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CHAPTER 1

I Join Hitler's Staff: Elser, the Admired Assassin

JUST ONCE TO BE in the presence of Adolf Hitler, even as a duty, was then the wish of millions. Just once, or should I say, 'so long as everything was going well'. Envy accompanied me when in 1935, to my surprise, the choice fell on me to join Hitler's household. Surprised, for I saw nothing special in myself which would justify such a distinction. I had got my certificate of secondary education, had worked in the construction industry and taken mining training in the hope later of becoming a mining engineer. I joined the Waffen-SS in my home town Bremen in 1933 and after a one-year spell with the unit at Berlin-Lichterfelde, in July or August 1934 with about two dozen comrades I was detached from my unit to the 'Berg' as No. 1 Guard: to Obersalzberg, the country seat of Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Hitler appeared on the Berghof terrain, shook everybody by the hand and asked questions about our private lives. He asked me where I came from and my age. This meeting with Hitler, an idol for us young soldiers, made a deep impression on me.

At the end of 1934 it was arranged that two men from the platoon would be selected for the Reich Chancellery. The selection procedure lasted several days, and finally Otto Meyer and I were chosen from a list of fifty. We reported to SA-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Brückner, Hitler's chief adjutant, who revealed that we were to be attached to the Führer's personal staff. After a short course at the hotel training school, Pasing near Munich, in January 1935 we served in some of the Reich Chancellery departments under Brückner's tutelage. (In 1936 he published a widely read article about the Führer in his private life.)

Finally we were assigned to our duties in the 'Personal Service of the Führer'. Karl Krause, a manservant from the Reichsmarine who had been with Hitler since 1934 awaited us with our instructions. We three were to share the duties amongst ourselves. Hitler wanted to have one man with him constantly. The second man was to accompany him on his travels. This man had the additional task of ensuring that Hitler's clothing and private rooms were in good order, for which purpose he had a chambermaid at his disposal. The third man was to handle the business arrangements in Hitler's household.

On major occasions, on extended journeys and at Party rallies, the three of us would accompany Hitler. Our apparel had to coincide with his. Everything always had to appear exactly the same. On Party occasions we wore SS uniforms. If Hitler wore a civilian suit, not unusual prewar, then we had to wear one too. Whoever believes that Hitler did not want to appear too obvious for fear of assassination attempts is mistaken. In September 1939 during the Polish campaign he advanced beyond our frontline, and I never saw any sign of anxiety in him. I am convinced, however, that when he emphasised repeatedly for propaganda purposes that he had been 'selected by Providence' for a great, unique, historical mission, he did actually believe it. Rudolf Hess once told me that just before the seizure of power, Hitler, Hess, Heinrich Hoffmann and Julius Schaub were all nearly killed in Hitler's Mercedes due to an error by a lorry driver. Hitler was injured in the face and shoulder but with great composure calmed his co-passengers, still paralysed with shock, with the observation that Providence would not allow him to be killed since he still had a great mission to fulfil. He did not fear attempts on his life, and it was obvious to him that he had to move about freely. When concerns were uttered for his safety he said: 'No German worker is going to do anything to me.' That such an attempt might come from some other sector he seemed to discount, or until 1944 at least. He rejected all obvious safety measures as exaggerated. When during a public meeting at the Berlin Sportspalast the police advised him to enter the hall by a special entrance, because otherwise they could not guarantee his safety, he rejected this brusquely with: 'I am not going in by some back door!' When he undertook private journeys, he forbade his Kripo escort to make a passage for him through the crowd and to shield him. He believed and often stated that 'Providence' protected him and that the mere presence of the SS bodyguard was sufficient to dissuade all would-be assassins. What engaged his thoughts more was the possibility of an attempt from abroad to remove him by force. Political fanatics were also to be found in the Reich, he said once, so that he had to live with the possibility of surprises in this respect too. All the same, he was not especially concerned about who was around him and his 'court'. He knew the people at the Berghof by sight but only a few of them by name and employment. It was the same at FHQs. After moving in he would do the rounds, have the various commanders presented to him and content himself with that.

After my release from Russia I was surprised to see the assertion still hawked today that it had been almost impossible to get close enough to Hitler to murder him. This is incorrect. Whoever had cunning, skill and determination could have assassinated Hitler on any one of very many occasions. Often, and not only before the war, people approached him without anybody intervening. Photographers and cameraman dragged into his presence cases of equipment, cables, tripods and film materials, took photographs of him with telescopic lenses and generally moved about freely and unhindered. After the July 1944 bomb plot when preparing to be driven to the military hospital at Rastenburg, he was suddenly surrounded by a large crowd of soldiers and police. Any of them could have killed him had they been so inclined. Although still suffering from wounds to his head and legs from the bomb he was so unmoved by it all that I became anxious for his safety and only relaxed when we finally drove off. Sitting behind him, I could at least protect his back. Admittedly, anyone who wanted to remove Hitler 'eye to eye' would have had to sacrifice his own life. This kind of suicide mission found no takers and was probably the only reason that Hitler survived to die by his own hand in April 1945.

