1 00:00:28,903 --> 00:00:33,490 (narrator) Dresden - the great, beautiful and historic city 2 00:00:33,616 --> 00:00:35,826 so far barely touched by the war, 3 00:00:35,910 --> 00:00:39,580 believed by its inhabitants to be somehow inviolate - 4 00:00:39,706 --> 00:00:43,042 became, in the technical language of the experts, 5 00:00:43,126 --> 00:00:46,045 a severe case of over-bombing. 6 00:00:46,129 --> 00:00:52,051 (woman) We had so many refugees who had come from the Eastern Front 7 00:00:52,135 --> 00:00:56,597 that at this point the city had swollen to double its size. 8 00:00:56,723 --> 00:00:58,766 The only men we had in the city 9 00:00:58,850 --> 00:01:02,644 were from the veterans' hospital, blind and crippled. 10 00:01:02,729 --> 00:01:07,983 The blind were trying to carry the cripples and couldn't see their way. 11 00:01:08,068 --> 00:01:13,197 And some people who tried to walk along, they were pulled in by the fire. 12 00:01:13,323 --> 00:01:16,533 They all of a sudden disappeared right in front of you. 13 00:01:16,618 --> 00:01:21,121 There is such a draught in a firestorm like that. 14 00:01:21,206 --> 00:01:23,123 lt's a most horrible thing. 15 00:01:23,208 --> 00:01:27,086 You have to save yourself or try to get as far away from the fire 16 00:01:27,170 --> 00:01:29,379 because the draught pulls you in. 17 00:01:32,133 --> 00:01:34,468 (narrator) Next day came the Americans. 18 00:01:34,552 --> 00:01:37,971 A Western demonstration of support for the Russians, 19 00:01:38,056 --> 00:01:39,932 now less than 100 miles away. 20 00:01:40,016 --> 00:01:45,145 Over 1300 Flying Fortresses to pound the ruins of a city. 21 00:01:46,189 --> 00:01:50,734 (Gray) The city was in flames but after three days we had to go in 22 00:01:50,819 --> 00:01:55,155 and try to find the people and take them out of the ruins. 23 00:01:55,240 --> 00:02:00,410 And sometimes a washbasinful contained nine, ten people, 24 00:02:00,495 --> 00:02:05,958 because their size had shrunk to just a small amount. 25 00:02:06,042 --> 00:02:09,837 We just couldn't believe that this was a whole person. 26 00:02:09,921 --> 00:02:14,174 And this picture is just terrible. 27 00:02:14,259 --> 00:02:17,886 l saw sometimes two people close together 28 00:02:17,971 --> 00:02:23,642 who maybe in despair had... lt was one tiny little figure. 29 00:02:26,855 --> 00:02:31,066 (narrator) ln the centre of the city, cordoned oft from the surVivors, 30 00:02:31,151 --> 00:02:33,277 they built great funeral pyres. 31 00:02:35,780 --> 00:02:40,284 (Gray) There was no time to dig individual graves. 32 00:02:40,368 --> 00:02:42,703 We had to dig mass graves. 33 00:02:42,829 --> 00:02:49,418 They tried to identify by jewellery or by belongings, 34 00:02:49,502 --> 00:02:53,088 but many people could not be identified. 35 00:02:57,177 --> 00:03:01,763 Later in the ruins you found inscriptions: 36 00:03:01,890 --> 00:03:04,224 "Hans, are you alive?" 37 00:03:04,309 --> 00:03:07,519 "Martha, are you still in the ruins?" 38 00:03:08,771 --> 00:03:11,773 (narrator) lndustrial damage was slight. 39 00:03:11,858 --> 00:03:14,985 The railway was working again in three days. 40 00:03:15,069 --> 00:03:18,238 But over 100,000 died. 41 00:03:18,323 --> 00:03:22,492 Dresden was another monument to total war. 42 00:04:26,933 --> 00:04:30,227 (narrator) The last Nazi newsreel the Germans saw. 43 00:04:30,311 --> 00:04:35,816 lt features scratch units in action on the Eastern Front, on German soil. 44 00:04:38,903 --> 00:04:43,156 The slogans now play on sexual fear of the Red hordes. 45 00:04:45,326 --> 00:04:48,203 The main propaganda weapon - stories of rape, 46 00:04:48,288 --> 00:04:51,498 stereotyped accounts backed by dubious pictures 47 00:04:51,582 --> 00:04:54,710 in which the corpses may, for once, be German. 48 00:04:56,671 --> 00:05:01,008 Tales of brutal soldiery told in the stock language of racial hatred - 49 00:05:01,092 --> 00:05:05,137 beasts, rape, animals, bestiality. 50 00:05:05,221 --> 00:05:07,347 Sie haben meine Schwester und meine Mutter 51 00:05:07,432 --> 00:05:10,100 in bestialischer und tierischer Weise misshandelt. 52 00:05:11,644 --> 00:05:16,481 Refugees from Germany's eastern provinces and the occupied territories. 53 00:05:16,566 --> 00:05:20,736 Families were separated, never to be reunited. 54 00:05:20,820 --> 00:05:25,407 Thousands died from drowning, thousands from shelling. 55 00:05:25,491 --> 00:05:29,870 The great German Reich was shrinking. 56 00:05:29,996 --> 00:05:32,456 The Germans coming home. 57 00:05:41,132 --> 00:05:42,841 On the Western Front 58 00:05:42,967 --> 00:05:45,886 the Allied air forces ranged at will beyond the Rhine, 59 00:05:45,970 --> 00:05:49,431 paralysing all movement in preparation for the final assault. 60 00:05:49,515 --> 00:05:51,975 With bombs, rockets and cannonfire 61 00:05:52,060 --> 00:05:58,690 they struck at bridges, railways, roads, at a single horse and cart. 62 00:06:01,235 --> 00:06:03,570 lt was my duty to tell Hitler 63 00:06:03,654 --> 00:06:08,575 that from the point of view of armaments the war was lost. 64 00:06:08,659 --> 00:06:11,787 And l did it in several memorandums, 65 00:06:11,871 --> 00:06:18,960 and the harshest one was 19 March '45 66 00:06:19,087 --> 00:06:24,091 in which l told him very bluntly, which nobody dared to tell, 67 00:06:24,175 --> 00:06:29,137 that the war will be finished within four or six weeks. 68 00:06:29,222 --> 00:06:32,224 (narrator) Hitler boasted of losses in infantry 69 00:06:32,308 --> 00:06:35,018 made good by countless numbers of new units. 70 00:06:35,103 --> 00:06:38,563 He himself presented medals to his new recruits. 71 00:06:38,648 --> 00:06:43,527 What they lacked in experience they made up for in National Socialist ardour. 72 00:06:43,611 --> 00:06:47,280 A young runner reports how he carried weapons up to the front line. 73 00:06:47,365 --> 00:06:52,327 Als der Russe näher heranrückte, bestand meine Aufgabe darin, 74 00:06:52,412 --> 00:06:55,455 Meldungen zu den einzelnen Kompaniegefechtsständen... 75 00:06:55,540 --> 00:06:59,751 (narrator) His reward, an lron Cross Second Class. 