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Der Untergang by Joachim Fest
There is nothing in recent history that comes close to the cataclysmic events of the spring of 1945. Never before has the defeat of a nation been accompanied by such monumental loss of life, such utter destruction. Author Joachim Fest shows that the devastation was the result of Hitler's determination to take the entire country down with him; he would make sure that his enemies would find only a wasteland, where once there was a thriving civilization.
Fest describes in riveting detail the final weeks of the war, from the desperate battles that raged night and day in the ruins of Berlin, fought by boys and old men, to the growing paranoia that marked Hitler's mental state--his utter disregard for the well being of both soldiers and civilians-- to his suicide and the efforts of his loyal aides to destroy his body before the advancing Russian armies reached Berlin. Inside Hitler's Bunker combines meticulous research with spellbinding storytelling and sheds light on events that, for those who survived them, were nothing less than the end of the world.
Fest describes in riveting detail the final weeks of the war, from the desperate battles that raged night and day in the ruins of Berlin, fought by boys and old men, to the growing paranoia that marked Hitler's mental state--his utter disregard for the well being of both soldiers and civilians-- to his suicide and the efforts of his loyal aides to destroy his body before the advancing Russian armies reached Berlin. Inside Hitler's Bunker combines meticulous research with spellbinding storytelling and sheds light on events that, for those who survived them, were nothing less than the end of the world.
Paperback Bunko
First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Joachim Fest
44 books87 followersJoachim Clemens Fest (1926-2006) was a German historian, journalist, critic and editor, best known for his writings and public commentary on Nazi Germany, including an important biography of Adolf Hitler and books about Albert Speer and the German Resistance to Nazism. He was a leading figure in the debate among German historians about the Nazi period.
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February 17, 2021Overall I thought it was a decent book. I don't have a problem with the absence of footnotes - Fest's professional background was as a journalist iirc, , nor do I have a problem with contradictions in testimony, that seems to me a basic quality of memory - my problem is with the idea that people can really remember precisely what happened in the past when for example called to do so in court.
I have read other reviews that say that this is the book that was behind the film Downfall, maybe that is so - I've seen about the last twenty or thirty minutes of that film, but the book seems to go a bit further in that some chapters are, not exactly flashbacks but describe the background, not in a narrow sense of precisely which events happened that left Hitler, not alone and betrayed as he saw himself, but crowded into a bunker surrounded by people who seemed quite lost without him.
It certainly is a natural book for Fest to have written considering that he has built a successful publishing career writing on various aspects of the Third Reich. I note that he is too much the gentleman to use the example of the Hitler diaries to suggest that Trevor-Ropers' judgement was fundamentally poor and therefore a newer book on the last days of Hitler was overdue, instead he draws attention to the relative wealth of recollections published after 1947.
At first I thought it was unhelpful that there wasn't a breakdown of the forces available and present at the battle of Berlin, but then that is part of the point, down in the bunker they didn't know, and they were prey to their own fantasies. Not only believing that there were combat capable German units outside the city able to fall upon the flanks of the Soviet advance, but also overjoyed at the news of Roosevelt's death, and terribly disappointed to learn that when US and Soviet troops met at Torgau on the river Elbe is was with handshakes rather than gunfire.
I was particularly interested how difficult it was for the war to end. After Hitler's death on the 30th of April it took a good week for the formal surrender of German forces to be completed on the 7th and then again on the 8th of May, and some German or pro-German forces continued hostilities for another week or so, some people I guess just don't want a bad thing to come to an end.
I have read other reviews that say that this is the book that was behind the film Downfall, maybe that is so - I've seen about the last twenty or thirty minutes of that film, but the book seems to go a bit further in that some chapters are, not exactly flashbacks but describe the background, not in a narrow sense of precisely which events happened that left Hitler, not alone and betrayed as he saw himself, but crowded into a bunker surrounded by people who seemed quite lost without him.
It certainly is a natural book for Fest to have written considering that he has built a successful publishing career writing on various aspects of the Third Reich. I note that he is too much the gentleman to use the example of the Hitler diaries to suggest that Trevor-Ropers' judgement was fundamentally poor and therefore a newer book on the last days of Hitler was overdue, instead he draws attention to the relative wealth of recollections published after 1947.
At first I thought it was unhelpful that there wasn't a breakdown of the forces available and present at the battle of Berlin, but then that is part of the point, down in the bunker they didn't know, and they were prey to their own fantasies. Not only believing that there were combat capable German units outside the city able to fall upon the flanks of the Soviet advance, but also overjoyed at the news of Roosevelt's death, and terribly disappointed to learn that when US and Soviet troops met at Torgau on the river Elbe is was with handshakes rather than gunfire.
I was particularly interested how difficult it was for the war to end. After Hitler's death on the 30th of April it took a good week for the formal surrender of German forces to be completed on the 7th and then again on the 8th of May, and some German or pro-German forces continued hostilities for another week or so, some people I guess just don't want a bad thing to come to an end.
March 6, 2011
Reading too many books about Hitler threatens to plant one in the demographic of middle aged American white guys who go to Pennsylvania wargame cons in full Waffen gear, then go home to have their wives put on dirndls and spank them. I am not a part of that demographic (...though I've played more rounds of Europe Engulfed than is probably healthy). This is for work. This. Is. For. Work.
So there are a few brands of German writing about the war. There's the Sebald-style, revisionist, it's-time-to-look-at-this-with-clear-eyes-also-it-wasn't-my-fault thing. There's Gunter Grass: how-awful-this-was-for-everyone. And there's Fest, who (you might have seen this coming) goes for I'm-so-objective-I-can-even-relentlessly-chide-my-own-people-for-their-fuckedness-see-see-SEE?!.
There isn't much new material here that I can discern - he draws heavily on Hugh Trevor-Roper, which he excuses by saying that Trevor-Roper was closer in time to Nazis who took interviews. This is partly plausible, because if one thing is clear about the final days of the Reich, it's that the German bureaucracy and Hitler's own inner circle had quit taking careful notes, leaving the bunker itself as a bit of a black box: no information out, and not much going in. He also draws on Hitler's own body man, whose name I forget, and Traudl Junge, who were both there and seem to have misremembered surprisingly little.
But there isn't anything here to surprise anyone who's seen "Downfall," which I believe drew on Fest's work. In fact, the book is so plainly derivative that I'm not sure it's worth reading. Fest perpetuates the myth that Hitler's death room smelled like "bitter almonds" due to the chemical Eva used to kill herself - in fact, the poison doesn't smell like that at all, so if you were so inclined, you could perform a little amateur historiography just by tracing that minute piece of bullshit.
On one hand, it's satisfying to read about the quick collapse of the German military structure and the interesting ploys everyone tried to escape to friendlier turf. There are some pleasing anecdotes here, like how just before the Red Army came in, Berliners would walk by each other whistling a tune the lyrics of which translate to "After all, it's not the end of the world..." Then there's the ghoulish, like Goebbels' wife playing solitaire in her room after killing her own children. And maybe I'm about to throw in my lot with the reenactment crowd and start buying fake used daggers on Ebay, but I find the stuff about Hitler's affect the most interesting. He rants! He raves! He eats cake! More cake! He suddenly gets all sullen. Oops, no more Fuhrer! I mean, what could possibly be more interesting than the emotional state of someone who has just locked down a string of evil acts that's earned you and your people the universal horror and derision of the rest of the world to last until the end of time, someone who's done something that'll be remembered for its sheer insanity for as long as there are words to tell of it? I'm not sure it's really possible to generalize about the worst tendencies of human nature from the account of Hitler's blaming, scapegoating and paranoia in these last days, but it sure is tempting.
One complaint I have about most Hitler work is that historians have a hard time avoiding this tone of "...and of course Hitler reacted to the news of his brother-in-law's escape to Austria or whatever in the most childish and ludicrous way possible..." Why, we might ask? Because he's Hitler! is the standard answer. No one has ever been more thoroughly psychoanalyzed without the benefit of an actual analyst than Adolf, but a lot of that work doesn't end up on the page. Kershaw does this, too, and when I'm done reading his book I'm going to discuss it more there. But it's not enough to only say that Hitler was an emotional wreck all the time and a cranky piece of shit who blamed everyone else for his monumental failure. I'm not sure it's ever helpful to say that, in fact, because it doesn't do anything but confirm what we all think we know from watching movies dating back to The Great Dictator. It's worth explaining why he fell prey to these habits of mind; why he was always blaming other people; why he felt so chronically betrayed.
So there are a few brands of German writing about the war. There's the Sebald-style, revisionist, it's-time-to-look-at-this-with-clear-eyes-also-it-wasn't-my-fault thing. There's Gunter Grass: how-awful-this-was-for-everyone. And there's Fest, who (you might have seen this coming) goes for I'm-so-objective-I-can-even-relentlessly-chide-my-own-people-for-their-fuckedness-see-see-SEE?!.
There isn't much new material here that I can discern - he draws heavily on Hugh Trevor-Roper, which he excuses by saying that Trevor-Roper was closer in time to Nazis who took interviews. This is partly plausible, because if one thing is clear about the final days of the Reich, it's that the German bureaucracy and Hitler's own inner circle had quit taking careful notes, leaving the bunker itself as a bit of a black box: no information out, and not much going in. He also draws on Hitler's own body man, whose name I forget, and Traudl Junge, who were both there and seem to have misremembered surprisingly little.
But there isn't anything here to surprise anyone who's seen "Downfall," which I believe drew on Fest's work. In fact, the book is so plainly derivative that I'm not sure it's worth reading. Fest perpetuates the myth that Hitler's death room smelled like "bitter almonds" due to the chemical Eva used to kill herself - in fact, the poison doesn't smell like that at all, so if you were so inclined, you could perform a little amateur historiography just by tracing that minute piece of bullshit.
On one hand, it's satisfying to read about the quick collapse of the German military structure and the interesting ploys everyone tried to escape to friendlier turf. There are some pleasing anecdotes here, like how just before the Red Army came in, Berliners would walk by each other whistling a tune the lyrics of which translate to "After all, it's not the end of the world..." Then there's the ghoulish, like Goebbels' wife playing solitaire in her room after killing her own children. And maybe I'm about to throw in my lot with the reenactment crowd and start buying fake used daggers on Ebay, but I find the stuff about Hitler's affect the most interesting. He rants! He raves! He eats cake! More cake! He suddenly gets all sullen. Oops, no more Fuhrer! I mean, what could possibly be more interesting than the emotional state of someone who has just locked down a string of evil acts that's earned you and your people the universal horror and derision of the rest of the world to last until the end of time, someone who's done something that'll be remembered for its sheer insanity for as long as there are words to tell of it? I'm not sure it's really possible to generalize about the worst tendencies of human nature from the account of Hitler's blaming, scapegoating and paranoia in these last days, but it sure is tempting.
One complaint I have about most Hitler work is that historians have a hard time avoiding this tone of "...and of course Hitler reacted to the news of his brother-in-law's escape to Austria or whatever in the most childish and ludicrous way possible..." Why, we might ask? Because he's Hitler! is the standard answer. No one has ever been more thoroughly psychoanalyzed without the benefit of an actual analyst than Adolf, but a lot of that work doesn't end up on the page. Kershaw does this, too, and when I'm done reading his book I'm going to discuss it more there. But it's not enough to only say that Hitler was an emotional wreck all the time and a cranky piece of shit who blamed everyone else for his monumental failure. I'm not sure it's ever helpful to say that, in fact, because it doesn't do anything but confirm what we all think we know from watching movies dating back to The Great Dictator. It's worth explaining why he fell prey to these habits of mind; why he was always blaming other people; why he felt so chronically betrayed.
September 28, 2025
This was an excellent book about the last days of Hitler's Third Reich. He spent those last days in his bunker with a lot of his officers and their families. Before he went into the bunker, though, Hitler made sure to destroy everything he could, including industrial plants, public utilities, sewage systems, railway tracks, bridges, farms, monuments, and historic buildings. In the end, Hitler, his family, and other members of the Reich, committed suicide and made sure their remains would never be found.
November 4, 2024
Azt gondolom, hogy akik a németek, akik 1945 áprilisában-májusában Berlin füstölgő romjai között kóvályogtak, óhatatlanul fel kellett maguknak tegyék a kérdést: hogy jutottunk idáig? Hol volt a történelem azon pontja, amikor még be lehetett volna húzni a kéziféket, amikor még meg lehetett volna akadályozni komplett német városok zsarátnokká lényegülését? Fest válasza az, hogy a válasz Hitler személyében keresendő. Számára a németek führere a diktátorok egy teljesen új minőségét képviseli – addig az összes birodalmi vezető valamilyen pozitív idea alapján tartotta magát jogosultnak a világuralomra, még akkor is, ha ez az idea csak cukormáz volt a népirtások penészes piskótáján. Még Sztálinról is elmondható, hogy hivatkozhatott a kommunizmus nemes eszméjére, ahol elvileg mindenki egyenlő és a butaságig boldog lesz – ez még akkor is valami, ha kamu. Hitler viszont teljesen nyíltan vallotta, hogy ő mindenkit el akar pusztítani vagy rabszolgasorba akar dönteni, aki nem árja: „A majmok például minden kívülállót halálra tipornak, vagyis a közösségüktől idegent. És ami a majmokra érvényes, annak fokozott mértékben az emberekre is érvényesnek kell lennie” – fejtegette még 1942-ben. És ami a pláne: Hitler ezeket tök komolyan gondolta. Mondhatnók, az autópályákat is csak azért építette, hogy gyorsabban odaérjen a Föld bármely pontjára, és elpusztíthassa azt. Ilyen körülmények között Berlin füstölgő romjai szükségszerű következményei voltak a politikának, ami folyton kereste az egyre nagyobb és nagyobb ellenségeket.
Megjegyzem, Fest ezzel még semmit nem mond arról, hogyan nyílt alkalma Hitlernek arra, hogy hagymázas őrületeit kiélje. Mert még ha el is fogadom, hogy nem volt hozzá hasonló a politikusok között, még mindig ott van a kérdés, ki tette politikussá. Mert szerintem a világ számos bolondokházájában találni potenciális megalomán tömeggyilkosokat, csak épp kényszerzubbonyban. Hogy lehet, hogy Hitler nem oda került, hanem a népvezér posztjára? Fest érinti ugyan ezt a kérdést, de igazából nagyon úgy fest, a történelemnek nem a társadalmi oldala, hanem a nagy formátumú egyéniségei érdeklik.
