Ian Kershaw - The End

in the Dönitz cabinet 360, 377, 378

scorched earth policy 64, 112, 141, 288

Dönitz’s reversal of 367

Hitler’s Nero Order on (March 1945) 290–91, 303, 309, 367; Speer’s opposition to 290–91, 303, 309

industry, German plans for immobilization/destruction of 42, 80, 81, 82, 140–41, 286–7, 288, 289, 290–91

see also economic collapse

secret weapons see armaments, miracle weapons

Seelow Heights 302

Seldte, Franz (Labour Minister under Dönitz) 360

Seyß-Inquart, Arthur (Reich Commissar in Netherlands) 358

Allied powers, his negotiations with 358–9, 363

Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service) 18, 25, 31, 61, 73, 99, 117, 191, 261, 271, 316, 356, 359, 380

Silesia 214, 252

evacuation of 182–3, 189–90, 262

Groß-Rosen concentration camp 232–3, 329

Silesian industrial area 167, 168, 172–3, 182, 187, 190, 195, 244, 252, 287

Simon, Gustav (Gauleiter of Koblenz-Trier) 65–6

Smend, Oberstleutnant Günther 29

Smith, General Walter Bedell see Bedell Smith

Sobibor extermination camp 214

Solingen 297, 314–15

Soviet air force 169, 173, 179, 180, 301

Soviet army see Red Army

Soviet Union 15, 18, 31

German fear/hatred of 70, 98–9, 120, 121–2, 222–3, 256, 271–2, 282, 306, 310, 349, 351, 362, 368, 373, 385

German invasion of (June 1941) (Barbarossa) 13, 46, 120, 359; Stalingrad, battle for (1942–3) 13, 23–4, 29, 46, 92, 94, 208

German prisoners of war in 94, 254, 368, 369, 371, 375; deaths among 375

German propaganda against 98, 187, 195, 223–4, 313, 356

Goebbels proposes separate peace with 95–6

Hitler on 130

as an occupying power 379

under Stalin 95–6, 154, 246, 371–2

Spaatz, General Carl, German surrender, signatory to 372

Spain see Guernica

Speer, Albert 11, 25, 64, 90, 134–6, 138–42, 244, 346

as an architect 24

as Armaments Minister 11, 23, 24, 25–6, 35, 43–4, 53, 77, 78–83, 134, 140–42, 170, 287–8, 291, 396

Bormann and 77, 78, 83

character/personal appearance 24, 80, 82, 83, 134, 141, 164–5, 244, 289, 336

criticism of 77–8

on defence of the Reich 288–9

Dönitz as Reich President and 352, 360, 378

on economic collapse 244, 258, 287–8, 289

exit strategy 286, 336

Gauleiter, relationship with 290–91

Goebbels and 24, 25, 43, 75, 76–9, 83, 146, 244, 287–8

Guderian and 398

Hanke and 321

Heinrici and 309

Himmler and 240–41

Hitler and 38, 42–4, 77–8, 160, 289, 291, 292, 399

Hitler, mentions possible assassination of to Heinrici (April 1945) 309

on labour supply 25–6, 37, 38, 76–9

Model and 290–91

post-war interrogation/statements 134, 289, 398

scorched earth policy, opposition to 390–91, 303, 309

his Status Report (January 1945) 244

Western Front, visits to 78, 80–81, 138–40, 287, 290–91

sporting activities 6

Sprenger, Jakob (Gauleiter of Hessen-Nassau) 261

SS (Schutszstaffel) (Protection Squad) 69, 84, 86–7, 180, 219, 263, 279, 296, 320, 322, 324, 341, 359, 370, 389, 391

as concentration camp guards 228, 229, 230, 332, 333–4

concentration camps, evacuation of see death marches

criticism of 212

Himmler as head of see Himmler, Heinrich

as Hitler’s bodyguards 253, 284

morale 153, 210

power/influence 208

suicide among (April 1945–on) 356

transfers from, to Wehrmacht 308

Waffen-SS see Waffen-SS

in Warsaw 93

Wehrmacht and 23

young recruits to 313–14

SS Railway Construction Brigade 143

Stalin, Joseph 95–6, 104, 246

the west, his suspicion of 371–2

see also Soviet Union

Stalingrad, battle for (1942–3) 13, 23–4, 29, 46, 92, 94, 208

Standgerichte (summary courts martial) 224–5, 243, 263, 326–7, 343, 360–61, 390–91