76 00:07:04,757 --> 00:07:06,758 March 24. 77 00:07:06,843 --> 00:07:08,718 The Rhine crossing. 78 00:07:08,803 --> 00:07:12,180 Montgomery's last showpiece battle. 79 00:07:14,684 --> 00:07:18,478 Upstream the Americans slipped across almost unopposed. 80 00:07:18,563 --> 00:07:23,942 The goal the field commanders had in mind - Berlin. 81 00:07:37,498 --> 00:07:39,166 Across the Rhine now. 82 00:07:39,250 --> 00:07:42,794 From the Dutch border to the Black Forest in the south, 83 00:07:42,879 --> 00:07:46,131 the Allied columns pushed on into the heart of Germany 84 00:07:46,215 --> 00:07:49,342 through scenes that were the commonplace of war. 85 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,101 Towns and villages that burned 86 00:07:58,186 --> 00:08:02,147 as the towns and villages of Poland, France, Russia, 87 00:08:02,231 --> 00:08:06,193 Yugoslavia and Greece had burned. 88 00:08:17,997 --> 00:08:22,542 But for these civilians, for the women and children who saw the war go past, 89 00:08:22,627 --> 00:08:27,088 there were no ghettos and no gas chambers. 90 00:08:27,215 --> 00:08:30,383 Only, in some, a sense of anger. 91 00:08:30,468 --> 00:08:37,307 (woman) The first time l have had hatred against Hitler and the Nazis 92 00:08:37,391 --> 00:08:41,770 was not hatred against the terror regime, 93 00:08:41,854 --> 00:08:45,649 it was hatred like among gangsters. 94 00:08:45,733 --> 00:08:50,487 Hitler promised us to win half of the world 95 00:08:50,571 --> 00:08:53,573 and he asked us to help him 96 00:08:53,658 --> 00:08:55,867 and so we have done, 97 00:08:55,952 --> 00:08:58,328 and now we have nothing. 98 00:08:58,412 --> 00:09:00,372 We have only our clothes. 99 00:09:00,456 --> 00:09:04,251 (narrator) The collapse of Nazi government had left a vacuum. 100 00:09:04,335 --> 00:09:07,295 The advancing troops were politically innocent. 101 00:09:07,380 --> 00:09:10,840 Their methods were rough and ready. 102 00:09:10,925 --> 00:09:13,843 (man) The Bürgermeister's the first one you meet. 103 00:09:13,928 --> 00:09:16,012 He'd have his sash on 104 00:09:16,097 --> 00:09:19,015 and he would inform us that he was not a Nazi, 105 00:09:19,100 --> 00:09:20,976 the town council was not. 106 00:09:21,060 --> 00:09:23,436 We would promptly round them all up 107 00:09:23,521 --> 00:09:27,107 and ship them out because we knew we had all the Nazis. 108 00:09:27,233 --> 00:09:30,193 You put soldiers with townspeople 109 00:09:30,278 --> 00:09:36,074 and after the first couple of hours of a small amount of tension 110 00:09:36,158 --> 00:09:41,204 when both parties realised that the other was not gonna stab them suddenly, 111 00:09:41,289 --> 00:09:46,835 we'd find ourselves swapping hard tack or chocolate 112 00:09:46,919 --> 00:09:50,046 for a cooked meal by one of the German families. 113 00:09:50,131 --> 00:09:55,844 And they in turn would show us family pictures - not the uniform ones - 114 00:09:55,928 --> 00:09:59,014 and then you'd find a Gl showing his family to them. 115 00:09:59,098 --> 00:10:03,059 lt's funny how the feeling could change so rapidly. 116 00:10:03,144 --> 00:10:07,480 Some woman came to me. ln addition to trying to ofter me her own serVices, 117 00:10:07,565 --> 00:10:09,774 she was trying to obtain something else. 118 00:10:09,859 --> 00:10:12,944 l looked at her. l was feeling particularly mean that day. 119 00:10:13,029 --> 00:10:16,615 My father was sick and the Red Cross had given me information 120 00:10:16,741 --> 00:10:21,411 that my brother-in-law had been killed in Germany. Word had just come to me 121 00:10:21,495 --> 00:10:25,790 and l was about ready to tear anyone apart with my own two hands. 122 00:10:25,875 --> 00:10:28,627 And l said in desperation almost: 123 00:10:28,711 --> 00:10:31,463 "Don't bother me. You're dealing with a Jew." 124 00:10:31,547 --> 00:10:33,673 "You don't want anything to do with me." 125 00:10:33,758 --> 00:10:38,928 And she looked at me and she said, "Aber Sie sind ein weißer Jude", 126 00:10:39,013 --> 00:10:42,265 which you can translate, "But you are a white Jew." 127 00:10:42,350 --> 00:10:47,187 And l did everything to restrain myself from just belting her in the mouth. 128 00:10:59,700 --> 00:11:02,035 (narrator) The camps were overrun. 129 00:11:02,119 --> 00:11:06,915 Many Germans had known of them. Others had preferred not to know. 130 00:11:06,999 --> 00:11:09,542 Now they were forced to see. 131 00:11:21,639 --> 00:11:26,851 ln one place the mayor and his wife went home and hanged themselves. 132 00:11:29,063 --> 00:11:32,148 This is Buchenwald. 133 00:12:11,856 --> 00:12:15,108 Those who had surVived deportation, slave labour, 134 00:12:15,192 --> 00:12:18,027 selection for the death camps, starVation, 135 00:12:18,112 --> 00:12:20,363 were from every country in Europe, 136 00:12:20,448 --> 00:12:24,659 of all callings, of many religions, many political faiths. 137 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,038 Some turned on their oppressors. 138 00:12:36,589 --> 00:12:39,132 Allied prisoners were freed. 139 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:50,643 (cheering) 140 00:12:53,439 --> 00:12:57,859 (narrator) German soldiers went into captivity. 141 00:13:22,927 --> 00:13:27,847 Displaced persons, ordinary Germans, prisoners of war passed on the roads 142 00:13:27,932 --> 00:13:31,100 and had nothing to say to each other. 143 00:13:31,185 --> 00:13:35,980 Germany was an ant heap some giant had kicked to pieces. 144 00:13:44,698 --> 00:13:46,533 Here and there, looting. 145 00:13:46,617 --> 00:13:50,537 Brief opportunities to celebrate the collapse of the system. 146 00:13:59,630 --> 00:14:03,383 The victors had their own views on law and order. 147 00:14:03,509 --> 00:14:06,261 Some property was still sacred. 148 00:14:36,417 --> 00:14:41,838 (Speer) ln April '45, Berlin was more ruins than a town. 149 00:14:41,922 --> 00:14:43,756 ln the centre of Berlin, 150 00:14:43,841 --> 00:14:48,344 one could find almost no building which was still intact. 