Különben igazán jól megírt, helyenként szuggesztív összegfoglalás ez a Harmadik Birodalom utolsó óráiról. Néha szinte láttam magam előtt az egyre leromlottabb fizikai és mentális állapotban lévő Adolfot, amint a Kancellária alatti bunker folyosóin kószál, és mekegve panaszkodik mindenkinek, aki hajlandó meghallgatni. Abban reménykedem, hogy ilyen lehet neki a pokol is: kísértetként fel-alá vánszorog a csupasz, dohszagú betonfalak között az idők végezetéig, azon elmélkedve, hogy mit rontott el. Folyton keresne, kutatna valakit, akinek kifejthetné, hogy romlottak el a dolgok, és miért nem hever már a lábai előtt a világ. De a folyosók üresek. Senki nem hallja meg, senki nem hallgatja meg. Egyedül van, az örökkévalóságig.
July 5, 2024
The leader hunkers down in his HQ, scarcely believing that it has come to this. The leader is delusional, out of touch, oblivious to the state of the nation and the concerns of the people.
The country is broken, the economy battered and bruised, transport and health systems barely functioning, with citizens left to fend for themselves as the state retreats from their lives. A petty, vindictive and spiteful policy towards desperate minorities heaps blame on "the other" for the failings of the regime. The rotten edifice of a rotten regime is tumbling down, whilst the bosses of the party argue about job titles and jockey for personal position for the time when the leader is no more.
That's enough about Rishi Sunak and the Tories, what about this book?
A brief but insightful peek into the chaos and desperation at the end of WW2. Berlin is about to fall to the savages from the East, its buildings and people despoiled. Hitler ponders an escape to the mountains but is terrified of his own people and decides to go down with the ship, ultimately shooting himself as Berlin burns. A special mention to the Geobbels for murdering their six children - complete bastards.
The country is broken, the economy battered and bruised, transport and health systems barely functioning, with citizens left to fend for themselves as the state retreats from their lives. A petty, vindictive and spiteful policy towards desperate minorities heaps blame on "the other" for the failings of the regime. The rotten edifice of a rotten regime is tumbling down, whilst the bosses of the party argue about job titles and jockey for personal position for the time when the leader is no more.
That's enough about Rishi Sunak and the Tories, what about this book?
A brief but insightful peek into the chaos and desperation at the end of WW2. Berlin is about to fall to the savages from the East, its buildings and people despoiled. Hitler ponders an escape to the mountains but is terrified of his own people and decides to go down with the ship, ultimately shooting himself as Berlin burns. A special mention to the Geobbels for murdering their six children - complete bastards.
September 15, 2019
downfall و یا همون سقوط
این فیلمنامه گزیده ای از چند کتاب با همین مظمونه اما عالی تدوین شده
جزو 250 فیلم برتر
برای من که علاقه وافری به داستان ها و یا فیلم های مربوط به جنگ جهانی دارم خوب بود
فیلمنامه خیلی جذاب بود - کاملا درگیرش شدم
مربوط می شه به 12 روز آخر زندگی هیتلر و حمله روسها و درگیری که نازی ها در اواخر حکومتشون داشتند که توسط منشی هیتلر تراودل یونگه، روایت می شه
اگر 4 دادم دلیش این بود که به نظرم اول و وسطاش عالی بود اما نتونست بعضی جاها جمش کنه مخصوصا اخرش
این فیلمنامه گزیده ای از چند کتاب با همین مظمونه اما عالی تدوین شده
جزو 250 فیلم برتر
برای من که علاقه وافری به داستان ها و یا فیلم های مربوط به جنگ جهانی دارم خوب بود
فیلمنامه خیلی جذاب بود - کاملا درگیرش شدم
مربوط می شه به 12 روز آخر زندگی هیتلر و حمله روسها و درگیری که نازی ها در اواخر حکومتشون داشتند که توسط منشی هیتلر تراودل یونگه، روایت می شه
اگر 4 دادم دلیش این بود که به نظرم اول و وسطاش عالی بود اما نتونست بعضی جاها جمش کنه مخصوصا اخرش
July 19, 2020
Mi pare che sia utile saperne un po' per collocare tutti i protagonisti al loro posto, capire bene chi sono, che ruolo hanno avuto finora, che rapporti intercorrono fra loro, cosa si aspetta Hitler da loro.
Non ci sono note, quindi non ci si aspetti aiuto da quelle.
Fortunatamente un po' ho letto prima di questo Fest eppure qualche nome sono andata a cercarlo in rete.
E sono andata anche a cercare le immagini di Berlino ai primi di maggio 1945: un incubo :-(
Non ci sono note, quindi non ci si aspetti aiuto da quelle.
Fortunatamente un po' ho letto prima di questo Fest eppure qualche nome sono andata a cercarlo in rete.
E sono andata anche a cercare le immagini di Berlino ai primi di maggio 1945: un incubo :-(
February 28, 2010
I get a little nervous when a "history" book (at least, that was the section it was in) doesn't have any endnotes or footnotes. I get more than a little nervous when the explanation given by the author is essentially "lots of the accounts contradicted one another, so I didn't want to confuse you, the reader, by including citations".
Granted, the scene in Hitler's bunker in those final months of the war were confusing to say the least. But throw us history majors a bone here, Herr Fest. Much of the history written on these waning hours in the heart of the Third Reich has largely been based on the diary of one of Hitler's personal secretaries, Traudl Junge. These women were in the end the few who Hitler still believed hadn't betrayed him -- he'd wished he had generals with such resolve and loyalty. Needless to say, his paranoia and delusion had hit their apex at this point.
Fest does a good job storytelling, but things get ugly when he begins to inject his own psychoanalysis of the Führer. Two entire chapters were frustratingly speculative and appear to contradict most of the historical research I have seen (it was only a matter of time before my history major would start to pay off). And all without any citation. Granted, I haven't read Fest's biography of Hitler, so he has the authority, I just wish he had the evidence, too. Ultimately, these flaccid chapters weakened what was otherwise a fine read.
The film Der Untergang [the Downfall:] was based largely on Bis zur letzten Stunde (Junge's published diary) and does a fantastic job conveying (so well, it'll make you uncomfortable) what those final months in the Berlin bunker must have been like. Rent the movie, skip the book.
PS. It's not a great first date flick
Granted, the scene in Hitler's bunker in those final months of the war were confusing to say the least. But throw us history majors a bone here, Herr Fest. Much of the history written on these waning hours in the heart of the Third Reich has largely been based on the diary of one of Hitler's personal secretaries, Traudl Junge. These women were in the end the few who Hitler still believed hadn't betrayed him -- he'd wished he had generals with such resolve and loyalty. Needless to say, his paranoia and delusion had hit their apex at this point.
Fest does a good job storytelling, but things get ugly when he begins to inject his own psychoanalysis of the Führer. Two entire chapters were frustratingly speculative and appear to contradict most of the historical research I have seen (it was only a matter of time before my history major would start to pay off). And all without any citation. Granted, I haven't read Fest's biography of Hitler, so he has the authority, I just wish he had the evidence, too. Ultimately, these flaccid chapters weakened what was otherwise a fine read.
The film Der Untergang [the Downfall:] was based largely on Bis zur letzten Stunde (Junge's published diary) and does a fantastic job conveying (so well, it'll make you uncomfortable) what those final months in the Berlin bunker must have been like. Rent the movie, skip the book.
PS. It's not a great first date flick
June 18, 2023
Anything Hitler related is captivating. Starting from his rising to power to his downfall. The book delves into the causes preceded Hitlers seizure of power, his destructive mindset and the conditions, the environment and the atmosphere in the bunker which influenced his decisions in his last days.
July 21, 2013
It's somewhat surprising that the precise events and situations inside Hitler's bunker in April 1945 are so hard to pin down with complete accuracy. Eyewitnesses who walked in on the bodies minutes later couldn't even agree on whether Adolf and Eva Hitler were found together on the same sofa after committing suicide, or Eva was in a separate chair. Fest does a good job reconciling multiple accounts, and specifies where he isn't certain. This book certainly puts to rest the notion that the Soviets could have done an autopsy on Hitler's corpse, as the only thing left of him (besides ashes) in May 1945 was his dentures. (Eva's lower bridgework was all that remained of her.) So the fantasy that a Soviet autopsy revealed only one testicle (if you want to read all about it, Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil) is proven wishful thinking.
It almost seems crass, given the death Hitler visited upon Europe, for me to note the little details such as how Hitler gave a cyanide capsule to his beloved dog Blondi - because he didn't want Blondi to become a trophy for Soviet troops, and also he wanted to test the type of capsule he would shortly be using himself - and then sent an officer to put bullets into Blondi's five puppies. Then there are the six Goebbels children, quickly poisoned by their mother and Hitler's personal physician; only one, the oldest daughter, appears to have resisted, given the bruising on her body. Magda Goebbels had linked her own and her children's fate to Hitler's in the final days, and had at the last minute begged him to leave Berlin so that she and the children could leave and be spared, too, but Hitler refused. Mrs. Goebbels wrote in her suicide note:
Our glorious idea is in ruins, and with it everything I have known in my life that was beautiful, admirable, noble, and good. After the Führer and National Socialism, the world won't be worth living in, and that is why I have brought the children here. They are too good for the life that will come after us, and merciful God will understand if I myself give them deliverance.
Hitler himself in the waning days was by turns angry, volatile, apathetic, suffering tremors of his hands and legs which he tried to hide from onlookers, as he insisted German troops fight on even though all was lost. He took the time to have Eva Braun's brother-in-law briefly court-martialled and shot (the court-martial wasn't even allowed to conclude, once Hitler discovered that the man had known Himmler was making surrender overtures to a Swedish diplomat), even as Braun asked that his life be spared since he had a newborn child. He drew up political and personal wills, expelling Göring and Himmler from the Nazi Party for their last-minute betrayals. He declined to flee to his alpine fortress, preferring to end everything in Berlin. He was insistent that his and Braun's bodies be burned completely, having just learned what disgraces were wrought upon Mussolini and Clara Petacci. He sat silently and stared at his favorite portrait of Frederick the Great. And he ate cake: vast amounts of cake.
November 14, 2012
I thought the movie "The Downfall" was excellent, so thought this book might be also, since the movie was partly based on this book. But the book was disappointing. For one thing, I felt like I had walked into a discussion already underway, with no one explaining the things you had missed. It assumed you already knew all the players involved, and the basic plot. Sometimes captions to pictures explained who some of the people were, but not others, and left you to guess which was which. For another, one of the things I liked about the movie was that it showed you the human, the emotional, side of the people involved, providing some depth in its analysis, instead of just focusing on the battles, which is the part of history I have always disliked the most. The book, however, spent a lot of time discussing the movements of the various armies, in which I have little interest. The only person I would recommend this book to, would be a student of history of the Third Reich, someone who is already familiar with that part of history. Then it might be interesting.
September 12, 2017
Een zeer intrigerend document over 's werelds meest bekende dictator.
Ik vind het boeiend hoe men, zelfs op het einde, nog bleef vasthangen aan het charisma van Hitler ook al was deze zelf erg ziek en slecht te been op het einde van z'n dagen. SS bleef hondstrouw terwijl anderen van de Wehrmacht de overgave bepleitten om het zinloze verlies van mensenlevens en soldatenlevens te sparen. Hitler had in het begin van z'n carrière al gezegd dat het alles of niets wordt. Ofwel de totale overwinning, ofwel het totale verlies... en bij totaal verlies zouden ze alles met zich meenemen. Want als ze verliezen dan betekent dat dat het Duitse Volk het niet gehaald heeft en aangezien de Wet van de Sterkste altijd blijft gelden dan moet ook het Duitse volk ophouden te bestaan.
Het is des te verbazender dat men deze man bleef volgen. In tegenstelling tot bijvoorbeeld de Romeinen, Napoleon en andere veroveraars had Hitler geen plan voor "na de oorlog", hij wilde blijven het conflict opzoeken. Hitler was ook een 'adrenalinejunk' volgens mij.
Op het einde voor z'n zelfmoord zou Hitler gezegd hebben dat hij er spijt van heeft dat hij zo genadig was tegen zijn tegenstanders en tegen de Joden. 'dit komt ervan als je te goed bent voor de wereld'... hij voelde zich verraden door zijn generaals en zelfs door het volledige Duitse volk...
Joachim Fest heeft op zeer vlot leesbare wijze de laatste dagen van Hitler en het Duitse Rijk in beeld gebracht. Hoewel we ongeveer een idee hebben van de zelfmoord van Hitler en Eva Braun, en wat met hun lichamen gebeurd is, toch blijft het in een mysterie omhuld.
Joachim Fest maakt ook de kritische bemerking dat net door dat mysterieuze einde, Hitler blijft verder leven in de geesten. En hoe meer tijd er verstrijkt na de verschrikking van het Nazirijk, hoe groter de populariteit van Hitler opnieuw wordt... een duidelijke waarschuwing naar de toekomst toe.
Ik vind het boeiend hoe men, zelfs op het einde, nog bleef vasthangen aan het charisma van Hitler ook al was deze zelf erg ziek en slecht te been op het einde van z'n dagen. SS bleef hondstrouw terwijl anderen van de Wehrmacht de overgave bepleitten om het zinloze verlies van mensenlevens en soldatenlevens te sparen. Hitler had in het begin van z'n carrière al gezegd dat het alles of niets wordt. Ofwel de totale overwinning, ofwel het totale verlies... en bij totaal verlies zouden ze alles met zich meenemen. Want als ze verliezen dan betekent dat dat het Duitse Volk het niet gehaald heeft en aangezien de Wet van de Sterkste altijd blijft gelden dan moet ook het Duitse volk ophouden te bestaan.
Het is des te verbazender dat men deze man bleef volgen. In tegenstelling tot bijvoorbeeld de Romeinen, Napoleon en andere veroveraars had Hitler geen plan voor "na de oorlog", hij wilde blijven het conflict opzoeken. Hitler was ook een 'adrenalinejunk' volgens mij.
Op het einde voor z'n zelfmoord zou Hitler gezegd hebben dat hij er spijt van heeft dat hij zo genadig was tegen zijn tegenstanders en tegen de Joden. 'dit komt ervan als je te goed bent voor de wereld'... hij voelde zich verraden door zijn generaals en zelfs door het volledige Duitse volk...
