Rating: 
Summary: Hannah Arendt Was Right
Review: Evil is banal. It also is anethesthetizing. It also has a morbid illumination (Ger. "grelles Licht") about it. The late Traudl Junge's account of her secretarial service to Adolf Hitler confirms the observations.
In her quite interesting memoir, helped along by editor Melissa Müller, we see the images of a young woman whose dream for life is so like our own that we get caught up in its hum-drum nature. But -- what, then, do many secretaries do that is not a matter of daily routine and technical correctness? Any person who took dictation and then prepared a memo knows what is needed: a perfect piece of work. Junge seems to tell us that her efforts met the mark. Banal life.
She was caught up in Hitler's informal inner circle, like it or not, and saw images of the man not many others did -- from a safe distance. She was numbed by his common nature -- a man, she states, who cared about walks in the alps, his dog (which he, a dictator seemed very good at ordering around), and his consummately bland personal lifestyle. One opines he and Eva Braun never had sex because, per Junge, he felt he would not make much of a father. How numbing.
Her report is mysteriously apart from reality. However, it may be a very correct appraisal of Adolf Hitler, from stem to stern: the monster lived in a world other than ours, at least in his head.
Traudl Junge seems to have been about as close to Hitler's personal mind as anyone except Eva Braun (who must have longed for a broader anatomical scene, but generally was unrequited) if one believes what one has read. Morbid illumination....
This is a story well worth reading and I recommend it to serious historians. Had the editor's handling of its technical aspects produced a smoother narrative, I would have gone Five-Star.
Rating:
Summary: Hannah Arendt Was Right
Review: Evil is banal. It also is anethesthetizing. It also has a morbid illumination (Ger. "grelles Licht") about it. The late Traudl Junge's account of her secretarial service to Adolf Hitler confirms the observations.
In her quite interesting memoir, helped along by editor Melissa Müller, we see the images of a young woman whose dream for life is so like our own that we get caught up in its hum-drum nature. But -- what, then, do many secretaries do that is not a matter of daily routine and technical correctness? Any person who took dictation and then prepared a memo knows what is needed: a perfect piece of work. Junge seems to tell us that her efforts met the mark. Banal life.
She was caught up in Hitler's informal inner circle, like it or not, and saw images of the man not many others did -- from a safe distance. She was numbed by his common nature -- a man, she states, who cared about walks in the alps, his dog (which he, a dictator seemed very good at ordering around), and his consummately bland personal lifestyle. One opines he and Eva Braun never had sex because, per Junge, he felt he would not make much of a father. How numbing.
Her report is mysteriously apart from reality. However, it may be a very correct appraisal of Adolf Hitler, from stem to stern: the monster lived in a world other than ours, at least in his head.
Traudl Junge seems to have been about as close to Hitler's personal mind as anyone except Eva Braun (who must have longed for a broader anatomical scene, but generally was unrequited) if one believes what one has read. Morbid illumination....
This is a story well worth reading and I recommend it to serious historians. Had the editor's handling of its technical aspects produced a smoother narrative, I would have gone Five-Star.
