Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler
In the chaotic, final days of World War II, as Soviet forces encircled Berlin, Adolf Hitler retreated to his subterranean Führerbunker. There, mere hours before his suicide, he meticulously crafted a final political testament and a private will—documents that offered a chilling glimpse into his warped worldview and desperate attempts to control the narrative beyond his demise. What secrets did these last words hold, and how did they attempt to shape a future that would never come to pass? Hitler's final documents revealed both a delusionary attempt to shift blame for the war and a vengeful purge of perceived traitors within his inner circle. His private will, a stark contrast to the political testament, detailed the distribution of his personal belongings, from his vast art collection to sentimental items for his loyal staff and family. Despite Hitler's efforts to dictate succession, his appointed government and the disposition of his estate faced immediate, widespread disregard and legal complexities in the post-war chaos.
AI Summary
In the chaotic, final days of World War II, as Soviet forces encircled Berlin, Adolf Hitler retreated to his subterranean Führerbunker. There, mere hours before his suicide, he meticulously crafted a final political testament and a private will—documents that offered a chilling glimpse into his warped worldview and desperate attempts to control the narrative beyond his demise. What secrets did these last words hold, and how did they attempt to shape a future that would never come to pass?
- Hitler's final documents revealed both a delusionary attempt to shift blame for the war and a vengeful purge of perceived traitors within his inner circle.
- His private will, a stark contrast to the political testament, detailed the distribution of his personal belongings, from his vast art collection to sentimental items for his loyal staff and family.
- Despite Hitler's efforts to dictate succession, his appointed government and the disposition of his estate faced immediate, widespread disregard and legal complexities in the post-war chaos.
The Final Hours in the Führerbunker
Deep beneath the war-torn streets of Berlin, in the claustrophobic confines of the Führerbunker, Adolf Hitler spent his last conscious hours dictating two critical documents. On April 29, 1945, just a day before he would commit suicide with Eva Braun, he signed his political testament and his private will.
A Tale of Two Documents
These weren't a single text, but rather a pair of distinct declarations, each serving a different purpose. Dictated to his secretary, Traudl Junge, the texts are believed to have been heavily influenced by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda chief, seeking to frame a final, twisted narrative.
The Private Will: Personal Affairs
The shorter of the two—Hitler's Last Will—was signed around 4:00 AM. It was a surprisingly mundane document for a dictator, acknowledging his marriage to Eva Braun and their shared decision to choose death over capture or surrender. It even stipulated that their bodies be cremated.
Dispersing a Dictator's Fortune
Hitler's will then meticulously detailed the distribution of his belongings. His substantial art collection, controversially acquired, was bequeathed to a gallery in his 'home town' of Linz, Austria.
Items of 'sentimental value' or those 'necessary for the maintenance of a modest simple life' were earmarked for his loyal co-workers and certain family members. This included Eva Braun's mother, his long-serving secretaries, and his housekeeper, Anni Winter.
However, a significant twist emerged: Martin Bormann, his ruthless chief private secretary, was granted 'full legal authority to make all decisions' regarding these distributions. Any remaining assets of value were to go to the Nazi Party, or failing that, to the German State.
The private will concluded by naming Bormann as its executor and was witnessed by Bormann himself, along with Joseph Goebbels and Colonel Nicolaus von Below.
The Political Testament: Hitler's Final Narrative
Signed at the same time as his private will, Hitler's political testament was a far more venomous and self-serving document. In its first part, he brazenly denied any responsibility for starting World War II, instead blaming 'international Jewry and its helpers' for the conflict.
He thanked the German people for their unwavering support and achievements, while also expressing his resolve to commit suicide rather than 'fall into the hands of enemies' and become a 'spectacle arranged by Jews.' He urged a continuation of the 'struggle' and a 'renaissance' of the National Socialist movement.
A Purge from Beyond the Grave
The second part of the testament was a brutal indictment of his perceived traitors. Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring, once his closest deputies, were summarily expelled from the Nazi Party and stripped of all their offices.
Their crime? Attempting to negotiate peace with the Western Allies behind Hitler's back. He famously revoked the decree that named Göring as his successor, cementing their downfall in his final words.