Joachim Fest heeft op zeer vlot leesbare wijze de laatste dagen van Hitler en het Duitse Rijk in beeld gebracht. Hoewel we ongeveer een idee hebben van de zelfmoord van Hitler en Eva Braun, en wat met hun lichamen gebeurd is, toch blijft het in een mysterie omhuld.
Joachim Fest maakt ook de kritische bemerking dat net door dat mysterieuze einde, Hitler blijft verder leven in de geesten. En hoe meer tijd er verstrijkt na de verschrikking van het Nazirijk, hoe groter de populariteit van Hitler opnieuw wordt... een duidelijke waarschuwing naar de toekomst toe.
July 8, 2025
Downfall aka Der Untergang, based on Inside Hitler’s Bunker – The Last Days of The Third Reich by Joachim Fest
10 out of 10
This is a fantastic narrative, which shows the world what a monster looks and acts like, as he falls from the heights of the top of The Third Reich, into the bunker where he will spend his last days, together with some of the other demons, like Joseph and Magda Goebbels, parents that have decided to kill their many children (how many were there, six, eight?) poisoning them rather than allow them to live in a Germany that would soon be liberated…granted, the part occupied by the Red Army would not be a democracy, the soviets brought in calamity with them, but still, life is better than death…
One of the examples I have comes from Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who had been sentenced to death, and faced execution, with three minutes remaining – this is a story that our divine Literature Professor, Anton Chevorchian used to tell us in class and we have been mesmerized by this and everything else he told us…look, I think about it after forty years and share it with you – which he divided into…three, one to say goodbye to friends and family, another to pass his life in front of him, and last, to enjoy a ray of sunshine that was falling on the top of a church nearby, and then he was pardoned and freed…
http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/01/t... the great master includes this experience in his masterpieces, wherein he explains what the man who has very little to live thinks, feels, from personal experience, and we learn that when we have so little ahead, we cherish life immensely, the characters in the magnum opera insist that they would rather live on a bare rock, in the middle of the ocean, than end it all, in such a short time…evidently, time is relative and we know it from Einstein…
Seneca has looked at the ‘shortness’ of life and contested the idea, saying that we have in fact enough time in our lifetimes, it is just that we waste so much http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/o... we treat time as if it were something we have in abundance, we even ‘kill time’, get bored in many situations and just think about it passing as fast as possible…in an attempt to explain the genius Albert Einstein said “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour…Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute…That's relativity…” albeit with various sexual orientations, the notion will have to be changed accordingly…
Maybe it was Milan Kundera http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/t... in his most famous The Unbearable Lightness of Being arguing that the genius label has become too weak, using some words to explain everything, praise all and sunder, hoi polloi will end up annihilating the original significance of the word, genius needs to be used for Leonardo, Albert Einstein and maybe Shakespeare…
Thomas Mann took on a couple of words, love and friend, in a short story that has been engraved in my mind, if we are to psychoanalyze this, it might be a wrong move, for it might have created a very skeptical frame of mind, some negativity and the perspective that love is really absent http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/09/t... and we cannot rely on friends.
There are no friends here, unless we think of Marius, The Last of The Mohicans, and that could be blamed on Thomas Mann – in this short story, one of the characters complains that people keep talking about their ‘great love’, so grandiose, there ‘are no words to express it’, when the opposite is true, love means so much, we do not find it, except in fiction, art, in life, when tested, love shows it was just a word we used, and the ‘friends’ we have, do not really show up when needed, it is just a false notion
As for Hitler, the quote from George Bernard Shaw comes to mind, where he said something to the effect that ‘Hitler is a good speaker, organized this and that, has qualities, but what I can say is that it would have been better for the world, if he had never been born’ http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/d... albeit Shaw, not a favorite of mine, had also said The Nazi movement is in many respects one which has my warmest sympathy’
Whenever we speak of the Nazis, I am aghast at how the world has stigmatized them, which is as it must be, making illegal those movements and manifestations in many places (say Germany), which is again what must be done, yet, when it comes to communism, those lunatics and demons are somehow tolerated and considered benign, nay, in realms they are venerated, as it happens in the new Soviet Empire.
Stalin is making a comeback there, his statues have been installed in places, and over the past few days, they have shown the celebrations on the news, which is part of a ghastly transformation of Russia into a vile, disgusting new empire (actually, it is just the old thing, as they said here, the old Mary with a new hat) that is annexing land from Ukraine -the despot from the Kremlin, ruler of Muscovy, as Zelensky has said we should call Russia, has just visited Mariupol at night, and he entertains another tyrant, Xi, as they try to make the world an immense playground for the two dictators, close buddies now, China waits to take Taiwan soon, and much else in the South China Sea, and wherever they wish
The communists and now those Z mass killers have been just as bad, if not worse than Hitler, if we count the dead, Stalin has surpassed the Nazi mad man, just like Mao has murdered more in his own country, through famine, executing them…they have the same planes now in Ukraine, later in Taiwan, and we need to learn lessons from this narrative, the history of monsters like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, which have successors in Putin, Xi, and some other smaller despots, Kim of North Korea and so on…
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...
10 out of 10
This is a fantastic narrative, which shows the world what a monster looks and acts like, as he falls from the heights of the top of The Third Reich, into the bunker where he will spend his last days, together with some of the other demons, like Joseph and Magda Goebbels, parents that have decided to kill their many children (how many were there, six, eight?) poisoning them rather than allow them to live in a Germany that would soon be liberated…granted, the part occupied by the Red Army would not be a democracy, the soviets brought in calamity with them, but still, life is better than death…
One of the examples I have comes from Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who had been sentenced to death, and faced execution, with three minutes remaining – this is a story that our divine Literature Professor, Anton Chevorchian used to tell us in class and we have been mesmerized by this and everything else he told us…look, I think about it after forty years and share it with you – which he divided into…three, one to say goodbye to friends and family, another to pass his life in front of him, and last, to enjoy a ray of sunshine that was falling on the top of a church nearby, and then he was pardoned and freed…
http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/01/t... the great master includes this experience in his masterpieces, wherein he explains what the man who has very little to live thinks, feels, from personal experience, and we learn that when we have so little ahead, we cherish life immensely, the characters in the magnum opera insist that they would rather live on a bare rock, in the middle of the ocean, than end it all, in such a short time…evidently, time is relative and we know it from Einstein…
Seneca has looked at the ‘shortness’ of life and contested the idea, saying that we have in fact enough time in our lifetimes, it is just that we waste so much http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/o... we treat time as if it were something we have in abundance, we even ‘kill time’, get bored in many situations and just think about it passing as fast as possible…in an attempt to explain the genius Albert Einstein said “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour…Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute…That's relativity…” albeit with various sexual orientations, the notion will have to be changed accordingly…
Maybe it was Milan Kundera http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/t... in his most famous The Unbearable Lightness of Being arguing that the genius label has become too weak, using some words to explain everything, praise all and sunder, hoi polloi will end up annihilating the original significance of the word, genius needs to be used for Leonardo, Albert Einstein and maybe Shakespeare…
Thomas Mann took on a couple of words, love and friend, in a short story that has been engraved in my mind, if we are to psychoanalyze this, it might be a wrong move, for it might have created a very skeptical frame of mind, some negativity and the perspective that love is really absent http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/09/t... and we cannot rely on friends.
There are no friends here, unless we think of Marius, The Last of The Mohicans, and that could be blamed on Thomas Mann – in this short story, one of the characters complains that people keep talking about their ‘great love’, so grandiose, there ‘are no words to express it’, when the opposite is true, love means so much, we do not find it, except in fiction, art, in life, when tested, love shows it was just a word we used, and the ‘friends’ we have, do not really show up when needed, it is just a false notion
As for Hitler, the quote from George Bernard Shaw comes to mind, where he said something to the effect that ‘Hitler is a good speaker, organized this and that, has qualities, but what I can say is that it would have been better for the world, if he had never been born’ http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/d... albeit Shaw, not a favorite of mine, had also said The Nazi movement is in many respects one which has my warmest sympathy’
Whenever we speak of the Nazis, I am aghast at how the world has stigmatized them, which is as it must be, making illegal those movements and manifestations in many places (say Germany), which is again what must be done, yet, when it comes to communism, those lunatics and demons are somehow tolerated and considered benign, nay, in realms they are venerated, as it happens in the new Soviet Empire.
Stalin is making a comeback there, his statues have been installed in places, and over the past few days, they have shown the celebrations on the news, which is part of a ghastly transformation of Russia into a vile, disgusting new empire (actually, it is just the old thing, as they said here, the old Mary with a new hat) that is annexing land from Ukraine -the despot from the Kremlin, ruler of Muscovy, as Zelensky has said we should call Russia, has just visited Mariupol at night, and he entertains another tyrant, Xi, as they try to make the world an immense playground for the two dictators, close buddies now, China waits to take Taiwan soon, and much else in the South China Sea, and wherever they wish
The communists and now those Z mass killers have been just as bad, if not worse than Hitler, if we count the dead, Stalin has surpassed the Nazi mad man, just like Mao has murdered more in his own country, through famine, executing them…they have the same planes now in Ukraine, later in Taiwan, and we need to learn lessons from this narrative, the history of monsters like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, which have successors in Putin, Xi, and some other smaller despots, Kim of North Korea and so on…
http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u...
Want to read
March 20, 2011I find Impossible Germany to understand.
Unlikely Japan, more too.
"Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan
Wherever you go
Wherever you land
I'll say what this means to me
I'll do what I can
Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan
The fundamental problem
We all need to face
This is important
But I know you're not listening
No I know you're not listening
If this was still new to me
I wouldn't understand
Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan
But this is what love is for
To be out of place
Gorgeous and alone
Face to face
With no larger problems
That need to be erased
Nothing more important
Than to know
Someone's listening
Now I know
Uou'll be listening"
Lyrics courtesy of Wilco
Unlikely Japan, more too.
"Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan
Wherever you go
Wherever you land
I'll say what this means to me
I'll do what I can
Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan
The fundamental problem
We all need to face
This is important
But I know you're not listening
No I know you're not listening
If this was still new to me
I wouldn't understand
Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan
But this is what love is for
To be out of place
Gorgeous and alone
Face to face
With no larger problems
That need to be erased
Nothing more important
Than to know
Someone's listening
Now I know
Uou'll be listening"
Lyrics courtesy of Wilco
February 14, 2022
I enjoyed reading this book, however the majority of the information I knew from watching the movie Downfall.
The author towards the end of the book explains several theories in which hitler escaped the bunker.
I would recommend this book to anyone who was looking for an overview of the events surrounding the bunker.
The author towards the end of the book explains several theories in which hitler escaped the bunker.
I would recommend this book to anyone who was looking for an overview of the events surrounding the bunker.
September 14, 2025
“«Diez años he servido al Führer, y aquí yace ahora». El contraste, en efecto, apenas podía ser más brusco. En una de las exaltadas y patéticas visiones de su muerte, Hitler había situado su tumba en las grandiosas alturas del tejado del campanario que dominaría la remodelada orilla del Danubio de su ciudad natal, Linz. Y he aquí que ahora su tumba se encontraba en un descampado lleno de ruinas, a espaldas de la cancillería destruida, apisonada en la tierra removida por los continuos disparos, entre cascotes de hormigón, montañas de escombros y pirámides de basura.”
January 26, 2020
I had the occasion to see the movie (Der Untergang/The Fall) before reading the book years ago. As far as I remember, the movie follows most aspects you can find in the book.
Although you can find new/many details in the book, it feels like letting the reader with many uncertainties.
Maybe because the history itself was made by individuals who had their own version of story.
Although you can find new/many details in the book, it feels like letting the reader with many uncertainties.
Maybe because the history itself was made by individuals who had their own version of story.
November 3, 2025
I'm starting to think this Hitler fella may have been a bit insane.
December 6, 2020
Der Untergang in woorden.
July 18, 2024
Very well researched and detailed.
August 18, 2022
Pretty interesting to look at what Berlin was like at the war's end. Some good Hitler insight as well. I enjoyed it, but nothing to write home about. I would have enjoyed more military strategy in defending Berlin I think.
October 23, 2023
Bijzonder inkijkje in de laatste periode van Hitler. Heel leesbaar en leerzaam. En nog steeds verbijsterend hoe lang Hitler en zijn entourage nog zoveel impact kon hebben en de tweede WO zo lang kon laten voortduren
January 15, 2015
Not sure if I should rate this book as a 2 or 3 or 4. So, I hit the middle -- a 3. It's my first real honest to goodness read on the Last few days of Hitler and that's why a 3.
The author, Fest, seems to put together a good account of what MAY have happened inside the Bunker. Who is really telling the TRUTH when it comes to these Nazis trying to make account of what REALLY HAPPENED?? There apparently was extreme tension the last few weeks in the Bunker, UNDERSTANDABLY since the Russians were practically on their doorsteps, literally.
I would recommend for you to read several books on the Last Days of Hitler and draw your own conclusions. That's what I intend to do. This book, however, is a good one to start with.
The author, Fest, seems to put together a good account of what MAY have happened inside the Bunker. Who is really telling the TRUTH when it comes to these Nazis trying to make account of what REALLY HAPPENED?? There apparently was extreme tension the last few weeks in the Bunker, UNDERSTANDABLY since the Russians were practically on their doorsteps, literally.
I would recommend for you to read several books on the Last Days of Hitler and draw your own conclusions. That's what I intend to do. This book, however, is a good one to start with.
November 2, 2019
This book is the English translation of Der Untergang: Hitler und das Ende des Dritten Reiches. Written by one of the foremost German historians of the Third Reich, this is an extremely interesting work detailing the last two weeks of the life of Adolf Hitler, and those around him, up to his suicide in April 30, 1945. In less then two hundred pages Fest gives us a superb description of the catastrophic end of the Third Reich and also a concise analysis of the Nazi phenomenon that allows the book to stand on its own, even for readers who are not knowledgeable about the history of the regime. This brilliant book was the basis of Oliver Hirschbiegel's 2004 film Der Untergang.
February 5, 2010
Con la garantía de ser considerado uno de los mejores biógrafos de Hitler, Joachim Fest nos lleva de la mano hasta las entrañas del legendario bunker del Führer, con todos los horrores de la guerra y peor, de la derrota. Al fin alguien nos relata con detalle qué pasó en los días finales del líder del 3er. Reich.
May 24, 2012
Foi interessante ver um lado depressivo de Hitler, mais uma faceta de uma mente doentia.
