Selling Hitler Tells the Story of the Biggest Fraud in Publishing History

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Selling Hitler Tells the Story of the Biggest Fraud in Publishing History CONTENTS About the Book About the Author Also by Robert Harris Title Page Acknowledgements List of illustrations Dramatis Personae Prologue Part One Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Part Two Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Part Three Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen 1 Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Part Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Epilogue Picture Section Index Copyright 2 About the Book APRIL 1945: From the ruins of Berlin, a Luftwaffe transport plane takes off carrying secret papers belonging to Adolf Hitler. Half an hour later, it crashes in flames . APRIL 1983: In a bank vault in Switzerland, a German magazine offers to sell more than 50 volumes of Hitler’s secret diaries. The asking price is $4 million . Written with the pace and verve of a thriller and hailed on publication as a classic, Selling Hitler tells the story of the biggest fraud in publishing history. 3 About the Author Robert Harris is the author of Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium and The Ghost, all of which were international bestsellers. His latest novel, Lustrum, has just been published. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. After graduating with a degree in English from Cambridge University, he worked as a reporter for the BBC’s Panorama and Newsnight programmes, before becoming political editor of the Observer and subsequently a columnist on the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph. The film of The Ghost – for which he co- wrote the screenplay – directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan, is due to be released at the beginning of 2010. He is married to Gill Hornby and they live with their four children in a village near Hungerford. 4 Also by Robert Harris FICTION Fatherland Enigma Archangel Pompeii Imperium The Ghost Lustrum NON-FICTION A Higher Form of Killing (with Jeremy Paxman) Gotcha! The Making of Neil Kinnock Good and Faithful Servant 5 Selling Hitler Robert Harris 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This account is based upon interviews with the main participants in the Hitler diaries affair; upon the many hundreds of pages of prosecution evidence generated by the subsequent trial; and upon the so-called Stern Report – the findings of the internal commission set up by Stern to examine how the fiasco occurred. Almost all of this information came to me on the understanding that its various sources would not be identified publicly. It would be invidious to try to single out the few who did speak freely; I hope I shall be forgiven if I thank them here collectively rather than individually. My editor at the BBC, David Dickinson, was once again extremely understanding. My colleague Jane Ellison collaborated on the research, from the first interview to the last document: without her help, this book could not have been written. ROBERT HARRIS September 1985 Note Most of the financial transactions concerning the Hitler diaries were conducted in Deutschmarks. In April 1983, when the diaries were published, the rates of exchange were: £1 = 3.76 marks $1 = 2.44 marks 7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. A Junkers 352 transport aircraft 2. Gerd Heidemann 3. Konrad Kujau, forger of Hitler’s diaries 4. A page from one of the forged diaries 5, 6, 7. Three sketches of early Nazi posters, forged by Kujau 8. Fritz Stiefel 9. August Priesack 10. SS General Karl Wolff 11. Gerd Heidemann with Billy F. Price, Christa Schroeder and Gerda Christian at the launching of a book of Hitler’s paintings 12. Gina Heidemann, wife of Gerd Heidemann 13. Edith Lieblang, common-law wife of Konrad Kujau 14. Manfred Fischer, managing director of Gruner and Jahr 15. Gerd Schulte-Hillen, successor to Manfred Fischer at Gruner and Jahr 16. Henri Nannen, founder and publisher of Stern 17. Dr Thomas Walde, head of Stern’s history department 18. Peter Koch, chief editor of Stern 19. Eberhard Jaeckel, Professor of History at the University of Stuttgart 20. Hugh Trevor-Roper (Lord Dacre) 21. Gerhard Weinberg, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina 22. David Irving at Stern press conference to launch the Hitler diaries. 