see also courts martial

state penitentiaries 391

execution of prisoners in 328

von Stauffenberg, Count Claus Schenk Graf 33–4, 35

Hitler, plot to assassinate (July 1944) 12, 13, 14, 29–35, 36, 43, 44, 46, 48–9, 53, 268, 387, 396; effect of 379, 385, 388–9, 394; public opinion on 31–3

steel production see iron/steel production

Steiner, SS-Obergruppenführer Felix 339, 352

Stettin 250

Strasbourg 131

Strölin, Karl (mayor of Stuttgart) 325

Stuckart, Wilhelm (Secretary of State, Ministry of the Interior) 38, 102, 216, 359

Dönitz as Reich President and 359, 378

Student, Colonel-General Kurt 253

Stumpff, Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen, German surrender, signatory to 372

Stuttgart 6, 117, 124, 299–300, 325

Strölin as mayor 325

Stutthof concentration camp 184, 234

evacuation of 234, 329

Sudetenland 252

suicide

among civilian population 177, 213, 215, 356–8; numbers of 356–7

by Gauleiter 356

Hitler’s 6, 11, 12, 118, 295, 339, 346, 348–51, 357

by Nazi Party members (April 1945–on) 355–6

by Wehrmacht officers (April 1945–on) 355, 356; numbers of 356

suicide bombers/fighters, proposal for 278–9, 314

Susloparov, General Ivan 371–2

Swabia 245, 278, 316

Sweden 94, 230, 282, 283

concentration camp inmates, attempts to negotiate release of 228, 284

Swedish Red Cross 283

Switzerland 230

attempt to exchange Jews for cash 229–30

Zurich 285

tanks/tank warfare 46, 58, 59, 61, 63, 81–2, 160, 168, 169, 174, 260, 301, 302, 339, 357

Tedder, Air-Marshal Arthur W., German surrender, signatory to 372

terror tactics 3–4, 5, 8–9, 10, 14, 37, 84, 162, 207–8, 216–25, 256, 259, 272, 273, 296, 318, 321–9, 343–4, 391, 393

crimes of the last phase concept 323–9, 391–2

torture, use of 84

Werwolf activity 279–80, 318, 320, 344, 367, 369; numbers killed by 280

see also Nazi atrocities; totalitarian regimes

Thiele, Gerhard 333

Thierack, Otto Georg (Justice Minister) 224

Thuringia 297, 299

Tilsit 173

von Tippelskirch, General Kurt 340

Todt, Fritz 24

Torgau 339

total war concept 23–4, 25–6, 38, 44, 60, 61, 146

see also Goebbels, Joseph, as Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War

totalitarian regimes 8–10

as repressive 8–9, 84, 207–8

see also terror tactics

transport 102, 126, 135, 139, 190, 193, 205, 275, 290

Allied bombing, effect on 79, 82, 136, 137, 138, 140, 142–3, 144, 287, 299

railways see railways

Reichsbahn 138, 140

Treblinka extermination camp 214

Trier 62, 64, 65–6

capitulation 254, 259–60

von Trotha, Colonel Thilo 221

U-boats 55, 95, 137, 139, 147, 155, 245, 269

Baltic harbours for 94

cessation of U-boat war 367

Ukraine 92, 93

unconditional surrender 7–8, 10, 50–51, 71, 246, 271, 354, 361, 362, 369, 370–71, 386–7, 397

Churchill on 387

see also German capitulation

underground movements (German) see Werwolf . . .

United Kingdom see Britain

United States (US)

Hitler on 130

Morgenthau Plan 149–50

US Army see American Army

Upper Bavaria 189

see also Bavaria

V1 missiles 20, 62, 210, 269

V2 rockets 24, 153, 269

Versailles Treaty (June 1919) 98, 154

Vienna 213, 252

Nazi Party 317–18

Red Army capture of 301

von Vietinghoff-Scheel, Colonel-General Heinrich 204

as C-in-C Italy 266–7, 285, 363; German capitulation and 267, 363, 366; dismissal 366

Vistula river 168, 172, 174, 196, 250