Gerhard Schach was one of Göbbels's personal aides in his capacity of Gauleiter of Berlin. Schach was chief of Göbbels's Gau staff and liaison officer from the gau to the Propaganda Ministry

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Heinz Krüger
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Josef Ochs


 

Hans-Erich Voss (or Voß) (30 October 1897 – 18 November 1969) was a German Vice Admiral and one of the final occupants of the Führerbunker during the battle of Berlin in 1945. He was also among the last people to see both Adolf Hitler and Josef Göbbels alive before they committed suicide.

Voss was born in Angermünde, Brandenburg on 30 October 1897. He graduated from the German Naval Academy in 1917. He served in the German Navy through the Weimar Republic and Nazi periods. In 1942, he was commander of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, and met Josef Goebbels, then Reich Propaganda Minister, when Göbbels accompanied a party of journalists on a tour of the ship. As a result of this meeting, Göbbels arranged to have Voss appointed Naval Liaison Officer to Hitler's headquarters in March 1943.

Voss was present during the bomb plot against Hitler on 20 July 1944. He was in the conference room at Hitler's Rastenburg Headquarters Wolfsschanze ("Wolf's Lair") as Kriegsmarine representative. Around 12:30 hours as the conference began, plotter Claus von Stauffenberg made an excuse to use a washroom in Wilhelm Keitel's office where he used pliers to crush the end of a pencil detonator inserted into a 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) block of plastic explosive wrapped in brown paper. The detonator, which consisted of a thin copper tube containing acid , took ten minutes to silently eat through wire holding back the firing pin from the percussion cap. The primed bomb was then placed in a briefcase under a table around which Hitler, Voss and more than 20 officers had gathered. Between 12:40 and 12:50 the bomb detonated, destroying the conference room.

Although Hitler survived with minor wounds, three officers and a stenographer were fatally injured and died soon afterwards. Voss was also wounded in the bomb blast but he quickly recovered. He became a recipient of the Wound Badge of 20 July 1944. Initially his award class was presented in black but then it was upgraded to silver and finally gold because he was wounded a number of times after the initial award. Voss was the only member of the Wehrmacht to have received all three badges.

In his capacity as Kriegsmarine Liaison Officer, Voss accompanied Hitler, Göbbels, and their entourages into the Führerbunker under the Reich Chancellery building in central Berlin in January 1945. In the final months of the Third Reich, Voss became a close confidante of Göbbels and his wife Magda Göbbels. He was aware that the Göbbels had decided that they would not leave the bunker, but would kill their children and then themselves once Hitler was dead.

On 30 April, Voss was among the group of officers whom Hitler informed that he had decided to commit suicide rather than attempt to escape from Berlin, which was surrounded by the Red Army. One of Hitler's security officers, Johann Rattenhuber, later testified:

In Hitler's reception room at 10 o'clock in the morning there assembled Generals Burgdorf and Krebs, Admiral Voss, Hitler's personal pilot General Baur, Standartenführer Beetz, Obersturmbannführer Hegel, his personal servant Sturmbannführer Linge, Günsche and myself. He came out to us and said: 'I have decided to abandon this life. Thank you for your good and honest service. Try to escape from Berlin with the troops. I am staying here'. Saying goodbye he shook hands with each of us.

Interrogated by Soviet officers on 6 May, Voss recounted:

When Göbbels learned that Hitler had committed suicide, he was very depressed and said: 'It is a great pity that such a man is not with us any longer. But there is nothing to be done. For us, everything is lost now and the only way out left for us is the one which Hitler chose. I shall follow his example'.

On 1 May, Voss saw Göbbels for the last time:

Before the breakout from the bunker began, about ten generals and officers, including myself, went down individually to Göbbels's shelter to say goodbye. While saying goodbye I asked Göbbels to join us. But he replied: 'The captain must not leave his sinking ship. I have thought about it all and decided to stay here. I have nowhere to go because with little children I will not be able to make it'.

Voss then joined the group led by SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Möhnke which broke out of the bunker and tried to escape from Berlin. Most of the group were captured by Soviet forces the same day. Voss was brought back to the bunker for questioning, and to identify the partly burned bodies of Josef and Magda Göbbels, and also the bodies of their six children, who had been poisoned. The Soviet account states:

Vice-Admiral Voss, being asked how he identified the people as Göbbels, his wife and children, explained that he recognised the burnt body of the man as former Reichsminister Göbbels by the following signs: the shape of the head, the line of the mouth, the metal brace that Göbbels had on his right leg, his gold NSDAP badge and the burnt remains of his party uniform.