23. Gerd Heidemann stands trial, accused of fraud 8 DRAMATIS PERSONAE Wilhelm Arndt: Adolf Hitler’s personal servant, entrusted with escorting the Führer’s ‘testament to posterity’ out of Berlin in April 1945 The Marquess of Bath: Owner of the world’s largest collection of Hitler’s paintings Hans Baur: Hitler’s personal pilot Randolph Braumann: ‘Congo Randy’, a close friend of Gerd Heidemann William Broyles: Editor-in-chief of Newsweek Gerda Christian: One of Hitler’s secretaries Barbara Dickmann: Television journalist hired by Stern to help launch the Hitler diaries Charles Douglas-Home: Editor of The Times Manfred Fischer: Managing director of Gruner and Jahr, owners of Stern Dr Max Frei-Sulzer: Swiss ‘handwriting expert’ Francois Genoud: Swiss lawyer representing the families of Hitler, Goebbels and Bormann Frank Giles: Editor of the Sunday Times Rolf Gillhausen: Stern editor Otto Guensche: SS adjutant who burned Hitler’s body 9 Major Friedrich Gundlfinger: Luftwaffe pilot who flew Wilhelm Arndt out of Berlin in April 1945 Gerd Heidemann: Stern journalist responsible for obtaining the Hitler diaries Gina Heidemann: Wife of Gerd Heidemann Dr Josef Henke: Senior official of the West German Federal Archives Dr Jan Hensmann: Deputy managing director of Gruner and Jahr Peter Hess: Publishing director of Gruner and Jahr Wolf Hess: Son of Rudolf Hess Ordway Hilton: American ‘handwriting expert’ David Irving: British historian Eberhard Jaeckel: Professor of History, University of Stuttgart Medard Klapper: Arms dealer and confidence trickster who alleged he was in touch with Martin Bormann Peter Koch: Stern editor Peter Kuehsel: Financial director of Gruner and Jahr Konrad Kujau: Forger of the Hitler diaries Edith Lieblang: Konrad Kujau’s common law wife Heinz Linge: Hitler’s valet Brian MacArthur: Deputy editor, the Sunday Times Werner Maser: West German historian Rochus Misch: Führerbunker switchboard operator 10 Maria Modritsch: Konrad Kujau’s girlfriend Reinhard Mohn: Chief executive, Bertelsmann AG SS General Wilhelm Mohnke: Commander of the Führerbunker Rupert Murdoch: Chairman, News International; owner, The Times, Sunday Times and New York Post Henri Nannen: Founder and publisher of Stern Lynn Nesbit: Senior Vice-President, International Creative Management James O’Donnell: Author, The Berlin Bunker Dr Klaus Oldenhage: Official of the West German Federal Archives Maynard Parker: Editor of Newsweek Leo Pesch: Journalist employed in Stern’s history department Billy F. Price: Collector of Hitler paintings from Houston, Texas; author, Adolf Hitler: The Unknown Artist August Priesack: Self-styled ‘professor’ and expert on Hitler’s art, consulted by Fritz Stiefel and Billy Price Kenneth Rendell: American ‘handwriting expert’ Arnold Rentz: West German forensic chemist Felix Schmidt: Stern editor Christa Schroeder: One of Hitler’s secretaries Gerd Schulte-Hillen: Manfred Fischer’s successor as managing director of Gruner and Jahr Richard Schulze-Kossens: One of Hitler’s SS adjutants 11 Wilfried Sorge: Member of the management of Gruner and Jahr, responsible for selling the Hitler diaries to foreign news organizations Franz Spoegler: Former SS officer, who offered Heidemann forged correspondence between Churchill and Mussolini Fritz Stiefel: Stuttgart businessman, collector of Nazi memorabilia Jakob Tiefenthaeler: Collector of Nazi memorabilia who acted as agent for Gerd Heidemann when he tried to sell Goering’s yacht Hugh Trevor-Roper (Lord Dacre of Glanton): Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge; Independent National Director, Times Newspapers Thomas Walde: Head of Stern’s history department Gerhard Weinberg: Professor of Modern History, University of North Carolina Peter Wickman: Stern correspondent based in London Louis Wolfe: President, Bantam Books SS General Karl Wolff: Heinrich Himmler’s Chief of Staff; Military Governor of northern Italy, 1943–45 12 Prologue ON APRIL FOOL’S Day 1983 the distinguished British historian Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, first Baron Dacre of Glanton, was telephoned at his country home in Scotland by the Assistant Editor of The Times, Mr Colin Webb. Among his many honours, Trevor-Roper had, in 1974, accepted an invitation to become an Independent National Director of Times Newspapers. For nine years his telephone had rung periodically with news of strikes, sackings and closures. But this call had nothing to do with routine Times business. It concerned a discovery of great historical significance. It was strictly confidential. The German magazine Stern, said Mr Webb, had discovered the private diaries of Adolf Hitler. Trevor-Roper, a former Regius Professor of History at Oxford, was startled and immediately sceptical. ‘I said to myself, there are so many forgeries circulating in the “grey market”: forged documents about Bormann, forged diaries of Eva Braun, falsified accounts of interviews with Hitler . .’ Besides, it was well known that Hitler disliked putting pen to paper and had virtually given up writing in his own hand altogether after 1933. As far as he was aware there was no evidence, either in the German archives or in the recollections of Hitler’s subordinates, to suggest that the German dictator had kept a diary. If he had, and if it had now been discovered, it would certainly rank as one of the greatest historical finds of modern times: Hitler, as Trevor-Roper himself had written, was the twentieth century’s Genghis Khan, the ‘political genius’ whose murderous influence upon mankind was still being felt four decades after his death. If this diabolical figure, contrary to all accepted beliefs, turned out to have kept a diary, it would provoke a sensation. Webb explained that Stern was offering to sell the foreign serial rights in the diaries.