Rating: 
Summary: WW II Account Of A Would-Be Ballerina Who Worked For Hitler
Review: First of all I would like to correct a statement made elsewhere that this book was previously published in 1989 under the title Voices From The Bunker. That volume, reviewed elsewhere under its title, was co-written by Pierre Galante, author of The Berlin Wall, Operation Valkyrie, The General, and Malraux, as well as being a writer for Paris Match, and Eugene Silianoff, a one-time Bulgarian diplomat who was working in Switzerland during WW II and who has also contributed to Paris Match.In their volume they do refer often to Traudl Humps who, at age 22, still dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina, right up to the day in 1942 when she got a job as one of Adolf Hitler's private secretaries. But this book is HER account of those days, culled from her journal which she began writing in 1947 following exhaustive questioning by the Western Allies and the Soviets, and was co-written with Melissa Muller who provides the background. The name Junge was the result of her brief marriage to one of Hitler's valets, Hans Junge of the Liebstandarte SS, who was killed in action in the year following their wedding. To the time of her own death at age 81 on February 10, 2002, shortly after the book's launch under its original title of To The Last Hour, she claimed that her appreciation of the momentous and horrendous events going on around her never really struck home until the years immediately following the war. When she started jotting down her thoughts in 1947 she did so from the perspective of one who had no choice but to acknowledge her naivety and who now realized she would have to live the rest of her life with the guilt of actually having been fond of "the greatest criminal ever to have lived." When she worked for Hitler she'd found him to be a "pleasant older man and a good employer" - was naturally fascinated by this charismatic character - but recalls her duties as being mostly the taking of shorthand and then the typing of non-controversial material, and at times helping to make tea. There are many who scoff at her oft-stated ignorance of the holocaust and other monumental war crimes during her days as a secretary but, whether or not you choose to believe her claims, her book detailing that part of her life offers a fascinating insight into the day to day functions, and the slow but steady mental and physical deterioration, of one of history's most evil men. It certainly will be the last first-hand account by a member of his inner circle. In addition to touching upon the powerful people around him, and relating daily routine, she describes in chilling detail the events of April 28, 1945. With Russian artillery shells pounding the outer portion of the bunker in Berlin, ironically being defended by the Charlemagne SS Division made up primarily of Frenchmen, Hitler called her in to dictate his last will and testament. He told her to "make three copies and then come in ... I wrote as fast as I could ... my fingers worked mechanically and I was surprised that I hardly made any typing mistakes." This is typical of the information imparted in her book and, as such, it's a great companion to Voices In The Bunker. But it's not the same book.
Rating:
Summary: The "banality of evil" personified
Review: For any reader interested in Adolf Hitler as a person, not just as the ranting and raving dictator, Traudl Junge's account is the best resource available. Junge (nee Humps) was one of Hitler's private secretaries from the tenth anniversary of Hitler's coming to power to the dramatic fall of the Nazi regime just two and one half years later. During much of this time, Junge's duties were primarily social. Junge accompanied Hitler for meals and relaxation almost daily. She observed him in a way very few people did and was one of a minute number of Hitler's companions who survived the war to tell her story. She wrote her memoirs in 1947 and they were later published in Voices From the Bunker. I have read that book about four times and this edition once. Her account is as fascinating now as it was the first time I read it. Voices From the Bunker is one of my all-time favorite books.
If you already have Voices From the Bunker and are wondering if this book is worth owning, I would say it is only if you are interested in Junge beyond her experiences with Hitler. This book includes more background information on her pre-Hitler life (I had not read before that her father had taken part in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch) and a 30-page chapter written by Melissa Mueller in 2001 that follows Junge's post-war life chronologically. It would not be until the revisionist 1960s when people took an interest in her story. Otherwise, the bulk of the work is the same 1947 account in Voices. I've compared sections between the two books and, although they are not the same verbatim with a few minor details added or omitted, the account is basically the same. I like the way Voices is divided up better, with more chapters separating the story (i.e. The July Bomb Plot). It is more useful for looking up information than Until the Final Hour which is mostly one long chapter. Voices also includes accounts of Hitler's aides-de-camp Otto Guensche and pilot Hans Baur which this book does not offer. Until the Final Hour does have very interesting end notes with side tidbits and brief biographical information on many of the people Junge mentions.