151 00:14:48,429 --> 00:14:51,723 But it was my wish to have the Berlin Philharmonic 152 00:14:51,807 --> 00:14:54,183 having a concert for the last time. 153 00:14:54,268 --> 00:15:00,148 l knew that it would be my last concert for a long time, perhaps forever, 154 00:15:00,232 --> 00:15:06,029 and l invited friends 155 00:15:06,113 --> 00:15:10,408 and as many people as possible to go in. 156 00:15:10,492 --> 00:15:14,996 We were sitting there in our coats because there was no heating. 157 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,373 lt was cold and it was shivering 158 00:15:17,458 --> 00:15:23,796 and in this atmosphere of destruction and misery 159 00:15:23,881 --> 00:15:27,091 the concert started and we started 160 00:15:27,176 --> 00:15:31,179 with the last part of the Götterdämmerung. 161 00:15:34,934 --> 00:15:38,436 (narrator) Hitler no longer made public appearances. 162 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:40,229 More and more he withdrew 163 00:15:40,314 --> 00:15:46,027 to his underground headquarters beneath the lmperial Chancellery - the bunker. 164 00:15:47,446 --> 00:15:53,159 (Speer) When l came back from this concert for the military conference, 165 00:15:53,243 --> 00:15:57,997 we came into the bunker and Hitler was almost out of his mind. 166 00:15:58,082 --> 00:16:00,833 And Goebbels was already there. 167 00:16:00,918 --> 00:16:07,674 And Hitler showed to us the wires he'd just received of the death of Roosevelt. 168 00:16:07,758 --> 00:16:11,427 Goebbels was jumping up and saying, "That's it. That's it!" 169 00:16:11,512 --> 00:16:16,015 "Now we have got it. Now l think everything will turn to the better." 170 00:16:18,602 --> 00:16:22,897 (narrator) ln the east, over railway lines converted to the Russian gauge, 171 00:16:22,982 --> 00:16:26,776 the Russian command was piling up vast supplies of material. 172 00:16:26,860 --> 00:16:29,028 Six armies were involved. 173 00:16:29,113 --> 00:16:33,700 Their object: to smash the German forces on the approaches to Berlin 174 00:16:33,784 --> 00:16:37,120 and take the capital of Nazi Germany. 175 00:16:44,378 --> 00:16:50,049 On the 75th anniversary of Lenin's birth, 16 April 1945, 176 00:16:50,134 --> 00:16:53,261 the massed artillery opened fire. 177 00:17:05,983 --> 00:17:11,904 My heart was going smaller and l get very anxious 178 00:17:11,989 --> 00:17:14,949 because l knew that the attack began. 179 00:17:29,381 --> 00:17:33,468 (narrator) The first barrage was less eftective than Zhukov had hoped. 180 00:17:33,552 --> 00:17:38,639 The Germans were still secure in their second line of defence. 181 00:17:47,066 --> 00:17:50,109 ln the centre of the front, opposite Berlin, 182 00:17:50,194 --> 00:17:56,157 there were 400 guns to the mile to open a way for the assault tanks. 183 00:18:06,919 --> 00:18:10,338 The Red Army was over the Oder, 184 00:18:10,422 --> 00:18:14,675 reinforcing and breaking out of its bridgeheads. 185 00:18:14,802 --> 00:18:18,554 The armoured columns pushed ahead against desperate resistance. 186 00:18:18,639 --> 00:18:24,477 Some of our young boys, they jumped out of the holes, had their Panzerfaust 187 00:18:24,561 --> 00:18:28,606 and they were shooting to the tanks and destroyed more than four tanks, 188 00:18:28,690 --> 00:18:32,401 and the others were shooting with their guns 189 00:18:32,486 --> 00:18:35,571 and killed all the Russian soldiers. 190 00:18:35,656 --> 00:18:41,369 And the Russians must have been before in a Magazin, 191 00:18:41,453 --> 00:18:43,579 or in a sweet factory, 192 00:18:43,664 --> 00:18:47,667 because they had all their arms full of sweets and chocolate. 193 00:18:47,751 --> 00:18:50,461 Everybody in our unit was 15 and 16 194 00:18:50,546 --> 00:18:55,091 and they were running onto the street with the chocolate. 195 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,352 (narrator) ln the west it was a difterent story. 196 00:19:06,436 --> 00:19:10,940 Sidestepping pockets of the enemy the Allied columns moved east. 197 00:19:12,317 --> 00:19:15,862 (man) You could pick up the telephone and ring up the next village 198 00:19:15,946 --> 00:19:18,030 to see if it was still German-occupied. 199 00:19:18,115 --> 00:19:20,533 Say, "Hello, what's happening down there?" 200 00:19:20,617 --> 00:19:25,872 One had almost moved into a dreamlike and unreal situation 201 00:19:25,998 --> 00:19:31,210 where towns and villages flew by with no resistance at all. 202 00:19:31,295 --> 00:19:34,088 Normal countryside, no damage at all. 203 00:19:34,173 --> 00:19:39,552 And every day one said to oneself, "Surely this can't go on." 204 00:19:39,636 --> 00:19:43,306 Certainly, l think, the thought of one's own surVival 205 00:19:43,390 --> 00:19:46,601 after all this gradually became more and more uppermost. 206 00:19:46,685 --> 00:19:50,479 When one did run into any sort of determined resistance, 207 00:19:50,564 --> 00:19:53,024 it was a matter of half anger: 208 00:19:53,108 --> 00:19:56,485 "How dare these people prolong the agony any more?" 209 00:19:56,570 --> 00:20:00,740 And the other half was jolly nearly a blue funk. 210 00:20:06,622 --> 00:20:10,249 (narrator) Uelzen, a little town in northern Germany, 211 00:20:10,334 --> 00:20:15,504 30 miles short of the Elbe. Here the Germans did stand and fight. 212 00:20:30,187 --> 00:20:33,606 There was an edginess now among the Allied fighting men, 213 00:20:33,690 --> 00:20:36,192 their fingers quick on the trigger. 214 00:20:36,276 --> 00:20:39,528 Their opponents were elite troops and ofticer cadets. 215 00:20:39,613 --> 00:20:42,531 lt took a four-day battle with considerable losses 216 00:20:42,658 --> 00:20:45,910 and many civilian deaths before resistance collapsed. 217 00:21:06,890 --> 00:21:09,767 Mostly the Germans surrendered thankfully. 218 00:21:09,851 --> 00:21:13,312 Their main aim - to go into captivity with the Anglo-Americans 219 00:21:13,397 --> 00:21:15,398 rather than with the Russians 220 00:21:15,482 --> 00:21:19,652 on whose land and population they had inflicted such losses. 221 00:21:23,699 --> 00:21:28,369 Desperately they strove to reach safety in the west. 222 00:21:37,629 --> 00:21:41,757 ln the Ruhr pocket over 300,000 men of Army Group B 223 00:21:41,842 --> 00:21:45,386 were surrounded and forced to surrender. 