Heinz Linge (23 March 1913 – 9 March 1980) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
SS officer who served as a
valet
A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "vale ...
for the leader of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, and became known for his close personal proximity to historical events. Linge was present in the ''
Führerbunker
The ''Führerbunker'' () was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters ( ...
'' on 30 April 1945, when
Hitler committed suicide
Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany#Nazi Germany (1933–1945), chancellor and dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, died by suicide via gunshot on 30 April 1945 in the in Berlin after it became clear that Germany would lose the Battle of B ...
. Linge's ten-year service to Hitler ended at that time. In the aftermath of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in Europe, Linge spent ten years in
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
captivity.
According to his
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
, titled ''With Hitler to the End'' and published by
Skyhorse
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American Independent publisher, independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont.
History
The current president and publish ...
in 2014, "Linge was responsible for all aspects of Hitler’s household". Despite the circumstances of the war, Linge's portrayal of the ''Führer'' has been described as "affectionate", although Hitler as a supervisor acted in a manner "unpredictable and demanding".
Early life and education
Linge was born in
Bremen, Germany
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
. He was employed as a
bricklayer
A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. ...
prior to joining the SS in 1933. He served in the
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH, (german: 1. SS-Panzerdivision "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler") began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding ...
(LSSAH), Hitler's bodyguard. In 1934, when he was part of No. 1 Guard to Hitler's residence on the Obersalzberg near
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps, south of Berchtesgaden; the ...
, Linge was selected to serve at the
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared s ...
. By the end of the war, he had obtained the rank of SS-''
Obersturmbannführer
__NOTOC__
''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party (NSDAP) which was used by the SA (''Sturmabteilung'') and the SS (''Schutzstaffel''). The rank of ''Obersturm ...
'' (lieutenant colonel).
Valet to Hitler
On 24 January 1935, Linge was chosen to be a valet for Hitler. He was one of three valets at that time. In September 1939, Linge replaced
Karl Wilhelm Krause
Karl Wilhelm Krause (5 March 1911 – 6 May 2001) was a Waffen-SS officer (SS number: 236,858) who rose to the rank of SS-''Hauptsturmführer'' (captain) during World War II. He was a personal orderly (valet) and bodyguard to Adolf Hitler from ...
as chief valet for Hitler. Linge worked as a valet in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, at Hitler's residence near Berchtesgaden, and at
Wolfsschanze
The ''Wolf's Lair'' (german: Wolfsschanze; pl, Wilczy Szaniec) served as Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II.
The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the small village of Görlitz in Ost ...
in
Rastenburg. He stated that his daily routine was to wake Hitler each day at 11.00am and provide morning newspapers and messages. Linge would then keep him stocked with writing materials and spectacles for his morning reading session in bed. Hitler would then dress himself to a
stopwatch
A stopwatch is a timepiece designed to measure the amount of time that elapses between its activation and deactivation.
A large digital version of a stopwatch designed for viewing at a distance, as in a sports stadium, is called a stop clock. ...
with Linge acting as a "referee". He would take a light breakfast of tea, biscuits and an apple and a vegetarian lunch at 2.30pm. Dinner with only a few guests present was at 8.00pm. As Hitler's valet, Linge was also a member of the ''
Führerbegleitkommando'' which provided personal security protection for Hitler. By 1944, he was also head of Hitler's personal service staff. Besides accompanying Hitler on all his travels, he was responsible for the accommodations; all the servants, mess orderlies, cooks, caterers and maids were "subordinate" to Linge.
Berlin 1945
Linge was one of many soldiers, servants, secretaries, and officers who moved into the Reich Chancellery and ''
Führerbunker
The ''Führerbunker'' () was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters ( ...
'' in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
in 1945. There he continued as Hitler's chief valet and protocol officer and was one of those who closely witnessed the last days of Hitler's life during the
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
After the Vistula– ...
. He was also Hitler's personal military orderly. Linge delivered messages to Hitler and escorted people in to meet with Hitler. In addition, after Hitler's personal physician
Theodor Morell
Theodor Gilbert Morell (22 July 1886 – 26 May 1948) was a German medical doctor known for acting as Adolf Hitler's personal physician. Morell was well known in Germany for his unconventional treatments. He assisted Hitler daily in virtually ev ...
left Berlin on 23 April, Linge and Dr.
