The Goebbels Government - Berlin 1945

[Music] many people assumed that the nazi state ended with hitler's death in his berlin bunker on the 30th of april 1945 but it actually continued for some time afterwards and even beyond the german surrender on the 8th of may this video concerns itself with hitler's immediate successor as leader of germany dr joseph gerbers and his government that survived little more than one day in the dying hours of the battle of berlin goebbels who had been hitler's minister of propaganda and public enlightenment since 1933 and before that had run the nazi party's propaganda department was never supposed to succeed hitler to the highest office he was never one of the official successors the first being rudolph hess until his flight to scotland in 1941 and then reich's marshall herrmann guring the corpulent head of the air force and prime minister of prussia among other titles goebbels would also view the most powerful man in germany after hitler reich's fuhrer ss heinrich himmler as the next logical successor but disgrace and loss of power would befall intern hess guring and himmler leaving the ever faithful gobbles as the only really senior nazi with a public profile able and willing to assume the leadership of what remained of the third reich in may 1945 virtually everyone including his enemies conceded that goebbels was a brilliant propagandist and as the war entered its final terminal phase he became even more the face and voice of nazism exhorting the weary population to more sacrifices for hitler hitler himself had all but disappeared from public view by late 1944 stooped prematurely aged and clearly suffering from some kind of physical disorder that manifested itself as uncontrolled shaking in his left arm and hand hitler's appearance in 1944-45 seemed to be a metaphor for the degeneration of the country not so the poisoned dwarf as some referred to dr goebbels who had become the most visible face of the regime in the last weeks of the war hitler's voice was heard by the german people for the last time on the 30th of january 1945 the 12th anniversary of the nazi accession to power in a radio broadcast he never spoke publicly again he was last seen in cinemas decorating hitler youths in the reich chancellery garden on the 20th of march 1945. his physical degeneration carefully masked by editing of the footage [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] of berlin provided a lot of the energy required to galvanize the population for the final showdown with the soviets was brimming with energy giving fiery speeches decorating defenders from the front and actually visiting the front lines along the oda river [Music] is [Music] in private goebbels became hitler's main prop able to keep up his flagging spirits and instill in him some of the old fire but goebbel's private diaries suggest that he knew that the game was up now it was a question of the manner in which the nazi regime left the stage rather than the substance of their defense of the doom capital dr goebbels had also used his considerable influence to try and prevent the situation he and hitler now found themselves in in private goebbels was increasingly conflicted as he tried several times in early 1945 to have hitler make peace with the british and americans while continuing the war in the east hitler refused to countenance such a move goebbels was worried that if he pushed too much he might lose hitler's confidence goebbels argued against a flight of the government south to the so-called national redoubt in the alps something other ministers were keen on not least martin bormann and hermann gering who realized the futility of holding shattered berlin and didn't want to be captured by the soviets goebbels argued for an heroic last stand in the capital which appealed to hitler goebbels moved his family into his berlin residence to see it through to the bitter end while other leaders secreted their wives and children into safe hideaways in southern germany and austria when president roosevelt died on the 12th of april 1945 goebbels spun the event for hitler's consumption convincing him that it was a providential turn of events that indicated the unholy alliance of the allies would shortly crumble and the war would turn in germany's favor the behaviour of other senior nazis aided gobbles in assuming the position of effective number two to hitler soviet forces reached the outskirts of berlin on the 20th of april 1945 hitler's last birthday the ministers all met with hitler one last time to wish him a happy birthday before they left berlin on several pretexts keen to be clear of the city before the soviet encirclement was complete hitler's appointed successor since 1941 reich's martial guring mistakenly attempted to assume power on the 23rd of april after hitler had been out of touch and the situation in the capital appeared dire bormann spun guring's misguided moment into treason and hitler ordered guring's arrest in return for sparing his life borman engineered the stripping of all