November 12, 2017
The good timing gave a manipulative psychopath the best chance and best stage to promote his racism and it's so hard to believe that brainwash in that difficult time for Germany could became such effective tool. I can only said that giving a critical situation people can not think rationally, the group thinking fell into "banality of evil" without feeling guilty. Nobody should play God or superior power in the name of cleaning the inferior races through killing or eliminating. I am sure if we had fMRI at that time, just put Hitler to scan we surely get a psychopath with warrior genes inside. Madness can lead to totally destruction and we can see how he would rather destroy the Jewish, the infrastructures, his own dog, his own generals, soldiers who are caught betrayed him. He wanted to killed them all before his empire fell. Sick in the head for sure! I feel sorry that we had this kind of human in our history!
I copied the whole last chapter (ch8) here because it was the conclusion of this book.
第一个为希特勒写传记的康拉德•海登早在三十年代 初就用一句令人难以忘记的话，概括了“元首”的内心深处和他的行动， 那是一盘由好激动、自吹自擂和好斗拼凑起来的杂烩，他把它们称之 为“边逃跑边吹牛”。现在，希特勒回撤到了地下避弹室，从那儿发出的 胜利叫嚣，这种常被认为是荒谬至极的说法却与现实发生了吻合.
只有在客人来访时，他才从迟钝的感觉中找回自我，重新赢回他那 咄咄逼人的力量和说服他人的能力。他经常回首往事，借用某一英勇善 战的部队首长的名字，或是其他一桩掷地有声的不起眼小事，来为自己 和客人鼓起新的勇气。他会抓住偶尔提及的词语，编造出已经征召了大 批军队的胡话来，说它们已经在路上，在决定战争成败的这场战役中守 卫首都的大门。俄国人只是用些“强盗士兵”来打仗，然后他告诉大家 说，他们所吹嘘的优势，是“成吉思汗以来最大的恫吓”。说着说着就说 到了“神奇武器”，说它将带来转折，羞辱所有胆怯的人
为什么纳粹主义在二十和三十年代比起大多数和它同样激进 的运动来，更加激进且惨无人道？
如果对这一事情和相关的所有具有说服力的解释做一更为仔细的思 考，就会发现，完全突然地从现实掉进一九一八年秋天的那场失败之 中，从狭义上说也属于德国特色。这个事实上直到停火的那些日子里还 在做着一八七〇年、一八七一年那个大国和“辉煌时代”美梦，并向着它 们迎面走去的民族，突然发现自己面对的是整个生活状况的突变：一场 革命，它被大多数人只是称作“下等人暴动”，还带有“兽类尸体的臭 味”，它把所有为人们所熟悉的、自古以来就存在着的准则搞得一团 糟，此外还有街道上的混乱状态、持续的饥荒、从未有过的大批失业和 席卷全国的社会动乱。除了这些之外，还有充斥着动听的和平词藻，但 实际上却为虚伪、报复和恶意且目光短浅所支配的《凡尔赛和约》，通 过有关战争罪责的第二百三十一条款，有意地羞辱德国，而这确实也是 他们所要达到的目的。把这个国家从为人们所尊重的国家之列中驱逐出 去，比起战胜国加在这个国家身上的所有物质重负来，更是导致它心理 上的失衡。对此，一位观察家说，当时就形成了一种“愤怒的民众团 体”，在期待着一位领袖人物和引路人的出现。通货膨胀导致广大人民 群众生活贫困，没几年后爆发的世界经济危机，大大地激化了这种愤怒 的心态，每一次这样的失败，以及无数次其他方面的屡屡受挫，都把责 任推到了本已是四面楚歌的魏玛共和国身上
希特勒给这些想法注入的思想酵 素：世界生了病，种族受到了毒害，为了“拯救地球”要进行彻底的屠杀 和血液的更新。这样，就产生了一种东西，它超越了所有迄今为止被称 为帝国主义贪婪性的单纯的东西：一个种族的乌托邦，它将开创一个世 界的新纪元。这一理想的社会，有待于数百万有着种族觉悟的、团结起 来了的人们通过斗争去获得和实现，他们应坚定不移地遵从历史的使 命，去占领广泛的区域，灭绝所有的“劣等种族”，或是将他们分成各自 独立的等级：他们是“新人”，不��地在平整土地，在破坏，在迁移，他 们聚集在运河岛上“力量来自欢乐”休假组织的大众旅馆里，挪威海岸边 的狭湾里，克里米亚半岛上，大家一起又唱又跳，寻找着完成历史重托 前的轻松。这是与世界上已定下了的所有规则决裂，人们在事后仍成为 这个政权宣传机器的牺牲品，因为说它有着革命的因素，但其实并非如 此。这怪异的宣传有着它自己独特的来源。
这猛烈发作的场面，是在场的人从未经历过的，希特勒突然从座位 上跳起来，把平时在商讨形势时一向握在手中的红色铅笔，愤然地扔到 了桌子外面，开始咆哮如雷。几个星期以来乏力的、几乎发不出声音来 的喉咙突然恢复了以往的力量。他竭力搜寻恰当的字眼，对世界、胆 怯、卑鄙和各方面的背信弃义来了番总控诉。他辱骂一直与他作对的将 军们，他与他们总是剑拔弩张，多年来他的周围都是些叛徒和无用之 人。当大家惊愕地面面相觑时，他气急败坏地离开位置，开始晃晃悠悠 地在这狭小的房间里走来走去。虽然他多次试着要控制住自己，但没过 多久又勃然大怒了，他失态地将握起的拳头狠击张开着的另一只手，两 行眼泪从面颊上滚下来：在这种情况下，他反复强调说，他无法再领导 下去了，他的命令被当作了耳边风，接下去他不知道该怎么办了。“战 争输了！”他叫喊着，“可是您们，我的先生们，如果以为我会离开柏 林，那就大错特错了！我宁可让一颗子弹打穿我的脑袋！”当约德尔被 叫去接电话时，希特勒把参加例会的都请了出去，房间里只留下凯特 尔、克莱勃斯和布格道夫．
希特勒认为，是他自己不够强硬，这使他输掉了到手的胜 利。只有一点他感到自慰，像他自己所说的那样，是与犹太人进行 了“面对面的斗争”，“清除了德国人生存空间中的犹太毒素”。但在其他 方面，他太过优柔寡断：他没有无情地清除德国的保守党人，而是打算 与这些“温文尔雅的政治家们”一起来推行革命的政策；他在西班牙和法 国时，没有把工人从“化石般冥顽的市民阶层”手里解放出来。他本该在 世界各地策动殖民地人民揭竿而起，埃及人、伊拉克人，以及整个近东 地区——“伊斯兰世界在焦急地期待着我们的胜利”，他解释道。发动他 们起来暴动，是多么轻而易举的一桩事：“想想我们的前景吧！”如果他 失败，他说，这并不在于他的极端和激进，而是在于他的半心半意，在 于他没能坚持到最后。他早就持有的，数百次宣布过的观点，就像他现 在看到的那样，没有改变，只是没有坚定地照着它去做，这就是：“生 活不会同情弱者！”
希特勒怒不可遏，命令不加审讯立即处决菲格莱因。接近午夜时 分，他被帝国安全局的几个人带出了关押他的地下避弹室房间。他对发 生的事情仍一无所知，边走边朝四周愤怒地大声嚷嚷着，最后在地下室 的过道上或是帝国总理府后面的大院出口处被枪杀了。希特勒的报复心 态变得如此不可遏制，行刑队几分钟过去后还未返回时，他就多次追问 枪毙的命令执行了没有。“可怜啊，可怜的阿道夫，”爱娃•布劳恩喊 着，她有着自己的理由为死者悲哀，“所有的人都离开了你，所有的人 都离开了你！”
至少在这个时刻，希特勒终于意识到，结束的时间到了。就像通常 所做的那样，一旦他在长时间的摇摆后做出了一个打算，他就会立即把 这个决定果断地付诸实施。他急忙让人在午夜里把那间小的地图室布置 成婚姻登记处。曾有一名负责婚姻登记的官员，在戈培尔的党部办公室 工作过一段时间，经过寻找，发现他在驻守在附近的一支人民冲锋队里 服役，马上派了一辆坦克去把他找来，请他为领袖和爱娃•布劳恩主持 婚礼。在场的证婚人有戈培尔和鲍曼。至于形式，鉴于当时的特殊情 况，这对新人恳求举行战时婚礼，并随即声明，他们两人是“纯亚利安 人种，没有遗传性疾病”．
希特勒命令替他养狗的弗里茨•托尔诺夫中士去把 母狗布隆迪毒死。这条狗决不可以落到俄国人手里，他说，单想到这一 点他就受不了。显然，对他来说更为重要的，是试一下氢氰酸的效果， 该毒药已在前几个星期挨个儿地分给了大家。自从希姆莱背叛后，他就 不敢再肯定党卫军搞来的毒药是否能在瞬间药性发作致人死亡。可当托 尔诺夫用一个钳子把安瓿瓶压碎后往狗张开的喉咙倒下去时，这条 狗“像突遭雷击般地”倒地而死。不一会儿，像一位目击者所看到的那 样，希特勒来到地下避弹室的出口处，“与这条狗告别”。返回地下避弹 室时，另一个人肯定地说，他看起来“就像他自己的死者面型”，“一言 不发地把自己锁进了他的房间”。在这同时，托尔诺夫在避弹室的上面 靠近大院出口的地方，开枪打死了五只小狗．
如果把这些命令理解为由于临近之敌无比强大而采取的几近绝望的 最后防御手段，那就大错特错了。它们其实是希特勒在任何时候都首先 而且喜欢采用的方法，拆房毁屋这种做法只是他真实心情的反映而已。 现在又可听到他的这个心声了。早在纳粹运动上升时期的一首战斗歌曲 中——此歌名为《把一切都砸得稀巴烂》——这个声音就听得很清楚， 但在取得政权以后，它就被捍卫民族荣誉的口号和维护和平的承诺，后 来在战争的头几年里，又被特别报道中的军号声所淹没。这个政权的国 内反对者早在三十年代就有先见之明地把这首歌的副歌做了修改：“因 为我们今天摧毁的是德国，明天我们将摧毁整个世界！”随着“焦土政 策”命令的发布，这一意图明白无误地再次展现在世人面前。
在战术上必要的伪装背后，尤其是在和平年代里，这种破坏的决心 在多大程度上起着作用，不仅表现在希特勒直到生命终结时，仍没完没 了地责备自己做了许多迁就，而且表现在戈培尔所表示出来的，对不 再“打碎”的遗憾中。在四月二十七日的形势分析会上，当谈起在取得最 后胜利后该做些什么时，“堡垒”的战斗指挥官，党卫军分队长威廉•蒙 克以挖苦的口吻说道：“我们一九三三年要做的事情，”他转过身去，对 希特勒说，“没能完全做到，我的领袖！”可蒙克并非玩世不恭之人，形 势也根本不适合做如此这般的辛辣嘲讽。作为这个政权的残暴捍卫者， 确切地说，他只是把关于“拯救世界”的所有准则后面一直广为宣传的东 西表达了出来：进行无限破坏的信念，它构成了希特勒和他共谋的下属 的真实面目。在他们的上升时期和执政期间，他们需要敌人，需要从敌 我对峙中培养自我意识，通过这种敌对状态来找出他们缺少什么，并尽 一切可能去创造它们。在这一方面他们绝对没有失败。
可从希特勒一方来看，这不只与怨恨和惧怕有关，更多的是一种复 杂的满足感，这种感觉在失败中上升，并促使他把临近的失败导演成一 场轰轰烈烈的历史性崩溃戏剧。早在三月里，戈培尔就在一次新闻发布 会上说：“如果我们会灭亡，那么整个德意志民族也将和我们一道灭 亡，而且是如此地壮烈，以致在几千年以后，德国人的灭亡仍会在世界 历史中占据着第一的位置。”
形势越是吃紧，这个政权就越是肆无忌惮地加快行动。此时，它甚 至试图把它的灭亡意志延伸到战争结束以后。海军元帅邓尼茨，这位喜 欢称自己无可非议一贯正确，带兵也以严厉著称的指挥官，也毫无顾忌 地对杀人犯大加赞扬。在一九四五年四月十九日的一份“秘密日令”中， 他对海军的一名上士许诺说，他表示“充分的欣赏”，并把他作为榜样表 扬，此人在澳大利亚的战俘营里，“有计划地”——像白纸黑字所写的那 样——把几个公开承认反对希特勒的人，“避开了看守，悄无声息地”干 掉了。这种情况并非个例。人们更多地得出这种印象，即好像希特勒走 向灭亡的决心，随着时间的推移，延伸的面越来越广。在无数次的发言 和讲话中，他都说到了“或成为世界大国或走向灭亡”两者之间的选择。 但在事实上并不存在选择。他的意图只是针对不同形式的破坏而已。
最后几个星期里绝望情感的爆发，只是在表面上蒙骗人们的目光。 同样地，自欺欺人地说有什么神秘军队将光临，编造一些象征胜利的信 号和多次表达有希望至少可一天天延长自己的生命等等。这样一些东西 像戏剧般常常上演。但比这更为严重的，是希特勒自战争开始后所发布 的命令中表现出来的把一切顾虑都抛之脑后的狂妄，以及对世界的憎恨 和对毁灭的渴望。弗朗茨•哈尔德一段时间里担任参谋本部的长官，据 他说，希特勒在攻打波兰时，就坚持轰炸准备投降的华沙，他从望远镜 中虽只看到局部的毁灭性画面，却是感到分外的刺激。后来他曾考虑过 摧毁巴黎、莫斯科和列宁格勒。他曾怀着一种亢奋的心态，设想过用炸 弹或导弹打击曼哈顿的街道所引发的毁灭性后果。
