Goebbels' Last Letter and Hitler's Farewell

Mein Führer,

das deutsche Volk gelobt Ihnen, in

unerschütterlicher Treue in diesem Kampfe hinter Ihnen zu stehen

und komme, was kommen mag, die deutsche Ehre, die

deutsche gleiche Berechtigung und den Frieden Europas zu

verteidigen. Der Führer hat das Wort.

Letter from Dr. Joseph Goebbels to his stepson,

Harald Quandt,

written on April 28th, 1945. Dear

Harald,

we are locked down in the Führerbunker at the Reich's Chancellery, and we are

fighting for our lives and honor.

How will this fight end?

God only knows. But I know it will end for us with honor

and glory,

dead or alive. I do not think we will see each other

again.

These will be the last words you will receive from me.

I hope, if you come out alive from this war,

that you will

honor both your mother and me, as it is not necessary for us

to survive to influence our people.

You will be the only one left to carry on with our family traditions.

Always act in a way that does not shame us.

Germany will survive this war, but only if our people have examples to

guide them. And this is the example that we want to give.

You can be proud to have a mother like you have now.

Last night, the Führer gave her the golden party pin

he has carried for years on

his jacket, and I think she deserves it.

In the future, you will have only one mission,

to be worthy of the great

sacrifice we are willing to make.

I know you will.

Don't let the noise that the world is about to start disorientate you.

One day, the lies will fall under their own weight,

and truth will

triumph over them.

The hour will come in which we will be above all, clean

and without

guilt, like our faith and task were.

Goodbye, dear Harald.

If we meet again, it depends on God.

If it is not to be, I will always be proud of having belonged

to a family that

even in adversity and up to the last moment has been

faithful to the Führer and

his pure and holy cause. My best wishes and dearest greetings,

Papa.

Da kam plötzlich Goebbels herein

und ich war also wirklich erschüttert, wie der aussah.

Er war leichenblass,

mit Tränen in den Augen und

er kam dann auf mich zu und anscheinend war niemand anderer

da, dem er sein Herz hat ausschütten können.

Jedenfalls sagt er: Frau Junge,

der Führer will,

dass ich ihn verlasse, dass ich in Berlin bleibe, dass

ich

in der künftigen Regierung eine Funktion

übernehme und

ich kann das doch nicht. Also er war ganz verzweifelt, weil er

sich doch wirklich als der treueste Gefolgsmann gefühlt hat und

er geglaubt hat, es gibt keinen größeren

Beweis für seine Treue, als mit Hitler zu sterben.

Niemals wird die Geschichte

über diese Zeit berichten können,

dass ein Volk seinen Führer

oder dass ein Führer sein Volk verließ.

Das aber ist der Sieg.

Worüber wir so oft im Glück

an diesem Abend den Führer baten,

das ist heute im Leid

und in der Gefahr

für uns alle eine viel tiefere

und innigere Bitte an ihn geworden.

Er soll uns bleiben, was er uns

ist und immer war.

Unser

Hitler.

Vor allem aber muss ich dann heute danken Ihnen, mein Doktor,

der Sie damals vor zehn Jahren

von mir eine Fahne in die Hand bekommen haben, die Sie

nun in des Reiches Hauptstadt aufpflanzen und

zur Bannerinstallation in Berlin erhoben

haben.

When Traudl Junge was asked by Nuremberg judge Michael

Musmanno why

she chose to stay with Hitler, knowing that she might die by doing so

after she was given the chance to leave, she said, "First of

all, I felt the obligation. You cannot just leave where you

have been all the time. Should I leave then,

just in the most critical

hour? So many had left who really ought to have

stayed with him,

who had ties to him from his former life.

And that is what shocked and moved him so deeply.

One could see that.

One also sensed it."

He came in and said with a

monotone voice and so unkindly as we never

have heard him speak to us, "Ladies,

please pack your things at once. You have to go to

the south. The last aeroplane

starts in about an hour."

And then was a silent. No, he said, "It's, it's all lost.

There's no, there's no hope. You have to go."

And then was a moment of absolutely silence, and we stood

like shocked.

And suddenly, Eva Braun

made a s- a few steps, went to Hitler and

said, "But you know I don't leave you.

I stay on your side.

You know that. Don't try to s- to send me away."

And then Hitler, um, did something very astonishing what he

never did, and nobody had ever seen such a

guest.

He kissed her on his, on her lips.

And, um,

then it happened that

the other girls and, and me too,

we hear us saying, we s- we, we, we stay too.

What did Hitler s- how did Hitler react?

And Hitler, Hitler had a look of, of, uh, and, and

looked at us,

and suddenly

there came a, a, a sort of sad smile on his lips, and

he said, "Oh, I wish my generals would

be so brave, as brave as you."

He said farewell to everybody,

and I was the last one he came to.

Hitler said to me,

"I have given the order to break out.

You should break out in groups.

Join one of these groups and try to get

through to the West."

Then I asked Hitler,

"For whom should we fight on for now?"

And to that, Hitler said in a monotone,

"For the coming man."

I saluted him. He gave me his hand, and I

disappeared out of the room.

I was so upset, and for a moment I didn't know what

to do.