April 30th – Anniversary of Hitler’s Death.

Today, 30th April, 2009, is the 64th anniversary of Adolph Hitler’s cowardly suicide.

It was a Monday, so I would have been at school in Llanelli, South Wales, completely unaware of the impact that man’s actions would once again have on me personally. News didn’t travel or get reported near as fast in those days, and although the German’s announced his death the following day, the Allied forces and their collective governments would not report the death until they could be ABSOLUTELY sure that it was true.

It would be another full week before they would be able to make a coordinated announcement of Victory in Europe, and finally herald the beginning of the end of WW II. Although it would still be some time before the Japanese surrendered, May 7th was a time for great celebration all over Europe.

Back to the 30th of April though, Hitler had finally married Eva Braun, his long time companion the night before [I suppose today they would say he was the ultimate commitment-phoebe, only bothering to marry her when he knew they were intending to commit suicide the very next day]. They even had a Champagne toast and celebration dinner in the Fuhrerbunker, 50 feet below the Chancellery buildings in Berlin. The Russians were said to be within a few city blocks of the bunker by this time and he must have finally conceded his dreams for a thousand year Reich would collapse around him after only 12 years! He is said to have been determined not to be captured by the allies and so instead he elected to commit suicide.
The events and even the timelines of the day are widely reported, I suppose mostly from the accounts of those who were in the bunker at the time. Apparently after a full day of meetings, farewells [Hitler actually gave his secretaries Cyanide Ampoules as a parting gift] and even a light vegetarian lunch, Hitler and Eva retired to their private quarters about 3:30 in the afternoon. Bormann & Goebbels were waiting in the bunker nearby when they heard a gunshot. They waited a few moments and then entered the room to find the couple sprawled on the sofa, he with a gunshot wound to the head and she having died from swallowing poison. The bodies were carried up to the Chancellery garden, doused with gasoline and burned. The charred remains were repeatedly doused with gasoline and the charred remains were finally dumped in a nearby shell crater and buried.

For two decades there was a lot of mystery, much speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths. It would be August, 1968 before a report in Time Magazine revealed that “In a book published last week, Lev Bezymenski a former Red army intelligence officer, reveals that the Russians not only found Hitler’s body after taking the bunker but that they also performed an exhaustive autopsy.” The book also said the Russians had initially mistaken another corpse for that of Hitler’s, and had actually initially buried the other two corpses, but unearthed them around May 8th to have a team of forensics experts perform autopsies in a Berlin mortuary. A meticulous comparison of Hitler’s dental records finally convinced them they had found and identified the body of Hitler. Eva’s body was also identified using dental records. Reports later also coming out of Russia, said that the autopsy showed there was evidence of broken glass in his jaw it is generally believed that the glass was from a cyanide capsule. Eva had simply taken the cyanide.

I imagine that day my biggest concern on my way home from school would have been what we would have for dinner. I was finally in a home where I was treated very well with respect and as a member of the family. After six years and six different billets I was actually quite happy with my situation. I was well cared for, well fed and had Ieuan, Des and Gwyneth for company. Although I missed my real brothers and sisters I had finally grown used to the separation and pretty much just concerned myself with typical 12 year old things such as what film would be playing that Saturday at the picture house and as always what my next meal would consist of.

I had no idea as I walked home from school that day, that although Hitler was to my friends and I, pretty much just a hated caricature of a villain, and even though he was many miles away, old Adolf’s actions would have a direct and long term affect on my life YET AGAIN!