Traudl Junge
From Metapedia
Traudl Junge (March 16, 1920 to February 10, 2002) was Adolf Hitler final personal secretary from late 1942 until April 1945.
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[edit] Early Years
Traudl Junge was born Gertraud Humps in Munich Germany on March 16,1920. Her father Maxwell Humps was born in 1893 was a brewmaster for Lowenbrauerei. In 1919 Maxwell lost his job and in 1920 joined the right wing Freikorps Oberland and was present at the storming of the Annaberg, Upper Silesia and was also involved with Hitlers putsch on November 8-9, 1923 and was awarded the NSDAP Blood Order. After this time, Maxwell goes to Turkey and leaves his family and doesn't resurface until 1933 with the rise of the Third Reich
[edit] Personal Secretary and Marriage
In 1942, Traudl is appointed Hitlers personal secretary with the help of her father and family friend, Sepp Dietrich. In 1943, 23 year old Traudl marries SS Officer Hans Junge (who died at Normandy in 1944)) with Otto Gunsche and Erich Kempka as their witnesses.
[edit] 1945
In 1945, Junge was with Hitler in Berlin. She typed Hitler's last private and political will and testament the Führerbunker shortly 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. In the morning of 2 May, Soviet troops discovered the group hiding in a cellar off the Schonhauserallee.
[edit] Post War and Death
The movie Der Untergang, which has been widely cited for its historical accuracy, depicts Junge being saved by a boy with whom she walks through Russian lines but this is a fictional (and metaphorical) dramatic device invented for the film's ending. In truth, Junge was raped repeatedly by Russian soldiers, as were many other German women during the fall of Berlin in 1945. She was subsequently held for a year as the "personal prisoner" of a Russian major. At least one author asserts that Junge suffered a fractured skull while resisting a gang rape, but she does not mention such a rape or injury in her autobiography. After spending time in a Russian prison camp Junge returned to Germany to work as a secretary and later, a sub-editor.
Following the war Junge was not widely known outside the academic and intelligence communities. Other than appearing in the television documentary The World at War (1974) she lived a life of relative obscurity. This included two brief periods of residence in Australia, where Junge's younger sister still lives.
She returned to the public eye with the release of an autobiography, Until the Final Hour (2002) (written with author Melissa Müller), which described the time she worked for Hitler. She was also interviewed for the 2002 documentary film Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary. 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.
Her book was used as a source for the movie Der Untergang (Downfall, 2004), much of which is told from her perspective. Excerpts from Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary were also used in Der Untergang
Traudl Junge died of cancer in Munich on February 10, 2002. 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."
[edit] Also See