希特勒不仅容忍他正在做着的与自己的人民为敌的行为，而且甚至 越来越激进地使其成为他的一种古怪本性。还在一九四一年的十一月二 十七日，当莫斯科前的那场冬天灾难刚刚开始，第一次出现有可能失败 的苗头时，他就对两位外国来访者来说，德意志民族该“消亡和被消 灭”，如果它“不是足够的强大和勇于献身”，它的血“不去为它的生存而 洒”，作为他，是不会“为它事后流泪的”。一九四五年三月十九日，他 用“冰冷的语调”对阿尔贝特•施佩尔说：“如果战争输了，那么这个民族 也输了。不必去顾及德国人民为了苟延残喘而需要的生存基础。相反， 最好的做法是我们自己把这些东西破坏掉。因为这个民族被证明是个弱 者，未来最终属于更强大的东方民族。不管怎样，这场斗争以后，留下 来的只是劣等人，因为优等人已经被杀害了。”
至迟从斯大林格勒和战争发生转折以后，他做出的所有决定，都掺 杂着因失望而产生的对德国人的仇恨心态。这种动机决定了最后阶段内 所有战略的制定，从多次拒绝建立阻击阵地来抵御敌军将要发起的突 破，到发动一九四四年十二月的阿登山进攻战。为发动这次进攻，他从 东线撤回了大批的军队，为的是借“来自俄国人的威胁”，来振奋早已被 战争弄得疲惫不堪的百姓的抵抗意志。两年前他就说过，在必要的情况 下，他会让四十岁的人也拿起武器，因为“他们在与东方的战斗中阵 亡，比起输掉战争后任人宰割或沦为奴隶当牛做马毕竟要好得多”。现 在，他极为生气的是，这些人在西线干脆搬开了阻止坦克前进的障碍， 置所有的惩处命令于不顾，在窗口挂起了白旗，整个军团一下子就消失 得无影无踪：“这是奇耻大辱！”剩下来的战争，越来越成为对自己人民 的惩罚。就像他在大约四年前所保证的那样，“消亡和被消灭”，至于他 自己，则会听从生存斗争的“永恒法则”，竭尽全力为此做出他的贡献。
根据所有有根有据的判断，这种热心推崇的毁灭性意愿，是希特勒 直到最后仍然维持着的东西。事实上，所有证人描绘的年老体弱的现象 ——弯腰曲背，走起路来吧嗒吧嗒拖着两条腿，说话的声音日渐疲惫，
与同一观察人曾看到的希特勒意气风发时的优雅姿态判若两人，成了 ——像地下避弹室的一位所说的那样——“一个猛吃蛋糕的瘦猴”，但仍 一如往常那样能施以强烈影响，享有不可动摇的权威。三月中旬，但泽 的纳粹省党部头目福斯特来到地下避弹室，走进第一进房间，他就惊恐 又绝望地告诉大家，俄国人挟强大之军队及一千一百辆坦克，已经出现 在宣布为堡垒但完全不具备抵抗能力的城市前方。他将告诉希特勒大势 已去，逼他做出明确的决定。可过了一会儿，福斯特“完全变了个人”似 的走出希特勒的办公室，他说，元首会救援但泽，这是“毫无疑问的”。 四月十八日，党卫军将军卡尔•沃尔夫抱着同样的目的而来，却被信誓 旦旦的劝说改变了主意，希特勒说会为他制定对付未来的伟大计划。
总的来说，最为古怪的，是希特勒尽管具有超乎寻常的说服本领， 但在政治方面却表现出明显的僵化。他没有能力去越过狭隘的军事目标 做更多的思考，这种无能表现得非常清楚。在三十年代里，他用灵活多 样又出其不备的作战行动，以及采用时而威吓时而一本正经地发誓的方 法，取得了一个又一个胜利，在令人难以置信的短短时间内，达到了他 的第一个阶段的目标，即摧毁欧洲的大国体系。但从一九三七年年底 起，他的行为给人们留下了这样一个印象，好像他对来得太容易的成就 感到厌倦了，他终于要不惜任何代价地再次回到“打击”的原则上去，这 一原则，像他在一次讲话中所赞赏的那样，是他毕生所要追求的目标。
人们还可继续追根溯源，并由此得出结论，他一生只是个暴发的黑 帮头目而已，尽管只是采用冒失的小巷马基雅维利主义在打打杀杀中长 大，欧洲范围里却没有一个迂腐和操心的政治家能对付得了这个从小巷 中成长起来的团体。可正是这完全盲目的行为和未多加思索的目标，在 一段时间内帮助他取得了令人啧啧称奇的成就。就像通常的黑帮头目一 样，他并没有打算超越屠杀他人和捞取资本这种思想范围。不过奇怪的 是，无论如何，他胆大包天开始与几乎整个世界作对时，正像他的将军 以及后来所有的观察家们惊愕地所看到的那样，他向往的战争目标并非 心血来潮。一九四一年二月，当他还在考虑是否在来年就结束对苏战争 时，因担心和平来得太早，于是要求约德尔对进攻阿富汗和印度做一 份“研究性的论证”。 所以，凡听他说起有关战争目标的，听到的只是对“无边无际的地 区”的夸张想象，以及关于取之不竭的原料、众多可供使唤的民族和“永 远在流着血的边界”的长篇空论。在一九四五年二月至四月的记录中 ——这些构成了说明他统治思想的一种补充——没有一次哪怕是稍微地 提及他把已占领的地区作为继续占领的出发地之外，还有些什么其他打 算。执着、贪婪、不知最终目标在何方，只是一味地听命于已丢失了 的，像他所说的那样可又被他重新拾了起来的强者有权生存的“原始法 则”。一九四三年秋，当他的外交部长劝说他，不要让推动与莫斯科签 订和约这一举动落空，他耸了耸肩回答说：“您知道吗，里宾特洛甫， 如果我今天与俄罗斯和解，我明天就又要翻脸的——我只能这样做。” 希特勒在一些场合说过，他想作为这样的一个人，“一个从未有过 的人”被载入史册。他在那个“死亡穹窿”——一位地下避弹室居民是这 样形容那里的——里结束生命的前前后后，他拼命地抵御日益逼近的失 败时所发布的软弱无力的命令，以及时不时的勃然大怒，都给人以这样 的印象，即他已经知道大势已去，他的失败已无可挽回。正像他认为的 那样，这一大崩溃对许多东西负有责任，但也是一种满足。颇能说明问 题的是，希特勒最后一次的意志表达——它标记性地再一次揭示了他一 生中的主导力量——是一道毁灭命令：四月三十日中午发布的焚烧他尸
第八章/ 世界末日
这大概是历史的悖论：希特勒几乎悄无声息的消失，竟奇怪地让他 在后人的记忆中长存。过去了几代人以后，在这些人或那些人的头脑 里，他仍然栩栩如生地活着，甚至随着时间的推移反而变得更加强大。
希特勒成为历史上确实“前所未有”的现象，源出于他根本不具备任 何的文明思想。东征西战的世界强国，从古罗马帝国到德意志民族的神 圣罗马帝国，再从拿破仑的法兰西到大不列颠帝国，尽管相互之间有着 千差万别，但都是由弱小进而持续发展，宣称自己的目标是为了人类获 得和平、进步和自由的美好未来。即使是斯大林沾满了鲜血的暴政，尽 管破绽百出，但也用对未来的承诺装饰着门面。致力于征服其他民族的 动力，毫无例外地都来自贪得无厌和追名求荣，但由于它们的承诺，因 此罪责得到了某种程度上的减轻，到最后，在很多情况下，甚至被历史 宣告无罪。
希特勒不是这样的。在占领和扩大权力的过程中，他放弃了所有理 想化的修饰，从来没有认识到有必要对他的统治来番粉饰和美化。德国 人自古以来都为这种理想化的思想感到自豪，并能在每个历史事件中发 现它以及它的作用，然而在他们给予希特勒政权至高无上的权力时，却 没有遵循某种理想。按照当时传播甚广的说法，希特勒头脑里其实空无 一物。吹捧他将成为划时代角色的所有努力，在无可奈何中搁浅了。使 多数人跟着走的，使他们折服的，把他们迷惑住的，是希特勒本人，对 许多人来说，有时他确实并不那么阴森可怕。一生中始终催促他前行的 难以抑制的动力，只是强者生存的史前文明的行为准则。也是它，推动 着他去开始和结束他作为自己世界观的事业。
从希特勒达尔文思想的总口号中，产生了一系列早就形成了并被顽 固推行的想法，它们完全是以镇压、奴役和“按种族进行土地重划”为目 标，而到最后，留下的总是一片“焦土”。无论何时何地，即使在他的军 队开始时作为解放者受到欢迎的情况下，他都给人以一种不可动摇的印 象，即他是作为敌人来的，也想作为敌人留下来。那些在历史上留下名 字的几乎所有以往的世界征服者，在他们的统治期间都致力于在被征服 者中滋生一种疑惑，即反抗入侵者是否是一至高的权利或者只是给自己 的未来设置障碍的一种尝试。每个敌人应该知道反抗希特勒是有着充分 理由的，因为他很早就宣布的纲领，就是“对现存的世界看法宣战的文
件”。 这里指的是什么，至迟在四十年代初记录下来的“桌边谈话”以 及“元首大本营的独白”中给出了答案。据这两个文献记载，希特勒比起 任何场合都更加毫无保留地吐露了心声，他说，只要机会成熟，他对任 何道德、宗教和人性都要进行幸灾乐祸般的攻击。他说，在世界上，像 以往一样，通行的是赤裸裸的法则。他把人保护人这一被视作古老传统 的告诫，轻蔑地称作“牧师猪猡的胡说八道”。这些不只是源于欺骗和胆 怯，更是导致背叛自然的“原罪”。他说，违背它无非就是起而“反抗穹 苍”，到最后，人们消灭的“不是法则”，而只是他们自己。如果听从于 这一“铁的逻辑法则”，那他就会拒绝任何同情心，就会毫不妥协地抵御 内心的反抗和“外来种族的”反击。“比如猴子，”一九四二年五月十四 日，他在元首大本营说，“会把怪僻的同类当作集体外的外来者踩死。 猴子那儿奉行的东西，往高的层次来说，肯定也适合于人类。”确实， 历史上没有一个统治者离开所有文明的思想如此之远。
从希特勒死去到政治和军事方面的全面无条件投降之间，还隔了好 几天。个中原因不只是在于有些地区战斗仍在继续，而是应归因于邓尼 茨政府的决定，它想通过部分投降来延缓事情的进程，其目的是让尽可 能多的部队和平民到达为西方强国所占领的国土。
全面投降于五月七日夜间在美军总司令艾森豪威尔将军位于莱姆斯 的总部进行，在此以前，已经与英军蒙哥马利陆军元帅签署了部分投降 书。双方商定从五月八日子夜起结束敌对状态。由于斯大林坚持投降仪 式上应有他的高级将领在场，因此在苏军总司令部所在地柏林的卡尔斯 霍斯特，又举行了一次投降仪式。在谈判过程中，德国代表团只得在隔 壁的一个房间等候，在文件上签字时才被叫出来。凯特尔撑着元帅杖， 佩着金色的党徽出现在谈判室里，当他的一位随行人员在简短的签字仪 式上叹气时，这位陆军元帅叱责他说：“您别这样！”
在苏军管理部门的大力推动下，遭摧毁的柏林慢慢地有了生机。营 救小分队在高如小山的废墟里寻找着死者，找到后，就把他们放在手推 车或马车上，拉到处处都挖好的万人墓里埋起来。附近，扫雷分队在搜 寻最后时刻被掩埋起来的地雷。另外的人把大的碎石块从堆满着瓦砾， 有些地方尽是坑坑洼洼的大街上搬走，使车辆能勉强通行。到六月底， 每天都有死人和开始腐烂的动物尸体被扔进河里。当美国前后两任总统 的顾问哈里•L.霍普金斯在那些天里来到柏林时，他震惊了：“这是个新 的迦太基！”之后的许多年里，这座被毁的城市都是吸引人前往的地方，成了“泛欧旅行”的一站。
七月初，按照事先的约定，西方盟国的军队开进了柏林。在这个月 的十六日，波茨坦会议开幕的前一天，温斯顿•丘吉尔访问了这座城 市。他强压满腔怒火，骄傲地注视着仍然巍然屹立着的帝国总理府废 墟。他让一名苏军哨兵开车，来到总理府后面希特勒尸体被焚烧的花园 出口处。接着，他想看一下希特勒在最后几个月里待过的地下避弹室。 他跟在红军战士后面，走到一个楼梯平台准备往下走。可当听到身后响 起两下脚步声时，他摇了摇头，转身又走了上来。他还不习惯在地下很 深处弯着腰走路，他也不想知道，那儿是怎样一番景象。回到地面上重 新见到自然光线后，他让人搬来一张椅子，坐在上面沉思了一会儿，就 一言不发地与他的私人医生坐车去了波茨坦。
希特勒帝国告终时，混乱的事情一件接着一件，历史上从来没有充 满如此众多的矛盾、疯狂和戏剧性。观察者们碰到的是没完没了令人害 怕的、悲惨的命运。但这却很难说这是一场悲剧。看一下那些领导人 物，他们至少在最后一出戏中表现出太多的顺从和盲目的卑躬屈膝。希 特勒在四月二十二日的会议上说战争已经输掉了，可地下避弹室的军官 们，没有一人把这话当真。凯特尔、约德尔、克莱勃斯和其他一些人却 是绝望地劝说他，要他把毫无意义的战争进行到底。同样，在希特勒自 杀后，没有一名高级军官敢于打出白旗投降。相反，他们隐瞒“元首”的 死讯，为的是拖延几个小时，继续抵抗到底。他们甚至不惜把独裁者之 死先告诉朱可夫和斯大林，然后再通知希特勒的接班人邓尼茨。
这是一种顺从，异乎寻常，不负任何责任。无从知晓个中原则。与 此相反的是在后来的一出出场景中反复出现并让无数人献出生命的东 西，它们被禁锢于疯狂世界，一方面是从不知道恐惧的意志，另一方面 是被训练出来的过分的唯命是从。当然也有特殊情况，事情朝着合乎逻 辑的方向发展，但它们只能扮演无足轻重的角色。在舞台灯光下，站立 着的另外一些人，他们单调地背诵着奴颜婢膝的同样台词。但在真正的 悲剧里，是没有这些驯顺用人们的位置的，在历史的大舞台上更是没有 他们的位置。
如果深入探究希特勒的言语和行动留下的东西，就会发现它们渗透 着深深的虚无主义语调，它主宰着他的全部想象世界。三年前，几乎是 他在柏林的地下避弹室结束生命的同一天，他在元首大本营里，对一位 同桌用餐的人发誓，要为取得胜利而全力以赴，绝不能坐失良机。他用 轻蔑的神态补充说：“我们必须牢记在心的是，一着不慎，全局皆输啊。”他知道，他已经把通向世界的桥梁拆除了。可他把自己一手造成 的难以忘记的打击看作是一种功绩。至于留下什么后果，他根本不去操 那个心。
他周围的人，以及许多和他相处过的人，开初显然也没有想得更 多。反正他们相信，随着他的死去，希特勒就从这个世界消失了。四月 三十日傍晚，当尸体被烧成一堆灰以后，帝国安全保卫局成员赫尔曼• 卡尔瑙又一次来到帝国总理府后面花园出口处的瞭望塔，下士埃里希• 曼斯菲尔德在那儿站着岗。他大声对他说，他不必放哨了，他可以下来 了。最后他说：“现在一切都过去了。”
事实上，什么都没有过去。严格地讲，随着希特勒的崛起流逝的是 什么，他的死使哪些东西不再可挽回，直到现在才慢慢为人们所意识 到。总之，远多于我们能感知到的：在这个大陆上，遍地是死人、小山 般高的废墟和惨遭毁坏留下的痕迹。大概就是这样的一个世界。在真正 的崩溃中，丢失的东西总是远远多于人们所见。
I copied the whole last chapter (ch8) here because it was the conclusion of this book.
