Else Krüger
Else Krüger (born 9 February 1915) was Martin Bormann's secretary (and, allegedly, mistress) during World War II.[1] She was born in Hamburg-Altona.
She was in the Führerbunker during the Battle of Berlin. Krüger was with Eva Braun, Gerda Christian, Traudl Junge, and Constanze Manziarly when German dictator Adolf Hitler told them that they must prepare to leave for the Berghof like the others. However, she instead volunteered to remain in the Berlin Führerbunker. She was there when Braun indicated that she would never leave Hitler's side and they embraced. In a gesture of kindness, Hitler gave each of the women a cyanide capsule.[2]
Krüger left the Führerbunker on 1 May 1945 in a group led by Waffen-SS Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke.[3] On the morning of 2 May, the group was captured hiding in a cellar at the Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brewery on Prinzenallee.
After the war Krüger was interrogated by the British. She later married her British interrogator, Leslie James (1915-1995), on 23 December 1947 in Wallasey, Cheshire UK. She lived under the name Else James in Wallasey.[4]
Notes
- ↑ O'Donnell, J. (2001) [1978], The Bunker, New York: Da Capo Press. Junge and Christian, when interviewed by O'Donnell, both claimed that Bormann was having an affair with Krüger. When O'Donnell asked Krüger if this was true, she neither confirmed nor denied these statements.
- ↑ Beevor, Antony (2002). Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Viking-Penguin Books, p. 278
- ↑ O'Donnell, J. (2001) [1978], The Bunker, New York: Da Capo Press, pp. 271, 274
- ↑ O'Donnell, J. (2001) [1978], The Bunker, New York: Da Capo Press, p. 293
References
- Beevor, Antony (2002), Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Viking-Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-03041-4
- O'Donnell, J. (2001) [1978], The Bunker, New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80958-3
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