Another Top Secret cable from Berlin to Moscow to keep Stalin apprised of the rather dynamic environment post-war Germany is undergoing. In this short (and partially-redacted) declassified account from a Soviet agent in Berlin, some details are provided of the large-scale British operation to apprehend the Dönitz government, carried out on 23 May. The author of the telegram also offers a collegial nod in acknowledgement of how smoothly the British carried it out.
The author also asserts positive identification of the body of Heinrich Himmler, who killed himself during a medical examination by biting into a poison glass ampule hidden in his mouth. He had been captured by the British on 21 May, placed into an internment camp, and transferred to Special Camp No. 31 on the 23rd, where he committed suicide.
Two things to note for the translation: the blacked out portion was material redacted from the declassification process by Russian authorities. Underlines that appear to mask information in the report were included by the agent in the original report.
Another report, transmitted on 30 May, contains additional information on the Dönitz arrests and Himmler’s death, and will be published soon.
The translation follows.
TOP SECRET
CODED TELEGRAM No. 7288, 7294
From BERLIN
Received 28 May 1945 at 23.10 Decoded 29 May 1945 at 02.30
1/ On 23 May, during the operation to seize the Dönitz government, ████████████████████████████████ the entire Soviet committee, as well as the Americans, were warned to not disembark from the ship Patria (where all of the committees were located) because of an impending operation in the city. At 10.45, Dönitz, Jodl, and Admiral Friedeburg were brought on board; they were informed by the head of the Anglo-American committee Major General Rooks that the government was disbanded and apprehended. About an hour and a half later, Dönitz, Jodl, and Friedeburg were brought back to the city, and █████████████████████ were located in the Glücksburg fortress. According to General Trusov, some 2000-plus individuals were arrested by the British on this day in the extraterritorial zone around Flensburg. This includes all of the ministers, senior officials, and some 300 officers of the general staff working in the OKW [Oberkommando der Wehrmacht]. The previous day, a large number of British troops and tanks arrived, and a British destroyer sailed into the bay. The operation was well-organized, and no shots were fired, although the British were prepared for any development. On the evening of 23 May, Admiral Friedeburg perished by taking poison. During the same day, the British conducted a search in OKW premises, ███████████████████████████████████████████████. Upon examining the documents prepared by the British for collection, they took a number of papers with them, among which was a telephone message from Bormann to Dönitz, which aroused great interest. It reported Hitler’s death, and that as part of the enactment of Hitler’s last will, all authority was transferred to Dönitz rather than Göring. The Dönitz order of transfer reads says that, given the conditions of the evolving situation, death was the only way out for Hitler; while he would not surrender himself, he wanted to provide that opportunity to the government. The transfer also says that Hitler instructed to continue the battle. So these documents confirm the version of Hitler’s suicide.
2/ On 24 May, __________ and _________ saw Himmler’s body in the city of Lüneburg. ___________, who was well acquainted with the latest photographs of Himmler, was absolutely certain of the corpse’s identity. According to materials provided to us by the British Second Army, Himmler was apprehended on 21 May, accompanied by two of his adjutants, in the Bremervörde region. He was placed into an internment camp, and on the 23rd he was transferred to Camp No. 031 [Sachsenhausen] near Second Army headquarters. There, he identified himself to the camp commandant as Himmler, and asked to be brought to Montgomery. Himmler was interrogated by a counterintelligence officer and his identity was checked against a registration card. Himmler, who was arrested in a civilian suit with a black bandage above his right eye and with his moustache shaved off, was stripped and searched. During a second examination, conducted by a physician, a shiny blue-tipped object was discovered in his mouth. When the doctor attempted to finger the object out of his mouth, Himmler moved his jaws quickly and bit through what turned out to be a poison-filled glass ampule in his mouth. In spite of every effort – lavage and artificial respiration – Himmler died within 15 minutes. _____________ saw on Himmler’s head characteristic red spots, the same type that had appeared on the poisoned children of Goebbels. For the media, we will send through the post certified copies of the reports of the officer who interrogated Himmler and of the physician who examined him in the Second Army staff headquarters.
It is interesting that Himmler, during his interrogation, supposedly testified that, before going underground, he issued a general order (in particular to the Werewolves) to stand down. When asked where he was when Hitler had killed himself, he said that he wasn’t in Berlin, but if he had been, he would have died alongside the Führer.
Translating History 