of goring's officers of state and the dejected reich's marshal remained under house arrest by the ss at his home on the oberzeldsberg next to fall was the most powerful man in germany after hitler rajvira ss heinrich himmler the british leaked himless peace overtures to them via the bbc and on the 28th of april hitler ordered himmler arrested and stripped of all his officers though without effect as himmler and his bodyguard unit made their way to northern germany to join grand admiral karl dernett's new military command at flensburg during these tribulations goebbels remained faithfully at his master's side having moved his wife magda and six young children into the upper bunker while dr goebbels himself occupied rooms close to hitler's in the lower bunker by the 29th of april it was clear that the government quarter in berlin would fall to the soviets in a day or two the remaining several thousand ss troops mostly from hitler's and himmler's bodyguard units fought resolutely on supported by a handful of the remaining tiger tanks and also some folk storm and remaining wehrmacht from battle broken divisions at midnight on the 29th of april hitler married his longtime girlfriend ava brown in a simple ceremony in the bunker there followed a modest reception then hitler dictated his last will and testament to his secretary trauro younger gerbils and borman were witnesses to the wedding and the will hitler's last act as head of state was to break up the post of fuhrer he appointed goebbels as reich chancellor grand admiral dernitz at his military headquarters in flensburg was made reich president martin bormann was elevated to party minister hitler ordered goebbels to leave berlin to continue the governance of what remained of germany but goebbels categorically refused to leave he said he felt compelled to remain at hitler's side for reasons of humanity and personal loyalty as he said he also announced that his wife and children would be staying put and would end their lives side by side with the fuhrer later on the 30th of april with red army forces only 500 meters from the fura bunker hitler made final preparations to die hitler and ava died at 3 30 pm on the 30th of april 1945. goebbels was present in the reich chancellery garden for the viking funeral laid on by hitler's ss bodyguards until driven underground once again by soviet shelling incredibly although hitler was dead the machinery of government still turned in the remaining parts of the city center under german control and a new government was formed under the now reich chancellor goebbels the bodyguard units remained in place protecting the bunker while goebbels and the few remaining senior figures tried to decide on a course of action with hitler dead goebbels was now free to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis and in the bunker conference room goebbels bormann and hitler's former military leaders decided on a course of action an attempt to engineer a cease-fire with the soviets an emissary was sent across the lines and at 10 pm that evening general hans krebs who had once been a military attache in moscow and could speak russian fluently was sent over with an aide to meet general vasily chukov krebs carried with him a letter from goebbels and borman explaining that hitler was dead goebbels was now in charge and requesting a cease-fire and conditional surrender krebs returned at 6 am on the 1st of may 1945 with predictably disappointing news he reported that the soviets demanded unconditional surrender and that goebbels must make this declaration by 4 pm that afternoon it was now clear that chancellor goebbels faced oblivion the soviets would be at the bunker in just a few hours fighting the remaining senior military officers all urged a breakout that night by the last ss and army troops in the government quarter in an attempt to fight through the soviet encirclement and reach the american zone some 70 miles to the west and surrender everyone wanted to avoid soviet captivity an ss brigado-fuhrer monker commanding the government district was making plans for the bunker personnel to join the breakout time was running out they could not afford to wait another 24 hours and the military situation was hopeless minister bormann telegraph president dernitz now relocated to plen quote testament in force i'll come to you as quickly as possible until then in my view hold back from publication boarman unquote dernetz had no clue to what was happening in the bunker and had actually telegraphed hitler reaffirming his loyalty not knowing that the fuhrer had died the day before borman's telegram at 10 53 a.m on the 1st of may confirmed that hitler was dead full confirmation arrived at pleurne at 3 18 pm from chancellor goebbels this was the last message to be transmitted from the furo bunker however neither borman goebbels or dernitz informed the german armed forces or people that hitler was dead until 10 26 pm on the 1st of may and told a massive lie the soldiers and civilians were told on the radio that hitler had