Voss was made a Soviet prisoner of war. In August 1951, he was prosecuted by the Soviet authorities on charges that "he held a command post in Hitler's war fleet, that was involved in an aggressive war in breach of international laws and treaties." In February 1952, the Court Martial of the Moscow Military District sentenced him to 25 years' imprisonment. By a decree of the Praesidium of the Supreme Soviet in December 1954, however, he was released and handed over to the German Democratic Republic authorities.

Voss died at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria in 1969.



 
Johann Rattenhuber (30 April 1897 – 30 June 1957), also known as Hans Rattenhuber, was a German police and SS general (Gruppenführer, i. e. Generalleutnant). Rattenhuber was the head of German dictator Adolf Hitler's personal (RSD) bodyguard from 1933 to 1945.

Rattenhuber was born in Munich, where he made a career as a police officer. During World War I he served in the 16th and 13th Bavarian Infantry Regiments. He also served in the Freikorps. In March 1933 he was appointed head of Hitler's personal bodyguard the Reichssicherheitsdienst or RSD. The unit should not to be confused with the Sicherheitsdienst or SD. However, the unit was technically on the staff of Reichsführer-SS Himmler with the member's wearing the uniform of the SS with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) diamond on their lower left sleeve. His was a unit created to provide personal security to members of the top Nazi leadership. Members of his unit were initially drawn exclusively from Bavarian police officers. Rattenhuber was promoted to SS General (Gruppenführer) on 24 February 1945. He was head of Hitler's bodyguard at the time of the unsuccessful July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler during the summer of 1944.

As RSD chief, Rattenhuber was responsible for securing Hitler's field headquarters. In this capacity, he traveled to Vinnytsia Ukraine as Hitler's Werwolf bunker was under construction to survey the area. In January 1942 he met with local SS-police leaders and civilian authorities, and ordered that the area be cleared of Jews prior to Hitler's planned arrival in summer 1942. On 10 January 1942, Rattenhuber's RSD units participated in the mass shooting of 227 Jews at Strizhavka, the actual grounds of the Werwolf site. Details of the execution were reported to Rattenhuber by his deputy, SS-Sturmbannführer Friedrich Schmidt. Additional massacres of Jews and POW laborers who worked on the construction of the Werwolf headquarters occurred on the eve of Hitler's arrival in July 1942. Rattenhuber authorized local SS-police forces to initiate and order these executions, which were carried out under the guise of "security measures."

In January 1945, Rattenhuber accompanied Hitler and his entourage into the bunker complex under the Reich Chancellery gardens in the central government sector of Berlin. On 28 April, when it was discovered that Heinrich Himmler was trying to negotiate a backdoor surrender to the Western Allies via Count Folke Bernadotte, Rattenhuber became part of a military tribunal ordered by Hitler to court-martial Himmler's SS liaison officer Hermann Fegelein. Fegelein, by that time was Eva Braun's brother-in-law. General Wilhelm Mohnke presided over the tribunal which, in addition to Rattenhuber and Möhnke, included Generals Hans Krebs and Wilhelm Burgdorf. General Möhnke told author O'Donnell the following:

...in my opinion and that of my fellow officers, Hermann Fegelein was in no condition to stand trial, or for that matter to even stand. I closed the proceedings...So I turned Fegelein over to [SS] General Rattenhuber and his security squad. I never saw the man again.

On 30 April, Rattenhuber was one of the group to whom Hitler announced that he intended to kill himself rather than be captured by the Soviet forces who were occupying Berlin. He later testified:

About 10 o'clock at night [on 29 April] Hitler summoned me to his room... Hitler said: 'You have served me faithfully for many years. Tomorrow is your birthday and I want to congratulate you and thank you for your faithful service, because I shall not be able to do so tomorrow... I have taken the decision... I must leave this world...' I went over to Hitler and told him how necessary his survival was for Germany, that there was still a chance to try and escape from Berlin and save his life. 'What for?' Hitler argued. 'Everything is ruined..., and to flee means falling into the hands of the Russians'...

Rattenhuber, however, was not present when Hitler killed himself on the afternoon of 30 April in the Führerbunker. He did not see Hitler's body until after it was wrapped in grey blankets and carried out of the office/sitting room where Hitler died. He was not one of those who took the body up the stairs and outside. Instead, Rattenhuber followed Heinz Linge, Otto Günsche and several others outside and watched Hitler's body be burned.