224 00:21:46,555 --> 00:21:49,724 The Western Allies had achieved their main objective - 225 00:21:49,808 --> 00:21:54,478 the destruction of the German land forces in the west. 226 00:22:05,449 --> 00:22:07,742 (speaks German) 227 00:22:07,826 --> 00:22:11,620 (translator) lt wasn't until the first half of April 228 00:22:11,705 --> 00:22:13,789 that he retired to the bunker, 229 00:22:13,874 --> 00:22:19,337 because the air raids were getting worse and more frequent. 230 00:22:23,633 --> 00:22:26,719 The bunker was divided up in such a way 231 00:22:26,803 --> 00:22:31,349 that in the lower area there was a military conference chamber 232 00:22:31,433 --> 00:22:34,769 with an anteroom which led to Hitler's study. 233 00:22:34,853 --> 00:22:38,939 His workroom and bedroom led oft this anteroom 234 00:22:39,024 --> 00:22:43,444 and also a room with a bathroom for Eva Braun. 235 00:22:46,114 --> 00:22:52,244 There were some women in Hitler's former life who were important for him, 236 00:22:52,329 --> 00:22:57,500 but l think during the last time 237 00:22:57,584 --> 00:23:02,463 there was nobody else near and as close to him like Eva Braun. 238 00:23:02,547 --> 00:23:07,843 She loved him really and she came surprisingly to Berlin 239 00:23:07,928 --> 00:23:13,140 and when she arrived, Hitler tried to seem angry but he wasn't successful. 240 00:23:13,225 --> 00:23:16,727 His eyes were so full of joy 241 00:23:16,812 --> 00:23:21,607 and he was obviously so happy that she was there 242 00:23:21,691 --> 00:23:25,986 that nobody tried to send her back. 243 00:23:33,829 --> 00:23:37,331 (narrator) The Russians were now firing on Berlin itself, 244 00:23:37,416 --> 00:23:40,626 their forward troops already in the outskirts 245 00:23:40,710 --> 00:23:44,130 fighting their way from street to street. 246 00:23:44,881 --> 00:23:49,718 So came his birthday, 20 April, 247 00:23:49,803 --> 00:23:53,848 and there came the congratulations 248 00:23:53,932 --> 00:23:58,686 and everybody shook his hand and wished him the best. 249 00:23:58,770 --> 00:24:02,565 lt was all very depressed, 250 00:24:02,649 --> 00:24:06,652 it was not a happy birthday. 251 00:24:06,736 --> 00:24:09,530 And when the ofticial part was over 252 00:24:09,614 --> 00:24:15,870 Hitler retired at once, but Eva Braun invited some of the people 253 00:24:15,954 --> 00:24:21,041 to go upstairs in her little living room to make a birthday party. 254 00:24:21,126 --> 00:24:28,799 And one found a record, a hit song, to dance with music. 255 00:24:28,884 --> 00:24:36,140 And then we sat around the table and tried to forget our miserable situation. 256 00:24:36,224 --> 00:24:39,727 There was laughing and joking 257 00:24:39,811 --> 00:24:44,773 and everybody drank and giggled and gaggled. 258 00:24:44,858 --> 00:24:49,737 lt was a very artificial sort of gayness. 259 00:24:49,821 --> 00:24:51,864 (speaks German) 260 00:24:53,783 --> 00:24:57,870 (translator) After there was another conference on the situation, 261 00:24:57,954 --> 00:25:03,167 but it was already apparent that it was getting near the end. 262 00:25:05,420 --> 00:25:09,757 Reichsleiter Bormann said to me that l should put everything in motion 263 00:25:09,841 --> 00:25:11,926 so that we would have luggage ready 264 00:25:12,010 --> 00:25:17,097 in case of a possible move to the Berghof in Berchtesgaden. 265 00:25:22,020 --> 00:25:27,566 He refused absolutely and said, "No, l cannot leave Berlin." 266 00:25:27,651 --> 00:25:33,155 "l have to make a decision here in Berlin or l have to go under." 267 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:38,619 And this was the first time 268 00:25:38,703 --> 00:25:45,167 that he ever mentioned the possibility that we could not win, 269 00:25:45,252 --> 00:25:51,757 that he mentioned the chance of defeat. 270 00:25:51,841 --> 00:25:55,886 l remember April 20 1945, 271 00:25:55,971 --> 00:25:59,098 that was the birthday of Adolf Hitler, 272 00:25:59,182 --> 00:26:03,435 and on the radio there was a speech of Joseph Goebbels. 273 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:08,732 And he said, "Berlin will remain German 274 00:26:08,817 --> 00:26:12,861 and Vienna will be German again." 275 00:26:12,946 --> 00:26:18,409 And my mother said, "God thanks, we will win the war", 276 00:26:18,493 --> 00:26:23,914 and l said, "Mother, you are wrong and Goebbels is wrong." 277 00:26:23,999 --> 00:26:28,419 "lt's terrible, but l am quite sure the war is over 278 00:26:28,503 --> 00:26:30,462 and we will lose the war." 279 00:26:30,547 --> 00:26:35,634 And my mother said, "Do you think in this hour 280 00:26:35,719 --> 00:26:38,137 Goebbels will tell us a lie?" 281 00:26:48,189 --> 00:26:51,025 (speaks Russian) 282 00:26:52,027 --> 00:26:56,113 (translator) The battle for Berlin itself was extremely difticult. 283 00:26:56,197 --> 00:26:59,992 lt had to be taken street by street, house by house, 284 00:27:00,076 --> 00:27:06,665 some of them nine and ten storeys high, and there were lots of these houses. 285 00:27:06,750 --> 00:27:10,336 The fascists held out on every floor. 286 00:27:10,420 --> 00:27:13,756 They had also set up barricades in every street. 287 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:18,385 They'd converted the main buildings into strongpoints against us. 288 00:27:32,484 --> 00:27:38,072 We were in Berlin now and in this evening we just visit my mother 289 00:27:38,156 --> 00:27:42,534 and she was very nearly crying, 290 00:27:42,619 --> 00:27:47,790 because she thought maybe l'm dead or something. 291 00:27:47,874 --> 00:27:53,295 And it was late in the evening and we wanted to sleep there, 292 00:27:53,380 --> 00:27:58,050 but some men of the house came and they said, "lt's impossible." 293 00:27:58,134 --> 00:28:02,596 "You can't sleep here because the Russians are not far from here 294 00:28:02,681 --> 00:28:06,850 and if they arrive here by night and they see you here with guns, 295 00:28:06,935 --> 00:28:09,228 maybe they will shoot us." 296 00:28:09,312 --> 00:28:11,397 So we couldn't sleep there. 