Ludwig Stumpfegger

SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Stumpfegger (July 11 1910 – May 2? 1945) was a German SS doctor in World War II and Adolf Hitler's personal physician from 1944.

Biography

Stumpfegger was born in Munich in Bavaria. He initially worked as an assistant doctor under Professor Karl Gebhardt in the Sanatorium Hohenlychen, which specialised in sports accidents. As a result of this experience, he was part of the medical team, along with Gebhardt, at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and the Winter Olympics of the same year in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

In 1939, the "Hohenlychen" was used by the SS as part of the war effort. Working under the supervision of Gebhardt, Dr. Fritz Fischer and Dr. Herta Oberheuser, he participated in medical experiments, the subjects of which were women from the concentration camp at Ravensbrück. The experiments included the transplantation of bone and muscle.

In 1945, Stumpfegger started working directly for Hitler in the Führerbunker in Berlin under the direction of Dr. Theodor Morell. At Hitler's request, he administered a cyanide tablet to Blondi, the German Shepherd dog which was a gift from Martin Bormann, to see how quickly it worked. Hitler said he wanted to see how quickly the German Army generals would die after taking their cyanide tablets. As the Red Army advanced towards the bunker, some sources claim that he helped Magda Goebbels murder her children before she and her husband Joseph Goebbels committed suicide.

After 21:00 on 1 May, Stumpfegger left Führerbunker in a breakout group that included Martin Bormann and Hitler Youth leader Artur Axmann. They emerged from an underground subway tunnel and quickly became disoriented among the ruins and ongoing battle. They walked for a time with some German tanks, but all three were temporarily stunned by an exploding anti-tank shell. Leaving the tanks and the rest of their group, they walked along railway tracks to Lehrter station where Axmann decided to go alone in the opposite direction of his two companions. When he encountered a Red Army patrol, Axmann doubled back and later insisted he had seen the bodies of Bormann and Stumpfegger near the railway switching yard with moonlight clearly illuminating their faces. [Trevor-Roper, H. "Last Days of Hitler.", Pan Books, 1962. p.245] He did not check the bodies so did not know what killed them. [Beevor, A. "Berlin: The Downfall 1945", Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5. p.383)] Their remains have recently been uncovered, and genetically identified. Fragments of glass found in the two men's jawbones, lead to the conclusion that they committed suicide via cyanide capsules. (N.B. This information has no reference.)

Portrayal in the media

Ludwig Stumpfegger has been portrayed by the following actors in film and television productions.
* John Barron in the 1973 British film "".cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070184/ | title = Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) | accessdate = May 8 | accessdaymonth = | accessmonthday = | accessyear = 2008 | author = | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year = | month = | format = | work = | publisher = IMDb.com | pages = | language = English | doi = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | quote = ]
* Peter Blythe in the 1973 British television production "The Death of Adolf Hitler".cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283307/ | title = The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) (TV) | accessdate = May 8 | accessdaymonth = | accessmonthday = | accessyear = 2008 | author = | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year = | month = | format = | work = | publisher = IMDb.com | pages = | language = English | doi = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | quote = ]
* Thorsten Krohn in the 2004 German film "Downfall" ("Der Untergang").cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/ | title = Untergang, Der (2004) | accessdate = May 8 | accessdaymonth = | accessmonthday = | accessyear = 2008 | author = | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year = | month = | format = | work = | publisher = IMDb.com | pages = | language = English | doi = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | quote = ]

References