On 1 May, Rattenhuber led one of the ten groups escaping from the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker. Two of the other main groups were led by SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Möhnke and Werner Naumann. Most, including Rattenhuber, were captured by the Soviets on the same day or the following day. Rattenhuber was taken to Moscow, where on 20 May he gave a detailed description of the last days of Hitler and the Nazi leadership in the bunker. The text of this was kept in the Soviet archives until it was published by V.K. Vinogradov in the Russian edition of Hitler's Death: Russia's Last Great Secret from the Files of the KGB in 2000.

Rattenhuber was made a Soviet prisoner of war. In August 1951 he was charged by the Soviet Ministry of State Security that "from the early days of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany in 1933 and until the defeat of the latter in 1945, being an SS Gruppenführer, Police Lieutenant-General and the chief of the Reich Security Service, he ensured the personal security of Hitler and other Reich leaders". Rattenhuber was sentenced by the Court Martial of the Moscow Military District on 15 February 1952 to 25 years' imprisonment. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of September 1955 he was released and handed over to the German Democratic Republic authorities, who allowed him to go to West Germany. He died in Munich in 1957.



 
Werner Naumann (16 June 1909 – 25 October 1982) was State Secretary in Josef Göbbels' Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda during the Third Reich. He was appointed head of the Propaganda Ministry by Führer Adolf Hitler in his political testament after Dr. Göbbels was promoted to Reichskanzler. Naumann was present in the Führerbunker in Berlin in late April 1945.

Naumann was born in Guhrau in Silesia, Prussia, Germany. After finishing school, he studied political economics. Naumann joined the NSDAP in 1928. Naumann became a member of the SA where he rose to the rank of Brigadeführer by 1933. Thereafter, Naumann joined the SS. In 1937 he was Chief of the Propaganda Office in Breslau.

A year later he was made the personal aide of Josef Göbbels and in 1942 became his assistant secretary. His official title was "Undersecretary and Chief of the Minister's Office in the Propaganda Ministry". In April 1944 Naumann was named State Secretary in the Propaganda Ministry. He was a member of the Freundeskreis Reichsführer SS around Heinrich Himmler and served in the Waffen-SS during World War II.

He was appointed Propaganda Minister in the Flensburg government of Karl Dönitz by Hitler's Testament of 29 April 1945. On 1 May 1945, he was the leader of break-out group number 3 from the Führerbunker. The group included Martin Bormann, Hans Baur, Ludwig Stumpfegger and Artur Axmann. Erich Kempka testified at Nuremberg that he had last seen Naumann walking a metre in front of Martin Bormann when the latter was hit by a Soviet rocket while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge under heavy fire in Berlin. However, according to Hitler Youth leader Artur Axmann, the group followed a Tiger tank which spearheaded the first attempt to storm across the bridge, but it was destroyed. Bormann, Stumpfegger and himself were "knocked over" when the tank was hit. Axmann crawled to a shellhole where he met up again with Naumann, Bormann, Baur and Stumpfegger and they all made it across the bridge. From that group, only Naumann and Axmann escaped the Soviet Army encirclement of Berlin and made it to western Germany. Then Naumann fled to Argentina.

In Argentina, Naumann became one of the editors of the neo-Nazi magazine Der Weg published by the Dürer Verlag, which entered circulation amongst the German community in June 1947. This attracted the interest of Israeli agents, who identified Naumann and made his presence known, and he decided to return to South Germany. He was in hiding there until 1949, when he started an apprenticeship as a bricklayer which he passed with excellent grades.

Naumann was the highest ranking member of the Nazi hierarchy known to have gone to Argentina immediately postwar. How he entered is not known. The only Argentine author to have noticed him is Jorge Camarasa, who noted Naumann in his book. Naumann's own book Nau Nau gefährdet das Empire was published by Dürer Haus in 1953.

Naumann was arrested by the British Army on 16 January 1953 and accused of being the leader of a Neo-Nazi group that attempted to infiltrate West German political parties; he was released after seven months in custody. Later on, he became director at a metal firm in Lüdenscheid owned by Göbbels' stepson Harald Quandt. He died in 1982 in Lüdenscheid in North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany, aged 73.



 
Peter Högl (19 August 1897 – 2 May 1945) was a German officer holding the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) who spent time in the Führerbunker in Berlin at the end of World War II.

Högl was born near Dingolfing in Bavaria. After he left school he worked as a miller in Landshut until he joined the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment in 1916; there, he then saw active service in World War I and reached the rank of Unteroffizier. He left the army in 1919 and joined the Bavarian police, transferring to the criminal police in 1932.