Junge died February 10, 2002, soon after the first German publication of her memoirs. Her memories were controversial in her homeland because her experiences with Hitler were pleasant. She knew him as a polite host and gentle father figure who showed compassion and human emotions (i.e. when he offered condolences to her after her husband died at the front). Only in brief snippets does she hint at the harsher side of the dictator. Hitler tries to hide his emotional explosions in meetings with his military officers. Frau von Schirach (wife of the head of the Hitler Youth) was no longer invited to be Hitler's guest after she voiced concern to him about trains full of deported Jews headed for Amsterdam (p. 88). Junge would finally become angry with Hitler when he gave up on the war and was accusatory to the end (Junge typed up his last demands and will). She, of course, kept such feelings of disappointment to herself. Her viewpoint is, admittedly, from an isolated world with one set of beliefs and a "puppet master" who controlled the day-to-day lives and thoughts of those around him. She describes Hitler's demeanor and routine at the Wolf's Lair (Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia), at the Berghof (his mountain retreat), and finally in the bunker as Berlin was being surrounded. She offers a unique perspective on many aspects of the dictator's life: his dietary habits, the attention he gave to his dog Blondi, his outlook on the war, his after-dinner small talk with such intimates as Eva Braun and important visitors like Albert Speer, Josef Goebbels, etc. Her account of the final days in the bunker with the Russian army drawing near is very moving. You almost feel like you were there.
Rating:
Summary: If you're new to Hitler, this is good
Review: For people who haven't read much about Hitler, this will be an interesting book. Traudl Junge was one of his secretaries from 1942 until his death three years later. She never knew him as well as Schroeder, Wolf or Gerda Christian, his other secretaries, and this is because she arrived so late on the scene. Hitler had deteriorated physically and mentally by 1942, so she was never privy to the full range of his charisma; she saw him in the period of his marked decline. For those who think Hitler behaved as "movie Hitlers" act, then you'll be shocked to see that in private, he was a charming, fatherly fellow, at least to his inner circle. Hitler's dark, maniacal side was reserved for Himmler, Bormann and others. Junge grew attached to Hitler and enjoyed his company, even the interminable nightly monologues. This entire book was previously published in 1989 and was called "Voices from the Bunker." Junge died in 2003 and this has been rushed out because of her recent demise. If you're well-versed in Hitler, there is nothing new here, Junge was interviewed exhaustively for years before her death. I was able to meet her, in Munich, twenty years ago, and she was a reserved, rather withdrawn woman, oppressed with guilt because she had served a mass murderer. I think anyone with an interest in Hitler will enjoy the book, but don't expect any new or revealing material.
Rating:
Summary: Words Worth a Thousand Pictures
Review: If you saw Melissa Muller's documentary film on the life of Traudl Junge, "Blind Spot," you might have passed on this memoir because not only was the film of the typically boring "talking head" genre, it revealed little of anything new about life at Hitler's side. Here Muller does a much better job with her Introduction and Afterword but the showcase of this book is Traudl Junge's diary of her years as one of Hitler's private secretaries. Nichols von Below and Hans Bauer also wrote memoirs of their time on Hitler's personal staff but neither officer was as close to him as Junge or observed him as intimately as she and it is her perspective that makes this book revealing and fascinating. All her long life Junge struggled coming to terms with the guilt she felt for having served Hitler so faithfully and having believed in him so completely. Junge near the end of her long life reproached herself for lacking the "self-confidence and good sense to speak out against [Nazism] at the right moment." She saw that clearly near the end of her life, as we all see things so clearly in retrospect. How much of this is due to introspection or how much is the result of what other people, like Melissa Muller, wanted her to see is difficult to say. Evidently Muller believes everyone who served the Third Reich in any capacity should feel guilty about it but in Junge' case the mea culpa argument will not resonate with anyone who in their own youth has ever believed in a cause that failed or been betrayed by a leader; the accusation of collective guilt is all too easy to assume for those who weren't there. What Muller writes in the Afterword, "Traudl Junge served a criminal regime, but [while] she took no part in the murders...That does not excuse her," reeks of the cow pasture and the reader is advised not to walk there. Even the perceptive and dedicated anti-Nazi Victor Klemperer remained unaware of the full extent of the Holocaust. But her Afterword, despite Muller's evident revisionist prejudice, is a revealing summary of Junge's post-war life that adds significantly to our understanding of her character. The footnotes supplied throughout the text of Junge's diary are an excellent aid to understanding the personalities and events surrounding her during the 2 1/2 years she was Hitler's secretary. Anyone who wishes to understand how evil can subvert even an innocent young person much less a whole nation of decent people, should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Intensely disturbing, well written memoir
Review: Junge's story of her relationship with Hitler is intense, disturbing and thought provoking. The translation and editing are excellent and the reader almost can feel the claustrophobia of life in the bunker, and the clock ticking down to their ultimate defeat. Most fascinating and enfuriating is the very human side of the Fuhrer detailed by the author. He is often depicted as pedenatic...a frail, old gentleman, polite and artistic, rather than the mad annihilator we know him to truly have been. This contributes, of course, to the always impossible to understand appeal of his message to the masses. Historians and buffs alike will be compelled to read this very interesting, detailed account of one woman's experiences of life inside the Third Reich.
