Product Description

In September 1945 the fate of Adolf Hitler was a complete mystery. He had simply disappeared, and had been missing for four months. Hugh Trevor-Roper, an intelligence officer, was given the task of solving the mystery. His brilliant piece of detective work not only proved finally that Hitler had killed himself in Berlin, but also produced one of the most fascinating history books ever written.

The Last Days of Hitler tells the extraordinary story of those last days of the Thousand Year Reich in the Berlin Bunker. Besieged in the shattered capital, but still dominating the remains of his court, Hitler reiterated the original alternative of Nazism: either total victory or annihilation. This book is the record of that carefully prepared, ceremonious finale to a terrible chapter of history.

'This is an incomparable book, by far the best written on any aspect of the second German war: a book sound in scholarship, brilliant in its presentation . . . No words of praise are too strong' A. J. P. Taylor, New Statesman

'A masterpiece' The Times

'A brilliant study' Guardian

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #250539 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Customer Reviews

Illuminating account of the end of the Thousand Year Reich
Hugh Trevor-Roper's credentials for writing this book are impeccable: the secret service officer who wrote the definitive account of Hitler's death at the end of 1945 for the Allies; later, Professor of History at Oxford; then ennobled and decorated for his work. And the reader is not let down by his greatness, for this book is remarkable and illuminating, shedding a clear and steady light on what happened in the paranoid and delusional end times of the Nazi regime.

The book is a quick read - only 220 pages from start to the end of the epilogue - but almost the most enjoyable bits are the prologues which have gradually built up through the many editions of this book. It can be annoying if you read the book through from the first page to the last, as much of what is in the prologue draws its significance from what follows in the main text, but the fifty page introduction to the third edition is invaluable as it explains the fate of Martin Bormann. But it is well worth the perservance and the reader is richly rewarded for making his/her way through the text.

One criticism: Trevor-Roper suffers from a touch of academic smugness. He is keen to point out that his book has now been in print for fifty-five years and that the substantial new disclosures made in the mid-fifties only served to confirm his version of the truth. He is quick to rubbish his opponents and those who don't agree with his conclusions and can seem heavy-handed and judgemental on the eyewitnesses' recall of facts (especially in his tersely worded footnotes). But in the context of his writing and evident ability, he can perhaps be forgiven this: his book was written, as he tells us, to forestall the development of a Hitler Myth. When writing about something so important, one can scarcely be (and Trevor-Roper certainly is not) magnanimous to one's opponents, for every chink in one's confidence is bound to be exploited for the promotion of a falsehood.

If you can read around this occasional misgiving, you'll find a gripping read and fantastically lucid account of the end of Hitler. Highly recommended.

HItler's last days in astonishing detail
This as an astonishing book, written by the British Army officer who worked out the truth about what happened to Hitler. It covers the immediate circle around Hitler and paints a vivid picture of the factional infighting of the last year of so of Nazi Germany.

Trevor-Roper paints a remarkable picture of Hitler's life in the bunker, surrounded by a bizarre cast of characters such as fawning generals, quack doctors, loyal retainers and the very sinister Martin Bormann. However the most vivid character is Armaments minister Albert Speer whose inner confusion and refusal to destroy the Germany that Hitler now despised dominates most of the book.

This is first class history, packed with eyewitness accounts (including proof that Bormann died not far from the bunker - forget all those theories about him escaping to Brazil) and explanations of what motivated the people involved and why they acted as they did.

A fascinating piece of detective work and a brilliant book.
The fact that it was originally written in 1947 doesn't date this book at all, though the author's introduction to this 1997 edition does provide both a valuable update and a worthwhile reflection on the events recorded in the original text.

The author, Hugh Trevor-Roper, was the British intelligence officer who was sent to Berlin in June 1945 to investigate the disappearance of Hitler. I guess intelligence officers really were intelligent in those days because the book is brilliant, and every bit as exciting as a good detective story. In fact, if one could forget the awfulness of the Nazi system and the ghastliness of the characters that ran it, the book would pass as rather a good comedy thriller. One of its more delightful features is the way the author treats most of Hitler's minions (with the notable exception of Albert Speer who seemed to have retained his humanity and his intelligence) as a bunch of self-seeking but credulous and blindly stupid idiots, which I guess most of them were; it is quite refreshing to see such ghastly historical figures exposed so ignominiously.

Besides being a very good read in itself, this short text is more than simply a story of the last few days of Hitler. It provides an excellent summation of one of the most dismal regimes of human history.