Only very few of the attempts on Hitler's life are known publicly. Some he escaped very closely. After the marriage of Generalfeldmarschall von Blomberg, Hitler drove to Kaiser Wilhelm II's former mansion and hunting range on the Schorfheide to be with Göring. Himmler drove ahead of us. Suddenly shots cracked out from the forest undergrowth. Himmler's car stopped after being hit. Himmler, deeply shocked and pale, told Hitler that he had been shot at. Driving on after the incident, Hitler said: 'That was certainly intended for me because Himmler does not usually drive ahead. It is also well known that I always sit at the side of the driver. The hits on Himmler's car are in that area.' The result was that Hitler's cars were given armour plating.

Shortly before the war an adjutant accepted for Hitler a bouquet of roses from the crowd. After the adjutant reported the sudden onset of a mysterious illness the bouquet was examined and it was found that the thorns had been treated with poison. This 'flower attempt' had as its consequence a ruling that flowers and other objects had to be handled in future only when wearing gloves. Later the tossing of flowers into Hitler's car was in general forbidden. One day, dog-lover Hitler was given a dog as a present. The animal had been infuriated in some way, but this was detected when it bit one of the escort. Hitler was always lucky (except for his injuries on 20 July 1944) but early on had gradually become more cautious. Foods from abroad could not be eaten in the household. Despite this prohibition, in 1944 I had not been able to resist the temptation to taste a gift of fruit. The result was a bout of poisoning diagnosed by Dr Morell, Hitler's personal physician, which kept me in bed for weeks. Hitler was examined daily by his doctor while Reichsleiter Albert Bormann was ordered to test not only all food but also the water daily.

The first attempt on Hitler's life to become widely known and arouse excitement worldwide occurred in Munich in 1939. In the so-called 'Capital of the Movement' on the eve of the commemoration of the march to the Feldherrnhalle of 9 November 1923, a reunion of the Alte Kämpfer was scheduled in the Bürgerbräukeller. Hitler was to take part as usual. The war was two months old and Hitler, who needed to be in Berlin on the morning of 9 November, arranged for the reunion to begin early and cancelled his usual meeting with old comrades. This decision saved his life.

The following communiqué was published in the German Press on 9 November 1939:

On Wednesday (8 November) the Führer made a brief visit to Munich for the commemoration celebrations of the Alte Kämpfer. The Führer himself delivered the address in the Bürgerbräukeller in place of Party member Hess. Since affairs of state required the attendance of the Führer in Berlin that night, he left the Bürgerbräukeller earlier than originally planned and boarded the waiting train at the main station. Shortly after the Führer's departure an explosion occurred in the Bürgerbräukeller. Of those still present in the room seven were killed and sixty-three injured. The assassination attempt, which by its traces appears to have been a foreign plot, caused immediate great outrage in Munich. A reward of 500,000 RM has been offered for the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators, and a further 600,000 RM from private sources. The devastating explosion in the Bürgerbräukeller occurred at about 2120 hours, at a time when the Führer had already left the hall. Nearly all leaders of the Movement, Reichsleiters and Gauleiters, had accompanied him to the railway station, where he boarded the train for his return to Berlin on urgent state business immediately after concluding his address. One must consider it a miracle that the Führer escaped the attempt with his life. The attempt was a blow struck against the security of the Reich.

A fortnight later it was announced that thirty-six-year-old Johann Georg Elser had been arrested shortly after the attempt while trying to cross the frontier into Switzerland. He was said to have been the man who placed the bomb in the Bürgerbräukeller about 145 hours before the explosion. I was with Hitler when Himmler delivered his report. Elser, born 4 January 1903 at Hermaringen/Württemberg as the illegitimate son of a heavy drinker of the locality, a wood merchant by the name of L. Elser, had confessed his intention to kill Hitler. According to Himmler's statement, Elser was 'no carbon copy of the Reichstag arsonist van der Lubbe'. Elser had declared that he alone knew of his preparations for the attempt and nobody had put him up to it. When Himmler said that in his statement Elser admitted to being obsessed by the idea of having his photograph in the newspapers, Hitler asked for a photograph to be produced.

The man had admitted wanting to be a 'Herostratos of the present', Himmler went on. Hitler, who was studying the photograph, listened at first with a granite face, then said slowly: 'Himmler, that does not seem right. Just look at the physiognomy, the eyes, the intelligent features. This is no seducer of men, no chatterer. He knows what he wants. Find out what political circles are behind him. He may be a loner, but he does not lack a political point of view.' Himmler made a surprised face and assured Hitler that his people would soon find out 'whose spiritual child' the would-be assassin was.

