We continued, past suddenly appearing military vehicles, past mounds of destruction in the town of Oranienburg, which had suffered an air raid recently. For me, the name Oranienburg was ominous, as here many of my closest relatives became acquainted with the terror of the concentration camps, before I was able to rescue them to emigrate into Sweden.
Finally, close to midnight, we arrived at our destination, an estate belonging to Dr Kersten. Here we were supposed to await the visit by Himmler. That night I was not able to sleep. Not because of the constant noise from the planes, but the tension at the thought of my meeting with Himmler… Even though I knew that Himmler’s reason for negotiating was the catastrophic war situation in Germany, I believed that many important results might come out of these negotiations.
Masur’s tension was further exacerbated the following morning when Schellenberg informed him that Himmler would be delayed as he was attending Hitler’s birthday celebrations at the Reich Chancellery. Masur later recorded his thoughts, stating with incongruity that, ‘Hitler should only have known that Himmler, after the birthday party, would be negotiating with a Jew!’. Whilst he waited for Himmler, Masur had a long conversation with Schellenberg, whom he found to be sincere. Later, he spoke with workers on the estate, and after gaining their trust, was able to learn more about the mood of the German people.
In Berlin, a few posters and banners had gone up by way of celebrating the Fuhrer’s birthday. In Moabit, a large banner was strung across a street near to the prison. The citizens of Berlin were well noted for their sense of humour, as such the message on the banner, which read, ‘We all pull on the same rope. Up the Fuhrer’ was interpreted with a wry smile by many. As was the norm on Hitler’s birthday, the weather was fine. There would however be no parades, no visible confirmation of a German culture triumphant. This last gathering of the Nazi elite was more of a wake than a celebration.
On the morning of his birthday, Hitler arose at 11.00hrs. Following brief birthday felicitations from the bunker entourage, he asked about the current military situation. The latest news from the crumbling battle fronts was hardly encouraging. It was clear that American and Soviet spearheads would soon link-up, cutting Germany in two. Hitler was urged to leave Berlin for the comparative safety of the Bavarian mountains. He rejected any suggestion that he should abandon Berlin by saying, ‘How am I to call on the troops to undertake the battle for Berlin, if at the same moment I withdraw myself to safety!’. The matter was thus irrevocably closed. Indeed, Hitler stated with some conviction that the Red Army would be destroyed at the very gates of Berlin.
Shortly before the scheduled military conference, Hitler emerged from the depths of the bunker into the chancellery gardens to meet a group of Hitler Youth members who were to be awarded decorations for knocking out Soviet tanks. The trembling in Hitler’s left arm meant that he was unable to present the awards personally. After giving a brief speech, he returned to the bunker for the military conference. By this time Goering had arrived, his huge bulk necessitating that he was given a seat opposite Hitler. As the conference dragged on, Goering had increasing difficulty in camouflaging his restlessness. The minutes slowly ticked by, Goering’s anxiety no doubt increasing as he wondered if the road to the south was still open. Eventually, the conference ended, the only concrete decision made being the confirmation by Hitler that the German command structure would be split into a northern command headed by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, and a southern command headed by Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring. Goering left immediately after the conference was adjourned, claiming ‘urgent tasks in South Germany’. Hitler looked right through him as if he no longer existed. Albert Speer, the talented and ambitious Minister of Armaments was also present at the conference where he noted, ‘a sense of being present at a historic moment’. Later that day, he left Berlin along with the leader of the Labour Front Dr Robert Ley, and the arrogant Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.
Himmler also left that day as he had his own urgent business to attend to. After a brief stop at his headquarters at Ziethen, he was driven to Gut Harzwalde to see Masur. Kersten was waiting as the car drew up in the pouring rain in the early hours of 21 April. Masur later recalled Himmler’s arrivaclass="underline"
During the course of the evening, we received a telephone call to tell us that Himmler would not come until around 2:30 am. We were sitting in the living room by candlelight, as the electricity, as always during air raids, was turned off. I was greatly worked up. Would this man, who was the real ruler of Germany, whose days however were numbered, appear as a man at the top of his power or would he already reflect the shadow of defeat? I was excited at the thought that in a few minutes I would be face to face with one of the greatest murderers of the Jewish people.
At exactly 2:30 we heard the noise of a car arriving. Kersten went outside, and after a few minutes, Heinrich Himmler entered, followed by Brigade Commander Schellenberg, adjutant Dr Brandt, and Kersten. In spite of my inner excitement, I appeared outwardly perfectly cool. Himmler greeted me with ‘Guten Tag’, instead of ‘Heil Hitler’, and conveyed his satisfaction at the fact that I came to see him.
We sat at a table, which was set up for coffee for five persons. Himmler was dressed impeccably in his uniform with the insignias of rank and shiny decorations. He looked well groomed, seemed fresh and lively in spite of the late hour, outwardly quiet, and in control. He looked better in person than in photographs. Perhaps his beady eyes and piercing gaze was an expression of sadism and harshness, however, had I not known his past, I would never have believed that this man was singularly responsible for the most extensive mass murders in history.
Indeed, Himmler went out of his way to appear cooperative. After telling Masur how happy he was to see him, Himmler opened the discussion by saying, ‘I want to bury the hatchet between us and the Jews. If I’d have had my way, many things would have been done differently’. He then went on to offer a feeble defence of the Nazi policies:
In our Generation, we have not known any peace. When the First World War began, I was 14 years old. The war hardly ended when the Civil War began, and the Jews were deeply involved in the Spartacist revolt. The Jews were a foreign element in our midst, which always evoked irritation… After coming into power, we wanted to settle this issue once and for all, and I was in favour of a humane solution through emigration. I conferred with American organisations, to arrange for a quick emigration, but even countries who claimed to be friendly toward the Jews did not want to admit Jews…
Then the war brought us into contact with the Jewish masses of the East, who were mostly part of the proletariat. Because of this, many new problems arose. We could not tolerate such an enemy at our backs. The Jewish masses were infected with many diseases, especially typhoid fever. I lost thousands of my SS troops through these diseases. Also the Jews were helping the partisans.
This litany of self justification for the worst crimes in history went on and on, much to Masur’s growing sense of exasperation. Nonetheless, he somehow kept his nerve and was able to stem Himmler’s flow of self pity by suggesting that he release prisoners in order to gain some credibility with the Anglo-American Allies. Himmler took the bait and agreed to the release of 1000 Jewish women from the concentration camp at Ravensbruck.