297 00:28:11,523 --> 00:28:15,484 We went over the street, there was a school, and we slept there. 298 00:28:21,866 --> 00:28:24,660 (man speaks Russian) 299 00:28:25,745 --> 00:28:27,871 (translator) On the 21st, 300 00:28:27,956 --> 00:28:32,459 we went on together into the outer ring of the suburbs of Berlin itself. 301 00:28:35,630 --> 00:28:40,384 The order of the day of our high command reverberated through the whole country. 302 00:28:40,468 --> 00:28:43,178 They were heard throughout the world: 303 00:28:43,263 --> 00:28:46,807 "Our soldiers have broken into Berlin." 304 00:28:52,147 --> 00:28:55,315 (narrator) The Russians worked out their tactics in detail 305 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,694 using models of streets and buildings. 306 00:28:58,778 --> 00:29:02,239 Behind the apparent chaos of the fighting lay a precise plan 307 00:29:02,323 --> 00:29:05,617 to encircle the city and strike at the centre. 308 00:29:05,702 --> 00:29:07,911 Some troops had come all across Russia 309 00:29:07,996 --> 00:29:12,166 through territory the retreating Germans had looted, burned, destroyed. 310 00:29:18,089 --> 00:29:20,841 Berliners sheltering in their cellars 311 00:29:20,925 --> 00:29:24,553 wondered what their fate would be at Russian hands. 312 00:29:24,637 --> 00:29:27,264 (woman speaks Russian) 313 00:29:29,017 --> 00:29:32,352 (translator) Even the children had not been evacuated. 314 00:29:32,437 --> 00:29:35,355 They all lived in cellars. 315 00:29:37,734 --> 00:29:39,485 l went into the cellars 316 00:29:39,611 --> 00:29:43,989 and remember most of all the repetition of this phrase: 317 00:29:45,533 --> 00:29:48,410 "When will this nightmare end?" 318 00:29:48,495 --> 00:29:54,875 Suddenly on April 22, l think - yes - 319 00:29:54,959 --> 00:29:58,921 they came out of the military conference 320 00:29:59,005 --> 00:30:01,965 with a totally stony face 321 00:30:02,050 --> 00:30:08,388 and dark, frightened eyes 322 00:30:08,473 --> 00:30:14,186 and he called us to come to this little anteroom. 323 00:30:14,270 --> 00:30:21,151 He sent for Eva Braun and for the secretaries and for the cook 324 00:30:21,236 --> 00:30:25,239 who was still in Berlin who cooked for him. 325 00:30:25,323 --> 00:30:29,910 And then he came in and said with a monotone voice 326 00:30:29,994 --> 00:30:35,290 and so unkindly as we never had heard him speak to us: 327 00:30:35,375 --> 00:30:39,002 "Ladies, please pack your things at once." 328 00:30:39,087 --> 00:30:42,005 "You have to go to the south." 329 00:30:42,090 --> 00:30:46,468 "The last aeroplane starts in about an hour." 330 00:30:47,971 --> 00:30:51,849 And then it was silent. "No", he said, "it's all lost." 331 00:30:51,933 --> 00:30:55,644 "There's no hope. You have to go." 332 00:30:55,728 --> 00:30:58,981 And then was a moment of absolute silence 333 00:30:59,065 --> 00:31:01,984 and we stood shocked. 334 00:31:03,236 --> 00:31:08,323 Suddenly Eva Braun made a few steps, 335 00:31:08,408 --> 00:31:11,034 went to Hitler and said: 336 00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:15,497 "But you know l don't leave you. l stay on your side." 337 00:31:15,582 --> 00:31:19,793 "You know that. Don't try to send me away." 338 00:31:19,878 --> 00:31:23,463 Then Hitler did something very astonishing 339 00:31:23,548 --> 00:31:28,719 which he never did and nobody had ever seen such a gesture. 340 00:31:28,803 --> 00:31:31,471 He kissed her on her lips. 341 00:31:32,515 --> 00:31:40,022 And then it happened that the other girls and me too, 342 00:31:40,106 --> 00:31:44,318 we heard us saying, "We'll stay, too." 343 00:31:45,028 --> 00:31:48,822 This situation in the bunker 344 00:31:48,907 --> 00:31:52,242 was a fantastic one. 345 00:31:52,327 --> 00:31:54,578 One really can't... 346 00:31:54,662 --> 00:31:56,830 An unrealistic one. 347 00:31:56,915 --> 00:31:59,917 One really can't describe 348 00:32:00,001 --> 00:32:05,672 how the moods went on and oft like waves. 349 00:32:05,798 --> 00:32:10,928 Sometimes they were all exhilarating and were thinking, 350 00:32:11,012 --> 00:32:17,976 "Well, now the Western troops coming for release of Berlin..." 351 00:32:18,061 --> 00:32:20,437 Goebbels was exclaiming 352 00:32:20,521 --> 00:32:25,567 one of the biggest decisions of war Hitler just made, 353 00:32:25,652 --> 00:32:30,572 he is now determined 354 00:32:30,657 --> 00:32:34,868 no more to fight against the West, only to the East in Berlin, 355 00:32:34,953 --> 00:32:38,997 and this will mean that the Western powers 356 00:32:39,082 --> 00:32:43,001 will join us in our fight against Russia. 357 00:32:43,086 --> 00:32:46,296 Such things happened every now and then. 358 00:32:46,381 --> 00:32:52,594 And then a few minutes afterwards everybody was speaking about suicide 359 00:32:52,679 --> 00:32:54,680 and how they are preparing it. 360 00:32:54,764 --> 00:32:58,767 Goebbels in detail was saying 361 00:32:58,851 --> 00:33:05,232 how he will let his children be killed who were already in the bunker. 362 00:33:05,316 --> 00:33:06,775 (speaks German) 363 00:33:06,859 --> 00:33:10,862 (translator) After a few days the telegram came from Göring 364 00:33:10,947 --> 00:33:13,949 which said, "Mein Führer..." 365 00:33:14,033 --> 00:33:19,079 No longer "my beloved Führer", just "my Führer". 366 00:33:21,749 --> 00:33:24,376 "l know that you are now totally cut oft 367 00:33:24,460 --> 00:33:29,923 and are no longer in possession of full freedom to command." 368 00:33:32,301 --> 00:33:37,389 "According to the law of succession, l will now step into your position 369 00:33:37,473 --> 00:33:44,229 and will undertake to represent Germany both in internal and external matters." 370 00:33:44,313 --> 00:33:47,899 "Yours, Göring." 371 00:33:47,984 --> 00:33:54,156 Hitler was so worked up over this. 372 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:58,493 He sat in his chair and could not grasp it at first. 