The Last Days of Hitler revisited

Hugh Trevor-Roper’s study of Hitler’s death was published by Macmillan 60 years ago this month. It won the Oxford historian an international reputation and remains one of the most powerful and readable accounts of the Nazi regime. It has never been out of print, yet this enduring quality is surprising. Trevor-Roper’s book was not the product of calculated research but resulted from an official enquiry. It was instant history, written very quickly a year after the events it describes, when many sources were not yet available. Nevertheless, the author constructed not only one of the most vivid portraits of Hitler but developed an analysis of his regime later confirmed by the specialist studies of German historians.

In September 1945, British Intelligence called in Trevor-Roper, its leading expert on the Nazis, to solve a mystery of Stalin’s making. Although the Soviets had found Hitler’s body in early May, an undead Hitler was more valuable to Stalin than a corpse. Such a Hitler could be used to scare the peoples of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. The West could be accused of hiding the Nazi leader and tarnished with the brush of Fascism. In June the Soviet Commandant of Berlin declared that Hitler might be hiding with Franco. Next the Soviet news agency Tass reported that Hitler had been seen in Ireland. Although this Hitler had cleverly disguised himself in women’s clothes, it seems he was given away nevertheless by the toothbrush moustache. Other rumours alleged that Hitler was hiding with Albanian bandits or that he had fled to Arabia. All this speculation could only distract the Germans from the task of reconstruction. It was essential to find out what had really happened to Hitler.

Trevor-Roper had great advantages in carrying out his mission. Although the Russians would not help, he could request British and American agencies to instigate enquiries or interrogations in their occupation zones like a team of research assistants armed with official powers.