14 September 2017

THE LAST DAYS OF HITLER


 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 

Martin Borman            Chief of the Party Chancellery            Shot by Russians while fleeing 

Heinrich Himmler      Head of dreaded SS                                    Committed suicide

Hermann Göring      President of the Reichstag           Tried at Nuremberg. Committed suicide

Rudolf Hess               Deputy Führer                             Tried at Nuremberg. Committed suicide

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

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