LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ADOLF HITLER

The 'last will and testament of Adolf Hitler' was dictated by Hitler to his secretary Traudl Junge in his Berlin Führerbunker on April 29 1945, the day he and Eva Braun married. They committed suicide the next day (April 30), three days before the surrender of Berlin to the Soviets on May 2, and just over a week before the end of World War II in Europe on May 8. It consisted of two separate documents, a will and a political testament.

Contents

Will

Testament

Authorship

Death of the witnesses

External documents

Will

was a short document signed on 29 April 1945 at 4:00 am:

★ It acknowledged his marriage—but does not name Eva Braun—and that they choose death over disgrace of deposition or capitulation; and that their bodies were to be burnt.

★ His art collection is left to "a gallery in my home town of Linz on Donau".

★ Objects of "sentimental value or is necessary for the maintenance of a modest simple life" went to his relations and his "faithful co-workers" such as secretary Frau Winter.

★ Whatever else of value he possessed went to the National Socialist German Workers Party.

★ Martin Bormann was nominated as the will's executor.
The will was witnessed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann and Colonel Nicholaus von Below.

Testament

was signed at the same time as Hitler's last will, 4:00 am on April 29, 1945. The first part of the testament is a restatement of the political position and justifications which he had stated many times before. His intention to commit suicide soon after writing the testament and the imminent destruction of the Third Reich did not alter his political position. The second part lays out Hitler's intentions for the government of Germany and the Nazi Party after his death.

★ Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring is to be expelled from the party.

★ Reichsführer-SS and Minister of the Interior, Heinrich Himmler, is to be expelled from the party.

★ Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz is to be appointed President of the Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
Hitler appointed the following as the new Cabinet and as "leaders of the nation":

★ President of the Reich (''Reichspräsident''): Karl Dönitz

★ Chancellor of the Reich (''Reichskanzler''): Dr. Joseph Goebbels

★ Party Minister (''Parteiminister''): Martin Bormann

★ Foreign Minister (''Aussenminister''): Arthur Seyss-Inquart

★ Interior Minister (''Innenminister''): Gauleiter Paul Giesler

★ Minister of War (''Kriegsminister''): Karl Dönitz

★ Commander-in-Chief of the Army (''Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres''): Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner

★ Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (''Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine''): Karl Dönitz

★ Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (''Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe''): General Ritter von Greim

★ Commander-in-Chief of the SS and Chief of Police (''Reichsführer-SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei''): Gauleiter Karl Hanke

★ Minister of Economy (''Wirtschaft''): Walter Funk

★ Minister of Agriculture (''Landwirtschaft''): Herbert Backe

★ Minister of Justice (''Justiz''): Otto Thierack

★ Minister of Culture (''Kultus''): Dr. Gustav Adolf Scheel

★ Minister of Propaganda (''Propaganda''): Dr. Werner Naumann

★ Minister of Finance (''Finanzen''): Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk

★ Minister of Labour (''Arbeit''): Dr. Theo Hupfauer

★ Minister of Munitions (''Rüstung''): Otto Saur

★ Director of the German Labour Front and member of the Cabinet (''Leiter der Deutschen Arbeitsfront und Mitglied des Reichskabinetts: Reichsminister'') Dr. Robert Ley.
Witnessed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Martin Bormann, and General Hans Krebs.
It was then thought to be believed that Hitler then killed himself and his wife, by cyanide pills and Hitler shooting himself. The actual method is under debate as is the autopsy results conducted in Russia and not released to the west until years afterwards.

Authorship

In his book ''The Bunker'', James O'Donnell, after comparing the wording of Hitler's last testament to the writings and statements of both Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, concluded that Goebbels was at least partly responsible for helping Hitler to write it. Junge claimed Hitler was reading from notes when he dictated the testament; since Hitler could barely write by this stage, O'Donnell made a good argument that it was actually Goebbels who had written these notes.

Death of the witnesses

All four witnesses to the political testament died shortly afterwards. Goebbels and his wife committed suicide on May 1. Burgdorf and Krebs committed suicide together on the night of May 1 – May 2 in the bunker. Bormann's exact time and place of death remain uncertain; he probably was killed the same night, as he was trying to escape from the bunker.

External documents

★ Hitler's Last Will Source: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1946–1948, vol. VI, pg. 259–260.

★ Adolf Hitler's Final Political Testament in English Source: United States, Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, 8 vols. and 2 suppl. vols. (Government Printing Office, Washington, 1946–1948), VI, 259–263, Doc. No. 3569-PS. (backup site)

★ Adolf Hitler Politisches Testament (in German).

★ The Death of Hitler explains why Hitler had fallen out with Goering.

★ World at War Television Series: DVD 5 (Bonus Episode:Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler) deals with the controversy regarding the method of his suicide and his autopsy.

★ ''The Testament of Adolf Hitler'' the Borman-Hitler documents