Traudl Junge

Traudl Junge (16 March, 1920 – 10 February, 2002), born Gertraud Humps, was Adolf Hitler's youngest personal private secretary, from December 1942 to April 1945.

Early life

Gertraud "Traudl" Humps was born in Munich (Bavaria), the daughter of a master brewer and lieutenant in the Reserve Army, Max Humps and his wife Hildegard (née Zottmann). She had a sister, Inge, born in 1923. As a teenager she thought of becoming a ballerina.

A detailed account of her upbringing, early life and her family before she started to work with Hitler is documented in the first chapter of the book Until the Final Hour co-written by Melissa Müller.

In November 1942, Junge was hired as a private secretary to Adolf Hitler.

Working for Hitler

cquote|I was 22 and I didn't know anything about politics, it didn't interest me, Junge said decades later, also saying that she felt great guilt for "...liking the greatest criminal ever to have lived."

She said, "I admit, I was fascinated by Adolf Hitler. He was a pleasant boss and a fatherly friend. I deliberately ignored all the warning voices inside me and enjoyed the time by his side almost until the bitter end. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said things and how he did things."

At Hitler's encouragement, in June 1943 Junge married SS-officer Hans Hermann Junge (1914 – 1944), who died in combat. She worked at Hitler's side in Berlin, the Berghof in Berchtesgaden, at Wolfsschanze in East Prussia, and lastly back in Berlin.

She said Hitler did not like cut flowers because he did not want to be (in his words) "surrounded by corpses," and said he spent much of the time during his final days staring blankly and saying little.

Berlin, 1945

In 1945, Junge was with Hitler in Berlin. She typed Hitler's last private and political will and testament in the Führerbunker a day and a half before his suicide. Junge wrote that while playing with the Goebbels children on 30 April, "Suddenly . . . there is the sound of a shot, so loud, so close, that we all fall silent. It echoes on through all the rooms. 'That was a direct hit,' cried Helmut [Goebbels] with no idea how right he is. The Führer is dead now."

On 1 May, Junge left the Führerbunker with a group led by SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke. Also included in the group were Hitler's personal pilot, Hans Baur, the chief of his bodyguard, Hans Rattenhuber, secretary Gerda Christian, secretary Else Krüger, Hitler's dietician, Constanze Manziarly, and Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck. On the morning of 2 May, Soviet troops discovered remnants of the group hiding in a cellar off the Schönhauser Allee. [Beevor, Antony. "Berlin: The Downfall 1945", Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5, page 288]

Post-war

Junge was held for a year as the "personal prisoner" of a Soviet major. ["The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared For Stalin From The Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides", New York, 2005, ISBN 1-58648-366-8] ["The Bunker, James Preston O'Donnell", Da Capo Press, 2001, ISBN 0306809583 page 293] At least one author asserts that Junge suffered a fractured skull while resisting a gang rape ["The Bunker, James Preston O'Donnell", Da Capo Press, 2001, ISBN 0306809583 page 293] but she does not mention such a rape or injury in her autobiography. After spending time in a Soviet prison camp, Junge returned to Germany to work as a secretary and later as a sub-editor.

Following the war, Junge was not widely known outside the academic and intelligence communities. Other than appearing in the 1974 television documentary "The World at War", she lived a life of relative obscurity. This included two brief periods of residence in Australia, where Junge's younger sister still lives. [Citation |title=Hitler's secretary lived in Australia |newspaper=The Age |pages= |year=2005 |date=2005-08-06 |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Hitlers-secretary-lived-in-Australia/2005/08/06/1123125928788.html?oneclick=true |accessdate=2007-07-06]

She returned to the public eye with the release of an autobiography, "Until the Final Hour" (2002, co-written with author Melissa Müller), which described the time she worked for Hitler. She was also interviewed for the 2002 documentary film "". This suddenly brought her much attention and for a few days she was accorded something approaching global celebrity when, aged 81, she died in a Munich hospital.

Traudl Junge died of cancer in Munich on February 10, 2002. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,649745,00.html Traudl Junge obituary in the Guardian] ] Shortly before her death she is reported to have said, "Now that I've let go of my story, I can let go of my life."

Quotes

Portrayal in the media

Traudl Junge has been portrayed by the following actresses in film and television productions.cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0032681/ | title = Traudl Junge (Character) | 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 = ]
* Ann Lynn in the 1973 British television production "The Death of Adolf Hitler".
* Wanda Moore in the 1973 British film "".
* Sarah Marshall in the 1981 United States television production "The Bunker".cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082114/ | title = The Bunker (1981) (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 = ]
* Alexandra Maria Lara in the 2004 German film "Downfall" ("Der Untergang"). The film was based on Junge's book and includes clips of the real Junge taken from the 2002 documentary film , but the film's ending, depicting Junge being saved by a boy with whom she walks through the Russian line, is a fictional and metaphorical device.
* Stacy Hart in the 2005 British television production "Uncle Adolf".

ee also

* Third Reich
* Until the Final Hour
* "Downfall" ("Der Untergang", a film based in part on Junge's experiences in the Führerbunker)
*
* Erna Flegel

Notes and references

* Junge, Traudl, "Until the Final Hour", (English edition) London, 2002, ISBN 0-297-84720-1
* Hirschbiegel, Oliver (Director), "Downfall", (DVD) 2005, www.momentumpictures.co.uk