Florian Huber - Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself - The Mass Suicide of Ordinary Germans in 1945

p. 233 ‘ Those who had led…with them .’ Ibid.

p. 233 ‘ I was quite certain…go with it .’ Melita Maschmann, Fazit , p. 175.

p. 234 ‘ A swarming frenzy…danse macabre .’ Ibid., pp. 156–157.

p. 235 ‘ I was filled…end up surviving .’ Ibid. p. 175.

p. 235 ‘ I had no plans for the future .’ Ibid. p. 180.

p. 236 ‘ What fate…to be destroyed??? ’ Lore Walb, Ich, die Alte—Ich, die Junge , p. 253.

p. 236 ‘ But we mustn’t…end of the war? ’ Ibid., p. 301.

p. 237 ‘ My mind alone…never again .’ Ibid., p. 344.

p. 237 ‘ Better dead than slaves .’ Martin Sieg, Im Schatten der Wolfsschanze , pp. 76–77.

p. 237 ‘ What possible reason…dark thoughts .’ Ibid., 168.

p. 237–38 ‘ Your mum said…lost you already .’ Ibid., p. 93.

p. 241 ‘ Our philosophy…than reason .’ Baldur von Schirach, Hitler-Jugend. Idee und Gestalt , Leipzig, 1934, p. 130.

p. 242 ‘ The past…illusion .’ Martin Sieg, Im Schatten der Wolfsschanze , p. 87.

p. 242 ‘ That letter…with the past .’ Ibid., pp. 95–96.

p. 243 ‘ Life had slammed…to yesterday .’ Ibid., p. 97.

p. 243 ‘ That way I…self-destruction .’ Melita Maschmann, Fazit , p. 195.

p. 244 ‘ There was only one…altogether .’ Ibid., p. 205.

p. 244 ‘ The destruction…didn’t add up .’ Julius Posener, In Deutschland 1945 bis 1946 , Berlin, 2001, p. 18.

p. 245 ‘ What was that…bottom of an abyss .’ Ibid. pp. 18–19.

p. 246 ‘ A lot of Germans…awful as that? ’ Ibid. p. 25.

p. 246 ‘ Nowhere is this…evident everywhere .’ Hannah Arendt, ‘The Aftermath of Nazi Rule’, p. 342.

p. 247 ‘ Germans mail…in their midst .’ Ibid.

p. 248–49 ‘ This general lack…what really happened .’ Hannah Arendt, ‘The Aftermath of Nazi Rule’, p. 342.

p. 249 ‘ a half-conscious refusal…inability to feel .’ Ibid.

p. 250 ‘ He’s at peace…war has destroyed .’ Lore Walb, Ich, die Alte—Ich, die Junge , p. 338.

p. 250 ‘ Hitler is dead…anymore .’ Ibid., 345.

p. 251 ‘ Until we awoke…struck with blindness .’ Gerhard Starcke, Mit Stenoblock und Kübelwagen , p. 383.

p. 252 ‘Hitler was dead!…to rain.’ Melita Maschmann, Fazit , p. 187.

p. 252 ‘ What had happened…loved Hitler .’ Stéphane Roussel, Les Collines de Berlin , p. 247.

p. 253 ‘ When I tell…elicits a reaction .’ Ibid., p. 242.

p. 253 ‘ It was best…talented authors .’ Ibid., p. 248.

p. 254 ‘ For most Germans…victims of them .’ Stéphane Roussel, Les Collines de Berlin , p. 242.

p. 255 ‘ This is usually…cancels the other… ’ Hannah Arendt, ‘The Aftermath of Nazi Rule’, p. 342.

p. 256 ‘ But what about…abandoned .’ Lore Walb, Ich, die Alte—Ich, die Junge , p. 338.

p. 256 ‘ What a course…to see this! ’ Ibid.

p. 257 ‘ I despised those…necessary .’ Melita Maschmann, Fazit , p. 205.

p. 258 ‘ I saw my return…my release .’ Gerhard Starcke, Mit Stenoblock und Kübelwagen , p. 380.

p. 258 ‘ The English can’t have probed very deeply .’ Ibid., p. 379.

p. 258 ‘ However bleak…turn for the better .’ Ibid., p. 411.

p. 259 ‘ Watching the Germans…against reality .’ Hannah Arendt, ‘The Aftermath of Nazi Rule’, p. 345.

p. 260 ‘ But this is not real…no longer touch .’ Hannah Arendt, ‘The Aftermath of Nazi Rule’, p. 345.

p. 261 ‘ hardly recognised anyone ’. Renate Finkh, Sie versprachen uns die Zukunft , p. 265.

p. 261 ‘ I had to keep…upset anyone .’ Ibid., p. 266.

p. 262 ‘ Guilt and shame…loyalty evil too .’ Ibid., p. 268.

p. 262 ‘ Many had felt…youth like that? ’ Ibid., p. 269.

p. 263 ‘ Sometimes I’d be…eased off .’ Melita Maschmann, Fazit , p. 212.

p. 263 ‘ Emotionally and psychologically…rock bottom .’ Ibid., p. 213.

p. 264 ‘ The line…without our noticing .’ Ibid., p. 239.

Hannah Arendt, ‘The Aftermath of Nazi Rule: Report from Germany’, Commentary 10, 1950, pp. 342–353.

Margaret Bourke-White, ‘Dear Fatherland, Rest Quietly’: A Report on the Collapse of Hitler’s ‘Thousand Years’ , New York: Simon and Schuster, 1946.

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Irene Bröker, So war’s! Lebenserinnerungen 1922–1997 , Deutsches Tagebucharchiv Emmendingen, 131.

Norbert Buske, Das Kriegsende in Demmin 1945. Berichte—Erinnerungen—Dokumente , Schwerin, 2007.

Norbert Buske, conversation with the author, Greifswald, 16 April 2014.

Ilse Cordes, Erinnerungen an den Sohn 1921–1941 , Deutsches Tagebucharchiv Emmendingen, 1428/II.

Marie Dabs, Lebenserinnerungen , Lübeck, 1984.

Wilhelm Damann, ‘Die letzten Kriegstage 1945 in Demmin’, Demminer Regionalmuseum, newspaper 5093.

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Henrik Eberle (ed.), Letters to Hitler , ed. Victoria Harris, tr. Steven Rendall, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2012.

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Reiner Hamm, Erinnerungen , German Diaries Archive Emmendingen, 1815.

Adolf Hitler, Mein politisches Testament , Berlin, 29 April 1945.

René Juvet, Ich war dabei. 20 Jahre Nationalsozialismus 1923–1943. Ein Tatsachenbericht , Zurich, 1944.

Walter Kempowski, Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich , tr. Shaun Whiteside, London: Granta, 2014.

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Oliver Lubrich (ed.), Travels in the Reich, 1933-1945: Foreign Authors Report from Germany , tr. Kenneth J. Northcott, Sonia Wichmann and Dean Krouk, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2010.

Melita Maschmann, Account Rendered: A Dossier on my Former Self , tr. Geoffrey Strachan, Lexington, Massachusetts: Plunkett Lake Press, 2016.

Renate Meinhof, Das Tagebuch der Maria Meinhof. April 1945 bis März 1946 in Pommern. Eine Spurensuche , Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2006.

Antony Penrose (ed.), Lee Miller’s War: Photographer and Correspondent with the Allies in Europe 1944–45 , Boston: Bullfinch Press, 1992.

Julius Posener, In Deutschland 1945 bis 1946 , Berlin, 2001.

Johann Radein, Wir sind wieder einmal davongekommen , Deutsches Tagebucharchiv Emmendingen, 1300.