The Himmler Who Died in Berlin 1945

[Music] thank you in April 1945 as the Third Reich collapsed the Nazi leaders began to enact plans to avoid capture on the 20th of April Hitler's 56 and last birthday the leaders gathered for one final time of the wrecked Reich Chancery in Berlin to wish the fuhrer many happy returns before almost all of them found reasons to leave the capital already under Soviet assault and make themselves scarce the only two senior Nazis to remain with Hitler were Martin Borman his private secretary and head of the Nazi party Chancery in charge of all the regional gowliters his efforts to gather power for himself would continue up to the regime's final moments the others stay behind in the bunker was Reich propaganda Minister Dr goebels who refused to Desert the man he idolized above even his own family and his wife and children would ultimately pay the price for Goebbels as extreme loyalty to Hitler for other leaders self-preservation was now the name of the game reich's Marshall Hermann guring leader of the luftwaffe and all intents and purposes a disgraced and spent force would oversee the destruction of his vast estate near Berlin and then flees South to orbazaldsburg and his Southern home while special trains cram with his vast collection of looted art furniture and personal items chucked their way to bacter's Garden foreign minister Euro Kim Von riventrop similarly sidelined headed north for grand Admiral Carl dernitz's alternative government in Northern Germany that would succeed Hitler as the legitimate Nazi government following the fuhrer's death on the 30th of April and continue to rule a small portion of Northern Germany until finally extinguished by the British on the 23rd of May also heading north was reich's fuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler Germany's second most powerful man then involved in secret surrender negotiations with the Western allies negotiations that when exposed would also lead to his downfall before Hitler's death but in the scramble to save themselves the Nazi leaders often abandoned their siblings many of whom had prospered greatly under the regime and who were hunted by Allied investigators in a previous video I told the story of Dr goebbels's brother Hans captured by the U.S army still resplendent in his sa leaders uniform the male siblings of the Nazi leaders had usually done well out of the system using their surnames and Powerful Brothers to secure good jobs and perks for themselves but in the Mad scrambled to save themselves the leaders often abandoned their brothers and one example is the fate of Ernst Himmler the reich's fuhrer SS's youngest brother Himmler had two brothers the Elder was gephard born in 1898 after World War One service gephard had joined his brother Heinrich in right-wing paramilitary organizations and had taken part in the infamous 1923 beer hall pooch in Munich a mechanical engineer by training once the Nazis came to power in 1933 gephard was appointed to the Headmaster of a technical school and was later head of the Students Association in Upper Bavaria he held numerous honorary officers due to his relationship with Heinrich and also rejoined the Army to serve during the invasion of Poland closely protected by the powerful Dr Fritz Tutt of organization taught Fame gephard became a deputy director of the Reich Ministry of Science Education and culture and director in 1944 enjoying a splendid Lakefront house at gumund in Bavaria close to his brother heinrich's Family Residence his brother also appointed gephard an honorary SS standardenfura or Colonel his job being to inspect vaffane SS schools gephard was arrested by the British army at War's end in Northern Germany and eventually released in 1948. younger sibling Ernst born in 1905 was not so lucky ants completed an electrical engineering course of Munich University in 1928 and joined the Nazi party in November 1931. in 1933 probably at his brother's insistence he was also appointed as an honorary officer of the alga minor SS eventually reaching the rank of stumbunfura or major Hans used his family connections to secure a job with Berlin radio and following the Nazis coming to power he was quickly promoted at Gros Deutsche runfunk the German equivalent to the BBC the National Broadcasting Service the runfunk building was an enormous Block located in Berlin's charlottenburg District married with a family Ernst remained in Berlin throughout the war working diligently at the broadcasting building during the last years of the war Ence was promoted to chief engineer and Deputy technical director and it's interesting to note that he actually fell under the authority of Dr Goebbels Heinrich himmler's enemy as the Gros Deutsche Ron Funk was part of the Reich propaganda Ministry Ernst didn't seem much interested in politics though he had been promoted to very high positions and also given a high SS Rank due to his surname it appeared had only done so at the insistence of his older brother Heinrich but his very surname and relation to the Rex fuhrer was to have terrible personal consequences for him as the war Drew to a close as Heinrich Himmler briefly visited the capital on the 20th of April 1945 for Hitler's last birthday party the reichs fuhrer had left that same day never to return he doesn't appear to have given any thought to saving his younger brother Ernst still at his post at the runfunk building where the Soviets now beginning to envelop the city Ernst had a huge Target painted on his back because of his family relationship to Himmler but unlike older brother gephard who was in an area of Germany shortly to be occupied by the British if captured by the Soviets ants could expect harsh treatment and long imprisonment or worse incredibly given his position Ernst had sought no special favors and had dutifully enlisted in the folkstrom Home Guard in a unit put together from staff at the deutsches ronfunk to help defend the district from the Red Army it seems that Ernst either never considered fleeing the city or was unable to do so lacking the facilities open to his powerful older brother who transited out of the city in a convoy of field cars with a full bodyguard unit escorting him what ultimately was the fate of Ernst Himmler is shrouded in mystery some say he was one of thousands of poorly armed and trained volksterm who were killed in futile attempts to stop the Red Army he was last seen Alive by a colleague who survived the war still at the deutsches runfunk building on the night of the 30th of April to 1st of May 1945. this Survivor would claim that ants took a cyanide capsule undoubtedly supplied by his brother from SS stocks to avoid capture when the defense of the radio station folded which would make sense others claim that Ernst joined trucks that left the radio station to link up with the remaining tanks and half tracks of the munchenberg Panzer and 18th Panzer Grenadier divisions heading west to break out of Berlin via the Charlotte Bridge connecting the city to Spandau which was still in German hands Carnage followed as the group tried to charge over the bridge as Soviet machine guns mortars and artillery slaughtered hundreds Ernst included either way his body was one of thousands unidentified in Berlin that were eventually tossed into a communal grave and forgotten about of the three Himmler Brothers only the eldest gephard would survive the war dying in 1982 at the age of 83. many thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also 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 [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 436,089

Keywords: Mark Felton, Himmler, Goering, von Ribbentrop, Bormann, Volkssturm, Rundfunk, Goebbels

Id: dp1jjLmDE9E

Length: 8min 40sec (520 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 18 2023