第一个为希特勒写传记的康拉德•海登早在三十年代 初就用一句令人难以忘记的话，概括了“元首”的内心深处和他的行动， 那是一盘由好激动、自吹自擂和好斗拼凑起来的杂烩，他把它们称之 为“边逃跑边吹牛”。现在，希特勒回撤到了地下避弹室，从那儿发出的 胜利叫嚣，这种常被认为是荒谬至极的说法却与现实发生了吻合.
只有在客人来访时，他才从迟钝的感觉中找回自我，重新赢回他那 咄咄逼人的力量和说服他人的能力。他经常回首往事，借用某一英勇善 战的部队首长的名字，或是其他一桩掷地有声的不起眼小事，来为自己 和客人鼓起新的勇气。他会抓住偶尔提及的词语，编造出已经征召了大 批军队的胡话来，说它们已经在路上，在决定战争成败的这场战役中守 卫首都的大门。俄国人只是用些“强盗士兵”来打仗，然后他告诉大家 说，他们所吹嘘的优势，是“成吉思汗以来最大的恫吓”。说着说着就说 到了“神奇武器”，说它将带来转折，羞辱所有胆怯的人
为什么纳粹主义在二十和三十年代比起大多数和它同样激进 的运动来，更加激进且惨无人道？
如果对这一事情和相关的所有具有说服力的解释做一更为仔细的思 考，就会发现，完全突然地从现实掉进一九一八年秋天的那场失败之 中，从狭义上说也属于德国特色。这个事实上直到停火的那些日子里还 在做着一八七〇年、一八七一年那个大国和“辉煌时代”美梦，并向着它 们迎面走去的民族，突然发现自己面对的是整个生活状况的突变：一场 革命，它被大多数人只是称作“下等人暴动”，还带有“兽类尸体的臭 味”，它把所有为人们所熟悉的、自古以来就存在着的准则搞得一团 糟，此外还有街道上的混乱状态、持续的饥荒、从未有过的大批失业和 席卷全国的社会动乱。除了这些之外，还有充斥着动听的和平词藻，但 实际上却为虚伪、报复和恶意且目光短浅所支配的《凡尔赛和约》，通 过有关战争罪责的第二百三十一条款，有意地羞辱德国，而这确实也是 他们所要达到的目的。把这个国家从为人们所尊重的国家之列中驱逐出 去，比起战胜国加在这个国家身上的所有物质重负来，更是导致它心理 上的失衡。对此，一位观察家说，当时就形成了一种“愤怒的民众团 体”，在期待着一位领袖人物和引路人的出现。通货膨胀导致广大人民 群众生活贫困，没几年后爆发的世界经济危机，大大地激化了这种愤怒 的心态，每一次这样的失败，以及无数次其他方面的屡屡受挫，都把责 任推到了本已是四面楚歌的魏玛共和国身上
希特勒给这些想法注入的思想酵 素：世界生了病，种族受到了毒害，为了“拯救地球”要进行彻底的屠杀 和血液的更新。这样，就产生了一种东西，它超越了所有迄今为止被称 为帝国主义贪婪性的单纯的东西：一个种族的乌托邦，它将开创一个世 界的新纪元。这一理想的社会，有待于数百万有着种族觉悟的、团结起 来了的人们通过斗争去获得和实现，他们应坚定不移地遵从历史的使 命，去占领广泛的区域，灭绝所有的“劣等种族”，或是将他们分成各自 独立的等级：他们是“新人”，不��地在平整土地，在破坏，在迁移，他 们聚集在运河岛上“力量来自欢乐”休假组织的大众旅馆里，挪威海岸边 的狭湾里，克里米亚半岛上，大家一起又唱又跳，寻找着完成历史重托 前的轻松。这是与世界上已定下了的所有规则决裂，人们在事后仍成为 这个政权宣传机器的牺牲品，因为说它有着革命的因素，但其实并非如 此。这怪异的宣传有着它自己独特的来源。
这猛烈发作的场面，是在场的人从未经历过的，希特勒突然从座位 上跳起来，把平时在商讨形势时一向握在手中的红色铅笔，愤然地扔到 了桌子外面，开始咆哮如雷。几个星期以来乏力的、几乎发不出声音来 的喉咙突然恢复了以往的力量。他竭力搜寻恰当的字眼，对世界、胆 怯、卑鄙和各方面的背信弃义来了番总控诉。他辱骂一直与他作对的将 军们，他与他们总是剑拔弩张，多年来他的周围都是些叛徒和无用之 人。当大家惊愕地面面相觑时，他气急败坏地离开位置，开始晃晃悠悠 地在这狭小的房间里走来走去。虽然他多次试着要控制住自己，但没过 多久又勃然大怒了，他失态地将握起的拳头狠击张开着的另一只手，两 行眼泪从面颊上滚下来：在这种情况下，他反复强调说，他无法再领导 下去了，他的命令被当作了耳边风，接下去他不知道该怎么办了。“战 争输了！”他叫喊着，“可是您们，我的先生们，如果以为我会离开柏 林，那就大错特错了！我宁可让一颗子弹打穿我的脑袋！”当约德尔被 叫去接电话时，希特勒把参加例会的都请了出去，房间里只留下凯特 尔、克莱勃斯和布格道夫．
希特勒认为，是他自己不够强硬，这使他输掉了到手的胜 利。只有一点他感到自慰，像他自己所说的那样，是与犹太人进行 了“面对面的斗争”，“清除了德国人生存空间中的犹太毒素”。但在其他 方面，他太过优柔寡断：他没有无情地清除德国的保守党人，而是打算 与这些“温文尔雅的政治家们”一起来推行革命的政策；他在西班牙和法 国时，没有把工人从“化石般冥顽的市民阶层”手里解放出来。他本该在 世界各地策动殖民地人民揭竿而起，埃及人、伊拉克人，以及整个近东 地区——“伊斯兰世界在焦急地期待着我们的胜利”，他解释道。发动他 们起来暴动，是多么轻而易举的一桩事：“想想我们的前景吧！”如果他 失败，他说，这并不在于他的极端和激进，而是在于他的半心半意，在 于他没能坚持到最后。他早就持有的，数百次宣布过的观点，就像他现 在看到的那样，没有改变，只是没有坚定地照着它去做，这就是：“生 活不会同情弱者！”
希特勒怒不可遏，命令不加审讯立即处决菲格莱因。接近午夜时 分，他被帝国安全局的几个人带出了关押他的地下避弹室房间。他对发 生的事情仍一无所知，边走边朝四周愤怒地大声嚷嚷着，最后在地下室 的过道上或是帝国总理府后面的大院出口处被枪杀了。希特勒的报复心 态变得如此不可遏制，行刑队几分钟过去后还未返回时，他就多次追问 枪毙的命令执行了没有。“可怜啊，可怜的阿道夫，”爱娃•布劳恩喊 着，她有着自己的理由为死者悲哀，“所有的人都离开了你，所有的人 都离开了你！”
至少在这个时刻，希特勒终于意识到，结束的时间到了。就像通常 所做的那样，一旦他在长时间的摇摆后做出了一个打算，他就会立即把 这个决定果断地付诸实施。他急忙让人在午夜里把那间小的地图室布置 成婚姻登记处。曾有一名负责婚姻登记的官员，在戈培尔的党部办公室 工作过一段时间，经过寻找，发现他在驻守在附近的一支人民冲锋队里 服役，马上派了一辆坦克去把他找来，请他为领袖和爱娃•布劳恩主持 婚礼。在场的证婚人有戈培尔和鲍曼。至于形式，鉴于当时的特殊情 况，这对新人恳求举行战时婚礼，并随即声明，他们两人是“纯亚利安 人种，没有遗传性疾病”．
希特勒命令替他养狗的弗里茨•托尔诺夫中士去把 母狗布隆迪毒死。这条狗决不可以落到俄国人手里，他说，单想到这一 点他就受不了。显然，对他来说更为重要的，是试一下氢氰酸的效果， 该毒药已在前几个星期挨个儿地分给了大家。自从希姆莱背叛后，他就 不敢再肯定党卫军搞来的毒药是否能在瞬间药性发作致人死亡。可当托 尔诺夫用一个钳子把安瓿瓶压碎后往狗张开的喉咙倒下去时，这条 狗“像突遭雷击般地”倒地而死。不一会儿，像一位目击者所看到的那 样，希特勒来到地下避弹室的出口处，“与这条狗告别”。返回地下避弹 室时，另一个人肯定地说，他看起来“就像他自己的死者面型”，“一言 不发地把自己锁进了他的房间”。在这同时，托尔诺夫在避弹室的上面 靠近大院出口的地方，开枪打死了五只小狗．
如果把这些命令理解为由于临近之敌无比强大而采取的几近绝望的 最后防御手段，那就大错特错了。它们其实是希特勒在任何时候都首先 而且喜欢采用的方法，拆房毁屋这种做法只是他真实心情的反映而已。 现在又可听到他的这个心声了。早在纳粹运动上升时期的一首战斗歌曲 中——此歌名为《把一切都砸得稀巴烂》——这个声音就听得很清楚， 但在取得政权以后，它就被捍卫民族荣誉的口号和维护和平的承诺，后 来在战争的头几年里，又被特别报道中的军号声所淹没。这个政权的国 内反对者早在三十年代就有先见之明地把这首歌的副歌做了修改：“因 为我们今天摧毁的是德国，明天我们将摧毁整个世界！”随着“焦土政 策”命令的发布，这一意图明白无误地再次展现在世人面前。
在战术上必要的伪装背后，尤其是在和平年代里，这种破坏的决心 在多大程度上起着作用，不仅表现在希特勒直到生命终结时，仍没完没 了地责备自己做了许多迁就，而且表现在戈培尔所表示出来的，对不 再“打碎”的遗憾中。在四月二十七日的形势分析会上，当谈起在取得最 后胜利后该做些什么时，“堡垒”的战斗指挥官，党卫军分队长威廉•蒙 克以挖苦的口吻说道：“我们一九三三年要做的事情，”他转过身去，对 希特勒说，“没能完全做到，我的领袖！”可蒙克并非玩世不恭之人，形 势也根本不适合做如此这般的辛辣嘲讽。作为这个政权的残暴捍卫者， 确切地说，他只是把关于“拯救世界”的所有准则后面一直广为宣传的东 西表达了出来：进行无限破坏的信念，它构成了希特勒和他共谋的下属 的真实面目。在他们的上升时期和执政期间，他们需要敌人，需要从敌 我对峙中培养自我意识，通过这种敌对状态来找出他们缺少什么，并尽 一切可能去创造它们。在这一方面他们绝对没有失败。
可从希特勒一方来看，这不只与怨恨和惧怕有关，更多的是一种复 杂的满足感，这种感觉在失败中上升，并促使他把临近的失败导演成一 场轰轰烈烈的历史性崩溃戏剧。早在三月里，戈培尔就在一次新闻发布 会上说：“如果我们会灭亡，那么整个德意志民族也将和我们一道灭 亡，而且是如此地壮烈，以致在几千年以后，德国人的灭亡仍会在世界 历史中占据着第一的位置。”
形势越是吃紧，这个政权就越是肆无忌惮地加快行动。此时，它甚 至试图把它的灭亡意志延伸到战争结束以后。海军元帅邓尼茨，这位喜 欢称自己无可非议一贯正确，带兵也以严厉著称的指挥官，也毫无顾忌 地对杀人犯大加赞扬。在一九四五年四月十九日的一份“秘密日令”中， 他对海军的一名上士许诺说，他表示“充分的欣赏”，并把他作为榜样表 扬，此人在澳大利亚的战俘营里，“有计划地”——像白纸黑字所写的那 样——把几个公开承认反对希特勒的人，“避开了看守，悄无声息地”干 掉了。这种情况并非个例。人们更多地得出这种印象，即好像希特勒走 向灭亡的决心，随着时间的推移，延伸的面越来越广。在无数次的发言 和讲话中，他都说到了“或成为世界大国或走向灭亡”两者之间的选择。 但在事实上并不存在选择。他的意图只是针对不同形式的破坏而已。
最后几个星期里绝望情感的爆发，只是在表面上蒙骗人们的目光。 同样地，自欺欺人地说有什么神秘军队将光临，编造一些象征胜利的信 号和多次表达有希望至少可一天天延长自己的生命等等。这样一些东西 像戏剧般常常上演。但比这更为严重的，是希特勒自战争开始后所发布 的命令中表现出来的把一切顾虑都抛之脑后的狂妄，以及对世界的憎恨 和对毁灭的渴望。弗朗茨•哈尔德一段时间里担任参谋本部的长官，据 他说，希特勒在攻打波兰时，就坚持轰炸准备投降的华沙，他从望远镜 中虽只看到局部的毁灭性画面，却是感到分外的刺激。后来他曾考虑过 摧毁巴黎、莫斯科和列宁格勒。他曾怀着一种亢奋的心态，设想过用炸 弹或导弹打击曼哈顿的街道所引发的毁灭性后果。
希特勒不仅容忍他正在做着的与自己的人民为敌的行为，而且甚至 越来越激进地使其成为他的一种古怪本性。还在一九四一年的十一月二 十七日，当莫斯科前的那场冬天灾难刚刚开始，第一次出现有可能失败 的苗头时，他就对两位外国来访者来说，德意志民族该“消亡和被消 灭”，如果它“不是足够的强大和勇于献身”，它的血“不去为它的生存而 洒”，作为他，是不会“为它事后流泪的”。一九四五年三月十九日，他 用“冰冷的语调”对阿尔贝特•施佩尔说：“如果战争输了，那么这个民族 也输了。不必去顾及德国人民为了苟延残喘而需要的生存基础。相反， 最好的做法是我们自己把这些东西破坏掉。因为这个民族被证明是个弱 者，未来最终属于更强大的东方民族。不管怎样，这场斗争以后，留下 来的只是劣等人，因为优等人已经被杀害了。”
至迟从斯大林格勒和战争发生转折以后，他做出的所有决定，都掺 杂着因失望而产生的对德国人的仇恨心态。这种动机决定了最后阶段内 所有战略的制定，从多次拒绝建立阻击阵地来抵御敌军将要发起的突 破，到发动一九四四年十二月的阿登山进攻战。为发动这次进攻，他从 东线撤回了大批的军队，为的是借“来自俄国人的威胁”，来振奋早已被 战争弄得疲惫不堪的百姓的抵抗意志。两年前他就说过，在必要的情况 下，他会让四十岁的人也拿起武器，因为“他们在与东方的战斗中阵 亡，比起输掉战争后任人宰割或沦为奴隶当牛做马毕竟要好得多”。现 在，他极为生气的是，这些人在西线干脆搬开了阻止坦克前进的障碍， 置所有的惩处命令于不顾，在窗口挂起了白旗，整个军团一下子就消失 得无影无踪：“这是奇耻大辱！”剩下来的战争，越来越成为对自己人民 的惩罚。就像他在大约四年前所保证的那样，“消亡和被消灭”，至于他 自己，则会听从生存斗争的“永恒法则”，竭尽全力为此做出他的贡献。
