Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

Only 988 years short of the goal

His Berlin bunker besieged and Russian troops virtually at the door, the German leader composed his will on 29 April 1945. He also married Eva Braun and, hours later, killed himself. German generals surrendered a week later. The thousand-year reich lasted 12 years.

Hitler observed the formalities with his will, which is on his personal letterhead: it contains his signature and those of three witnesses, one of whom, Martin Bormann, was also his executor.

In his 300-word will, Hitler cites Bormann by name without mentioning his title. He also mentions his secretary by name. In contrast, he never mentions his new bride by name, despite referring to his wife in the very first sentence, and several times later in the text.

In addition to his will, the Nazi leader also dictated a 1,350-word political testament that pretty much repeated the anti-semitic rants and ravings of Mein Kampf and his speeches.

Finding Hitler's Will

When the Allies overran Hitler's Berlin bunker at the end of April 1945, they found charred human remains outside the compound. These remains, the remnants of a botched cremation, were probably all that was left of the German leader and his new bride, Eva Braun.

Identification was vital - the German dictator was rumoured to have survived and escaped.

The Allies intended to find out one way or the other and assigned Hugh Trevor-Roper, Oxford history professor in peacetime and a Major during the war, to lead an intelligence team.

Helping him was Arnold Weiss, a young American pilot who was fluent in German. Fortunately for Weiss, he had been in a crash landing and survived. Fortunately for the Army Counter-Intelligence Corps, both of his legs were broken. Unable to fly, he was available to read German documents and translate during interrogations.

Weiss was fluent in German because it was his native tongue: he had been born in Germany, to Jewish parents, in Nuremberg on July 25, 1924. His original name was Hans Arnold Wangersheim. After his parents divorced, little Hans was sent to an orphanage and later, on a kindertransport rescue ship, to America. The 13-year-old settled in Wisconsin and took a new surname in homage to a local gridiron football star.

In 1945, Weiss started searching for Wilhelm Zander, chief aide to Hitler's number two, Martin Bormann.

Using ordinary telephone directories, Weiss found Zander's relatives and, through them, their 'gardener', who eventually admitted his real identity - Wilhelm Zander. His true identity revealed, he then spoke freely and at length about leading Nazis and the goings-on in Hitler's inner circle.

Weiss routinely asked Zander why he had left the bunker, and the answer was a stunner: Zander was given documents to deliver, presumably to Bormann. Ultimately realising the futility of his task, Zander instead dumped the suitcase containing the documents in a dry well. He led Weiss to the well and the case was retrieved. In it were the will and political testament, and the Hitler-Braun marriage certificate.

Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper went on to become an eminent historian, author of The Last Days of Hitler.

Weiss became a successful lawyer and banker, dying in December 2010, aged 86. His obituary in the New York Times notes that there are different explanations surrounding the discovery of the will but maintains that "Weiss’s role in the capture of Mr. Zander and the recovery of the documents seems incontrovertible." 

One alternative explanation can be found in Herman Rothman's Hitler's Will (2009). Born in Germany, Rothman fled to England on the the kindertransport and saw military service when the war broke out. He helped translate a copy of Hitler's Last Will and Political Testament discovered sewn into the shoulder of a jacket worn by Heinz Lorenz, press secretary to propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. It seems that three copies of Hitler's will had been made. It may be that Weiss and Rothman, instead of producing competing versions of the same story, are referring to different versions or iterations of the original documents.

Rudolf Hess (1894-1987)

Rudolf Hess was one of Adolf Hitler’s closest and most trusted deputies until he flew to Scotland apparently on a peace mission of his own devising. He was promptly jailed by the British and, after the war, convicted of crimes against peace and conspiracy to commit crimes in Nuremberg. He received a life sentence and was incarcerated in Spandau prison. He committed suicide in 1987.

In his will Hess specified that he wanted to be buried in a churchyard in Wunsiedel, the small Bavarian town where his parents had been interred. Despite his notoriety, his wishes was fulfilled.

However, his grave became a neo-Nazi shrine, visited by large numbers of neo-Nazis. Pilgrimages persisted even after a court order banning the gatherings was issued in 2005. Church officials then decided that Hess and his tombstone had to go. Hess' granddaughter sued to prevent the exhumation, but under pressure from the local community, she dropped the case.

In July 2011 Hess' remains were exhumed for reburial at sea (some reports said in a lake) at a secret location. His gravestone was also removed.

Fritz Darges (1913-2009)

Fritz Darges was an SS officer and member of Hitler's inner circle who attended crucial meetings and kept a diary. He refused to publish it during his lifetime, but his will authorises publication after his death.

Darges' adoration of Hitler was total, lasting not only throughout the war but throughout his long life. Historians hope that his on-the-spot memoirs will shed new light on Hitler and the war.