"A vivid reconstruction of the final weeks of Hitler¡¯s regime." - Kirkus Reviews
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, 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.
Joachim 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.
Overall 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.
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 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.
Azt gondolom, hogy akik a n¨¦metek, akik 1945 ¨¢prilis¨¢ban-m¨¢jus¨¢ban Berlin f¨¹st?lg? romjai k?z?tt k¨®v¨¢lyogtak, ¨®hatatlanul fel kellett maguknak tegy¨¦k a k¨¦rd¨¦st: hogy jutottunk id¨¢ig? Hol volt a t?rt¨¦nelem azon pontja, amikor m¨¦g be lehetett volna h¨²zni a k¨¦zif¨¦ket, amikor m¨¦g meg lehetett volna akad¨¢lyozni komplett n¨¦met v¨¢rosok zsar¨¢tnokk¨¢ l¨¦nyeg¨¹l¨¦s¨¦t? Fest v¨¢lasza az, hogy a v¨¢lasz Hitler szem¨¦ly¨¦ben keresend?. Sz¨¢m¨¢ra a n¨¦metek f¨¹hrere a dikt¨¢torok egy teljesen ¨²j min?s¨¦g¨¦t k¨¦pviseli ¨C addig az ?sszes birodalmi vezet? valamilyen pozit¨ªv idea alapj¨¢n tartotta mag¨¢t jogosultnak a vil¨¢guralomra, m¨¦g akkor is, ha ez az idea csak cukorm¨¢z volt a n¨¦pirt¨¢sok pen¨¦szes pisk¨®t¨¢j¨¢n. M¨¦g Szt¨¢linr¨®l is elmondhat¨®, hogy hivatkozhatott a kommunizmus nemes eszm¨¦j¨¦re, ahol elvileg mindenki egyenl? ¨¦s a butas¨¢gig boldog lesz ¨C ez m¨¦g akkor is valami, ha kamu. Hitler viszont teljesen ny¨ªltan vallotta, hogy ? mindenkit el akar puszt¨ªtani vagy rabszolgasorba akar d?nteni, aki nem ¨¢rja: ?A majmok p¨¦ld¨¢ul minden k¨ªv¨¹l¨¢ll¨®t hal¨¢lra tipornak, vagyis a k?z?ss¨¦g¨¹kt?l idegent. ?s ami a majmokra ¨¦rv¨¦nyes, annak fokozott m¨¦rt¨¦kben az emberekre is ¨¦rv¨¦nyesnek kell lennie¡± ¨C fejtegette m¨¦g 1942-ben. ?s ami a pl¨¢ne: Hitler ezeket t?k komolyan gondolta. Mondhatn¨®k, az aut¨®p¨¢ly¨¢kat is csak az¨¦rt ¨¦p¨ªtette, hogy gyorsabban oda¨¦rjen a F?ld b¨¢rmely pontj¨¢ra, ¨¦s elpuszt¨ªthassa azt. Ilyen k?r¨¹lm¨¦nyek k?z?tt Berlin f¨¹st?lg? romjai sz¨¹ks¨¦gszer? k?vetkezm¨¦nyei voltak a politik¨¢nak, ami folyton kereste az egyre nagyobb ¨¦s nagyobb ellens¨¦geket.
Megjegyzem, Fest ezzel m¨¦g semmit nem mond arr¨®l, hogyan ny¨ªlt alkalma Hitlernek arra, hogy hagym¨¢zas ?r¨¹leteit ki¨¦lje. Mert m¨¦g ha el is fogadom, hogy nem volt hozz¨¢ hasonl¨® a politikusok k?z?tt, m¨¦g mindig ott van a k¨¦rd¨¦s, ki tette politikuss¨¢. Mert szerintem a vil¨¢g sz¨¢mos bolondokh¨¢z¨¢j¨¢ban tal¨¢lni potenci¨¢lis megalom¨¢n t?meggyilkosokat, csak ¨¦pp k¨¦nyszerzubbonyban. Hogy lehet, hogy Hitler nem oda ker¨¹lt, hanem a n¨¦pvez¨¦r posztj¨¢ra? Fest ¨¦rinti ugyan ezt a k¨¦rd¨¦st, de igaz¨¢b¨®l nagyon ¨²gy fest, a t?rt¨¦nelemnek nem a t¨¢rsadalmi oldala, hanem a nagy form¨¢tum¨² egy¨¦nis¨¦gei ¨¦rdeklik.
