HITLER’S FINAL WORDS
His Political Testament, Personal Will, and Marriage Certificate: From the Bunker in Berlin to the National Archives
BY GREG BRADSHER
As Hitler began speaking, she had the impression that he was in a hurry. “In tones of indifference, almost mechanically, the Fuehrer,” Junge would later observe, “comes out with the explanations, accusations and demands that I, the German people and the whole world know already.”
After finishing his political testament, ac cording to Junge, Hitler paused a brief mo ment and then began dictating his private will. Hitler’s personal will was shorter. It explained his marriage, disposed of his prop erty, and announced his impending death.
The dictation was completed. Hitler had not made any corrections on either docu ment. He moved away from the table on which he had been leaning all this time and said, “Type that out for me at once in triplicate and then bring it in to me.” Junge felt that there was something urgent in his voice, and thought about the most impor tant, most crucial document written by Hitler going out into the world without any corrections or thorough revision. She knew that “Every letter of birthday wishes to some Gauleiter, artist, etc., was polished up, im proved, revised—but now Hitler had no time for any of that.”
Junge took her notepad and typewriter across the hall to type up the political and personal wills. The room she used was next to Reichs Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels’s private room. There she began typing up her shorthand notes of the two documents, knowing that Hitler wanted her to finish as fast as possible.
An Early Morning Ceremony With Just a Few Friends
The next item of business was the Hitler- Braun marriage. Once Junge departed the conference room, guests began entering to attend the wedding ceremony. In the mean time, Hitler was in his sitting room with a few people, trying to get the wedding ready in a dignified way, while the confer ence room was turned into a registry office and set up for the ceremony. SS-Maj. Heinz Linge (Hitler’s valet since 1935) began get ting things ready for the post-wedding cer emony, including gathering up food and drink for Hitler’s inner circle.
Meanwhile, Goebbels, in his capacity of gauleiter of Berlin, knew of someone autho rized to act as a registrar of marriage who was still in Berlin, fighting with the Volkssturm, a last-ditch military organization established by the Nazi Party in October 1944. He was a 50-year-old municipal councilor named Walter Wagner. A group of SS men was dis patched across the city to bring him back. Wagner appeared shortly before 1 a.m. on April 29 in the uniform of the Nazi Party and the armband of the Volkssturm. The ceremony took place probably at some point between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Hitler and Braun left their apartment hand in hand and went into the conference room. Hitler’s face was ashen, his gaze wandered restlessly. Eva Braun was also pale from sleepless nights. Goebbels and Martin Bormann, the head of the Nazi Party chancellery and private secretary to Hitler, were waiting for them in the antechamber.
In the conference room, Hitler and Eva greeted the functionary who had taken up his position at the table. Then they sat down in the first two chairs, and Bormann and Goebbels went to their assigned places. The door was closed. The two parties declared that they were of pure Aryan descent and were free from hereditary disease. In a few minutes the parties had given assent, the register had been signed, and the ceremony was over. When the bride came to sign her name on the marriage certificate, she began to write “Eva Braun” but quickly struck out the initial letter B and corrected it to “Eva Hitler, nee Braun.”
Bormann, Goebbels, and Wagner also signed the register as witnesses. The ceremony lasted no longer than 10 minutes.
Bormann opened the door again when Hitler and Eva were signing the license. Hitler then kissed Eva’s hand. They went into the conference passage, where they shook hands with those waiting. They then withdrew into their private apartments for a wedding break fast. Shortly afterward, Bormann, Goebbels,
Magda Goebbels, and the secretaries Christian and Junge were invited into the private suite.
Junge would not come right away as she was typing across the hall. At some point during the party, Junge walked across the corridor to express her congratulations to the newlyweds and wish them luck. She stayed for less than 15 minutes and then returned to her typing.
For part of the time, General of Infantry Hans Krebs, Lt. Gen. Wilhelm Burgdorf, and Lt. Col. Nicholaus von Below (Hitler’s Luftwaffe adjutant) joined the party, as did Werner Naumann (state secretary in the Ministry of Propaganda), Arthur Axmann (Reich youth leader), Ambassador…
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https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/2015/spring/hitler-will.pdf
