only Hitler which decided
and issued orders. The rest were just minions. If anybody suggested anything
contrary to Hitler decision he was rebuked by him.
There is a important
lesson to be learnt here. We now more clearly understand what a dictator is and
the extent of damage he is capable of inflicting on the nation. In a democracy at
least we have the option to reject leaders with such tendencies during polls.
Here in India we know the present PM liking for controlling everything. The
various Ministries cannot take decision by themselves. They have to obtain
clearance from PMO for every matter which means the PM is behaving as some sort
of a dictator. No wonder he sleeps for 4 hours only as his propaganda team
says. This however is not good for the nation.
2. Propaganda played a
crucial role in the Nazi setup. When the regime is cantered around a single individual
and the people have vested their entire trust on him then it has to have a
continuity without any breaks. Failures cannot be disclosed and defeats cannot
be publicized .
The myth that the
leader is impregnable has to be sustained at all costs. In the end of 1941
everybody started realising the Germany defeat was not far. The Russians were
aggressively dominating the Nazi army. The US had entered the war and the Allied
forces were mercilessly bombarding German cities. In the middle of 1944 the Russian
army was knocking at the doors of Berlin and D-day was not far off. The
collapse of Hitler Germany was written large on the wall. Goebbel was the head
of the propaganda ministry. Imagine a Ministry for propaganda !!
The Ministry at that
stage was busy churning out false information that the Fuehrer was in control
of everything and victory was imminent. Infact Goebbel declared that any talk
of defeat will be punished by death. At no stage the people were informed that
Germany has lost the war.
The height of deception was reached when the
Nazi government announced death of Hitler on 1st May 1945 when Hitler was
already dead on 30th august. There was no mention that he had committed suicide.
This organised
propaganda machine in hiding facts and relaying a false narrative contributed
vastly to the massive destruction of lives and material. It took the war to a
suicidal end which could have been prevented. Today the same kind of organised
propaganda machinery is being created by the BJP. The BJP has a exclusive IT
cell to spread false news. It is reported that it is manned by around 1000 personnel's.
Some of the false news spread by this wing can be found here https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-top-fake-news-spread-by-BJP-IT-cell-in-2017.
This IT cell of BJP is constantly trying to spread communal hatred and even
defend killers. The moment anybody expresses a opposite opinion he would be attacked by thousands of abuses.
Sexiest remarks against women and independent thinkers are a daily occurrence.
Recently on the death of Gauri Lankesh by RW Hindutva goons the IT cell of the
BJP released thousands of responses celebrating her murder. One even wrote “A bitch has died a dog’s death and now
all the pups are whining in one voice". Incidentally PM is following this
person on twitter and he has obstinately refused to unfollow him. So the
message is clear from the highest quarter of the Government to BJP followers
that continue the dirty propaganda.
As
in case of Nazi Germany this form of governance where truth is suppressed and
falsehood is encouraged is going to heavily damage the nation.
3.
Trevor states that Hitler had a incredible will-power, whose hypnotic influence, compelled even his critics to worship and obey.
How did he achieve this? There was Dr Morell his personal physician who
concocted many drugs which produced hypnotic and delirious effects. He
confessed after the war that these drugs were daily given to Hitler. Hitler was
a master in oratory and combined with his hypnotic powers was able to cast a
spell on the audience. Somewhat similar to what Mr Modi does. I don't mean that
Modi takes drugs but people get trapped into his oratory and are unable to sift
the truth from the lies. Here is a lesson to be learnt. Instead of being misled
by his oratory one should discover and acknowledge the ground realities. For
example Modi speeches leads you to believe that demonetisation was a great step
whereas the ground reality is that it was a disaster. The personality of a
person should never be allowed to over shadow the real events.
Trevor writes and
I quote
"There used to be a school of historical thought which held that
the course of human history
was determined largely by political and economic factors rather than by the characters and actions of individuals. My own experience during this last war
has emphasized to me
the immense, and in some cases decisive
influence exercised on the course
of events by
individual personalities."