根据所有有根有据的判断，这种热心推崇的毁灭性意愿，是希特勒 直到最后仍然维持着的东西。事实上，所有证人描绘的年老体弱的现象 ——弯腰曲背，走起路来吧嗒吧嗒拖着两条腿，说话的声音日渐疲惫，
与同一观察人曾看到的希特勒意气风发时的优雅姿态判若两人，成了 ——像地下避弹室的一位所说的那样——“一个猛吃蛋糕的瘦猴”，但仍 一如往常那样能施以强烈影响，享有不可动摇的权威。三月中旬，但泽 的纳粹省党部头目福斯特来到地下避弹室，走进第一进房间，他就惊恐 又绝望地告诉大家，俄国人挟强大之军队及一千一百辆坦克，已经出现 在宣布为堡垒但完全不具备抵抗能力的城市前方。他将告诉希特勒大势 已去，逼他做出明确的决定。可过了一会儿，福斯特“完全变了个人”似 的走出希特勒的办公室，他说，元首会救援但泽，这是“毫无疑问的”。 四月十八日，党卫军将军卡尔•沃尔夫抱着同样的目的而来，却被信誓 旦旦的劝说改变了主意，希特勒说会为他制定对付未来的伟大计划。
总的来说，最为古怪的，是希特勒尽管具有超乎寻常的说服本领， 但在政治方面却表现出明显的僵化。他没有能力去越过狭隘的军事目标 做更多的思考，这种无能表现得非常清楚。在三十年代里，他用灵活多 样又出其不备的作战行动，以及采用时而威吓时而一本正经地发誓的方 法，取得了一个又一个胜利，在令人难以置信的短短时间内，达到了他 的第一个阶段的目标，即摧毁欧洲的大国体系。但从一九三七年年底 起，他的行为给人们留下了这样一个印象，好像他对来得太容易的成就 感到厌倦了，他终于要不惜任何代价地再次回到“打击”的原则上去，这 一原则，像他在一次讲话中所赞赏的那样，是他毕生所要追求的目标。
人们还可继续追根溯源，并由此得出结论，他一生只是个暴发的黑 帮头目而已，尽管只是采用冒失的小巷马基雅维利主义在打打杀杀中长 大，欧洲范围里却没有一个迂腐和操心的政治家能对付得了这个从小巷 中成长起来的团体。可正是这完全盲目的行为和未多加思索的目标，在 一段时间内帮助他取得了令人啧啧称奇的成就。就像通常的黑帮头目一 样，他并没有打算超越屠杀他人和捞取资本这种思想范围。不过奇怪的 是，无论如何，他胆大包天开始与几乎整个世界作对时，正像他的将军 以及后来所有的观察家们惊愕地所看到的那样，他向往的战争目标并非 心血来潮。一九四一年二月，当他还在考虑是否在来年就结束对苏战争 时，因担心和平来得太早，于是要求约德尔对进攻阿富汗和印度做一 份“研究性的论证”。 所以，凡听他说起有关战争目标的，听到的只是对“无边无际的地 区”的夸张想象，以及关于取之不竭的原料、众多可供使唤的民族和“永 远在流着血的边界”的长篇空论。在一九四五年二月至四月的记录中 ——这些构成了说明他统治思想的一种补充——没有一次哪怕是稍微地 提及他把已占领的地区作为继续占领的出发地之外，还有些什么其他打 算。执着、贪婪、不知最终目标在何方，只是一味地听命于已丢失了 的，像他所说的那样可又被他重新拾了起来的强者有权生存的“原始法 则”。一九四三年秋，当他的外交部长劝说他，不要让推动与莫斯科签 订和约这一举动落空，他耸了耸肩回答说：“您知道吗，里宾特洛甫， 如果我今天与俄罗斯和解，我明天就又要翻脸的——我只能这样做。” 希特勒在一些场合说过，他想作为这样的一个人，“一个从未有过 的人”被载入史册。他在那个“死亡穹窿”——一位地下避弹室居民是这 样形容那里的——里结束生命的前前后后，他拼命地抵御日益逼近的失 败时所发布的软弱无力的命令，以及时不时的勃然大怒，都给人以这样 的印象，即他已经知道大势已去，他的失败已无可挽回。正像他认为的 那样，这一大崩溃对许多东西负有责任，但也是一种满足。颇能说明问 题的是，希特勒最后一次的意志表达——它标记性地再一次揭示了他一 生中的主导力量——是一道毁灭命令：四月三十日中午发布的焚烧他尸
第八章/ 世界末日
这大概是历史的悖论：希特勒几乎悄无声息的消失，竟奇怪地让他 在后人的记忆中长存。过去了几代人以后，在这些人或那些人的头脑 里，他仍然栩栩如生地活着，甚至随着时间的推移反而变得更加强大。
希特勒成为历史上确实“前所未有”的现象，源出于他根本不具备任 何的文明思想。东征西战的世界强国，从古罗马帝国到德意志民族的神 圣罗马帝国，再从拿破仑的法兰西到大不列颠帝国，尽管相互之间有着 千差万别，但都是由弱小进而持续发展，宣称自己的目标是为了人类获 得和平、进步和自由的美好未来。即使是斯大林沾满了鲜血的暴政，尽 管破绽百出，但也用对未来的承诺装饰着门面。致力于征服其他民族的 动力，毫无例外地都来自贪得无厌和追名求荣，但由于它们的承诺，因 此罪责得到了某种程度上的减轻，到最后，在很多情况下，甚至被历史 宣告无罪。
希特勒不是这样的。在占领和扩大权力的过程中，他放弃了所有理 想化的修饰，从来没有认识到有必要对他的统治来番粉饰和美化。德国 人自古以来都为这种理想化的思想感到自豪，并能在每个历史事件中发 现它以及它的作用，然而在他们给予希特勒政权至高无上的权力时，却 没有遵循某种理想。按照当时传播甚广的说法，希特勒头脑里其实空无 一物。吹捧他将成为划时代角色的所有努力，在无可奈何中搁浅了。使 多数人跟着走的，使他们折服的，把他们迷惑住的，是希特勒本人，对 许多人来说，有时他确实并不那么阴森可怕。一生中始终催促他前行的 难以抑制的动力，只是强者生存的史前文明的行为准则。也是它，推动 着他去开始和结束他作为自己世界观的事业。
从希特勒达尔文思想的总口号中，产生了一系列早就形成了并被顽 固推行的想法，它们完全是以镇压、奴役和“按种族进行土地重划”为目 标，而到最后，留下的总是一片“焦土”。无论何时何地，即使在他的军 队开始时作为解放者受到欢迎的情况下，他都给人以一种不可动摇的印 象，即他是作为敌人来的，也想作为敌人留下来。那些在历史上留下名 字的几乎所有以往的世界征服者，在他们的统治期间都致力于在被征服 者中滋生一种疑惑，即反抗入侵者是否是一至高的权利或者只是给自己 的未来设置障碍的一种尝试。每个敌人应该知道反抗希特勒是有着充分 理由的，因为他很早就宣布的纲领，就是“对现存的世界看法宣战的文
件”。 这里指的是什么，至迟在四十年代初记录下来的“桌边谈话”以 及“元首大本营的独白”中给出了答案。据这两个文献记载，希特勒比起 任何场合都更加毫无保留地吐露了心声，他说，只要机会成熟，他对任 何道德、宗教和人性都要进行幸灾乐祸般的攻击。他说，在世界上，像 以往一样，通行的是赤裸裸的法则。他把人保护人这一被视作古老传统 的告诫，轻蔑地称作“牧师猪猡的胡说八道”。这些不只是源于欺骗和胆 怯，更是导致背叛自然的“原罪”。他说，违背它无非就是起而“反抗穹 苍”，到最后，人们消灭的“不是法则”，而只是他们自己。如果听从于 这一“铁的逻辑法则”，那他就会拒绝任何同情心，就会毫不妥协地抵御 内心的反抗和“外来种族的”反击。“比如猴子，”一九四二年五月十四 日，他在元首大本营说，“会把怪僻的同类当作集体外的外来者踩死。 猴子那儿奉行的东西，往高的层次来说，肯定也适合于人类。”确实， 历史上没有一个统治者离开所有文明的思想如此之远。
从希特勒死去到政治和军事方面的全面无条件投降之间，还隔了好 几天。个中原因不只是在于有些地区战斗仍在继续，而是应归因于邓尼 茨政府的决定，它想通过部分投降来延缓事情的进程，其目的是让尽可 能多的部队和平民到达为西方强国所占领的国土。
全面投降于五月七日夜间在美军总司令艾森豪威尔将军位于莱姆斯 的总部进行，在此以前，已经与英军蒙哥马利陆军元帅签署了部分投降 书。双方商定从五月八日子夜起结束敌对状态。由于斯大林坚持投降仪 式上应有他的高级将领在场，因此在苏军总司令部所在地柏林的卡尔斯 霍斯特，又举行了一次投降仪式。在谈判过程中，德国代表团只得在隔 壁的一个房间等候，在文件上签字时才被叫出来。凯特尔撑着元帅杖， 佩着金色的党徽出现在谈判室里，当他的一位随行人员在简短的签字仪 式上叹气时，这位陆军元帅叱责他说：“您别这样！”
在苏军管理部门的大力推动下，遭摧毁的柏林慢慢地有了生机。营 救小分队在高如小山的废墟里寻找着死者，找到后，就把他们放在手推 车或马车上，拉到处处都挖好的万人墓里埋起来。附近，扫雷分队在搜 寻最后时刻被掩埋起来的地雷。另外的人把大的碎石块从堆满着瓦砾， 有些地方尽是坑坑洼洼的大街上搬走，使车辆能勉强通行。到六月底， 每天都有死人和开始腐烂的动物尸体被扔进河里。当美国前后两任总统 的顾问哈里•L.霍普金斯在那些天里来到柏林时，他震惊了：“这是个新 的迦太基！”之后的许多年里，这座被毁的城市都是吸引人前往的地方，成了“泛欧旅行”的一站。
七月初，按照事先的约定，西方盟国的军队开进了柏林。在这个月 的十六日，波茨坦会议开幕的前一天，温斯顿•丘吉尔访问了这座城 市。他强压满腔怒火，骄傲地注视着仍然巍然屹立着的帝国总理府废 墟。他让一名苏军哨兵开车，来到总理府后面希特勒尸体被焚烧的花园 出口处。接着，他想看一下希特勒在最后几个月里待过的地下避弹室。 他跟在红军战士后面，走到一个楼梯平台准备往下走。可当听到身后响 起两下脚步声时，他摇了摇头，转身又走了上来。他还不习惯在地下很 深处弯着腰走路，他也不想知道，那儿是怎样一番景象。回到地面上重 新见到自然光线后，他让人搬来一张椅子，坐在上面沉思了一会儿，就 一言不发地与他的私人医生坐车去了波茨坦。
希特勒帝国告终时，混乱的事情一件接着一件，历史上从来没有充 满如此众多的矛盾、疯狂和戏剧性。观察者们碰到的是没完没了令人害 怕的、悲惨的命运。但这却很难说这是一场悲剧。看一下那些领导人 物，他们至少在最后一出戏中表现出太多的顺从和盲目的卑躬屈膝。希 特勒在四月二十二日的会议上说战争已经输掉了，可地下避弹室的军官 们，没有一人把这话当真。凯特尔、约德尔、克莱勃斯和其他一些人却 是绝望地劝说他，要他把毫无意义的战争进行到底。同样，在希特勒自 杀后，没有一名高级军官敢于打出白旗投降。相反，他们隐瞒“元首”的 死讯，为的是拖延几个小时，继续抵抗到底。他们甚至不惜把独裁者之 死先告诉朱可夫和斯大林，然后再通知希特勒的接班人邓尼茨。
这是一种顺从，异乎寻常，不负任何责任。无从知晓个中原则。与 此相反的是在后来的一出出场景中反复出现并让无数人献出生命的东 西，它们被禁锢于疯狂世界，一方面是从不知道恐惧的意志，另一方面 是被训练出来的过分的唯命是从。当然也有特殊情况，事情朝着合乎逻 辑的方向发展，但它们只能扮演无足轻重的角色。在舞台灯光下，站立 着的另外一些人，他们单调地背诵着奴颜婢膝的同样台词。但在真正的 悲剧里，是没有这些驯顺用人们的位置的，在历史的大舞台上更是没有 他们的位置。
如果深入探究希特勒的言语和行动留下的东西，就会发现它们渗透 着深深的虚无主义语调，它主宰着他的全部想象世界。三年前，几乎是 他在柏林的地下避弹室结束生命的同一天，他在元首大本营里，对一位 同桌用餐的人发誓，要为取得胜利而全力以赴，绝不能坐失良机。他用 轻蔑的神态补充说：“我们必须牢记在心的是，一着不慎，全局皆输啊。”他知道，他已经把通向世界的桥梁拆除了。可他把自己一手造成 的难以忘记的打击看作是一种功绩。至于留下什么后果，他根本不去操 那个心。
他周围的人，以及许多和他相处过的人，开初显然也没有想得更 多。反正他们相信，随着他的死去，希特勒就从这个世界消失了。四月 三十日傍晚，当尸体被烧成一堆灰以后，帝国安全保卫局成员赫尔曼• 卡尔瑙又一次来到帝国总理府后面花园出口处的瞭望塔，下士埃里希• 曼斯菲尔德在那儿站着岗。他大声对他说，他不必放哨了，他可以下来 了。最后他说：“现在一切都过去了。”
事实上，什么都没有过去。严格地讲，随着希特勒的崛起流逝的是 什么，他的死使哪些东西不再可挽回，直到现在才慢慢为人们所意识 到。总之，远多于我们能感知到的：在这个大陆上，遍地是死人、小山 般高的废墟和惨遭毁坏留下的痕迹。大概就是这样的一个世界。在真正 的崩溃中，丢失的东西总是远远多于人们所见。
May 29, 2025
A very interesting book, giving more clarity and detail to things I feel I already knew. Part of that was because I’ve just recently watched Downfall, the movie based on this book, which is fantastic.