Recommended publications
  • MS-603: Rabbi Marc H
    MS-603: Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum Collection, 1945-1992. Series C: lnterreligious Activities. 1952-1992 Box 11 , Folder 2, American antisemitism, 1960-1962. 3101 Clifton Ave, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220 (513) 221-1875 phone, (513) 221-7812 fax americanjewisharchives.org f r :r. l i. t .r i: ! i 1 J l ' ·i THE AMERICAN JEV-.TISH COMMITTEE \_.): :·. MEMORANDUM April 5, 1962 To: Members cf the Staff Advisory Qomrnittee .From: .Morris Fine You will be .interested in the a~tached two papers that· were delivered at th~ East~rn R~gional Conf'erence of the Association of Jewish Community Relations Workers in Dearborn, Michigan in February. :Attachments (2) WHAT IS KNOWN FROM RESEARCH ON THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF AMERICAN Alfi'I-SEMITISM* It is cel'tain that most Jews hold very firm convictions about how much anti-Semitic. prejudice and discrimination there are in the Un~~ed States today; how the pre·sent rates compare with past years; and what are the prospects for the future. It is equally certain, . ' . ' ~ . ho\'fever, that these convic.ti~ns .. vary greatly, so that it is· vari- ously C}ontended that there is veey i1·.~tle or a great deal; that there is 1puch ~ess today than before OL11 ~bo~t the same or much more; and that it will get better in the futu:.~e or g~t worse. - .Jews also disagree on second-level Jµdgments about the impli- . ' . :: . ca~ions . of the presumed facts. ·Even among thqse who seem to agree · abou~ how much anti-Semitic. prejudice there. is,. there is disagree- ;ment as to whether this is more or less ttan one .shou+d expect from the societY: .as it is today; ·and as to whether it.
    [Show full text]
  • American Intelligence and the Question of Hitler's Death
    American Intelligence and the Question of Hitler’s Death Undergraduate Research Thesis Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with honors research distinction in History in the Undergraduate colleges of The Ohio State University by Kelsey Mullen The Ohio State University November 2014 Project Advisor: Professor Alice Conklin, Department of History Project Mentor: Doctoral Candidate Sarah K. Douglas, Department of History American Intelligence and the Question of Hitler’s Death 2 Introduction The fall of Berlin marked the end of the European theatre of the Second World War. The Red Army ravaged the city and laid much of it to waste in the early days of May 1945. A large portion of Hitler’s inner circle, including the Führer himself, had been holed up in the Führerbunker underneath the old Reich Chancellery garden since January of 1945. Many top Nazi Party officials fled or attempted to flee the city ruins in the final moments before their destruction at the Russians’ hands. When the dust settled, the German army’s capitulation was complete. There were many unanswered questions for the Allies of World War II following the Nazi surrender. Invading Russian troops, despite recovering Hitler’s body, failed to disclose this fact to their Allies when the battle ended. In September of 1945, Dick White, the head of counter intelligence in the British zone of occupation, assigned a young scholar named Hugh Trevor- Roper to conduct an investigation into Hitler’s last days in order to refute the idea the Russians promoted and perpetuated that the Führer had escaped.1 Major Trevor-Roper began his investigation on September 18, 1945 and presented his conclusions to the international press on November 1, 1945.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mind of Adolf Hitler: a Study in the Unconscious Appeal of Contempt
    [Expositions 5.2 (2011) 111-125] Expositions (online) ISSN: 1747-5376 The Mind of Adolf Hitler: A Study in the Unconscious Appeal of Contempt EDWARD GREEN Manhattan School of Music How did the mind of Adolf Hitler come to be so evil? This is a question which has been asked for decades – a question which millions of people have thought had no clear answer. This has been the case equally with persons who dedicated their lives to scholarship in the field. For example, Alan Bullock, author of Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, and perhaps the most famous of the biographers of the Nazi leader, is cited in Ron Rosenbaum’s 1998 book, Explaining Hitler, as saying: “The more I learn about Hitler, the harder I find it to explain” (in Rosenbaum 1998, vii). In the same text, philosopher Emil Fackenheim agrees: “The closer one gets to explicability