He joined the SS and became a member of Adolf Hitler's bodyguard in 1933 and attained the rank of SS-Obersturmführer (first lieutenant) in 1934. From April 1935 he became the deputy to Johann Rattenhuber in the Reichssicherheitsdienst (Reich Security Service-RSD) and was appointed Chief of Department 1 (responsible for the personal protection of Hitler). In this capacity he was posted to the Obersalzberg, Munich and Berlin. From November 1944 forward, he was stationed in Berlin and held the title of Criminal Director. Beginning in January 1945, Högl spent time in the Führerbunker located below the Reich Chancellery gardens in central Berlin. In April 1945, it became a de facto Führer Headquarters during the Battle of Berlin, and ultimately, the last one of Hitler's headquarters.

On 27 April, Högl was sent to find Heinrich Himmler's liaison man in Berlin, SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS Hermann Fegelein who had left the bunker complex. Högl caught Fegelein at his apartment apparently preparing to flee Berlin with his Hungarian mistress to Sweden or Switzerland. Fegelein had cash, forged passports and was wearing civilian clothes. Högl also uncovered a briefcase containing documents with evidence of Himmler's attempted peace negotiations. Fegelein, by that time was Eva Braun's brother-in-law. A military tribunal was ordered by Hitler to court-martial Fegelein. Waffen-SS General Wilhelm Möhnke presided over the tribunal which, in addition to General Johann Rattenhuber, included Generals Hans Krebs and Wilhelm Burgdorf. On the evening of 28 April, the BBC broadcast a Reuters news report about Himmler's attempted negotiations with the western Allies via Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden. Hitler thereafter condemned Fegelein to death.

After Hitler's death on 30 April, Högl, Ewald Lindloff, Hans Reisser, and Heinz Linge carried his corpse up the stairs to ground level and through the bunker's emergency exit to the bombed-out garden behind the Reich Chancellery. There, Högl witnessed the cremation of Hitler and Eva Braun. On the following night of 1 May, Högl joined the break-out from the Soviet Red Army encirclement. After midnight on 2 May 1945, he was wounded in the head while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge and died of his injuries. Högl was 47 years old.



 
Georg Betz (15 June 1903 – 2 May 1945) was a SS officer, who rose to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer during World War II. Betz served as Adolf Hitler's personal co-pilot and Hans Baur's substitute. Betz was present in the Führerbunker in Berlin in late April 1945. On 1 May 1945, Betz took part in the break-out from the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

Betz was born in Kolbermoor near Rosenheim (Bavaria). He attended college for mechanical engineering in Munich. Betz then trained as a pilot. In 1932, he became a captain and flew European routes for Lufthansa. He joined the SS and was transferred to the staff of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. Betz was appointed captain of the reserve aircraft of Die Fliegerstaffel des Führers. Betz served as Hitler's personal co-pilot and Hans Baur's substitute. Betz was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer on 30 January 1944. He further held the rank of Oberstleutnant der Reserve in the Luftwaffe.

By 30 April 1945, the Soviet Red Army was less than 500 metres from the bunker complex. That afternoon, Betz was present in the Führerbunker during the time when Hitler committed suicide. In one of Hitlers last orders, he had given permission for the Berlin forces to attempt a breakout of the Soviet encirclement after his death. General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defence Area, and SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Möhnke, the (Kommandant) Battle Commander for the centre government district, devised a plan to escape out from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe or to the German Army to the North. Möhnke split up the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker soldiers and personnel into ten main groups. Betz left the Reich Chancellery as part of one of the groups attempting to break out. After midnight on 2 May 1945, Betz was part of a large group of German soldiers and civilians who crossed the Weidendammer Bridge while under heavy fire from Soviet tanks and guns. Betz was wounded during the crossing.

According to Erich Kempka, he came across Betz and left him in the care of Käthe Hausermann. Other sources give more details as to Betz's fate, stating that he died from his wounds received in the area of the Weidendammer bridge. Betz was age 42.



 
Günther Schwägermann (born 24 July 1915) was born in Uelzen and served in the Nazi government of German dictator Adolf Hitler. He reached the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain).

He joined the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler on 8 April 1937. Schwägermann was sent to the SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz for officers' training from October 1938 until September 1939. He served with the 4th SS Polizei Division in France and Russia. After being wounded on the eastern front, Schwägermann became the adjutant for Dr. Josef Göbbelsin from late 1941. He was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer on 29 November 1944. In January 1945, Göbbels sent Schwägermann to his villa at Lanke, ordering him to bring his wife, Magda, and their children to stay at an air raid shelter on Schwanenwerder.

By 22 April 1945, the Soviets were attacking Berlin and the Joseph and Magda Göbbels brought their children to the Vorbunker. Schwägermann came with them. Adolf Hitler had already taken up residence in the lower Führerbunker in January 1945. It was in that protected bunker complex below the Reich Chancellery garden of Berlin that Hitler and a few loyal personnel were gathered to direct the city's final defence.