But what this book makes clear is the death cult that is fascism. Hitler knew very early on that he had burned all bridges to the rest of the world. He knew that his actions would lead to either victory or complete annihilation—and in fact, it seems that the latter was his true goal. He was obsessed with oblivion, gambling with life all the way to the end, almost daring fate to take him out. He saw a legendary downfall to be the most worthy goal, and it seems never truly believed in victory at all. His closest allies felt the same. This obsession with death explains a lot, from the betrayal of the Soviets to the Holocaust itself. Toward the end, Hitler started ordering the destruction of German infrastructure—roads, sewers, hospitals, schools, etc. He wanted to leave nothing behind.
The inherent contradictions of fascism are very apparent as well. The Nazis all seemed to know they wouldn’t win and save Berlin, yet total devotion to their leader caused them to keep fighting despite a substantial imbalance in forces. This is because they view their enemies as simultaneously too strong and too weak, as Umberto Eco put it.
Much has been said about the connections between Hitler and Trump, and at times it feels too easy to compare them. Trump does inspire the same level of devotion as Hitler did, and it seems like the only thing he cares about is personal power and wealth, often at the expense of his own base. He strips away aspects of the welfare state that disproportionately help people in red districts and states, and his fans lap it up. However, it’s pretty obvious that Trump is far dumber than Hitler. He doesn’t carry the personal philosophy or the managerial skill that Hitler carried, and has never assembled a team of equally intelligent people to help him carry this out. In many ways, Trump’s regime can never get to the levels of control and destruction Hitler’s did—he and his followers are far too incompetent, and wrangling a nation as large and complex as the U.S. is far more challenging than wrangling a nation like Germany in 1933. Still, his policies will lead to many deaths, and the destruction he’s wreaking on the government will be long lasting.
This is not to praise Hitler, of course. He was dumb and weak too. The final days of his reign in the bunker were filled with sad hours of wandering around, punctuated by screaming fits at generals who gave him bad news. It’s pathetic.
But the reason we study history at all is to find patterns and learn where the mistakes were so we can avoid them in new circumstances. The state of Israel uses the phrase “never again” too literally, implying that as long as another Holocaust doesn’t happen to the Jews, Israel can commit as many atrocities as they want. But “never again” means never again for anybody. We don’t want a dictator, we don’t want a genocide, because no matter the differences in circumstance, these things are bad and we know the harm they will cause. Let’s just hope this all ends before it gets too much worse.
But what this book makes clear is the death cult that is fascism. Hitler knew very early on that he had burned all bridges to the rest of the world. He knew that his actions would lead to either victory or complete annihilation—and in fact, it seems that the latter was his true goal. He was obsessed with oblivion, gambling with life all the way to the end, almost daring fate to take him out. He saw a legendary downfall to be the most worthy goal, and it seems never truly believed in victory at all. His closest allies felt the same. This obsession with death explains a lot, from the betrayal of the Soviets to the Holocaust itself. Toward the end, Hitler started ordering the destruction of German infrastructure—roads, sewers, hospitals, schools, etc. He wanted to leave nothing behind.
The inherent contradictions of fascism are very apparent as well. The Nazis all seemed to know they wouldn’t win and save Berlin, yet total devotion to their leader caused them to keep fighting despite a substantial imbalance in forces. This is because they view their enemies as simultaneously too strong and too weak, as Umberto Eco put it.
Much has been said about the connections between Hitler and Trump, and at times it feels too easy to compare them. Trump does inspire the same level of devotion as Hitler did, and it seems like the only thing he cares about is personal power and wealth, often at the expense of his own base. He strips away aspects of the welfare state that disproportionately help people in red districts and states, and his fans lap it up. However, it’s pretty obvious that Trump is far dumber than Hitler. He doesn’t carry the personal philosophy or the managerial skill that Hitler carried, and has never assembled a team of equally intelligent people to help him carry this out. In many ways, Trump’s regime can never get to the levels of control and destruction Hitler’s did—he and his followers are far too incompetent, and wrangling a nation as large and complex as the U.S. is far more challenging than wrangling a nation like Germany in 1933. Still, his policies will lead to many deaths, and the destruction he’s wreaking on the government will be long lasting.
This is not to praise Hitler, of course. He was dumb and weak too. The final days of his reign in the bunker were filled with sad hours of wandering around, punctuated by screaming fits at generals who gave him bad news. It’s pathetic.
But the reason we study history at all is to find patterns and learn where the mistakes were so we can avoid them in new circumstances. The state of Israel uses the phrase “never again” too literally, implying that as long as another Holocaust doesn’t happen to the Jews, Israel can commit as many atrocities as they want. But “never again” means never again for anybody. We don’t want a dictator, we don’t want a genocide, because no matter the differences in circumstance, these things are bad and we know the harm they will cause. Let’s just hope this all ends before it gets too much worse.
July 15, 2025
Read in 2021, Inside Hitler’s Bunker by Joachim Fest stayed with me like a splinter—small, sharp, lodged deep in the historical conscience. It’s not a panoramic war epic; it’s a death rattle in book form.
Where so many works on the Third Reich attempt to chart the rise of horror, Fest zooms in on its implosion—those final ten days in April 1945, when the myth of the invincible Führer collapsed into dust and delusion beneath the ruins of Berlin.
This is not a study of Hitler as commander or orator. This is Hitler as ghost—paranoid, delusional, eating badly-cooked meals and marrying Eva Braun while the Red Army howls just outside the walls.
Compared to other works in this niche—Beevor’s Berlin: The Downfall, which maps the broader battlefield, or Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler, more forensic and procedural—Fest’s book feels almost theatrical in its claustrophobia.
It’s like reading a locked-room tragedy with no heroes, only villains succumbing to the weight of their own lies. You see Goebbels cradle his children before orchestrating their murder. You see generals and secretaries moving like stagehands in a mausoleum. It’s a psychological autopsy—not just of Hitler, but of a regime that chose collective suicide over moral reckoning.
Fest is unsparing in his portrayal of Hitler—not a grand strategist, but a paranoid ideologue unraveling before his staff, giving orders to armies that no longer existed, raging about betrayals that were mostly inventions of his own mind. This isn’t the image Nazis wanted to leave behind. Fest rips that myth apart. There is no hero’s end here, only a pathetic, claustrophobic fade-out lit by cyanide and gasoline.
Reading this alongside Jack Fishman’s The Seven Men of Spandau, the contrast is striking but illuminating. Fest gives us the final moments of the war’s chief architect—how he died, how he deluded himself until the end, and how those around him became complicit in the theater of his collapse.
Fishman, by contrast, offers the long, slow punishment of the lieutenants who survived—the ones who didn’t go out in fire but were left to stew in their own irrelevance for decades. Fest’s book is the crescendo; Fishman’s, the coda.
Yet both books echo the same point: ideology can outlive the people who built it. Hitler’s body burned in a shallow pit, but his cult lingered.
Spandau’s inmates clung to delusions, crafted new narratives, even tended roses as if atonement were a craft project. In Fest’s bunker, you witness the final lie being told, even as the ceiling caves in. In Fishman’s prison, you see how that lie still breathes, in whispers and rewrites.
Inside Hitler’s Bunker is not just a historical account. It’s a tombstone etched in prose.
For anyone trying to understand not how fascism wins, but how it dies—badly, loudly, delusionally—this is a book that must be read.
Where so many works on the Third Reich attempt to chart the rise of horror, Fest zooms in on its implosion—those final ten days in April 1945, when the myth of the invincible Führer collapsed into dust and delusion beneath the ruins of Berlin.
This is not a study of Hitler as commander or orator. This is Hitler as ghost—paranoid, delusional, eating badly-cooked meals and marrying Eva Braun while the Red Army howls just outside the walls.
Compared to other works in this niche—Beevor’s Berlin: The Downfall, which maps the broader battlefield, or Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler, more forensic and procedural—Fest’s book feels almost theatrical in its claustrophobia.
It’s like reading a locked-room tragedy with no heroes, only villains succumbing to the weight of their own lies. You see Goebbels cradle his children before orchestrating their murder. You see generals and secretaries moving like stagehands in a mausoleum. It’s a psychological autopsy—not just of Hitler, but of a regime that chose collective suicide over moral reckoning.
Fest is unsparing in his portrayal of Hitler—not a grand strategist, but a paranoid ideologue unraveling before his staff, giving orders to armies that no longer existed, raging about betrayals that were mostly inventions of his own mind. This isn’t the image Nazis wanted to leave behind. Fest rips that myth apart. There is no hero’s end here, only a pathetic, claustrophobic fade-out lit by cyanide and gasoline.
Reading this alongside Jack Fishman’s The Seven Men of Spandau, the contrast is striking but illuminating. Fest gives us the final moments of the war’s chief architect—how he died, how he deluded himself until the end, and how those around him became complicit in the theater of his collapse.
Fishman, by contrast, offers the long, slow punishment of the lieutenants who survived—the ones who didn’t go out in fire but were left to stew in their own irrelevance for decades. Fest’s book is the crescendo; Fishman’s, the coda.
Yet both books echo the same point: ideology can outlive the people who built it. Hitler’s body burned in a shallow pit, but his cult lingered.
Spandau’s inmates clung to delusions, crafted new narratives, even tended roses as if atonement were a craft project. In Fest’s bunker, you witness the final lie being told, even as the ceiling caves in. In Fishman’s prison, you see how that lie still breathes, in whispers and rewrites.
Inside Hitler’s Bunker is not just a historical account. It’s a tombstone etched in prose.
For anyone trying to understand not how fascism wins, but how it dies—badly, loudly, delusionally—this is a book that must be read.
April 29, 2018
Is this the definitive book about the last few weeks at the heart of Nazi Germany? Perhaps so. Joachim Fest has gathered together information to present the chaotic and mad last days of Hitler's life, as Nazi Germany's final collapse happened above him as the Soviet Army subjected Berlin to its final torture and execution.
Fest has described day-by-day the last three weeks of Hitler's life, and ipso facto the life of the Third Reich, with all the insanity that was entailed in that, and has also posed some historical-philosophical questions on why it had to be that way.
The story of the final weeks in the Bunker is well-known, and Inside Hitler's Bunker adds to Hugh Trevor-Roper's classic The Last Days of Hitler with information that has come to light since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Where this book is interesting is in Fest's thinking about why it had to end as it did. His theory is that the Fuhrer always had, if not a death wish, a desire to destroy. This desire led him, and by extension the Nazis, to always have an enemy to destroy, and when the enemies began to prevail, he moved his desires onto the German people, wishing them to be exterminated as they had proved themselves the "weaker" race.
Fest uses as evidence for his theories the fact that Hitler always sought out enemies to destroy, and when the Germans had taken over other countries he ensured that peace was never made with the populace - an example is the Ukraine, where the population was initially inclined to side with the Nazis, before their depredations turned the people against them.
The desire to crush his enemies became twisted into a desire for Germany to die in flames as they lost the War. Fest mentions that several times Hitler had the potential opportunity to come to terms with enemies during the War, but spurned them all. His infamous "Nero" order - which was in the main ignored - showed him to be completely without feeling for "his" people. In fact Fest shows that much of the last few weeks of Hitler's life was the story of him sacrificing everything for his own glory, initially in an effort to turn the War around, and when the final realisation of defeat had set in, in an effort to have the most Wagnerian of endings that he could.
These musings are worth considering, and while not explaining completely the insanity that was Hitler's reign, add to the picture of how such a disaster could come about.
If you want to know what happened in the bunker, this is probably the best book to read.
Recommended.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
Fest has described day-by-day the last three weeks of Hitler's life, and ipso facto the life of the Third Reich, with all the insanity that was entailed in that, and has also posed some historical-philosophical questions on why it had to be that way.
The story of the final weeks in the Bunker is well-known, and Inside Hitler's Bunker adds to Hugh Trevor-Roper's classic The Last Days of Hitler with information that has come to light since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Where this book is interesting is in Fest's thinking about why it had to end as it did. His theory is that the Fuhrer always had, if not a death wish, a desire to destroy. This desire led him, and by extension the Nazis, to always have an enemy to destroy, and when the enemies began to prevail, he moved his desires onto the German people, wishing them to be exterminated as they had proved themselves the "weaker" race.
Fest uses as evidence for his theories the fact that Hitler always sought out enemies to destroy, and when the Germans had taken over other countries he ensured that peace was never made with the populace - an example is the Ukraine, where the population was initially inclined to side with the Nazis, before their depredations turned the people against them.
The desire to crush his enemies became twisted into a desire for Germany to die in flames as they lost the War. Fest mentions that several times Hitler had the potential opportunity to come to terms with enemies during the War, but spurned them all. His infamous "Nero" order - which was in the main ignored - showed him to be completely without feeling for "his" people. In fact Fest shows that much of the last few weeks of Hitler's life was the story of him sacrificing everything for his own glory, initially in an effort to turn the War around, and when the final realisation of defeat had set in, in an effort to have the most Wagnerian of endings that he could.
These musings are worth considering, and while not explaining completely the insanity that was Hitler's reign, add to the picture of how such a disaster could come about.
If you want to know what happened in the bunker, this is probably the best book to read.
Recommended.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
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