the more one realizes nothing can make Hitler explicable” (in Rosenbaum 1998, vii).1 Even an author as keenly perceptive and ethically bold as the Swiss philosopher Max Picard confesses in his 1947 book, Hitler in Ourselves, that ultimately he is faced with a mystery.2 The very premise of his book is that somehow the mind of Hitler must be like that of ourselves. But just where the kinship lies, precisely how Hitler’s unparalleled evil and the everyday workings of our own minds explain each other – in terms of a central principle – the author does not make clear. Our Deepest Debate I say carefully, as a dispassionate scholar but also as a person of Jewish heritage who certainly would not be alive today had Hitler succeeded in his plan for world conquest, that the answer Bullock, Fackenheim, and Picard were searching for can be found in the work of the great American philosopher Eli Siegel.3 First famed as a poet, Siegel is best known now for his pioneering work in the field of the philosophy of mind.4 He was the founder of Aesthetic Realism.5 In keeping with its name, this philosophy begins with a consideration of strict ontology.
    [Show full text]
  • 27. December 1945 (The Recorders Continue)
    Chapter 27 December 1945 he five recorders meet with me again in the evening at my living Tquarters. “We left off last time with the failure of the Ardennes Offensive, which Allied forces called the Battle of the Bulge. Who would like to start?” I ask. “I’ll do it,” says Reynitz. “But first everyone should be aware that Hitler had a split personality. He lived in two worlds—reality and fan- tasy.” Everyone looks at Reynitz. “In the real world, Hitler dismissed from his mind military re- verses. When I was on the headquarters train, he refused to look at bombed German cities or wounded German soldiers. As far as I know, he never saw a concentration camp. He usually shut his mind to any- thing unpleasant. 283 Witness to Barbarism “In the fantasy world, Hitler predicted that if the Russians came too close, the Allies would certainly join his troops in the fight against the Russians because the Allies hated Communism as much as the Germans. If the Allies chose not to fight with us but fought the Rus- sians directly, we would wait until they became exhausted, then come out of the National Redoubt in the Alps, to make victory ours. This was his constant hope. The hope was dashed when Himmler sent only half of the 80,000 SS troops he had ordered,” Reynitz recalls. “Hitler was a dreamer, wasn’t he?” “Yes, and worse than that, he was a liar,” Reynitz continues. “Goebbels was on the radio almost every day telling how the un- conditional surrender demanded by the Allies would mean disaster.
    [Show full text]
  • Another Fairy Tale by August Kubizek
    Hitler the composer of an opera? Another fairy tale by August Kubizek © Bart FM Droog, Droog Magazine, www.droog-mag.nl, March 4, 2020 Again another spectaculair Hitler related finding has caused a worldwide media storm: a fragment of an opera allegedly composed by the 19 year old Hitler in 1908: “Wieland der Schmied” (Wieland the Smith). It can be seen at the Young Hitler exhibition in the Museum Niederösterreich, St. Pölten, Austria. Opening fragment of the music sheet, titled “Wieland Vorspiel” nach Motiven von Adolf Hitler, aufgezeichnet von August Kubizek. © Legacy August Kubizek in cooperation with the DÖW The sheet music originates from the legacy of August Kubizek (1888-1956), who was befriended with Hitler in 1906-1908. Yet, in 1938 Kubizek wrote: “My friend took my transcripts of this music with him [when Hitler moved out of their common room, autumn 1908]. To my great dismay I possess none of it. It is just as unfortunate that I have so completely forgotten this music, that I can't reconstruct it from memory. What an infinitely valuable cultural document it would be if these pages were found today, and the musical ideas of Adolf Hitler from 1908 were to be reborn. Unfortunately my friend never handed me these sheets, otherwise they would be mine, just as the other memorabilia Hitler the composer? Droog Magazine, March 3, 2020. page 1/4 from this time I've kept [a few letters, postcards and sketches]. (...) The creative power of this man is invincible and all-round. I really do not know in which area my friend would not have been completely universal at that time.”1 This followed after three pages in which he described that Hitler was too impatient to do finger exercises needed to play the piano and that Hitler couldn't read musical notation.