A Phantom Government Appointed
In a desperate attempt to dictate Germany's future, Hitler then laid out his plan for a new government. He appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor, designating him President of the Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
He then listed a new cabinet, a grim lineup for a nation on the brink of total collapse. Joseph Goebbels was to be the new Chancellor, Martin Bormann the Party Minister, and a host of other loyalists assigned to various ministerial roles.
This meticulously crafted list of new leaders was a final, deluded act of control, naming figures who would inherit little more than ruins.
President of the Reich: Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz Chancellor of the Reich: Joseph Goebbels Party Minister: Martin Bormann Foreign Minister: Arthur Seyss-Inquart Interior Minister: Paul Giesler Commander-in-Chief of the Army: Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force: Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim
This political testament was witnessed by the same inner circle as the will: Goebbels, Bormann, General Wilhelm Burgdorf, and General Hans Krebs.
The Immediate Aftermath: A Cabinet of Corpses
Within a day and a half of signing these documents, Hitler and Eva Braun were dead by their own hands. In the terrifying hours that followed, three of the four witnesses to the political testament—Goebbels, Burgdorf, and Krebs—also committed suicide, trapped in the bunker with no escape.
Martin Bormann's fate remained a mystery for decades, fueling speculation. It wasn't until 1998, with the positive identification of his remains near the bunker site, that it was confirmed he too had died attempting to flee the encroaching Red Army.
The Documents' Perilous Journey
Hitler, ever concerned with his legacy, arranged for three copies of his will and testament to be smuggled out of the besieged bunker. Three messengers—Heinz Lorenz, Willy Johannmeyer, and Wilhelm Zander—were tasked with this perilous mission.
Despite aliases and desperate attempts to escape Berlin, all three messengers were eventually captured by Allied forces. Consequently, the documents fell into the hands of the British and Americans, becoming public knowledge by January 1946.
British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin initially expressed concern that the documents might become 'cult objects' for German sympathizers. However, as their contents were already widely published, these fears ultimately did not prevent their widespread dissemination.
Final Resting Place
Today, Hitler's original last will and testament are meticulously preserved within the security vault of the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, a tangible record of a dictator's final, desperate attempt to shape history.
Echoes of the Will
Hitler's vision for a successor government was largely ignored. The so-called 'Flensburg Government' under Dönitz quickly made its own appointments, attempting to manage the final surrender, rather than adhere to a dead dictator's decrees.
Even his surviving family members, like his sister Paula, faced legal battles stemming from the will. Paula Hitler's attempt to claim her inheritance in 1952 was unsuccessful, as Hitler had not yet been legally declared deceased.
His secretaries, including Traudl Junge who typed the testament, were arrested and interrogated by Allied forces. Their unique perspective offered vital insights into Hitler's final days, though often tinged with the trauma of their experiences.
And then there was Anni Winter, Hitler's housekeeper, whose 'ardor for collecting just about anything Hitler touched' led to her controversial possession of numerous personal items. Years later, these items would be subjected to court rulings and even auctioned off, a strange coda to the dictator's personal effects.
Article
Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler
First page of the political testament
Adolf Hitler, chancellor and dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, signed his political testament and his private will in the Führerbunker on 29 April 1945, the day before he committed suicide with his wife, Eva Braun.
The political testament consisted of two parts in total. In the first, Mein politisches Testament, Hitler denied charges of warmongering, expressed his thanks to Germany's loyal citizens, and appealed to them to continue the struggle. In the second, he declared Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring to be traitors, and set out his plan for a new government under Karl Dönitz. Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge recalled that he was reading from notes as he dictated the testament, and it is believed that Joseph Goebbels helped him write it.
Both the Political Testament and the Private Will and Personal Testament of Adolf Hitler were dictated to Junge during the last days of Hitler's life and signed on 29 April 1945. These artifacts are not to be confused with an entirely different—and controversial—document known as The Testament of Adolf Hitler.