K¨¹l?nben igaz¨¢n j¨®l meg¨ªrt, helyenk¨¦nt szuggeszt¨ªv ?sszegfoglal¨¢s ez a Harmadik Birodalom utols¨® ¨®r¨¢ir¨®l. N¨¦ha szinte l¨¢ttam magam el?tt az egyre leromlottabb fizikai ¨¦s ment¨¢lis ¨¢llapotban l¨¦v? Adolfot, amint a Kancell¨¢ria alatti bunker folyos¨®in k¨®sz¨¢l, ¨¦s mekegve panaszkodik mindenkinek, aki hajland¨® meghallgatni. Abban rem¨¦nykedem, hogy ilyen lehet neki a pokol is: k¨ªs¨¦rtetk¨¦nt fel-al¨¢ v¨¢nszorog a csupasz, dohszag¨² betonfalak k?z?tt az id?k v¨¦gezet¨¦ig, azon elm¨¦lkedve, hogy mit rontott el. Folyton keresne, kutatna valakit, akinek kifejthetn¨¦, hogy romlottak el a dolgok, ¨¦s mi¨¦rt nem hever m¨¢r a l¨¢bai el?tt a vil¨¢g. De a folyos¨®k ¨¹resek. Senki nem hallja meg, senki nem hallgatja meg. Egyed¨¹l van, az ?r?kk¨¦val¨®s¨¢gig.
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.
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 :-(
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 F¨¹hrer. 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.
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.
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, ) 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 F¨¹hrer 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 G?ring 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.
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.
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 carri¨¨re 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Downfall aka Der Untergang, based on Inside Hitler¡¯s Bunker ¨C 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 ¨C 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 ¨C 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¡ 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 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 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 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 ¨C 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¡¯ 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¡
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.
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.
Con la garant¨ªa de ser considerado uno de los mejores bi¨®grafos de Hitler, Joachim Fest nos lleva de la mano hasta las entra?as del legendario bunker del F¨¹hrer, con todos los horrores de la guerra y peor, de la derrota. Al fin alguien nos relata con detalle qu¨¦ pas¨® en los d¨ªas finales del l¨ªder del 3er. Reich.
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.
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.
Most of what happened in Hitler's bunker in the last few weeks of the war was already determined by Hugh Trevor-Roper in 1947, and his book is better than Fest's. Fest's book is mainly interesting because it provides another insight into Hitler's thinking, based on informal conversations with people around him. Even though the reliability of these reports may not be so great, there's little doubt that they are to the point in portraying Hitler in wartime as a callous monster for whom people were just organisms engaged in a Darwinian survival contest; the way of nature. The strong will dominate and survive, the weak will die, and that's all there is. So for Hitler it was always all-or-nothing. For Germany also it was a matter of world domination or destruction. Destruction not only as a consequence of not dominating, but as a just application of nature's laws. Because if you aren't the strongest you deserve to go under. This is why he ordered Germany's total destruction at the end of the war. Not just to prevent the enemy from using German infrastructure, but because everything should be destroyed for its own sake.
Even earlier Hitler and Goebbels (who was his greatest fan and disciple, believing in his genius till the end), showed their nihilism by making jokes about the allied terror bombings of the historic German city centers not really being in line with Nazi plans for city development but at least being a good start, as everything needed to make place for new Nazi architecture anyway.
In the end Hitler said he was betrayed by his generals, but he also said he was betrayed by the German people, who had failed him. They weren't strong enough. He had had to start his war both too late, giving other countries the time to rearm, and too early, with the Germans not yet Nazified enough to be able to win the war.
In my opinion Fest takes Hitler's 'victory or untergang' motto too far, and goes off the rails at the other end. He claims that Hitler wanted destruction all along, because he took pleasure in that. Granted, his favorite words were 'vernichten' and 'ausrotten' (destroy and exterminate), but he saw his mission as leading Germany to world domination, not to destruction. And he was always concerned about his future place in history. He wanted to be an even greater German than his idol Frederick the Great. Only in case he didn't achieve these goals did he want to go down in flames, taking a world with him.