    [Show full text]
  • I Was Hitler's Neighbour
    52-54_MH_InHitler'sMunich_Layout 1 26/04/2012 13:15 Page 20 In Hitler’s Munich As a boy growing up in Munich Edgar Feuchtwanger witnessed the rise of Germany’s dictator at extraordinarily close range. I was Hitler’s Neighbour ibraries have been filled with books about The foundation stone for Attack), threatened revenge when they came to power, Hitler and the Third Reich and as an the House of German Art is as they did a little over two years later. For the Nazis my paraded through Munich, academic historian I have made my own October 15th, 1933. uncle Lion was public enemy number one among the contribution. I am also one of the dwin - Weimar intelligentsia. Nevertheless my parents only dling band of survivors of that period and left Germany following Kristallnacht in November my vantage point was a particularly close 1938, when my father’s brief incarceration in Dachau oLne. I was born in Munich in 1924. In 1929, when I made it plain that the situation was life-threatening. was five, Hitler moved into a large apartment about Until my teens Hitler’s comings and goings were thus 100 yards from where I lived on Grillparzer Strasse in part of daily life. I witnessed, from the opposite side o f a similar flat with my parents. Social Democrat propa - the road, his transformation into the Great Dictator. ganda in the election campaigns of the early 1930s When Hitler first moved into our neighbourhood proclaimed: ‘Hitler says he is a friend of the workers, his housekeeper was his half-sister, Angela Raubal.
    [Show full text]
  • Filhos De Nazistas: Os Impressionantes Retratos De Família Da Elite Do Nazismo / Tania Crasnianski ; Tradução Fernando Scheibe
    DADOS DE COPYRIGHT Sobre a obra: A presente obra é disponibilizada pela equipe Le Livros e seus diversos parceiros, com o objetivo de oferecer conteúdo para uso parcial em pesquisas e estudos acadêmicos, bem como o simples teste da qualidade da obra, com o fim exclusivo de compra futura. É expressamente proibida e totalmente repudíavel a venda, aluguel, ou quaisquer uso comercial do presente conteúdo Sobre nós: O Le Livros e seus parceiros disponibilizam conteúdo de dominio publico e propriedade intelectual de forma totalmente gratuita, por acreditar que o conhecimento e a educação devem ser acessíveis e livres a toda e qualquer pessoa. Você pode encontrar mais obras em nosso site: lelivros.love ou em qualquer um dos sites parceiros apresentados neste link. "Quando o mundo estiver unido na busca do conhecimento, e não mais lutando por dinheiro e poder, então nossa sociedade poderá enfim evoluir a um novo nível." Copyright © 2016 Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle Copyright © 2018 Editora Nemo/Vestígio Título original: Enfants de nazis Todos os direitos reservados pela Editora Nemo/Vestígio. Nenhuma parte desta publicação poderá ser reproduzida, seja por meios mecânicos, eletrônicos, seja via cópia xerográfica, sem a autorização prévia da Editora. GERENTE EDITORIAL Arnaud Vin EDITOR ASSISTENTE Eduardo Soares ASSISTENTE EDITORIAL Paula Pinheiro PREPARAÇÃO Sonia Junqueira REVISÃO Aline Sobreira CAPA Diogo Droschi (sobre imagem de ullstein bild Dtl./Getty Images) DIAGRAMAÇÃO Larissa Carvalho Mazzoni Dados Internacionais de Catalogação na Publicação (CIP) Câmara Brasileira do Livro, SP, Brasil Crasnianski, Tania Filhos de nazistas: os impressionantes retratos de família da elite do nazismo / Tania Crasnianski ; tradução Fernando Scheibe.
