The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1944–1945

At least by the end of writing the book, I did think, however, that I had come closer to an answer to the question I had set myself: how and why, given the scale of the mounting calamity, Hitler’s regime could function—if, naturally, with diminishing effectiveness—for so long. If others think that after reading this book they, too, understand that better, I shall be well satisfied.

Dramatis Personae

The following list includes only those German political and military leaders who figure prominently in the text in some way, and is confined to indicating their positions or ranks in the months covered in the book, July 1944–May 1945.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

Reich

BORMANN, MARTIN (1900–1945): head of the Party Chancellery; Secretary to Hitler.

GOEBBELS, JOSEPH (1897–1945): Reich Minister of People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda; Reich Plenipotentary for Total War from July 1944.

GÖRING, HERMANN, Reich Marshal (1893–1946): designated successor to Hitler; head of the Four-Year Plan; Chairman of the Reich Defence Council; Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe.

HIMMLER, HEINRICH (1900–1945): Reichsführer-SS; head of the German Police; Reich Commissar for the Strengthening of German Nationhood; Reich Minister of the Interior and Plenipotentiary for Reich Administration; Commander-in-Chief of the Replacement Army from July 1944.

HITLER, ADOLF (1889–1945): Leader; head of state; head of the Reich government; head of the Nazi Party; supreme commander of the Wehrmacht; Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

KALTENBRUNNER, ERNST (1903–46): SS-Obergruppenführer; head of the Security Police and the Security Service.

KRITZINGER, WILHELM (1890–1947): State Secretary in the Reich Chancellery.

LAMMERS, HANS-HEINRICH (1879–1962): Reich Minister and head of the Reich Chancellery.

LEY, ROBERT (1890–1945): Reich Organization Leader of the Nazi Party; leader of the German Labour Front.

RIBBENTROP, JOACHIM VON (1893–1946): Reich Foreign Minister.

SCHWERIN VON KROSIGK, LUTZ GRAF (1887–1977): Reich Finance Minister; First Minister and Reich Foreign Minister in the Dönitz government.

SEYß-INQUART, ARTHUR (1892–1946): Reich Commissar for the Occupied Territories of the Netherlands.

SPEER, ALBERT (1905–81): Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production; Reich Minister of Industry and Production in the Dönitz government.

STUCKART, WILHELM (1902–53): SS-Obergruppenführer; State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of the Interior; Reich Minister of the Interior in the Dönitz government.

Provincial

GIESLER, PAUL (1895–1945): Gauleiter of Munich-Upper Bavaria.

GREISER, ARTHUR (1897–1946): Gauleiter of Reichsgau Wartheland.

GROHÉ, JOSEF (1902–88): Gauleiter of Cologne-Aachen.

HANKE, KARL (1903–45): Gauleiter of Lower Silesia.

HOFER, FRANZ (1902–75): Gauleiter of the Tyrol.

HOLZ, KARL (1895–1945): Gauleiter of Franconia.

KOCH, ERICH (1896–1986): Gauleiter of East Prussia.

RUCKDESCHEL, LUDWIG (1907–86): Gauleiter of Bayreuth, April–May 1945.

WÄCHTLER, FRITZ (1891–1945): Gauleiter of Bayreuth until April 1945.

WAHL, KARL (1892–1981): Gauleiter of Swabia.

MILITARY LEADERSHIP

BLASKOWITZ, JOHANNES, Colonel-General (1883–1948): Commander-in-Chief of Army Group G, May–September 1944, then December 1944–January 1945; Commander-in-Chief of Army Group H, January–April 1945.

DIETRICH, SEPP, SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel-General of the Waffen-SS (1892–1966): Commander of the 6th SS-Panzer Army, October 1944–May 1945.

DÖNITZ, KARL, Grand-Admiral (1891–1980): Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; Reich President following Hitler’s death.

GUDERIAN, HEINZ, Colonel-General (1888–1954): Chief of the Army General Staff, July 1944–March 1945

HARPE, JOSEF, Colonel-General (1887–1968): Commander-in-Chief of Army Group A, September 1944–January 1945; Commander of the 5th Panzer Army, March–April 1945.

HAUSSER, PAUL, SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Colonel-General of the Waffen-SS (1880–1972): Commander-in-Chief of Army Group G, January–April 1945.

HEINRICI, GOTTHARD, Colonel-General (1886–1971): Commander of the 1st Panzer Army, August 1944–March 1945; Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula, March–April 1945.

HOßBACH, FRIEDRICH, General (1894–1980): Commander of the 4th Army, July 1944–January 1945.

JODL, ALFRED, Colonel-General (1890–1946): Chief of the Wehrmacht Operations Staff in the High Command of the Wehrmacht.

KEITEL, WILHELM, Field-Marshal (1882–1946): head of the High Command of the Wehrmacht.

KESSELRING, ALBERT, Field-Marshal (1885–1960): Commander-in-Chief South to March 1945; Commander-in-Chief West, March–April 1945.

MANTEUFFEL, H1 VON, General of the Panzer Troops (1897–1978): Commander of the 5th Panzer Army, September 1944–March 1945; Commander of the 3rd Panzer Army, March–May 1945.

MODEL, WALTER, Field-Marshal (1891–1945): Commander-in-Chief Army Group Centre, June–August 1944; Commander-in-Chief West, August–September 1944; Commander-in-Chief of Army Group B, September 1944–April 1945.