Werner Haase
Werner Haase (2 August 1900 – 30 November 1950) was a professor of medicine and SS member during the Nazi era. He was one of Adolf Hitler's personal physicians. After the war ended, Haase was made a Soviet prisoner of war. He died while in ca ...
administered to Hitler the prepared medicine which had been left behind.
Two days before committing suicide on 30 April with
Eva Braun
Eva Anna Paula Hitler (; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his ...
, Hitler confided his suicide plan to Linge. He asked Linge to have their bodies wrapped in blankets and taken up to the garden to be cremated. Following his marriage to Eva Braun, Hitler spent the last night of his life lying awake and fully clothed on his bed.
On 30 April, Hitler had a last midday meal with his secretaries. After the meal, Linge spoke briefly with Eva Braun. He described her as looking pale and of having had little sleep. She thanked him for his service. Hitler then said farewell to each of his servants and subordinates. Thereafter, Hitler retired to his study at 3:15 p.m. There, Linge privately asked Hitler his orders. Hitler said that he was going to shoot himself and Linge knew what he had to do. "You must never allow my corpse to fall into the hands of the Russians", Hitler told Linge, "they would make a spectacle in Moscow out of my body and put it in waxworks". Further, he had given the order to break-out; Linge was to join one of the groups and try to get to the west. Linge asked for what they should now fight and Hitler replied, "For the coming man". Linge then saluted and left. In a 1974 episode of ''
The World at War
''The World at War'' is a 26-episode British documentary television series that chronicles the events of the Second World War. It was produced in 1973, at a cost of £900,000 (), the most expensive factual series ever produced. It was produ ...
'', Linge and Hitler's secretary,
Traudl Junge
Gertraud "Traudl" Junge (; 16 March 1920 – 10 February 2002) was a German editor who worked as Adolf Hitler's last private secretary from December 1942 to April 1945. After typing Hitler's will, she remained in the Berlin ''Führerbunker'' unt ...
, describe Hitler's last minutes in the bunker. Linge explains that Hitler and his wife committed suicide in Hitler's private room in the bunker. He recalled how he went into Hitler's private study after hearing a sudden bang and found that Hitler and Braun were dead. Hitler had shot himself in the right temple. Braun had taken what Linge concluded must have been cyanide poison.
After the suicides of Hitler and Braun, their corpses were reportedly carried up the stairs to ground level and through the bunker's emergency exit to the garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they were doused with
petrol
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
. After the first attempts to ignite the petrol did not work, Linge went back inside the bunker and returned with a thick roll of papers.
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...
lit the papers and threw the torch onto the bodies. As the two corpses caught fire, a small group, including Bormann, Linge,
Otto Günsche
__NOTOC__
Otto Günsche (24 September 1917 – 2 October 2003) was a mid-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a member of the SS Division Leibstandarte before he became Adolf Hitler's personal adjutant. G ...
,
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
,
Erich Kempka
Erich Kempka (16 September 1910 – 24 January 1975) was a member of the SS in Nazi Germany who served as Adolf Hitler's primary chauffeur from 1936 to April 1945. He was present in the area of the Reich Chancellery on 30 April 1945, when ...
,
Peter Högl
Peter Högl (19 August 1897 – 2 May 1945) was a German people, German officer holding the rank of SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' (lieutenant colonel) who was a member of one of Adolf Hitler's bodyguard units. He spent time in the ''Führerbunker'' ...
,
Ewald Lindloff
Ewald Lindloff (27 September 1908 – 2 May 1945) was a Waffen-SS officer during World War II, who was present in the '' Führerbunker'' on 30 April 1945, when Hitler committed suicide. He was placed in charge of disposing of Hitler's remains. ...
, and
Hans Reisser, raised their arms in salute as they stood just inside the bunker doorway.
At around 16:15, Linge ordered SS-''
Untersturmführer
(, ; short: ''Ustuf'') was a paramilitary rank of the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of ''Sturmführer'' which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921. ...
'' Heinz Krüger and SS-''
Oberscharführer __NOTOC__
''Oberscharführer'' (, ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between 1932 and 1945. ''Oberscharführer'' was first used as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions ...