373 00:34:00,496 --> 00:34:05,333 This was added to by Bormann who added fuel to the fire somewhat 374 00:34:05,418 --> 00:34:08,628 so that Hitler then said: 375 00:34:08,713 --> 00:34:13,467 "To give me an ultimatum, that really is the end!" 376 00:34:13,551 --> 00:34:19,473 One day there came one of the men of the press bureau, press oftice, 377 00:34:19,557 --> 00:34:22,601 and brought the news - 378 00:34:22,685 --> 00:34:29,316 l think he had heard it by radio from Reuters News Agency - 379 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:34,529 that Himmler had had negotiations 380 00:34:34,614 --> 00:34:38,033 with GrafBernadotte for capitulation. 381 00:34:38,117 --> 00:34:40,702 And Hitler was very upset 382 00:34:40,787 --> 00:34:45,832 because he held Himmler for his most faithful paladin 383 00:34:45,958 --> 00:34:48,752 and the most reliable one, 384 00:34:48,836 --> 00:34:54,591 and now he saw that also he had tried to betray him. 385 00:34:54,675 --> 00:35:01,098 He remembered suddenly that the poison which he had to use for himself 386 00:35:01,182 --> 00:35:04,935 was given to him by one of Himmler's staft 387 00:35:05,019 --> 00:35:08,146 and he mistrusted that it may aftect... 388 00:35:08,231 --> 00:35:12,651 Perhaps Himmler tried a dirty trick 389 00:35:12,735 --> 00:35:19,574 and gave him something that would only make him unconscious, 390 00:35:19,659 --> 00:35:25,247 so that he could be transported against his will out of the bunker 391 00:35:25,331 --> 00:35:28,291 and delivered to the enemy. 392 00:35:28,376 --> 00:35:34,005 And to test this he ordered a doctor 393 00:35:34,090 --> 00:35:39,719 to try to test this poison capsule on the dog. 394 00:35:39,804 --> 00:35:44,307 So he said farewell to this creature. 395 00:35:44,392 --> 00:35:50,689 l think it was next to Eva Braun, this one who stood next to him. 396 00:35:50,773 --> 00:35:53,358 And Blondi died very promptly. 397 00:36:16,424 --> 00:36:19,634 (narrator) For a tiny handful of German anti-Nazis, 398 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:23,096 the Russians came as liberators. 399 00:36:24,098 --> 00:36:26,558 (man) On Tuesday morning, the 24th, 400 00:36:26,642 --> 00:36:29,603 we suddenly saw the Gestapo had disappeared. 401 00:36:29,687 --> 00:36:36,359 During the night the whole prison was given over to normal prison guards, 402 00:36:36,444 --> 00:36:40,614 old men, not nice men. 403 00:36:40,698 --> 00:36:43,074 And when we saw that... 404 00:36:43,159 --> 00:36:49,539 Many of the uniforms the Gestapo guards had put away there. 405 00:36:49,624 --> 00:36:53,877 We said, "Now, when the Russians take over, 406 00:36:53,961 --> 00:36:59,382 you are the men who will be killed, not we. Let us out." 407 00:36:59,467 --> 00:37:01,551 They were very... 408 00:37:01,636 --> 00:37:06,806 They said, "No, we can't do that. Tonight the Gestapo will come back." 409 00:37:06,891 --> 00:37:11,144 And then in the afternoon of Tuesday we made an agreement with them 410 00:37:11,229 --> 00:37:15,065 and said, "Look, we will put out ourselves, 411 00:37:15,149 --> 00:37:18,235 we the prisoners, some guards on the roof, 412 00:37:18,319 --> 00:37:23,198 and obserVe the coming here of the Russian Front." 413 00:37:23,282 --> 00:37:29,746 "ln the minute we hear Russian gunfire, not only the artillery shelling, 414 00:37:29,872 --> 00:37:33,625 then you will let us out." They said, "All right." 415 00:37:33,709 --> 00:37:35,835 When the door was opened in the prison 416 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:38,296 there was with us a Jewish Russian doctor 417 00:37:38,381 --> 00:37:42,968 who was a concentration inmate of Sachsenhausen, the famous... 418 00:37:43,094 --> 00:37:45,512 He - l don't know for what reason - 419 00:37:45,596 --> 00:37:49,599 a month ago was brought by the Gestapo to our prison 420 00:37:49,684 --> 00:37:54,354 to do the most dirty jobs in the prison all the time. 421 00:37:54,438 --> 00:37:58,733 And we couldn't contact him much but we knew him. 422 00:37:58,818 --> 00:38:03,697 Then he stood there on the street and, "Where to go?" as a Russian. 423 00:38:03,781 --> 00:38:05,949 And l said, "Look, come with us." 424 00:38:06,033 --> 00:38:09,244 "My mother-in-law will feed you. Come in our basement." 425 00:38:09,328 --> 00:38:15,000 And he went with me. When the first units of Russians came two days later, 426 00:38:15,126 --> 00:38:18,837 he met them at the door addressing them in Russian: 427 00:38:18,921 --> 00:38:22,465 "We are all anti-fascists in this basement." 428 00:38:22,550 --> 00:38:26,303 When the Russians came in in the end... 429 00:38:26,387 --> 00:38:33,518 We found the first lot, the fighting troops which came in,... 430 00:38:33,602 --> 00:38:36,396 They took away our watches, of course, 431 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:38,648 and they were very cautious. 432 00:38:38,733 --> 00:38:40,942 We could understand that. 433 00:38:41,027 --> 00:38:46,031 They took away things they liked but they behaved very businesslike. 434 00:38:46,157 --> 00:38:48,491 They stayed in this house here 435 00:38:48,576 --> 00:38:54,247 and they lived in this room, three or four of them, quite high ofticers. 436 00:38:54,332 --> 00:38:56,708 They got up in the morning at eight o'clock 437 00:38:56,792 --> 00:38:59,502 and at nine o'clock they went to the Tiergarten, 438 00:38:59,587 --> 00:39:01,588 which isn't very far from here, 439 00:39:01,672 --> 00:39:05,133 and behind the Tiergarten is, or was, the Chancellery 440 00:39:05,217 --> 00:39:07,635 where Hitler was still alive and fighting. 441 00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:10,305 They went out and did their job 442 00:39:10,389 --> 00:39:14,726 and came back at five o'clock in the afternoon sharp 443 00:39:14,810 --> 00:39:21,107 and then they asked me down here to play the piano 444 00:39:21,233 --> 00:39:26,071 and give them a little tune. 445 00:39:26,197 --> 00:39:29,908 And then we drank together and we sang together. 446 00:39:29,992 --> 00:39:33,703 (woman) Suddenly we saw the first Russian soldiers. 447 00:39:34,580 --> 00:39:37,957 They knocked at our door, 448 00:39:38,042 --> 00:39:41,878 came in and were very kind. 449 00:39:41,962 --> 00:39:47,258 They said to my mother and to me 450 00:39:47,343 --> 00:39:51,930 if there were German soldiers in the house 451 00:39:52,014 --> 00:39:55,016 or asked for weapons. 