Will
Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler
The last will was a short document signed on 29 April at 04:00. It acknowledged his marriage—but does not name Eva Braun—and that they choose death over disgrace of deposition or capitulation; and that their bodies were to be cremated. The will divided up Hitler's belongings as follows:
• His art collection is left to "a gallery in my home town of Linz on the Danube". • Objects of "sentimental value or necessary for the maintenance of a modest simple life" went to "brothers and sisters," and "above all" Eva Braun's mother and his "faithful co-workers" such as his "old secretaries" and housekeeper Mrs. [Anni] Winter. However, he also required that his chief private secretary Martin Bormann be the one who was "permitted to take out everything that has a sentimental value or is necessary for the maintenance of a modest simple life" for these people. • Whatever else of value was to be given to the Nazi Party, and then, should the party no longer exist, to the State. Should the State also be destroyed, "no further decision of mine is necessary."
Bormann was nominated as the will's executor and was also "given full legal authority to make all decisions." The will was witnessed by Bormann, Goebbels, and Colonel Nicolaus von Below.
Testament
Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler
The last political testament was signed at the same time as Hitler's last will, 04:00 on 29 April 1945. It was in two parts. The first part of the testament talked of his motivations in the three decades since volunteering in World War I, repeated his claim that neither he "nor anyone else in Germany wanted the war in 1939," stated his reasons for his intention to commit suicide, and praised and expressed his thanks to the German people for their support and achievements. Also included in the first testament are statements detailing his claim that he tried to avoid war with other states and attributed responsibility for it to "international Jewry and its helpers." He would not "forsake Berlin [...] even though the forces were too small to hold out." Hitler expressed his intent to choose death rather than "fall into the hands of enemies" and "the masses" in need of "a spectacle arranged by Jews." He concluded with a call to continue the "sacrifice" and "struggle." He expressed hope for a renaissance of the National Socialist movement with the realisation of a "true people's community (Volksgemeinschaft)."
The second part of his testament lays out Hitler's intentions for the German government and the Nazi Party after his death and details who was to succeed him. He expelled Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring from the party and dismissed him from all of his state offices. He also cancelled the 1941 decree naming Göring as his successor in the event of his death. To replace him, Hitler named Großadmiral Karl Dönitz as President of the Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Reichsführer-SS and Interior Minister Heinrich Himmler was also expelled from the party and dismissed from all of his state offices for attempting to negotiate peace with the western Allies without Hitler's "knowledge" and against permission. Hitler declared both Himmler and Göring to be traitors.
Hitler appointed the following as the new Cabinet and what he saw as the new leaders of the German nation:
• President of the Reich (Reichspräsident), Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht), Minister of War (Kriegsminister), and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine): Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz • Chancellor of the Reich (Reichskanzler): Joseph Goebbels • Party Minister (Parteiminister): Martin Bormann • Foreign Minister (Aussenminister): Arthur Seyss-Inquart • Interior Minister (Innenminister): Gauleiter Paul Giesler • Commander-in-Chief of the Army (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres): Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner • Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe): Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim • Reichsführer-SS and Chief of Police (Reichsführer-SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei): Gauleiter Karl Hanke • Minister of Economy (Wirtschaft): Walther Funk • Minister of Agriculture (Landwirtschaft): Herbert Backe • Minister of Justice (Justiz): Otto Georg Thierack • Minister of Culture (Kultur): Dr. Gustav Adolf Scheel • Minister of Propaganda (Propaganda): Dr. Werner Naumann • Minister of Finance (Finanzen): Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk • Minister of Labour (Arbeit): Dr. Theo Hupfauer • Minister of Munitions (Rüstung): Karl-Otto Saur • Director of the German Labour Front and member of the Cabinet (Leiter der Deutschen Arbeitsfront und Mitglied des Reichskabinetts: Reichsminister): Dr. Robert Ley
Witnessed by Goebbels, Bormann, General Wilhelm Burgdorf, and General Hans Krebs.
On the afternoon of 30 April, about a day and a half after he signed his last will and testament, Hitler and Braun committed suicide. Within the next two days, Goebbels, Burgdorf, and Krebs also committed suicide. Bormann's fate was unknown for decades, but the positive identification of his remains in 1998 indicated that he died fleeing on 2 May 1945 to avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army forces encircling Berlin.
