However, when the time is there and the calendar shows April 30, you bet we're online, the champagne corks are popping and the dvd plays Wedding Crashers or something. Indeed, the last day of April is the day Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin. To give some very brief info about his last days on earth, that bunker, which he had moved into on January 16, 1945, was but a mere shadow of the other Fuehrerhauptquartiere he had conducted his war from, like Wehrwolf in the Ukraine, or the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia. It was humid because the concrete hadn't had the time to dry properly; ventilation was inadequate; and the rooms were cramped. There was but scant communication with the outside world and his staff had to rely on the telephone to get info about the Russians' troop movements. These launched their final offensive on April 16 across the Oder river, a mere 60 kilometers from Berlin. Despite prodigious resistance from the army directly opposing them, 9th under Busse, the main Russian wedge under Zhukov broke through after 2 1/2 days. Another wedge under Koniev was already well on its way from a southeasterly direction. By the 24th both marshals were in Berlin's outskirts and a general Bersarin, a bit premature, was made City Commander. Resistance was tough though, not only from Waffen SS units but also from depleted Wehrmacht and Volkssturm formations. During the last week of his life, Hitler for the last time tried to direct armies to come to his rescue, and it must be said that one of them, 12th under Wenck, made remarkable progress and got as far as Potsdam, just southwest of Berlin. But when Hitler learned this attempt, too, ahd failed, he finally could no longer deny reality. On April 29th he dictated his testament, in which he repeated the basic tenets of the vile Nazi ideology, and named Grossadmiral Doenitz his successor. He then married his mistress, Eva Braun, whom he had known since 1930. On April 30, Hitler had a brief meeting with the Nazi Party secretary, the sinister Martin Bormann. After that he had a small lunch prepared by his vegetarian cook, Fraulein Manzialy. The couple then said their personal farewells to the Fuehrerbunker staff and its other occupants, the Goebbels family, and around 14.30 withdrew in Hitlers study. Around 15:30 a gunshot was heard. Hitlers valet, Heinz Linge, then entered with Bormann at his side. The Hitlers were sitting on a small sofa, and apparently the Fuehrer had shot himself through the head and taken cyanide. His wife had only resorted to poisoning herself, also with cyanide. The bodies were taken upstairs (the bunker was deep under the ground) and set on fire with 200 litres gasoline brought by Hitlers driver Erich Kempka.
Such was the end of one of the most evil men who ever lived.
"Nazi" means National Socialist. The Nazi Party was the NSDAP, the Nazional Sozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiter Partei, National Socialist German Workers' Party. Hitlers regime and ideology embraced collectivism, and subordinated the individual to the community. The Nazis tried to make Germany an autarky - the very antithesis of an open, free-market based society. They centrally planned the German economy with four-year plans, not unlike another infamous socialist state. The regime's secret police silenced dissenting voices. Parliament was shoved aside, industries nationalized - echoes of which can be perceived right now in Latin America. The Nazi state thought it should control the lives of its citizens to the most minute details. Christianity was abhorred, in contrast to what may of today's leftists claim. In its place, the Nazis tried to reinstate the old Germanic pagan worshipping.
The Nazi Regime was as leftist as could be. And its grandmaster proudly proclaimed himself a socialist. He unleashed unseen evil over the world which would cost the lives of 55 million people, ruin the existence of tens of millions more, and cause immeasurable material damage. April 30 is a day which should be feted.
MFBB.
N.B.: the photo does NOT depict Hitler. Very likely it's a Soviet propaganda photo, and historians unanimously agree that the man shown is not the Fuehrer. His body was practically totally consumed by the fire, although the remains found their way to Moscow. But as a mean to illustrate this post, I thought it came in handy. Sorry if you find it macabre.
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