Ian Kershaw - The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitlers Germany, 1944-1945

IAN KERSHAW

The End

The Defiance and Destruction of
Hitlers Germany, 1944 45

THE PENGUIN PRESS
New York
2011

THE PENGUIN PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group

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First published in 2011 by The Penguin Press,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Copyright Ian Kershaw, 2011
All rights reserved

Illustration credits appear on pages viiix.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Kershaw, Ian.
The end : the defiance and destruction of Hitlers Germany, 19441945 / Ian Kershaw.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59420-314-5 (hardback)
1. World War, 19391945Germany. 2. Sociology, MilitaryGermanyHistory20th century. 3. Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945Military leadership.
4. Hitler, Adolf, 18891945Public opinion. I. Title.
D757.K38 2011
940.5343dc23 2011020135

Printed in the United States of America

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List of Illustrations

1. Martin Bormann, c. 1942 (photograph: akg-images)

2. Heinrich Himmler, c. 1943 (photograph: Scala,
Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

3. Joseph Goebbels, 1942 (photograph: Scala, Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

4. Albert Speer, 1942 (photograph: Scala, Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

5. Captured German prisoners near Falaise, September 1944 (photograph: Topfoto)

6. German civilians evacuate Aachen, October 1944 (photograph: Bettmann/Corbis)

7. Wilhelm Keitel (undated) (photograph: Scala, Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

8. Alfred Jodl, 1944 (photograph: Ullsteinbild/Topfoto)

9. Heinz Guderian, 1944 (photograph: Ullsteinbild/Topfoto)

10. Karl Dnitz, c. 1943 (photograph: Scala, Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

11. Digging a trench near Tilsit, September 1944 (photograph: Scala, Florence/BPK)

12. Erich Koch on inspection in East Prussia, August 1944 (photograph: Ullsteinbild/Topfoto)

13. German soldiers viewing corpses, Nemmersdorf, October 1944 (photograph: akg-images)

14. The Ardennes offensive, December 1944 (photograph: Heinz Rutkowski (Scherl)/Bundesarchiv, Koblenz)

15. Walter Model, 1941 (photograph: akg-images/Ullsteinbild)

16. Georg-Hans Reinhardt, 1939 (photograph: Scala,
Florence/BPK)

17. Ferdinand Schrner, 1942 (photograph: Scala,
Florence/BPK)

18. Gotthard Heinrici, 1943 (photograph: Scala,
Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

19. Volkssturm men on the eastern front, October 1944 (photograph: Ullsteinbild/Topfoto)

20. Volkssturm men march past Goebbels, November 1944 (photograph: Bundesarchiv, Koblenz)

21. Arthur Greiser, 1939 (photograph: Scala, Florence/BPK)

22. Josef Groh, 1944 (photograph: Scala, Florence/BPK)

23. Karl Hanke, c. 1942 (photograph: Ullsteinbild/Topfoto)

24. Karl Holz (undated) (photograph: Bundesarchiv, Koblenz)

25. Refugees crossing the Frisches Haff, February 1945 (photograph: Vinzenz Engel/ Scala, Florence/BPK)

26. Abandoned wagon in East Prussia, January 1945 (photograph: Mary Evans/ Suddeutscher Verlag)

27. Flying court-martial, location unknown, probably 1944/5 (photograph: Ullsteinbild/Topfoto)

28. Hanged German officer, Vienna, April 1945 (photograph: akg-images/Interfoto/AWKZ)

29. Overcrowded boat from Pillau crossing the Baltic Sea, March 1945 (photograph: akg-images)

30. Dresden, February 1945 (photograph: Scala, Florence/BPK/Walter Hahn)

31. Nuremberg, March 1945 (photograph: Scala, Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

32. Young Germans cycling to the front, February 1945 (photograph: Scala, Florence/BPK)

33. Berlin, April 1944 (photograph: Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin (Inv.-Nr.: F 66/911))

34. Photograph from a series taken by the US Army immediately after the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp, Weimar, April 1945 (photograph: ITS Archives, Bad Arolsen (Exhibit B-1, Numbers 1-28, Set No 5, Picture No. 2))

35. Prisoners on a death march from Dachau, April 1945 (photograph: private collection, courtesy KZ Gedenksttte Dachau)

36. Germans surrender to the Red Army, Knigsberg, April 1945 (photograph: Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin (Inv.-Nr.: F 61/1661))

37. Houses display white flags in Worms, March 1945 (photograph: Scala, Florence/BPK)

38. Heinrich von Vietinghoff, 1944 (photograph Scala, Florence/BPK)

39. Karl Wolff, 1942 (photograph: Scala, Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

40. Keitel signs the complete German capitulation, 8 May 1945 (photograph: Bundesarchiv, Koblenz)

41. An angel on the spire of Freiburg minster, 1946 (photograph: Scala, Florence/Walter Frentz Collection)

List of Maps

Acknowledgements

One of the most pleasant parts of finishing a book is to thank those who, in different ways, have contributed to the making of it.

My thanks first of all to the British Academy for a grant which helped me to undertake the initial, exploratory research. I am also grateful to the archivists and staff of the various record repositories where I have worked: the Bundesarchiv in Berlin/Lichterfelde, the Bundesarchiv/Militrarchiv in Freiburg, the Bibliothek fr Zeitgeschichte in Stuttgart, the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv and Staatsarchiv Mnchen, the Staatsarchiv Augsburg, the International Tracing Service, Bad Arolsen, the National Archives in London, the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives in Kings College, London. At the Bibliothek fr Zeitgeschichte in Stuttgart, part of the Wrttembergische Landesbibliothek, I had every reason to be most grateful for the help and advice of the librarys director and good friend of mine, Professor Gerhard Hirschfeld, and the head of its archival collections, Dr Irina Renz. Dr Susanne Urban was most helpful in guiding me through the extensive sources related to the death marches only recently opened to researchers at the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, where I would also like to express my thanks to the director, M. Jean-Luc Blondel. At Duxford, I benefited greatly from Dr Stephen Waltons expert assistance in consulting the valuable holdings of German documents. I started, and finished, the research for the book in the incomparable Institut fr Zeitgeschichte in Munich, where I have had the good fortune to be a welcome guest for many years, and I would like to express my warmest thanks to the director, Professor Horst Mller, and his colleagues, especially the library and archives staff, who as always dealt with my many requests with unfailing courtesy and friendliness.