Hitler's Last Witness by Rochus Misch Read Free Book Online Page A

Bis zur letzten Stunde – Hitlers Sekretärin erzählt ihr Leben , Munich 2002, p. 132. Misch interpreted the resignation of Frau von Exner in May 1944 as being a reaction to the stalking by Bormann. Misch is certain that Frau von Exner lived for some time at the Reich Chancellery without being in Hitler’s employment.

Chapter Twelve
    Preparing the Berlin Bunker: February–April 1945
    IN MID-FEBRUARY 1945, WE finally returned from the Western Front to Berlin. The drive from Silesian Station, nowadays Berlin Ostbahnhof, to the Reich Chancellery was quiet. The capital had not expected us, and evidently people had other things to do. To the right and left of the streets, many of which were totally impassable, stood row upon row of houses reduced to skeletons – mere walls lacking a façade and roof timbering. During the journey, nobody said a word.
    Now all were gathered in the capital: we of the SS bodyguard, the female secretaries, doctors, adjutants, servants and, naturally, house administrator Kannenberg with all his staff. The intimate circle around Hitler had taken up its position: Reich press chief Otto Dietrich, the Bormann brothers, diplomat Hewel. Keitel and Jodl went to their villas at Zehlendorf, while Göring had withdrawn to his country seat Carinhall, near Berlin.
    An experience, which had nothing to do with the war, upset me greatly. It happened shortly after we arrived in Berlin. I had noticed previously at Ziegenberg that Karl Tenazek was acting strangely. We had a close friendship, and I had made several attempts to find out what was bothering him. ‘Something not right with you?’ I asked him bluntly. ‘Debts? Something else eating you up?’
    â€˜No, no, everything’s OK,’ he replied unconvincingly. I did not press the matter.
    Now, in Berlin, he asked me to to take over his shift one afternoon. He wanted to leave early – tomorrow his leave began. I had no objection to double shifts. They were no problem for me, and I had a much longer off-duty period afterwards. Accordingly, I released Karl from duty as he wanted and asked, as usual, if there had been anything special to report. ‘Nothing new,’ he assured me, and handed me the register into which all telephone calls had to be entered. I wished him a good journey home, a nice holiday and enquired after his wife, whom I knew to be pregnant.
    â€˜Would you prefer a boy or a girl?’ I asked him.
    â€˜No idea.’ He shrugged his shoulders sadly. ‘It makes no difference.’
    It made no sense to me. Why didn’t he confide in me?
    Karl disappeared into his service room, where our cleaner, Frau Herrmann, was at work. She told me later it had surprised her to see Karl putting on his best new uniform. He said ‘No’ to her question asking if he were going out. Scarcely had she left the room when she heard a round fired. She ran back inside immediately. Karl had sat down on the bed and shot himself dead.
    The initial suspicion was that he might have got himself involved in some cloak-and-dagger activity. Obviously, we were all exposed to being recruited by foreign secret services. After some enquiries, the real reason soon came to light. The child that his wife was expecting was not Karl’s. It could not be his. My friend had consulted Hitler’s personal physician Professor Morell, and an urologist at Berchtesgaden. Both came to the same conclusion – Karl was sterile. He had not been able to handle the situation. The incident was rough on all of us in the bodyguard. His loss came as a great shock.
    After being apprised of the details, Hitler decided to treat the matter as an accident. When Hitler decided that a thing was an accident, then it must have been one. Every member of the SS bodyguard had 100,000 Reichmarks life insurance, and this was what Karl’s wife received.
    Bunker Telephonist
    At that time I became what the post-war world knows me as