    [Show full text]
  • Nach Hitler Das ›Dritte Reich‹
    Das ›Dritte Reich‹ nach Hitler 23 TAGE IM MAI 1945 EINE CHRONIK THE THIRD REICH AFTER HITLER A CHRONICLE OF 23 DAYS IN MAY 1945 KLAUS HESSE ANDREAS NACHAMA [HRSG.] MIT EINEM ESSAY VON GERHARD PAUL Impressum | Credits Herausgeber | Published by: Stiftung Topographie des Terrors | Topography of Terror Foundation Vertreten durch | Represented by: Prof. Dr. Andreas Nachama Konzeption, Texte | Conceptualization, texts: Klaus Hesse Bildrecherche, Bildtexte | Photo research, captions: Klaus Hesse Biographische Texte | Biographical texts: Klaus Hesse Biographische Texte, Mitarbeit | Biographical texts in collaboration with: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Paul Essay: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Paul Englische Übersetzung | English translation: Dr. Pamela Selwyn Redaktion | Editorial: Klaus Hesse Lektorat | Final editorial: Klaus Hesse, Kurt Blank-Markard Gestaltung | Design: Kurt Blank-Markard Lithographie | Lithography: Nova Concept, Berlin Druck | Printing: H. Heenemann, Berlin Gedruckt in | Printed with: Novaton © Stiftung Topographie des Terrors, die Autoren und Urheber- rechteinhaber | Topography of Terror Foundation, the authors and copyright holders Alle Rechte vorbehalten | All rights reserved Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte Daten sind im Internet über portal.dnb.de abrufbar. Hentrich & Hentrich Verlag Berlin Inh. Dr. Nora Pester www.hentrichhentrich.de 1. Auflage 2016 | 1st edition 2016 | Printed in Germany Broschur: ISBN 978-3-941772-24-3 Festeinband: ISBN 978-3-95565-117-6 Für ihre freundliche Unterstützung unser Dank an die beteiligten Institutionen, Archive und Bildagenturen sowie an | We would like to thank the participating institutions, archives and picture agencies and the following individuals for their kind support: Judy Cohen, Washington | Dr. Alfred Gottwaldt, Berlin † Fregattenkapitän Dr. Christian Jentzsch, Mürwik/Potsdam Brigitte Kuhl, Berlin | Bernd Nogli, Potsdam Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • Hitler Var Rettferdig Sjef
    (Tprda Christiall knUser!!' aldri Adolf Hitl-er offentlig, l private samtaler skal hun ha Stiftelsen norsk Okkupasjonshistorie,erda 2014 Christian levde 52 omtalt ham som «en god og 115216 år lenger enn diktato­ rettferdig sjef", som dessuten ren som proklamerte G ga de unge kvinnene lov til å Det tredje riket og startet den røyke på kontoret. annen verdenskrig. utallige Den unge kvinnen viet seg historikere og journalister til sitt arbeid etter at hennes forsØkte å få henne i tale etter ekteskap med en høyere krigen, men hun valgte stort Wehrmacht-offiser ble mislyk- sett å tie. En av de få som fikk henne ket. på gli, var vi­ Sekretæren tilhørte den tenskapskvin­ personlige staben som fulgte nen Ellen Gib- Hitler også på reiser og til beIs, som i en «Ørneredet" i Berchtesgaden årrekke for­ ved Østerrike. Fru Christian, " Hitler var søkte å finne født Daranowski, lærte Eva ut hva som Braun å kjenne og fulgte hen­ en god og egentlig feilte ne på lange spaserturer. Hitler mot Enkelte detaljer måtte hun rettferdig slutten av likevel komme med. I en liten hans liv. Uttal­ artikkel i Berlin-avisen Ta­ sjef" elsene fra gesspiegel i 1946 blir hennes Gerda Chris- versjon av Hitlers oppførsel i tian bestyrket bunkeren gjengitt. Han snak­ antagelsen ket ikke om krigen, som han om at Føreren selv hadde startet. Derimot var han opptatt av gamle par­ led av Parkinsons sykdom. tikamerater fra den første ti­ Den 83 år gamle kvinnen den da hans nasjonalsosialist­ døde på et sykehus i Dils­ iske parti fremdeles var lite, seldorf etter en lengre tids kamp mot lungekreft.