Cartea pe care o ?ine?i ?n m?n? este, ?n esen??, o carte de istorie. Istoria unui mare r?zboi, a unui imperiu funebru, dar ?n special istoria personal? a ultimelor zile ale unui celebru, puternic ?i sinistru dictator. Este scris? de Joachim Fest cu metod? de investigator, cu pasiune de jurnalist ?i rigurozitate de istoric, autorul fiind unul dintre numele str?ns legate de studierea detaliat? ?i constant? a celui de-al Treilea Reich.
? ?n 2006, c?nd a murit, Fest avea 79 de ani. Der Spiegel scria atunci c? Germania a pierdut unul dintre cei mai stima?i intelectuali, The New York Times depl?ngea trecerea ?n nefiin?? a celui mai respectat ?i tran?ant specialist german ?n istoria nazismului, The Times se referea la el consider?ndu-l drept unul dintre pu?inii istorici germani care a scris bestselleruri ce iscau dezbateri na?ionale care durau luni ?ntregi, iar The Telegraph se apleca ?i el, respectuos, ?n fa?a carierei sale, afirm?nd c? Fest este cel mai apreciat istoric ?i cel mai distins jurnalist al Germaniei postbelice.
? Joachim Fest a fost, ?ntr-adev?r, istoric ?i jurnalist deopotriv?, afl?ndu-se ?n conducerea prestigiosului Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung aproape dou? decenii, timp ?n care a devenit cunoscut ?i ca autor al biografiei lui Hitler. Probabil c? marii editori ai presei interna?ionale care l-au cunoscut vor spune c? Fest a fost mai mult jurnalist dec?t istoric, a?a cum ?i istoricii care ?i ?tiu opera ?l revendic? deja ca apar?in?nd breslei lor. Scriitura elegant?, felul ?n care construia ideile ?i priceperea ?n a expune faptele l-au consacrat pe Joachim Fest ca om de cultur? indiferent unde a g?sit potrivit s? publice, ?ntre copertele unei c?r?i sau ?n paginile ziarelor. A creat opere ?i, ceea ce nu se ?nt?mpl? prea des, operele sale au de?inut recorduri la v?nzare, volumul intitulat Hitler, publicat ?n 1973, fiind una dintre cele mai c?utate c?r?i de c?tre public ?i, ?n acela?i timp, considerat? de speciali?ti drept genul de biografie care nu omite nimic. Biografia lui Hitler scris? de Fest a fost publicat? ?ntr-o epoc? ?n care autorii germani explorau toate fa?etele Reichului nazist, c?ut?nd explica?ii pentru op?iunile lui Hitler fie ?n natura regimului de putere ?i a birocra?iei constituite, fie ?n persoana ?i ?carisma¡± personal? a liderului german.
Tantos a?os despu¨¦s de haber visto la pel¨ªcula El Hundimiento, y hasta ahora desconoc¨ªa que se hab¨ªa basado en un libro concreto (dejando aparte las memorias de la secretaria de Hitler y otros escritos). Nada m¨¢s averiguarlo por casualidad, tuve que adquirirlo, dado que es una de mis pel¨ªculas hist¨®ricas favoritas.
El libro de Joachim Fest me ha gustado tanto como la pel¨ªcula. Evidentemente, se centra de forma particular en los acontecimientos acaecidos en el bunker del F¨¹hrer durante los dram¨¢ticos ¨²ltimos meses de la guerra. Tambi¨¦n describe las particularidades psicol¨®gicas de Hitler, as¨ª como se plantea la gran pregunta: ?c¨®mo es posible que un pueblo tan culto y adelantado como el alem¨¢n eligiera apoyar al Partido Nacionalsocialista?
Por detr¨¢s de las ruinas, de las ejecuciones y de los suicidios, y de las fantas¨ªas victoriosas en momentos de derrota total subyace una voluntad de morir, un vac¨ªo moral de corte nihilista y, de fondo, los acordes wagnerianos del Crep¨²sculo de los dioses.
