Gertraud "Traudl" Junge (; 16 March 1920 – 10 February 2002) was a German editor who worked as
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 ...
's last private secretary from December 1942 to April 1945. After typing Hitler's will, she remained in the Berlin ''
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 ( ...
'' until his death. Following her arrest and imprisonment in June 1945, both the Soviet and the U.S. militaries interrogated her. Later, in post-war
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 ...
, she worked as a secretary. In her old age, she decided to publish her memoirs, claiming ignorance of the
Nazi atrocities
The governments of the German Empire and Nazi Germany (under Adolf Hitler) ordered, organized and condoned a substantial number of war crimes, first in the Herero and Namaqua genocide and then in the First and Second World Wars. The most notabl ...
during the war, but blaming herself for missing opportunities to investigate reports about them. Her story, based partly on her book ''Until the Final Hour'', formed a part of several dramatizations, in particular the 2004 German film
''Downfall'' about Hitler's final ten days.
Early life and education
Gertraud "Traudl" Humps was born in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, the daughter of a master brewer and lieutenant in the Reserve Army, Max Humps and his wife Hildegard (née Zottmann). She had a sister, Inge, born in 1923. She once expressed her desire to become a
ballerina
A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...
as a teenager but was not accepted by a dance school. She then trained as a secretary. When she heard about an opening on the Chancellery staff, she applied for it.
Work for Hitler
Traudl Humps began working for Hitler in December 1942. She was the youngest of his private secretaries. "I was 22 and I didn't know anything about politics; it didn't interest me," Junge said decades later, adding that she felt great guilt for "liking the greatest criminal ever to have lived".
She said: "I admit, I was fascinated by Adolf Hitler. He was a pleasant boss and a fatherly friend. I deliberately ignored all the warning voices inside me and enjoyed the time by his side, almost until the bitter end. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said things and how he did things."
Encouraged by Hitler, in June 1943, Traudl married
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
officer
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 ...
(1914–1944), who had been a valet and orderly to Hitler. Junge died in combat in France in August 1944. She worked at Hitler's side in Berlin, the
Berghof in
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 ...
, 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
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
, and back again in Berlin 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 ( ...
''.
Berlin, 1945
In 1945, Junge was with Hitler in Berlin. During Hitler's last days in Berlin, he would regularly eat lunch with his secretaries Junge and
Gerda Christian. After the war, Junge recalled Gerda asking Hitler if he would leave Berlin. This was firmly rejected by Hitler. Both women recalled that Hitler in conversation made it clear that his body must not fall into the hands of the Soviets. He would shoot himself. Junge typed
Hitler's last private and political will and testament in the ''Führerbunker'' the day before
his suicide. Junge later wrote that while she was playing with the
Goebbels children
The Goebbels children were the five daughters and one son born to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda Goebbels. The children, born between 1932 and 1940, were murdered by their parents in Berlin on 1 May 1945, the day bo ...
on 30 April, "Suddenly
..there is the sound of a shot, so loud, so close, that we all fall silent. It echoes on through all the rooms. 'That was a bull's-eye,' cried Helmut
oebbelswith no idea how right he is. The Führer is dead now."
On 1 May, Junge left the ''Führerbunker'' with a group led by
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
general
Wilhelm Mohnke
Wilhelm Mohnke (15 March 1911 – 6 August 2001) was one of the original members of the SS-Staff Guard (''Stabswache'') "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke rose to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals. He joi ...
. Also in the group were Hitler's personal pilot
Hans Baur
Hans Baur (19 June 1897 – 17 February 1993) was Adolf Hitler's pilot during the political campaigns of the early 1930s. He later became Hitler's personal pilot and leader of the ''Reichsregierung'' squadron. Apprehended by the Soviet Union a ...
, chief of Hitler's ''
Reichssicherheitsdienst
The ''Reichssicherheitsdienst'' (RSD, lit. "Reich security service") was an SS security force of Nazi Germany. Originally bodyguards for Adolf Hitler, it later provided men for the protection of other high-ranking leaders of the Nazi regime. Th ...
'' (RSD) bodyguard
Hans Rattenhuber
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 '' Rei ...
, secretaries Gerda Christian and
Else Krüger
Else Krüger (9 February 1915 – 24 January 2005) was Martin Bormann's secretary (and, allegedly, mistress) from the end of 1942 until 1 May 1945.O'Donnell, J. (2001) 978 '' The Bunker''. Junge and Christian, when interviewed by O'Donnell, b ...
, Hitler's dietician
Constanze Manziarly
Constanze Manziarly (14 April 1920 – disappeared 2 May 1945) was born in Innsbruck, Austria. She served as a cook and dietitian to Adolf Hitler until his final days in Berlin in 1945.
Early life
Manziarly was born in Innsbruck, Austria, on 14 ...
, and physician
Ernst-Günther Schenck
Ernst-Günther Schenck (3 October 1904 – 21 December 1998) was a German medical doctor and member of the SS in Nazi Germany. Because of a chance encounter with Adolf Hitler during the closing days of World War II, his memoirs proved historicall ...
. Junge, Christian and Krüger made it out of Berlin to the
River Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
. The remainder of the group were found by Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
troops on 2 May while hiding in a cellar off the Schönhauser Allee. The Soviet troops handed over those who had been in the ''Führerbunker'' to
SMERSH
SMERSH (russian: СМЕРШ) was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Josep ...
for interrogation, to reveal what had occurred in the bunker during the closing weeks of the war.
