1945 – The Last Months of the Third Reich: Reflections

on Russia AFTER OUR DECEMBER 1944 victories on the

Western Front led to nothing, a moodovertook everybody
in whichall hope of a possible change in the
war situation were dashed. Lethargy spread like a
sea mist and depressed us all, even Hitler,who showed
it only when I was alone with him. Even when Bormann
put in an appearance, he would change his facial
expression and pretend that ‘everything is in order’.
Morell he could not fool. He saw the deterioration
in his patient. In mid-February 1945 Giesing returned
to the HQ. I was very happy to see him again
since I knew he always had a positive effect on
Hitler. Now I hoped he could uplift him again. I
requested Hitler to receive him. Annoyed since the
beginning of October 1944 at Giesing’s ‘infringements
of jurisdiction’, as he called them,Hitler was undecided
and said neither yes nor no whichmeant to me
‘arrange a chance meeting’. I did this. During
an air raid alarmI arranged for Giesing to more
or less collide with Hitler. With the doctor
standing in his path, Hitler looked up and said
pleasantly, ‘Ah, doctor, how are you and your family?
Come with me!’ The old low moodwas swept
away. Hitler looked pleased, unforced, natural. He knew
that he could not conceal from Giesing the rapid onset
of the process of deterioration whichhad occurred
during Giesing’s absence. Giesing’sreport speaks for
itself:
Now that I saw Hitler’s face [he wrote in 1945]I was
amazed at the change. He seemedto have aged and
was more stooped than ever. His facial complexionwas pallid
and he had large bags underhis eyes. His speech was
clear but soft. I noticed at once a pronounced
trembling of the left arm and hand whichwas worse if
the hand was not supported, so that Hitler always
 rested the arm on the table or his hands on
the chair seat . . . I had the impression that
he was fairly far away mentally and not so
concentrated as formerly. I had the impression of
a man absolutely exhausted and absent. His hands
were very pale and his fingernails bloodless.57
Hitler left Berlinon his last drive to the front at the
beginning of March 1945. Our car droveover ploughed
fields, pasture and meadow to Stettin, whichwas
still held by German forces. It needed all his
physical energy to endure, but he would not give
in. Crossing ploughed land one morning to reacha
Luftwaffe
command post, suddenly the farmers were around us with
their wives. They seemed to have forgotten the close
thunder of the Russian artillery. They had apparently
not expected to see him, Hitler, right at the front,
and one felt at once the effect that Hitler had on them
even though he was now old, greying, bent and
degenerating. He did not speak to them,but gave a
jovial wave. For a moment I saw us back in the
epoch of our picnicexcursions.The same faces as then,
the hopes we once had: ‘The Führer will find a way’.
There was nothing else to explain the behaviour of
the people here. That Hitler created strength for
himself from these encounters was sensed not only by
me but also noticed by General Burgdorf, Schaub
and Bormann, who regularly accompanied Hitler.
During the Russian campaign in the winter of 1941,
Hitler went to Feldmarschall von Reichenau’s army
group. I knew from private meetings between them
at the Berg that Reichenau understood something about
painting, whichpleased Hitler immensely.Harmoniously and
knowledgably they discussed the oil paintings hung at
the Berghof. Politically Reichenau was close to Hitler,
and occasionally he visited Hitler in civilian clothing,
 a sure sign of a certain favouritism.After our flight
to the front, soldiers were waiting in a large hall
to greet Hitler, visibly pleased to see him in
person. At the meal table a simple soldier sat
at his left, at his right an NCO.He conversed freely with
everybody. Afterwards he gave a speech in whichhe
recalled that the German kaisers of the Middle
Ages had always been drawn to the south, to Italy.
This time, underhis leadership, German troops would
conquer a country whose soil offered everything
Germany needed. With applause resounding around the
hall we headed for our quarters, the ground floor of
a house. His room had a large window which
nobody could avoidpassing when entering or leaving
the building. Before I worked out the reason of
this odd constructional design, Hitler explained that a
political informer, installed as a house guard, had
lived there.His job had been to watch the occupants of
the house. I was always unable to conceal
my private thoughts and must have pulled an
incredulousface, for Hitler took me by the arm, pushed me
out of the room and drew my attention to the
skylights above all the doors. I now observed that
every room had its own skylight through whichthe
building snooper could ascertain what the people inside
‘were up to’. We did not know when we would be
returning to FHQ, and Hitler was therefore very unsettled.
He was waiting nervously for reports from other army
groups whichcould not reachhim through von Reichenau,
because there was no