On 1 May 1945, during the final days of the Battle for Berlin, Göbbels and his wife, Magda, left the bunker complex and went up to the garden of the Reich Chancellery. They each bit on a cyanide ampule and either shot themselves at the same time, or were given a coup de grâce immediately afterwards by Göbbels' SS adjutant, Schwägermann. Schwägermann then doused their bodies with petrol, but the remains were only partially burned and not buried.

Schwägermann survived the war. Schwägermann successfully escaped out of Berlin to West Germany. He was held in American captivity from 25 June 1945 until 24 April 1947. Schwägermann later lived in northern Germany. His life in postwar Germany is rarely discussed.



Ewald Lindloff (27 September 1908 – 2 May 1945) was a Waffen-SS officer, who rose to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer during World War II. Lindloff was present in the Führerbunker on 30 April 1945, when Hitler shot himself. Thereafter, he was placed in charge of disposing of Hitler's remains.

Ewald Lindloff was born in Stuba near Danzig. Lindloff attended engineering college during the years 1928 to 1933. He joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) on 1 May 1932. On 15 July 1933, Lindloff was accepted into the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). He married Ilse Borchert, a secretary for Hitler's staff officers on 4 February 1938. He was promoted to the officer rank of SS-Untersturmführer on 30 January 1941. From 20 October 1942 until 10 May 1943, Lindloff was on active combat duty with the LSSAH. He was promoted to the rank of SS-Obersturmführer on 9 November 1941; and promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain) on 30 January 1945.

Later in April 1945, he was a member of the Leibstandarte (LSSAH) Guard Battalion (assigned to guard the Führer) in Berlin. Lindloff was present in the Führerbunker on the afternoon of 30 April 1945, when Hitler shot himself and Eva Braun ended her life by taking cyanide.[Afterwards, Lindloff, Hans Reisser, Peter Högl and Heinz Linge carried Hitler's blanket wrapped corpse up the stairs to ground level and through the bunker's emergency exit to the bombed-out garden behind the Reich Chancellery. The lifeless bodies of Hitler and Braun were doused with petrol. After the first attempts to ignite the petrol did not work, Linge went back inside the bunker and then returned with a thick roll of papers. Martin Bormann lit the papers and threw the torch onto the bodies. As the two corpses caught fire, a small group, including Otto Günsche, Bormann, Högl, Linge, Lindloff, Reisser and Josef Göbbels raised their arms in Nazi salute as they stood just inside the bunker doorway.

After the salute, the men went back inside the bunker complex. Approximately 30 minutes later, SS-Sturmbannführer Günsche ordered Lindloff to go and see how far the cremation had progressed and to bury the remains in the Chancellery garden; thus attempting to keep Hitler’s remains from being captured by the Soviet Red Army. Lindloff went out and checked on the situation. He reported back to Günsche that the bodies were "already charred and torn open". The corpses "were in a horrible condition" in no small part due to the detonation of Soviet artillery. On and off during the afternoon the Soviets shelled the area in and around the Reich Chancellery. SS guards brought over additional cans of petrol to further burn the corpses. Just after 18:30 hours, Lindloff reported to Günsche that he had carried out his orders as to the disposal of the remains with the aid of SS-Obersturmführer Hans Reisser.

By 30 April 1945, the Soviet Army was less than 500 metres from the bunker complex. In one of Hitlers last orders, he had given permission for the Berlin forces to attempt a breakout of the Soviet encirclement after his death.] General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defence Area, and SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Möhnke, the (Kommandant) Battle Commander for the centre government district, devised a plan to escape out from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe or to the German Army to the North. Möhnke split up the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker soldiers and personnel into ten main groups. Lindloff left the Reich Chancellery as part of one of the groups attempting to break out. After midnight on 2 May 1945, Lindloff was part of a large group of German soldiers and civilians who crossed the Weidendammer Bridge while under heavy fire from Soviet tanks and guns. Lindloff and Högl were both killed during the crossing of the bridge. Lindloff was age 36.



Escape to the Elbe, Berlin, 3rd May 1945

Following Hitlers death, the decision was taken by the officers and men of Sturmartillerie Brigade 249 to break out of the doomed capital. Shortly before midnight on the 3rd, what remained of the unit fought to the edge of the city at Spandau. By this time the brigade had been split into two elements, the first under Hauptmann Herbert Jaschke successfully punched their way out to the west. The second group was not so lucky, and its survivors fell into Soviet captivity.