    [Show full text]
  • The Allies' Race to Capture Adolf Hitler's Eagle's Nest
    American Business Review Volume 23 Number 1 Article 2 5-2020 The Competitive Struggle to Win Tournaments: The Allies’ Race to Capture Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest Franklin G. Mixon Jr. Columbus State University Luis R. Gómez-Mejia Arizona State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.newhaven.edu/americanbusinessreview Recommended Citation Mixon, Franklin G. Jr. and Gómez-Mejia, Luis R. (2020) "The Competitive Struggle to Win Tournaments: The Allies’ Race to Capture Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest," American Business Review: Vol. 23 : No. 1 , Article 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37625/abr.23.1.3-17 Available at: https://digitalcommons.newhaven.edu/americanbusinessreview/vol23/iss1/2 Article The Competitive Struggle to Win Tournaments: American Business Review May 2020, Vol.23(1) 3 - 17 The Allies’ Race to Capture Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s © The Authors 2020, CC BY-NC ISSN: 2689-8810 (Online) Nest ISSN: 0743-2348 (Print) Franklin G. Mixon, Jr.a and Luis R. Gómez-Mejiab https://doi.org/10.37625/abr.23.1.3-17 ABSTRACT Tournament theory posits that there are situations where winning matters a lot and, as a result, agent rewards are not proportional to performance. According to tournament theorists, the large pay differentials that exist between organizational levels are intended to motivate agents to exert greater effort in an attempt to win the prize. Although a large corpus of literature on tournaments has emerged over time, little is known about the social dynamics involved in tournaments. This article addresses this gap through a historical narrative concerning how Allied forces in World War II competed to capture Adolf Hitler’s famed Bavarian reception house, known to the world as the Eagle’s Nest.
    [Show full text]
  • Skruger2006.Pdf (1.625Mb)
    Die letzten Tage Adolf Hitlers --- Eine Darstellung für das 21. Jahrhundert in Oliver HIRSCHBIEGEL s Der Untergang by Stefanie Krüger A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in German Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2006 © Stefanie Krüger 2006 Author’s declaration for electronic submission of a thesis I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. iii Abstract The film Der Untergang (2004), directed by Oliver HIRSCHBIEGEL and written and produced by Bernd EICHINGER , is based on Joachim FEST ’s historical monograph Der Untergang (2002) and Traudl JUNGE ’s and Melissa MÜLLER ’s Bis zur letzten Stunde (2003). Taking place in April, 1945, the movie depicts the last days of Adolf Hitler and his staff in the ‘Führerbunker’. The appearance of the film sparked wide-spread controversy concerning the propriety of Germans illuminating this most controversial aspect of their history. Specifically, the debate centred on the historical accuracy of the film and the dangers associated with the filmmakers’ goal of portraying Hitler not as a caricature or one-sided figure but rather as a complete human being whose troubles and human qualities might well earn the sympathy of the viewers. After surveying a variety of films that portray Adolf Hitler, the thesis analyses Der Untergang by focusing first on the cinematic and narrative aspects of the film itself and then on the figure of Hitler.
    [Show full text]
  • Examples of Great Falsifications in 20Th-Century History
    The Manipulated Past Andrzej Krajewski, PhD When many people strongly believe in a falsehood, the fraud starts to take on a life on its own, and there is a real danger that it will not only change the way the past is seen but also shape the future. On 13 March 1881, Ignacy Hryniewiecki, a Pole associated with the Russian anarchist organization Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will), threw a bomb that killed Alexander II. The investigation carried out after the assassination of the tsar showed that among the conspirators was a Jewish woman Hesia Helfman. At the time, a rumour spread like wildfire across the empire that it was the Jews who had killed the ruler. With the permission of the authorities, there were about 250 pogroms (acts of cruelty and killings aimed at a large group of people , mainly the Jews, because of their race or religion) in the western governorates. A decade later Nicholas II ascended the throne and revolutionary turmoil began to grow in Russia. According to the French ambassador to St Petersburg, Maurice Paléologue, Nicholas II’s secret police (Okhrana) constantly warned him ‘about the conspiracies being set up in the darkness of the ghettos’. All that was missing were documents confirming these reports of Jewish plots. The conquest of the world by the Jews The Russians were informed about the rise of the Jewish conspiracy in a series of articles in the newspaper Russkoye Znamia. In August 1903 it began to publish records from the secret – as it was claimed – part of the proceedings of the First Zionist Congress, which took place in Basel in 1897.
    [Show full text]