452 00:39:55,101 --> 00:39:57,477 And then they left. 453 00:39:57,561 --> 00:40:04,025 But the next Russians were quite difterent. 454 00:40:04,110 --> 00:40:10,698 One of them raped me and other inhabitants of the house. 455 00:40:10,783 --> 00:40:14,619 Two women living next door were killed 456 00:40:14,703 --> 00:40:19,666 and we weren't able to bury them because the shelling was still going on. 457 00:40:19,750 --> 00:40:22,419 When the Russians came along they asked us: 458 00:40:22,503 --> 00:40:25,672 "Where are your women? We want to have your women", 459 00:40:25,756 --> 00:40:30,260 or, "Frau, Frau, Frau", they said in German, what they called German. 460 00:40:30,344 --> 00:40:35,932 l had the trick or l found the trick 461 00:40:36,016 --> 00:40:39,394 to take them to these two dead bodies. 462 00:40:39,478 --> 00:40:42,814 l opened the carpet and said, "This is my Frau here." 463 00:40:42,898 --> 00:40:45,483 "l can't supply you with any women." 464 00:40:45,568 --> 00:40:49,612 "These are the only two women we knew here which we had." 465 00:40:49,697 --> 00:40:55,118 And the Russians kneeled down, some of them, 466 00:40:55,244 --> 00:40:57,871 and made the cross 467 00:40:57,955 --> 00:41:02,459 and said little prayers, which was very astounding, 468 00:41:02,543 --> 00:41:09,090 and got up again and kissed me because they thought l was the widower 469 00:41:09,175 --> 00:41:14,929 and gave me presents, gave me cigarettes, gave me bread, 470 00:41:15,014 --> 00:41:18,975 clapped me on my shoulder and went oft again 471 00:41:19,059 --> 00:41:24,939 and got what they wanted, probably, the next house or in the next street. 472 00:41:25,024 --> 00:41:28,651 Every night, l used to go home to see my mother 473 00:41:28,736 --> 00:41:33,114 and get something to eat and some cigarettes, 474 00:41:33,199 --> 00:41:36,743 because we didn't get any food at daytime. 475 00:41:36,869 --> 00:41:41,706 And my mother was every time, every night, 476 00:41:41,790 --> 00:41:44,834 she was very lucky to see me again, naturally. 477 00:41:44,919 --> 00:41:51,132 And so my mother asked me and also other people from our house asked me: 478 00:41:51,217 --> 00:41:53,384 "Just take your uniform oft, 479 00:41:53,469 --> 00:41:59,307 stay here and don't go back to fighting." 480 00:42:00,476 --> 00:42:03,102 Always l said, "No, l can't do it." 481 00:42:03,187 --> 00:42:08,066 l couldn't stay at home safe and they are still fighting. 482 00:42:14,532 --> 00:42:18,868 (narrator) The Battle of Berlin was one of the most difticult of the war. 483 00:42:18,953 --> 00:42:22,288 lt cost the Russians over 100,000 men. 484 00:42:33,425 --> 00:42:37,470 Total German losses are unknown. 485 00:42:55,948 --> 00:42:59,075 (man speaks Russian) 486 00:43:00,744 --> 00:43:04,831 (translator) The storming of Berlin continued. 487 00:43:04,915 --> 00:43:09,335 The encircling ring round the whole city and round the centre of Berlin itself 488 00:43:09,461 --> 00:43:12,630 was being drawn tighter and tighter. 489 00:43:12,715 --> 00:43:14,924 Only a few hundred yards separated us 490 00:43:15,009 --> 00:43:17,969 from the viper's nest of Hitler's headquarters, 491 00:43:18,053 --> 00:43:19,971 the lmperial Chancellery. 492 00:43:20,556 --> 00:43:24,809 Then he began, "My last will", 493 00:43:24,893 --> 00:43:29,314 and then he dictated me at first his private will 494 00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:34,277 and afterwards his political testimony. 495 00:43:35,279 --> 00:43:38,448 And, l must confess, 496 00:43:38,532 --> 00:43:45,913 that l was... l was at first in a very excited mood, 497 00:43:45,998 --> 00:43:53,421 because l expected that l would be the first and the only one 498 00:43:53,505 --> 00:43:57,592 who knows, who is going to know, 499 00:43:57,676 --> 00:44:02,096 the explanation and declaration 500 00:44:02,181 --> 00:44:06,059 why the war had come to this end 501 00:44:06,143 --> 00:44:10,355 and why Hitler couldn't stop, 502 00:44:10,481 --> 00:44:14,609 and why the development and why the catastrophe. 503 00:44:14,693 --> 00:44:20,531 l thought, "Now l will come to the moment of the truth." 504 00:44:21,700 --> 00:44:24,827 And l was heart bumping 505 00:44:24,912 --> 00:44:29,374 when l wrote down what Hitler said. 506 00:44:29,458 --> 00:44:32,210 But he used nothing new. 507 00:44:32,294 --> 00:44:37,924 He came out with his old phrases. 508 00:44:38,008 --> 00:44:43,346 He repeated his accusations, 509 00:44:43,430 --> 00:44:49,852 his revenge swearing to the enemy 510 00:44:49,937 --> 00:44:54,941 and to the Jewish capitalistic system. 511 00:44:55,025 --> 00:44:59,278 And then he announced 512 00:44:59,363 --> 00:45:04,450 in the second part of the political testimony, 513 00:45:04,535 --> 00:45:06,828 he announced a new government. 514 00:45:06,912 --> 00:45:10,039 (speaks German) 515 00:45:13,293 --> 00:45:16,879 (translator) Eva Braun had by now persuaded the Führer 516 00:45:16,964 --> 00:45:23,219 to the point where he actually wanted to improvise a marriage serVice to her. 517 00:45:30,352 --> 00:45:37,984 To do this, they got an ofticial from the propaganda ministry 518 00:45:38,068 --> 00:45:41,779 who would fulfil the function of registrar. 519 00:45:41,864 --> 00:45:47,034 l joined the others in this little workroom of Hitler's 520 00:45:47,119 --> 00:45:50,496 and they were sitting there around a table 521 00:45:50,622 --> 00:45:55,918 and so l had to congratulate Eva Braun. 522 00:45:56,003 --> 00:46:01,883 l was a little shy as to what to say, 523 00:46:01,967 --> 00:46:04,802 and l shook hands with her 524 00:46:04,887 --> 00:46:10,057 and she said, "Oh, you can say Mrs Hitler to me now," and l did. 525 00:46:11,018 --> 00:46:14,562 (narrator) On the rocket, "This is for the Reichstag." 526 00:46:20,194 --> 00:46:25,740 Others said, "Remember Stalingrad", "Remember the Ukraine", 527 00:46:25,824 --> 00:46:30,536 "Remember the widows and children", "Remember the tears." 528 00:46:32,915 --> 00:46:34,832 (Linge speaks German) 529 00:46:34,917 --> 00:46:40,046 (translator) Hitler had now drawn his conclusions. 