'' Werner Schwiedel to roll up the rug in Hitler's study to burn it. The two men removed the blood-stained rug, carried it up the stairs and outside to the Chancellery garden. There the rug was placed on the ground and burned. On and off during the afternoon, the
Soviets
Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union.
Nationality policy in th ...
shelled the area in and around the Reich Chancellery. SS guards brought over additional cans of petrol to further burn the corpses, which lasted from 16:00 to around 18:30. Linge later wrote that he burned other personal effects of Hitler's while an SS bodyguard oversaw the burial of the burnt bodies in a shell crater.
Linge was one of the last to leave the ''Führerbunker'' in the early morning hours of 1 May 1945. He teamed up with Erich Kempka. Linge was later captured near See-Strasse. Several days later, after his identity was revealed, two Soviet officers escorted Linge by train to Moscow where he was thrown into the notorious
Lubjanka Prison.
Later life and death
Linge spent ten years in Soviet captivity and was released in 1955. During the imprisonment, Linge and Günsche were interrogated by the Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
; later superseded by the
Ministry of Internal Affairs
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
; MVD) about the circumstances of Hitler's death. A dossier was edited by Soviet NKVD officers and presented to
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
on 30 December 1949. The report was published in 2005 as ''
The Hitler Book''. Linge died in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
in 1980. His memoir, ''With Hitler to the End'', was published by Frontline Books-Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. of London in July 2009 with an introduction by historian
Roger Moorhouse
Roger Moorhouse (born 1968) is a British historian and author.
Education
He was born in Stockport, Cheshire, England and attended Berkhamsted School and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the University of London, graduating wit ...
, author of ''Killing Hitler''.
Film portrayals
Linge is portrayed by actor
Thomas Limpinsel in
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Oliver Hirschbiegel (born 29 December 1957) is a German film director. His works include ''Das Experiment'' and the Oscar-nominated '' Downfall''.
Life and career
Hirschbiegel was born in Hamburg, Germany. A Waldorf graduate, Hirschbiegel stu ...
's 2004 German film ''
Downfall''. In
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (born 8 December 1935) is a German film director, whose best known film is his lengthy feature ''Hitler: A Film from Germany''.
Early life
Born in Nossendorf, Province of Pomerania (1815–1945), Pomerania, the son of a ...
's ''
Hitler: A Film from Germany'' (1977), he is played by
Hellmut Lange
Hellmut Lange (19 January 1923 - 13 January 2011) was an actor and journalist who became famous as an action hero on TV and eventually succeeded as presenter on popular TV show ''Kennen Sie Kino?'' or ''Do You Know Film?''
Acting career
Hellmut ...
. In the 1971 Eastern Bloc co-production ''
Liberation V: The Final Assault'', he was portrayed by East German actor Otto Busse.
Otto Busse filmography
'. defa-sternstunden.de.
See also
* ''
Führerbunker
The ''Führerbunker'' () was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters ( ...
''
*
German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union
Approximately three million German prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet Union during World War II, most of them during the great advances of the Red Army in the last year of the war. The POWs were employed as forced labor in the Soviet w ...
*
Glossary of Nazi Germany
This is a list of words, terms, concepts and slogans of Nazi Germany used in the historiography covering the Nazi regime.
Some words were coined by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi Party members. Other words and concepts were borrowed and appropriated, ...
*
List of Adolf Hitler's personal staff
**
Hans Hermann Junge
Hans Hermann Junge (11 February 1914 – 13 August 1944)Some sources give date of death as 18 August 1944. Junge, Traudl (2002). ''Until the Final Hour'', London, Notes section #10. . was a German SS officer who served as aide-de-camp and ...
– also served as valet to Hitler
**
Traudl Junge
Gertraud "Traudl" Junge (; 16 March 1920 – 10 February 2002) was a German editor who worked as Adolf Hitler's last private secretary from December 1942 to April 1945. After typing Hitler's will, she remained in the Berlin ''Führerbunker'' unt ...
– secretary to Hitler
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linge, Heinz
1913 births
1980 deaths
SS-Obersturmbannführer
Military personnel from Bremen
Personal staff of Adolf Hitler
German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union