Una de las tesis que Fest sostiene en el libro es que el hundimiento de Alemania no fue tanto una derrota de Hitler como el cumplimiento de su m¨¢s aut¨¦ntica y profunda voluntad. El hombre que siempre odi¨® al mundo no buscaba sino su destrucci¨®n, por m¨¢s que en sus discursos grandilocuentes hablase de alcanzar el renacimiento de antiguas glorias arias. Solo as¨ª pueden entenderse algunas de sus ¨®rdenes m¨¢s radicales e incomprensibles desde el punto de vista militar, como su prohibici¨®n de llevar a cabo cualquier retirada por parte de los ej¨¦rcitos alemanes (resistir o morir), o su predilecci¨®n absoluta por la t¨¢ctica de "tierra quemada", con la cual pretendi¨® hundir bajo los escombros a muchas otras ciudades aparte de Berl¨ªn.
En resumidas cuentas, un libro imprescindible para cualquier interesado en el final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en Europa, en las ra¨ªces del pensamiento nazi o en la figura de Hitler. Adem¨¢s, el libro es bastante corto (unas 200 p¨¢ginas), y de f¨¢cil lectura, por lo que puede ser una buena opci¨®n tambi¨¦n para los interesados que no sean tan dados a la lectura de libros historiogr¨¢ficos m¨¢s "densos".
nachdem ich neulich wieder einmal den film "der untergang" gesehen habe, erinnerte ich mich an dieses buch, das ich schon jahre im regal stehen habe, und wollte nun mit viel versp?tung doch noch die "historische skizze" lesen, die joachim fest schrieb, auf welcher der film ¨¹berwiegend aufbaut.
auch wenn einige der dinge, die joachim fest in seiner monumentalen hitler-biographie schreibt, aufgrund selektiver informationslage und bisweilen zu wenig umfassender betrachtungsweisen fragw¨¹rdig ist, muss man joachim fest doch - zumal f¨¹r einen historiker - enorme stilistische f?higkeiten zugestehen, die in der "historischen skizze", welche dieses buch er?ffnet, um so mehr ins gewicht fallen, weil er auf vergleichsweise wenigen seiten komprimiert all das beschreibt, was in diesen letzten tagen des zweiten weltkrieges im epizentrum des unterganges geschieht, aber auch nachvollziehbar beleuchtet, wie es in summa zu all dem irrsinn gekommen ist. es ist ein fesselnder bericht, der noch greifbarer als es der film vermag, den wahnsinn des krieges zu beleuchten imstande ist, und dabei nicht nur den irrsinn im bunker rund um die kernfigur hitler, mit all seinen vasallen und gefolgsleuten beschreibt und ¨¹ber sie erz?hlt, sondern auch die mechanismen des lange schon verlorenen krieges rund um berlin, der in einem fanal aus zerst?rung und sinnlosester verz?gerung endet.
auch wenn das thema nat¨¹rlich inzwischen derart ausgewalzt und immer und immer wieder aufgerollt wurde: vergessen sollte man es nicht, und immer wieder hinsehen, mit welchem wahnsinn und auf welcher grundlage damals so viele ihr leben lassen mussten; am schmerzhaftesten zu erkennen sind die parallelen zur heutigen zeit, die immer deutlicher werden: desinformation, verblendung, blindheit, falsche anf¨¹hrer.
daher eine empfehlung, vor allem f¨¹r den text von joachim fest. das drehbuch zum film (das auch enthalten ist) kann man, muss man aber nicht lesen.
If you've seen the film Downfall (based on Fest's work) or read any other piece of literature about Hitler's final hours then this book has nothing to offer. However if you know very little about the matter then this is the perfect vehicle into the world of 1945 Berlin. More suited to casual readers than historians as it doesn't feature any footnotes or endnotes, Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich is as entertaining as it is informative. Joachim Fest is probably Germany's most popular Third Reich historian, and has a knack for acknowledging humour in some of history's darkest moments (in particular, the episode of a Russian poet falling out of a closet with a crash and casually walking away without anyone commenting on the matter during Nazi / Soviet peace negotiations comes to mind).
Chiefly covering events that occurred in the bunker I feel the book detours too often and too far into being a piece about the Battle for Berlin (which would be fine if it were not for the book's title and the fact there are many great books about that already available offering much more detail).
Although leaving him open to criticism, Fest has bravely (or lazily?) decided to present 'his' version of events inside the bunker based on testimonies that he feels fit best rather than presenting us with all the infinite possible variations based on numerous conflicting accounts. If this were a definitive tome for use by historians it would be unforgivable, but as an 180 page introduction to the subject for those with a passing interest it helps make sense of a very confusing black spot in 20th century history.