fallen at his bunker command post in the reich chancellery directing its defense against the soviets on the afternoon of the 1st of may 1945 24 hours after his actual death the delay was to allow gerbils and bormann to negotiate a conditional surrender with the red army without including dernitz who should have been consulted as reich president goebbels and bormann feared the reaction of german troops still fighting hard against the soviets if it was known that hitler had shot himself in his bunker they might have decided to stop fighting without referring to central authorities as the remaining bunker personnel spent the first of may planning for their breakout that night goebbels and his wife magda had preparations of their own to make magda gobbles took charge of disposing of their young children she ordered ss shtamban fura helmut kuntz a dentist and adjutant to the chief medical officer in the reich chancellery to give each of the children a dose of morphine the children all fell into a heavily drug sleep then ss oberstenbenfuhrer dr ludwig stumpfeger one of hitler's personal physicians killed each child by crushing a glass file of cyanide in their mouths the children's bodies were left in their bunks in the upper bunker as planning continued for the night time breakout doctor goebbels summoned his ss adjutant hobstone fiora gunter schwegemann and informed him that he and his wife were going to commit suicide in the reich chancellery garden svegaman was ordered to ensure that the bodies were cremated gobbles then handed svegaman a silver-framed sign photograph of hitler that had been on his desk for many years after giving svegaman his instructions goebbels spent the remainder of his time writing his diary he gave these final half a dozen pages to verna nalman who would be leading one of the three breakout groups from the bunker that night intending that they'd be carried to safety and posterity but instead nalman would burn them after gubbel's death around 8 30 pm on the 1st of may goebbels after having slipped on gloves and his uniform cap walked up the bunker emergency exit staircase with his wife magda accompanied by 29 year old fegeman captain svegaman waited in the stairwell as goebbels and his wife moved out of sight around the corner he heard two shots and then discovered the corpses lying on the ground accounts vary but it has been suggested that goebbels shot his wife then himself schweigerman had been ordered by goebbels to make sure he and his wife were dead by shooting the bodies again but schweigerman reported that he couldn't bring himself to do so and instead called over one of the ss sentries patrolling the garden who shot each corpse one more time and helped svegaman to pour the remaining petrol left over from the half-hearted cremation of hitler and ava brown over the bodies of goebbels and his wife which were then set alight only charring them they were easily recognized by the soviet shmirch counterintelligence unit that captured the bunker on the 2nd of may schweigerman his duty done joined one of the breakout groups from the bunker later that night and was one of the few to make it to the american line safely and surrender with the death of chancellor goebbels civil government in berlin came to an end the next leader of germany was reich president dernetz whose rump government would survive for two weeks after general helmut weidling berlin battle commandant surrendered the city to the red army on the 2nd of may 1945 bringing to an end the terrible struggle so ended the chancellorship of dr joseph goebbels which had lasted all of one day and ended in six murders and two suicides goebbel's only significant act as chancellor had been to confirm hitler's suicide to dernitz and enable the grand admiral to assume full power as reich president goebbels had died in an imitation of his hero hitler right down to the flaming funeral but unlike hitler's cremation light rain and a lack of petrol ensured that the flames soon gutted out and the corpses lay blackened and recognizable for the soviets to find the next day lying in the chaos of the bomb and shell-ravaged reich chancellery garden but in death goebbels would be permanently joined to hitler as the corpses of himself and his wife and children would be autopsied alongside hitler and ava browns and buried in ammunition crates under waste bins at the back of a big house in magdeburg east germany in february 1946. on the 4th of april 1970 the kgb exhumed all the remains and cremated them together so goebbels and hitler were literally mingled together and the ashes dumped into the biederritz river thanks for watching please subscribe and share and visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below you

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,867,340

Rating: 4.9083724 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, Dr. Goebbels, Battle of Berlin, Hitler bunker, Martin Bormann

Id: gz8s-Zm1xIQ

Length: 19min 17sec (1157 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 12 2020