Else Krüger (9 February 1915 – 24 January 2005) was

Martin Bormann Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, and a war criminal. Bormann gained immense power by using his position as Hitler ...

'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, both claimed that Bormann was having an affair with Krüger. When O'Donnell asked Krüger if this was true, she neither confirmed nor denied these statements. She was born in Hamburg-Altona. She was in the ''

Führerbunker The () 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 (''Führerhaupt ...

'' during the Battle of Berlin in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Krüger was with Eva Braun, Gerda Christian, Traudl Junge, and Constanze Manziarly when German dictator

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

told them that they must prepare to leave for the Berghof like the others. However, she volunteered to remain with Hitler in the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

''Führerbunker''. She was there when Braun indicated that she would never leave Hitler's side and they embraced. Hitler gave each of the women a cyanide capsule. Then on the afternoon of 30 April 1945, Hitler and Braun killed themselves. Thereafter, Krüger left the ''Führerbunker'' on 1 May 1945 in a group led by

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

Brigadeführer ''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between 1932 and 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as '' Untergruppenführer'' in ...

Wilhelm Mohnke Wilhelm Mohnke (15 March 1911 – 6 August 2001) was a German military officer who was one of the original members of the ''Schutzstaffel'' ''SS-Stabswache'' Berlin (Staff Guard Berlin) formed in March 1933. Mohnke, who had joined the Nazi Party ...

. On the morning of 2 May, some members of the group were captured by soldiers of the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

while hiding in a cellar at the Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brewery on Prinzenallee. However, Krüger would manage to escape to the British occupied zone of Berlin, where she cooperated with British authorities. After the war Krüger was interrogated by the British. She later married her British interrogator, Leslie James (1915–1995), on 23 December 1947 in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county bou ...

, Cheshire UK. She lived under the name Else James in Wallasey, and remained married to Leslie until his death.O'Donnell, J. (2001) 978 ''The Bunker'', p. 293. She died in Germany on 24 January 2005 aged 89, despite speculation that she was older.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kruger, Else Secretaries German people of World War II 1915 births 2005 deaths Women in World War II