Letter, FHQ Wolfsschanze, 30 August 1941:
…we spent a couple of days in Galicia and I found your letter on my return… Our stay here at HQ is dragging on and on. At first we thought we would be back in Berlin at the end of July, then it was mid October and now people are saying we will not be getting away before the end of October or perhaps even later. A perceptible autumn chill is already in the air and if the boss decides to stay for the winter we shall all freeze. This ‘living for ever in the bunker’ is healthy for none of us. The boss does not look at all well, he gets too little fresh air and is now oversensitive to sun and wind whenever he goes for a few hours’ drive.
I would love to have remained in Galicia,[77] nearly everybody was in favour of it, but it is more difficult to guarantee security there. Incidents occur every day, and as the compound there cannot be fenced off as well as at our present HQ the danger is too great.
The countryside there is so lovely it really surprised me. On one side forests and on the other gently rolling hills. On the hilltops cattle were silhouetted against the blue sky and the farmers followed the plough. The peasants’ huts are quite romantic, rounded and protected against the wind by a thatched roof and scarcely a window anywhere. In front a well with a rusty chain, a few sunflowers; the womenfolk, suntanned and all barefoot, wear a long dark cloth over the head and down to the hips. They keep close to their cows, a little shady, a little secretive, but totally in keeping with the landscape, which somehow reminded me of home.
That whole region there is freer; here in the woods the atmosphere is depressing after a while. Another thing that struck me there was that I did not have the feeling of being locked in, I could see the farmers working in the fields and this gave me the feeling of being free while here we are always coming across sentries and having to show our identity cards. Even so, of course, we remain perpetually isolated from the world wherever we are: in Berlin, on the Berg or travelling, always the same limited circle, always the same crowd inside the wire. And therein lies the danger of becoming shy of people and losing contact with real life and… a great dilemma: one longs to get out, but when one is out one does not know where to begin because one is so utterly and completely set in this fixed existence and no possibility exists for a life beyond this circle. The circle around the boss is held together by the common experience, but woebetide us when he goes away, for then everything comes apart (this is also the opinion of Dr Brandt), and then it is grim for those who have lost contact with the outside world. Excuse me for going on about this, but I see in it a problem for later which will not be easy to resolve.
When the German armies were surprised by the terrible winter of 1941, and stuck fast in the Russian ice, Hitler was frequently depressed, but remained hopeful as before of a quick victory: ‘It is no more than a quite thin veil which we have to penetrate’, he said, ‘we must be patient. The Russian resistance will not endure.’ The veil was not torn asunder and our stay at Wolfsschanze grew ever longer.
Letter, FHQ Wolfsschanze, 6 January 1942:
…your other observations about morale in the Reich, the Church etc. I found very interesting. I believe that the mood will very soon revive once more great successes begin to be announced, e.g. when Leningrad falls. The harvest will ripen in the next ten days anyhow. The boss has a principle of not making Special Announcements until a battle is definitely won because premature claims can alert the enemy to his danger and imperil lives. He often finds himself in a dilemma over this: he would like to calm the country, but on the other hand deny the enemy any details.
I can well imagine that the churches are full, but I share your opinion (which is also that of the boss) that nothing can be undertaken at the moment. That will have to wait for after the war…
Incidentally a gramophone was introduced into the Führerbunker a fortnight ago and now almost every evening we hear the songs of Strauss, Hugo Wolf and primarily Wagner of course. I have a very special liking for the Heimliche Aufforderung by Strauss sung by Schlusnus and on another occasion by a tenor from Graz who tends towards being baritone: Peter Anders (you should remember the name when buying records!), he has a very soft, fawning voice, but very clear diction. These songs are wonderful, one is quite lulled into love and warmth which apparently has an effect on the boss too, for yesterday evening he said to us girls: ‘Children, you must use every hour!’ I should like to have told him: what does he imagine, I should like to know, I can do to enjoy my youth when we crouch down with him day in day out, year in year out and never get away. Yes, yes, theory and practice…
Letter, FHQ Wolfsschanze, 15 January 1942:
Scarcely had I posted my letter of moans and groans than your dear letter arrived, which I read voraciously. I wrote to you in reply at once a long, long letter which I held back a few days because my outpourings would surely have been depressing for you. In a way I am sorry but it is better if I save up all these things for my visit in March. I have agreed with my colleague that from now on we will relieve each other regularly so that we have at least some private life. Daranowski has gone on leave now and I shall have the pleasure in March.
I will just tell you today that the holiday here was miserable. In the pre-Christmas period the Führer took over supreme command.[78] His workload has grown immeasurably and scheduled mealtimes have gone by the board. Lunch will now be taken at 1400, but is postponed increasingly to an hour when normal people have their evening meal. The record was set a few days ago when the boss had lunch at 1800. Dinner had to be put back accordingly and our tea session in his bunker, which used to begin at 2200, now usually gets under way after midnight (record to date 0200), which means we turn in between 0400 and 0500.
The natural rhythm of life, which is very important for health, no longer exists, and the mood swings from high to low without a transition period, which I cannot imagine is good for the soul. At New Year for example we were in officers’ mess for supper in a contented mood. Then we were ordered to the tea session where the boss was exhausted, and after a while nodded off, which meant we had to keep quiet, and were forced to suppress our merriment. The boss spent three hours in the situation conference and the officers who had arrived to wish him happy New Year waited around with long faces which they dared not crease into a smile. I cannot describe exactly why, but next I had a crying fit in my bunker and went back to the officers’ mess where I found a couple of brave lads from the SS-Begleitkommando, who naturally detected that I had been in tears and I promptly started again. They attempted to comfort me with words and alcohol and finally succeeded. Then we sang together that heart-rending sea shanty ‘We were lying off Madagascar and had the plague on board.’
77
During a visit to the Eastern Front, Hitler and Mussolini spent the night of 27 August 1941 on their special trains at FHQ Askania-Süd, a purpose-built surface tunnel to house the train coaches near the village of Frysztak in Galicia (tunnel and other structures remain in existence). Barracks for the security personnel and a tea-house for Hitler were located near Strzyzow, twenty kilometres north of Krosno. Seidler and Zeigert,
78
After dismissing Generalfeldmarschall von Brauchitsch on 19 December 1941, Hitler took over supreme command of the army. He explained: ‘Anybody can handle the little bit of operational leadership. The task of the army supreme commander is to educate the Army to be National Socialist. To my way of thinking there is no army general who can fulfil the role.’