530 00:46:40,130 --> 00:46:43,299 He said farewell to everybody. 531 00:46:43,383 --> 00:46:46,677 l was the last one he came to. 532 00:46:47,721 --> 00:46:53,976 Hitler said to me: "l have given the order to break out." 533 00:46:55,020 --> 00:46:58,022 "You should break out in groups." 534 00:46:58,106 --> 00:47:03,277 "Join one of these groups and try to get through to the west." 535 00:47:04,988 --> 00:47:11,661 Then l asked Hitler: "For whom should we fight on for now?" 536 00:47:11,745 --> 00:47:15,122 And to that Hitler said in a monotone: 537 00:47:15,207 --> 00:47:17,834 "For the coming man." 538 00:47:17,918 --> 00:47:24,298 l saluted him. He gave me his hand and l disappeared out of the room. 539 00:47:24,383 --> 00:47:28,636 Suddenly there was a bang, there was a shot, 540 00:47:28,762 --> 00:47:33,307 and it was obviously within the bunker, 541 00:47:33,392 --> 00:47:40,898 because the noises of the outside shooting, 542 00:47:40,983 --> 00:47:45,570 we know how they sound. 543 00:47:45,654 --> 00:47:51,325 And the little boy of Goebbels, 544 00:47:51,410 --> 00:47:55,746 he noticed that there was another sound. 545 00:47:55,873 --> 00:48:01,669 He said, "Oh, that was a bull's-eye." 546 00:48:01,753 --> 00:48:06,507 And l thought, yes, you are right. That was really a bull's-eye. 547 00:48:06,592 --> 00:48:09,468 (speaks German) 548 00:48:09,553 --> 00:48:12,638 (translator) l went into Hitler's workroom 549 00:48:12,723 --> 00:48:19,604 with the former Reichsleiter Bormann and this picture presented itself to us. 550 00:48:20,689 --> 00:48:24,859 Hitler was sitting on the left of the sofa 551 00:48:24,943 --> 00:48:31,115 with his face bent slightly forward and hanging down to the right. 552 00:48:31,199 --> 00:48:37,038 With the 7.65 he had shot himself in the right temple. 553 00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,666 The blood had run down onto the carpet 554 00:48:40,751 --> 00:48:46,380 and from this pool of blood a splash had got onto the sofa. 555 00:48:52,721 --> 00:48:57,850 Eva Braun was sitting on his right. 556 00:48:57,935 --> 00:49:02,939 Eva Braun had drawn both her legs up onto the sofa 557 00:49:03,023 --> 00:49:06,233 and was sitting there with cramped lips 558 00:49:06,318 --> 00:49:09,612 so that it immediately became clear to us 559 00:49:09,696 --> 00:49:12,198 that she had taken cyanide. 560 00:49:14,201 --> 00:49:17,161 l took Hitler by his neck. 561 00:49:17,245 --> 00:49:21,999 Behind me were two other ofticers from his bodyguard. 562 00:49:23,877 --> 00:49:29,966 And so we took Hitler's body and proceeded with it into the park. 563 00:49:34,137 --> 00:49:39,058 ln the park, we laid the bodies together next to each other 564 00:49:39,142 --> 00:49:42,395 and poured the available petrol over them. 565 00:49:44,439 --> 00:49:49,318 ln the Reich Chancellery park there was fire all around. 566 00:49:51,446 --> 00:49:53,531 A draught had got up 567 00:49:53,615 --> 00:49:58,828 so that we could not set the corpses alight with an ordinary match. 568 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:08,796 So l twisted a taper out of some paper from a notebook 569 00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:13,801 and Reichsleiter Bormann, who meanwhile had also come upstairs 570 00:50:13,885 --> 00:50:18,806 with others like Dr Goebbels, Burgdorf and some ofticers, 571 00:50:18,890 --> 00:50:25,021 lit the taper and l threw the taper onto the bodies 572 00:50:25,105 --> 00:50:29,483 and in an instant the corpses were set alight. 573 00:50:37,284 --> 00:50:39,118 (Nikulina speaks Russian) 574 00:50:39,202 --> 00:50:42,079 (translator) That night we were the first 575 00:50:42,164 --> 00:50:45,416 to take the fight into the Chancellery itself. 576 00:50:47,836 --> 00:50:54,175 Our objective was to be the planting of our banner on the building itself. 577 00:50:54,259 --> 00:50:56,052 There was a group of us. 578 00:50:56,136 --> 00:51:00,306 Our group consisted of me, Sanogen, Alimov and Uzbek, 579 00:51:00,390 --> 00:51:03,559 who was the Young Communist organiser of our battalion. 580 00:51:03,643 --> 00:51:07,188 He and his Young Communists had fought through with us together. 581 00:51:07,272 --> 00:51:11,067 They protected me so that l could fight my way in to hoist the flag. 582 00:51:11,151 --> 00:51:13,069 They gave me the banner to enable me 583 00:51:13,153 --> 00:51:15,780 to get into the building itself and hoist it up. 584 00:51:15,864 --> 00:51:17,865 Having got into the building, 585 00:51:17,949 --> 00:51:22,161 we started making our way up the staircase towards the attic. 586 00:51:23,872 --> 00:51:29,960 Some fascists opened up on us and Sanogen was hit in the head and fell. 587 00:51:30,087 --> 00:51:32,505 His friends rushed forward to him 588 00:51:32,589 --> 00:51:36,300 while l had to make it upstairs to plant the banner. 589 00:51:42,557 --> 00:51:46,185 And having made my way onto the roof through a shell hole, 590 00:51:46,269 --> 00:51:49,605 l secured our red banner with a length of telegraph wire. 591 00:51:49,689 --> 00:51:51,774 (cheering) 592 00:51:53,652 --> 00:51:57,071 - How do you do? - You're one of Joe Stalin's soldiers 593 00:51:57,155 --> 00:52:00,574 - and l'm pleased to meet you. - (man speaks Russian) 594 00:52:02,661 --> 00:52:06,163 (narrator) When the armies of East and West met in Germany 595 00:52:06,248 --> 00:52:10,709 there was a brief moment of warmth and comradeship. 596 00:52:10,794 --> 00:52:14,755 - Well, we fought the same way together. - Yes. 597 00:52:14,840 --> 00:52:21,220 Well, all the best, old man. l'm very glad to have met you. Very glad indeed. 598 00:52:21,304 --> 00:52:25,766 - (speaks Russian) - Thank you very much. 599 00:52:25,851 --> 00:52:29,562 We don't understand the language but we mean the same thing. 600 00:52:46,288 --> 00:52:51,709 (narrator) The Red Army saw themselves as liberators, not avengers. 601 00:53:01,428 --> 00:53:04,805 But the crimes of Hitler's Reich had to be paid for, 602 00:53:04,890 --> 00:53:07,975 it was the ordinary German who paid.