4. Hitler enjoyed
absolute power and the Nazi party led by him ruled every segment of the German
society. No man can escape the corruption of absolute power. With all
opposition voices mercilessly silenced and intolerance at its peak it was
futile to suggest any course correction. There was only one view point which
was correct and that was of Hitler. Anything contrary was considered anti
national. This drove the fate of Germany into a blind alley from which there
was no return. Slowly the entire nation was sinking and ultimately destroyed
with Hitler committing suicide. We are today passing through a similar phase.
The RSS/BJP juggernaut tearing across India like a hurricane is demolishing all
resistance to its advance. This is a very worrisome development and may end up
destroying India like Germany under Hitler. The absolute power of Modi has
certainly unleashed violence , communal hatred and even killings of independent
thinkers.
5. It is
interesting to know that Hitler was a vegetarian and even had a separate
vegetarian kitchen in the bunker and a vegetarian cook. I mention this because
there is a notion in our country that vegetarian food generates higher
consciousness and non violent temperament and inner peace. 6 million Jews were
exterminated under Hitler rule and more than 10 million perished in the war.
Hitler personally ordered the killings of many of his close associates who became his critics. Even Hermann Fegelein the
brother-in-law of Eva Braun was shot on orders of Hitler one week before Hitler
committed suicide . So when vegetarians assume a sort of superiority complex
and look down on meat eaters I point my finger towards Hitler !
6. Everybody is familiar with the old
saying " Those whom the gods wish to destroy they
first make mad" or "विनाश
काले विपरीत बुद्धि". From 1935 to 1941 Hitler
achieved spectacular victories occupying nearly half of Europe. He started believing
that he is a military genius and specially sent by God to earth to rule the
world. He attacked Russia and made his biggest blunder. The Russian bear with
all its power chased him to the bunker and destroyed him. The second mistake he
made was by appointing himself as the commander-in-chief of the army and
refusing to heed advise of his Generals on crucial matters of war. He declared
war against the US and further exposed himself to attacks. In his madness to
destroy Britain and Russia simultaneously he opened two fronts and was sandwiched
between east and west. There are many other reasons for his defeat but essentially
all of them stemmed from his ego centered personality and his lunatic
conviction that he was invincible. The biggest lesson we learn here is that a
nation should never be lead by a megalomaniac. This lesson is relevant in today's
political climate prevailing in India.
7. Amidst all this vicious and bloody carnage
which Hitler waged for nearly 10 years one thing stood steadily and nobody
could defeat it. It was love. Love of Eva Braun for Hitler. She suffered
ignominy,insults ,discomfort and finally accepted the poison pill without a
murmur which Hitler gave to her. No matter what the world said she never
demurred from her duty to take care of Hitler and ultimately gave her life for
him. Just one day before they both committed suicide Hitler married her and
gave her the satisfaction at last to be officially designated as Mrs Fuhrer.
There is one stream of historians who believe
that Hitler killed Eva Braun and he himself escaped to Argentina. Neither
Hitler nor Eva Braun bodies were ever found.
8. Everything thing ended when Hitler
committed suicide on 30April 1945 at about 3PM after taking his lunch. The
Third Reich collapsed like a pack of cards. All the top high ranking officials
of Hitler coterie committed suicide or were killed.
Hitler The Fuhrer
Blew up his head with a pistol
Eva Braun Hitler's wife Took
poison pills
Joseph Goebbels Reich Minister of Propaganda Took poison
pills together with his
Wife & 6 children
Albert Speer Reich Minister of Armaments
20yrs imprisonment
Thus ended the era of a evil genius who
played the communal and nationalism card to satisfy his never ending hunger for
power and in the process destroyed his nation. This book can be considered a
authentic version of events during the last 10 days of Hitler and plays a
crucial part in deciphering the state of mind of Hitler during his defeat.
All those who are interested in history
of WW2 would find this book very interesting and informative.
ASHOK KUMAR
