Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge dead at 81.

February 14, 2002 6:05 PM

Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge dead at 81. She just published her book and a documentary of her life premiered hours before her death. She was in his bunker when he committed suicide in 1945 and she took his last will and testament. She died still maintaining that she knew nothing of the holocaust or the depths of the Nazi horror.
posted by Dean_Paxton (7 comments total)

She died still full of shit. Even in his final will, Hitler blamed all of Germany's troubles on the Jews, though he managed to kill of 1/3 of the Jews in the world.
posted by Postroad at 6:13 PM on February 14, 2002

Coincidentally, another woman close to the Führer, with her own issues of denial, has plans to release a new film on August 22, her 100th birthday.
posted by liam at 7:02 PM on February 14, 2002

Wow, thanks I'd completely forgotten about Leni Riefenstahl.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 7:08 PM on February 14, 2002

An old thread about Junge, but sadly the link is dead (not at archive.org, either) - a shame, it was a good article as I recall, and Optamystic's take on it was a fair representation of its flavour. 'Full of shit'? Who really knows? It's plausible that Hitler would never have discussed something as top secret as the 'Final Solution' with a lowly secretary.

Still, it's hard to believe that by the end of the war even 'ordinary' Germans were unaware that there was something rotten in the state of Bavaria.
posted by rory at 3:20 AM on February 15, 2002

Germans knew. Everyone in Nazi occupied territories knew. People claim that they were just "following orders" or that they didn't know "the extent of persecution." Bullshit.

The death camps were right next to the main rail lines. If you traveled more than a few miles, you'd see. When your neighbors are taken away and never return, you can't say you "didn't know." When jobs open up left and right, you can't deny the fact that millions of minorities are being gassed for your job security.

No matter what the propogranda said, it was never a "big lie."
posted by bloggboy at 4:49 PM on February 15, 2002

what of his other sec. Christian...something like that. It was interesting to see the Berghof Teahaus in an episode of 'Band of Brothers'
posted by clavdivs at 5:25 PM on February 15, 2002

A recent piece on Leni Riefenstahl - not really new info, but a general overview, slanted in her favor.
posted by mdn at 9:17 PM on February 15, 2002