Authorship
Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler
In his book The Bunker, James O'Donnell, after comparing the wording of Hitler's last testament to the writings and statements of both Hitler and Goebbels, concluded that Goebbels was at least partly responsible for helping Hitler write it. Junge stated that Hitler was reading from notes when he dictated the testament after midnight on 29 April.
History of the documents
Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler
Three messengers were assigned to take the will and political testament out of the besieged Führerbunker to ensure their presence for posterity. The first messenger was deputy press attaché Heinz Lorenz. He was arrested by the British while travelling under an alias as a journalist from Luxembourg. He revealed the existence of two more copies and messengers: Willy Johannmeyer, Hitler's army adjutant, and Bormann's adjutant SS-Standartenführer Wilhelm Zander. Zander was using the pseudonym "Friedrich Wilhelm Paustin" to travel, and was shortly apprehended along with Johannmeyer in the American zone of occupation. Thus, two copies of the papers ended up in American hands, and one set in British hands. The texts of the documents were published widely in the American and British press by January 1946 but British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, considered restricting access to these documents. He feared they might become cult objects among the Germans. Since they were public knowledge already, the Americans did not share these concerns but nonetheless agreed to refrain from further publication of them. Hitler's testament and his marriage certificate were presented to US President Harry S. Truman. One set was placed on public display at the National Archives in Washington for several years.
Hitler's original last will and testament is currently housed in the security vault of the National Archives at College Park in Maryland.
Aftermath
Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler
All four witnesses to the political testament died shortly afterwards. Goebbels and his wife committed suicide. Burgdorf and Krebs committed suicide together on the night of 1/2 May in the bunker. Bormann's exact time and place of death remain uncertain; his remains were discovered near the site of the bunker in 1972 and identified by DNA analysis in 1998. He probably died the same night trying to escape from the Führerbunker.
In the Flensburg Government of Hitler's appointed successor as Reichspräsident Dönitz, the depositions of Albert Speer and Franz Seldte were ignored (or the two ministers quickly reinstated). Neither former incumbent Joachim von Ribbentrop nor Hitler's appointee, Seyß-Inquart, held the post of Foreign Minister. The post was given to Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, who after Goebbels' suicide temporarily became the Leading Minister of the German Reich (Head of Cabinet, post equivalent to Chancellor). He declined the position a day later.
Only three of Hitler's known "brothers and sisters" survived infancy and were still living at the time of death, full-blooded sister Paula Hitler and half-siblings Alois Hitler Jr. and Angela Hitler. Alois Hitler Jr.'s only surviving son William, who was raised and supported by only his mother and her family after Alois Jr. deserted them while fighting for Germany during World War I, was also estranged from his uncle Adolf Hitler, who he publicly stated he "hated" by 1939. William defected to Britain where he had previously lived before taking up residency in Germany in 1933 and to the United States, where he served as a U.S. soldier during World War II. Despite being mentioned in the will, Alois Jr. had in fact only been a Nazi Party member prior to Hitler's rule from 1926 to 1927. Though they were also named in the will, Hitler was acknowledged to have had a low opinion of his sister Paula and his half-sister Angela, referring to them both as "stupid geese." In 1952, Paula tried to claim her inheritance under the will, but was unsuccessful because Hitler had yet to be legally declared dead.
All three of Hitler's "old secretaries", who were named in the will as being among the co-workers who could inherit some of his belongings, were caught and arrested. Johanna Wolf and Christa Schroeder would be arrested in May 1945 and Gerda Christian in March 1946. Hitler's youngest secretary Traudl Junge, who typed Hitler's testaments, was arrested in June 1945.
Numerous items which were in Hitler's possession at the time of his death were auctioned off in April 1971 by the estate of his housekeeper Anni Winter. In 1954, a court ruling resulted in Winter losing possession of numerous items to the state of Bavaria. However, Winter was allowed to keep some of items, which she pledged to sell in order to acquire a cafe. By 1971, Winter was acknowledged to have had possession of at least five dozen items of Hitler’s, including numerous personal photographs. According to Time, Winter had an "ardor for collecting just about anything Hitler touched."