Elser interested Hitler in an odd way. The man whose philosophy in the Ernst Röhm affair and elsewhere was to 'kill, shovel out the shit', reacted to Elser quite differently. When he saw Himmler's mystified expression he said under his breath: 'I am allowing him to live only so that he knows I am right and he is wrong.' Himmler, disconcerted, went off to make his further enquiries. Soon afterwards Hitler received details about Elser's career. As the eldest of five children he had left school in 1917 to train as a turner in an iron foundry at Königsbronn, but gave this up to train in carpentry, qualifying two years later. The best of his class in 1922, he considered himself an 'artistic carpenter' and experimented with ideas involving clocks, motors and locks. Next Elser obtained employment at Dornier's Friedrichshafen aircraft works in the propeller section for three to four years, where he was a good worker. He went on to spend a year in a clock factory where he proved sociable, was a good zither and double-bass musician and had various affairs with women.

All this reinforced Hitler's original impression, and he reproached Himmler: 'Herostratus? Just look – member of the Woodworkers' Union, member of the Red Front Fighters' League and a churchgoer – and no political motive? How could he make anybody believe that?' Hitler had completed his assessment of Elser and ordered Himmler to get Elser to build another bomb. Elser obliged. 'This man's abilities,' Hitler said in recognition of them, 'could be useful in wartime, blowing up bridges and suchlike. Give him a workshop in a prison or concentration camp where he can continue his bomb-making activities.'

As a 'special detainee' (Sonderhäftling) at Sachsenhausen concentration camp Elser was grouped together with Léon Blum, Kurt von Schussnigg, Pastor Niemöller and a number of other well-known personalities and worked for years on the task Hitler had given him. He invented, designed and built bombs to Hitler's order. Hitler suspended the criminal proceedings against him, something that may have surprised the public. It is alleged occasionally that Hitler knew in advance of a bomb having been placed in the Bürgerbräukeller, and this was the reason why he had arrived and left earlier than planned. For my own part I knew Hitler's reactions and was able to tell reliably from his composure if he were genuinely surprised or just pretending, and it was my opinion in November 1939 that he had no foreknowledge.

I guessed that within his trusted circle Hitler had no desire to speak of his frustration at the British response to the invasion of Poland. A number of the Party bosses, the Gauleiter Rudolf Hess, Goebbels (who accompanied Hitler to Berlin) and others might have spoken privately at the Bürgerbräukeller of his prophecy about Britain's 'friendly' attitude to the Reich. This would certainly not have pleased him. According to Himmler, Elser had done no harm to Hitler, had expressly recanted, admitted his guilt and changed his outlook at Sachsenhausen. He told several people there that the Gestapo paid him 40,000 Swiss francs to plant the bomb and set the timer for the hour they wanted. I never dared broach this subject with Hitler. When the official police bulletin on 16 April 1945 reported the death of Elser the previous day in an Allied bombing raid, a somewhat noteworthy occurrence, I had other matters to concern me. Defeat was at hand.

Hitler's composure on the day of the assassination attempt and the fact that Elser would have had to spend all day in the Bürgerbräukeller undiscovered near the column where he had put the bomb seem noteworthy in retrospect, bearing in mind how Himmler's security organisation automatically made its screening preparations for meetings of this kind. In my opinion Hitler's reaction after the attempt was not feigned: it seemed too original, too spontaneous. At that time I would not have believed it possible of him to risk the lives of the Alte Kämpfer without betraying himself in some way.

A lot about the Elser case was extraordinary. That Hitler allowed Elser to go on living because, as he informed Himmler, his inventive abilities could be useful in the war, seemed very questionable to me in 1939, for our experts were in no need of a clockmaker/carpenter to provide them with ideas. I had the impression that Hitler admired Elser's quiet dedication and constancy. Elser was basically a man whom he would have liked to have seen active in the SS, SA or the Party. Elser, the 'simple worker' as Hitler once called him, had the courage at the end of 1939 to do something for his 'political world-view' when German generals opposed to Hitler had merely resigned. Hitler, who drew attention to himself in Mein Kampf and in public speeches as having once been a 'simple worker', was always more impressed by special achievements from this level than by corresponding efforts of the so-called 'higher-ups'. He was convinced that the workforce belonged to him 'heart and hand'. More than once he said that he would lay his head to sleep in the lap of any German worker without the least fear. He never accepted that the workers only followed him because he gave them work and bread after years of despair, as is often maintained nowadays.

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Excerpted from "With Hitler to the End"
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Copyright © 1980 F. A. Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung GmbH.
Excerpted by permission of Pen and Sword Books Ltd.
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