The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945

607 Pages·2011·5.77 MB·English

by  Ian Kershaw

The End
IAN KERSHAW
The End
The Defiance and Destruction of
Hitler’s 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,
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Copyright © Ian Kershaw, 2011
All rights reserved
Illustration credits appear on pages vii–ix.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Kershaw, Ian.
The end : the defiance and destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1944–1945 / Ian Kershaw.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59420-314-5 (hardback)
1. World War, 1939–1945—Germany. 2. Sociology, Military—Germany—History—20th century. 3. Hitler,
Adolf, 1889-1945—Military leadership.
4. Hitler, Adolf, 1889–1945—Public opinion. I. Title.
D757.K38 2011
940.5343—dc23 2011020135
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
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Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Acknowledgements
Preface
Dramatis Personae
Introduction: Going Down in Flames
1. Shock to the System
2. Collapse in the West
3. Foretaste of Horror
4. Hopes Raised – and Dashed
5. Calamity in the East
6. Terror Comes Home
7. Crumbling Foundations
8. Implosion
9. Liquidation
Conclusion: Anatomy of Self-Destruction
Notes
List of Archival Sources Cited
List of Works Cited
Index
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 Dönitz, 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 Schörner, 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 Grohé, 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 Gedenkstätte
Dachau) 36. Germans surrender to the Red Army, Königsberg, 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
1. The European fronts, July 1944
2. The Allied breakthrough in the West, June to September 1944
3. The Red Army’s advance, June to August 1944
4. East Prussia
5. The Ardennes offensive
6. The Red Army’s January 1945 offensive
7. The Collapse of the Third Reich, March 1945
8. Dönitz’s Reich, 1 May 1945
9. Europe at the final surrender
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/Militärarchiv in Freiburg, the Bibliothek
für Zeitgeschichte in Stuttgart, the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv and
Staatsarchiv München, 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 King’s
College, London. At the Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte in Stuttgart, part of the
Württembergische Landesbibliothek, I had every reason to be most grateful for
the help and advice of the library’s 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 Walton’s expert assistance in consulting the valuable holdings
of German documents. I started, and finished, the research for the book in the
incomparable Institut für 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 Möller, and his colleagues,
especially the library and archives staff, who as always dealt with my many
requests with unfailing courtesy and friendliness.
Professor Otto Dov Kulka (Jerusalem), a highly esteemed colleague and
friend with whom I have shared a lengthy and fruitful correspondence over many
years, first pointed me in the direction of the records at Bad Arolsen. Beyond
that, as ever I have been extremely grateful for his interest in my work, and for
his valuable suggestions. Laurence Rees, good friend and brilliant producer of
television documentaries, was kind enough to make available to me relevant
transcripts of interviews, kept in the BBC Archives in London, from one of the
series on which we collaborated, offered excellent advice, and was as always
stimulating company, cheerfully helpful and most encouraging.