Post-war
Although Junge had reached the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
, she was unable to reach the western Allied lines, and so she went back to Berlin. Getting there about a month after she had left, she had hoped to take a train to the west when they began running again. On 9 July, after living there for about a week under the alias Gerda Alt, she was arrested by two civilian members of the Soviet military administration and was kept in Berlin for interrogation. While in prison, she heard harrowing tales from her Soviet guards about what the German military had done to members of their families in the Soviet Union and came to realise that much of what she thought she knew about the war in the east was only what the Nazi propaganda ministry had told the German people, and that the treatment meted out to Germans by the Soviets was a response to what the Germans had done in the Soviet Union.
Junge was held in multiple jails, where she was often interrogated about her role in Hitler's entourage and the events surrounding Hitler's suicide. By December 1945, she had been released from prison but was restricted to the Soviet sector of Berlin. On New Year's Eve 1945, she was admitted to a hospital in the British sector for
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
, and remained there for two months. While she was there, her mother was able to secure for her the paperwork required to allow her to move from the British sector in Berlin to Bavaria. Receiving these on 2 February 1946, she travelled from Berlin and across the Soviet occupation zone (which was to become
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
) to the British zone, and from there south to Bavaria in the
American Zone
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Franc ...
. Junge was held by the Americans for a short time during the first half of 1946, and interrogated about her time 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 ( ...
''. She was then freed, and allowed to live in postwar West Germany.
Later life and death
After the war, Junge appeared in two episodes of the
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...
(ITV) 1973 television documentary series ''
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 ...
'' – No. 16, "Inside the Reich" (1940–1944), and No. 21, "Nemesis: Germany (February – May 1945)". She was also interviewed for the 1975 book ''
The Bunker'' by
James P. O'Donnell and Uwe Bahnsen. She worked in secretarial jobs and for many years as chief secretary of the editorial staff of the weekly illustrated magazine ''
Quick
Quick, as an adjective, refers to something moving with high speed.
Quick may also refer to:
In business
* Quick (restaurant), a Belgian fast-food restaurant chain
* Quick (sportswear), a Dutch manufacturer of sportswear
* Quick (automobile) ...
''. Junge twice resided briefly in Australia, where her younger sister lived, although her application for permanent residence was denied due to her past Nazi association.
In 1989, Junge's manuscript about her life throughout the war was published as part of the book ''Voices from the Bunker'' by Pierre Galante and Eugene Silianoff (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons). Also in that year, she was interviewed in the BBC documentary ''The Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler'', and discussed at length her impressions of Hitler and the final days with him in the ''Führerbunker''. In 1991, she appeared in the documentary series ''Hitler's Henchmen'' produced by German television channel
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
. The 2002 release of her memoirs ''
Until the Final Hour
''Until the Final Hour'' (german: Bis zur letzten Stunde), also published as ''Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary'' or simply ''Hitler's Last Secretary'' is a memoir of the last days of Hitler's government, written by Traudl Junge ('' ...
'', co-written with author
Melissa Müller
Melissa Müller (born 1967 in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian journalist and author.
She is the author of '' Anne Frank: The Biography,'' which draws on historical documents and personal interviews with those who knew Anne Frank to provide a ful ...
and describing the time she worked for Hitler, brought media coverage. She was also interviewed for the 2002 documentary film ''
Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary'', which drew much attention.
Junge died from cancer in Munich on 10 February 2002 at the age of 81,
[Hooper, obituary] reportedly having said shortly before her death, "Now that I've let go of my story, I can let go of my life." She is buried at
Nordfriedhof München.
Further attention came two years later, when some of Junge's experiences with Hitler were portrayed in the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated film ''
Downfall'', wherein she is portrayed by actress
Alexandra Maria Lara
Alexandra Maria Lara (''née'' Plătăreanu; 12 November 1978) is a Romanian-German actress who has appeared in ''Downfall (2004 film), Downfall'' (2004), ''Control (2007 film), Control'' (2007), ''Youth Without Youth (film), Youth Without You ...
. Excerpts from her interviews are seen at the beginning and at the end of the film. At the end of the film, she states:
See also
*
Christa Schroeder
Emilie Christine Schroeder, also known as Christa Schroeder (19 March 1908 – 28 June 1984) was one of Adolf Hitler’s personal secretaries before and during World War II.
Early life
She was born in the small town of Hannoversch Münden a ...
*
Erna Flegel
Erna Flegel (11 July 1911 – 16 February 2006) was a German nurse. In late April 1945 she worked at the emergency casualty station at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, and was one of the final occupants of the '' Führerbunker'' before she was ca ...
*
Johanna Wolf
Johanna Wolf (1 June 1900 – 5 June 1985) was Adolf Hitler's chief secretary. Wolf joined Hitler's personal secretariat in the autumn of 1929 as a typist, at which time she also became a member of the Nazi Party. Wolf served as Hitler's chief sec ...
References
Citations
General sources
*
* Childs, David (18 February 2002)
"Obituary" ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''.
*
*
* Hooper, John (14 February 2002)
"Traudl Junge obituary" ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''.
*
* Junge, Traudl; Müller, Melissa (editor). ''Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary'', Arcade Publishing, 2004. .
External links
*
*
* A comic that juxtaposes Traudl Junge with
Sophie Scholl
Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany.
She was convicted of high treason after having been f ...
"Witness: The Death of Hitler"Interview in BBC Radio's
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
series "Witness". Speaking in English, Traudl Junge recalls her memories of working with Hitler, and of events in the bunker at the time of his death.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Junge, Traudl
Deaths from lung cancer in Germany
Writers from Munich
Secretaries to Adolf Hitler
1920 births
2002 deaths
German people of World War II