Until the Final Hour : Hitler's Last Secretary - Softcover

Traudl Junge

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753820552 ISBN 13: 9780753820551

Publisher: Orion Paperbacks, 2005

Synopsis

'To have such an uncomplicated, unaffected witness present at some of the key defining moments of the 20th century was fortunate for historians...her testimony rings absolutely true, when other politically motivated accounts of the last days of Hitler do not' Andrew Roberts Traudl Junge was 22 years old and dreamt of a career as a ballerina, until the 'opportunity of her life' beckoned and she was appointed as Adolf Hitler's secretary. From 1942 until his death she was at his side in the bunker, typing his correspondence, his speeches and even his last private and political will and testament. It was only after the war that the horrible reality of Hitler's regime began to dawn on her, and she became racked with guilt for 'liking the greatest criminal ever to have lived.' Her journal, written in 1947, is a startling eyewitness account of Hitler's court during its final years, and of the building sense of doom as the war progressed.

About this title

About the Author:

Traudl Junge was a brewer's daughter born in 1920 in Munich. From the end of 1942 until April 1945 she was Hitler's private secretary. In 1942 she married one of Hitler's staff, Hans Junge who was killed a year later. After the war she was sent to a Russian prison camp and later returned to Germany to work as a secretary and a sub-editor. She died on February 10th, 2002 shortly after publication of her book.

Review:

'This memoir is a unique historical document, naive in some respects but trustworthy in its testimony and oddly thrilling in its unknowing progress to a terrible doom.' TIMES (2.4.05)

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0753820552
• ISBN 13: 9780753820551
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240