Shrouding himself from reality, Goebbels took to the airwaves on the evening of 19 April to congratulate Hitler on his forthcoming birthday and to praise his genius. In an impassioned, over-long and somewhat discursive address to the shrinking Reich, Goebbels attempted to rally the people with these words:
…Once more, the armies of the enemy powers storm our defences; in their wake, foaming at the mouth, international Jewry, which does not want peace because their diabolical aim is to see the world destroyed. But in vain. God will throw back Lucifer, as he has done before when the dark angel stood before the gates of power, back into the abyss from whence he came… Germany is still the land of loyalty; in the hour of danger she will celebrate her greatest triumph. Never shall history say that the people have abandoned their Fuhrer, or that the Fuhrer has abandoned his people. And this means victory.
That same night, Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky reported to Stalin that his 2nd Belorussian Front was now ready to go on the offensive. The following day General Hasso von Manteuffel’s 3rd Panzer Army bore the brunt of Rokossovsky’s assault. The spirited defence mounted by Manteuffel’s troops over the next few days prevented a direct northern thrust against Berlin. However, their involvement in blunting Rokossovsky’s drive also precluded them from taking a more direct role in the defence of Berlin.
On the morning of 20 April, the 125th Rifle Corps of Lieutenant-General Frants I. Perkhorovich’s 47th Army stormed and captured Bernau. Meanwhile, General Semyon Bogdanov’s 2nd Guards Tank Army had forged ahead of the infantry, cutting a swathe to the outskirts of Berlin at Ladenburg and Zepernick. At 11.00hrs, Major A.I. Zyukin ordered his artillery battery to fire on Berlin. Zhukov was then able to report to Stalin that elements of his forces were already engaged in the battle for the city.
That morning, Hermann Goering, the corpulent second man in the sinking ship of state awoke early at his estate near Eberswalde. His country house, named Carinhall in honour of his first wife who had died in 1931 was wired-up with explosives. As Rokossovsky’s guns boomed in the distance, a convey of Luftwaffe trucks prepared to head south, all were laden with Goering’s most treasured possessions. After speaking a few words to the commander of the departing truck column, Goering pressed down on the plunger which set off a tremendous explosion reducing his beloved Carinhall to ruins. Without looking back, he stepped into his waiting car which would take him to the Reich Chancellery in Berlin for Hitler’s birthday celebrations.
Meanwhile, the man whom Hitler referred to as ‘My loyal Heinrich’ was making plans of his own. His special-plenipotentiary, Brigadier-General Walter Schellenberg, along with his masseur and confidant Felix Kersten had arranged meetings that day with Count Folke Bernadotte, the vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross, and Norbert Masur, who at short notice had replaced Gilel Storch as the visiting representative of the World Jewish Congress. Both Bernadotte and Masur had assumed that Himmler had wanted to discuss the possible release of concentration camp prisoners. This was certainly part of Himmler’s thinking at the time, though his main concern was in opening up channels of communication with General Eisenhower.
When Count Bernadotte arrived in Berlin, Schellenberg informed him that Himmler was unable to see him immediately. Following an air-raid alert, he set off for the comparative safety of the Swedish Legation air raid shelter, on the way noting that ‘Berlin had become a silent city’. After spending several hours in the shelter, Bernadotte was driven to Hohenlychen Sanatorium where medical superintendent Dr Karl Gebhardt was waiting to welcome him. Several more hours passed, largely as a consequence of Himmler’s vacillation. Evidently, he could still not fully commit to what amounted to treason against his beloved Fuhrer.
Meanwhile, Masur had also arrived in Berlin, accompanied on the flight from Stockholm by Kersten. Masur and Kersten were the only passengers and during the flight the representative of the World Jewish Congress reflected on his mission:
For me as a Jew, it was a deeply moving thought, that, in a few hours, I would be face to face with the man who was primarily responsible for the destruction of several million Jewish people. But my agitation was dampened by the thought that I finally would have the important opportunity to be of help to many of my tormented fellow Jews. I had been in the midst of other missions before, but always from the safety of Stockholm. This time it was action at the front lines.
Masur was indeed stepping into the lion’s den. However, his composure was only to be admired. Thankfully, the journey to Berlin was without incident. Later, Masur documented his experiences in detail. As such, we have an accurate record of the run-up to the meeting, and later, the meeting itself. Masur’s recollections of his arrival in Berlin effectively chronicle the slow death of a once great city, and as such they are worth quoting in extensio:
The North-German plain passed peacefully in front of our eyes. The fields seemed to be tended carefully. Only once did I discern a bomb crater, the first sign of war, otherwise there were no traces. No soldiers or motorised columns were visible, only an occasional farmer. However, when we approached Berlin, the signs of war became more evident, bombed out houses, factories without roofs…
At the Templehof airport, my companion showed his passport, however I kept mine in my pocket. I did not have a visa, because only Himmler and his closest associates knew about our visit, it was held in complete secrecy from all the other Nazi bosses. Because of this, I could not apply for a visa at the German embassy in Stockholm. The Gestapo simply ordered that a man in the company of Dr Kersten should be admitted without passport control.
At the airport, the limousine of the Swedish embassy was waiting to take us into the city. However, we could not use this car, and had to wait for a Gestapo car, as we were to proceed to an estate approximately 70 km north of Berlin. Unfortunately, we had to wait almost 2 hours. In the meantime, I had the opportunity to get a first impression of the atmosphere in Berlin. I had a conversation with some of the workers at the airport, and was able to discern that they were war-weary and without hope. Every night, air-raids lasting 5 to 7 hours, therefore they had to spend a long time in uncomfortable air-raid shelters without sleep, that is too much for even the strongest person. The air-raids occur with the punctuality of a time table. Every evening, shortly after dark, the Russians begin the attacks, followed by the Americans, and the British would finish the raids.
Because of this it was important for us to get out of town before the beginning of the air-raids. Around 10 pm, the car arrived, and the excuse was that the telephone connection with Stockholm was interrupted, and they did not know for sure if we were coming. The car left immediately, it was dark, and the moon was shining. The ruins of the houses were like ghosts. The driver sped through the city, which looked as if it were dead… We passed rows of destroyed houses, and drove through the narrow openings of tank-traps. Several times we had to take a detour to avoid streets that had recently been closed because of the bombings.
Finally, after an hour, we were out of Berlin and on the highway. It only took a few minutes before a military patrol stopped us and asked the driver to turn off the headlights, as there was an air alert. The nightly show over Berlin had started… The anti-aircraft searchlights began to play in the sky, and we stopped and got out of the car to watch the sinister, but fascinating show. From all sides we heard the whirring of propellers, which our driver, with his trained ears, identified as Russian. We saw how illumination flares spread out like a carpet, slowly descending to the ground, lighting up the entire area, how planes would be trapped in the spotlights, but we did not hear any flak. At my question as to why there was no shooting, I got the significant answer that all the flak ammunition had been sent to the front.