Rating:
Summary: Intensely disturbing, well written memoir
Review: Junge's story of her relationship with Hitler is intense, disturbing and thought provoking. The translation and editing are excellent and the reader almost can feel the claustrophobia of life in the bunker, and the clock ticking down to their ultimate defeat. Most fascinating and enfuriating is the very human side of the Fuhrer detailed by the author. He is often depicted as pedenatic...a frail, old gentleman, polite and artistic, rather than the mad annihilator we know him to truly have been. This contributes, of course, to the always impossible to understand appeal of his message to the masses. Historians and buffs alike will be compelled to read this very interesting, detailed account of one woman's experiences of life inside the Third Reich.
Rating:
Summary: Read the footnotes in the back of the book!
Review: Traudl Junge is one of those historical figures that future generations will be grateful for, that she took the time to finally publish her meoirs literally at the end of her life...she died 2 months after publication.
But, to get a real sense of history, read the footnotes in the last pages of the book. It is a "who's who" of characters major and minor, and brings new light to many things that people have wondered about...what was Hitler like when he was with friends; was it common knowledge that the infamous Dr. Morrell (Hitler's overweight, in poor health himself, personal physician) was injection drug and vitamin cocktails into the Fuehrer's bloodstream; was the staff ignorant, or in denial, of the atrocities that Hitler was performing all over Europe, while treating Traudl Junge as a favorite niece, fretting over her welfare, loneliness, and well being; and, most of all, was he seen as the insane person at that time, that history has proved him to be.
Miss Junge's description of life at Obersalzburg, in the Wolf's Lair, and at the Eagle's Nest is well done; the book is unlike most histories written about the time, as it is written from the inside, looking inside, rather than through the telescope of history. It ranks up there with Albert Speer's book, written from the same point of view...seeing things happen from the inside, not being able to do anything about it at the time, then writing the book after the fact, when emotions are not so charged.
One of the most fasciating aspects that I will always remember, is the dilemma the remaining people in the bunker had, as to how to address Eva Braun. "You may safely call me Frau Hitler," she told Traudl.
If anything, the book reinforces the paradoxes of Hitler that Hitler will forever analyze: genius or insane man; kindly grandfather figure, yet mass murderer; a genuine fondness for animals and children, yet could order the Hitler Youth into battle in the last days of his life; and a man obsessed with detail to the point of micro-manager, yet in the final days of the war, gave up hope for not only his survival, but that of Germany.
I think that Traudl Junge has earned a position of respect in the ages; she did her job, but was not involved in any of the atrocities that Hitler manufactured in the madness of his mind.
She understood Hitler in a way few people did, yet managed to survive his wrath. That, in itself, is a way to earn a place in History.
Rating:
Summary: New Information--Even for those who think they've read all
Review: What I like best about this book is that it gives new insight into the Nazi's that isn't found in other books. The author has nothing to hide (like Speer may have) and it is an incredible experience to read first hand what it was like being with Hitler socially and in the final days before his suicide. In most books about Hitler seems to be almost an inhuman supernatural monster. In this book he is shown more as an egomaniac surrounded by people who are ineffective at advising him. His coolness and evil are even more chilling when his portrait is fully drawn and he is not simple an evil caricature as in many biographies. The author shares how she was drawn in by Hitler and later felt betrayed. So many books about the Nazi rehash the same facts without a personal perspective. The author had lunch and dinner with Hitler almost every day for a year! This is a must read for anyone interested in this period of history.
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