103 #Russia 1942/43 ▶ Stalingrad - Interview Gerhard Dassler (2/3) 389. Infanterie-Division (2019)

Russia 1942/43 ▶ Battles of Don / Stalingrad - Interview (Part 2/3) Obergefreiter Gerhard Dassler (1922-2020) 389. Infanterie-Division / Infanterie-Regiment 545 - Битва за Сталинград Сталинградская битва Zeitzeuge Eyewitness (2019)    / @germanhistoryarchive   Playlist ▶    • GERMAN HISTORY ARCHIVE   Interview about Germanys most prominent Radio Commentator Ministerialdirektor Hans Fritzsche Subtitles: German, English August Franz Anton Hans Fritzsche (1900-1953) senior German Nazi official, ending the war as Ministerialdirektor at the Propagandaministerium (Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda). He was the preeminent German broadcaster of his time, as part of efforts to present a more popular and entertaining side of the Nazi regime, his voice was recognised by the majority of Germans. Fritzsche was present in the Berlin Führerbunker during the last days of Adolf Hitler. After Hitler's death, he went over to the Soviet lines in Berlin to offer the surrender of the city to the Red Army on 1 May 1945. He was taken prisoner. In September 1932, he began his broadcasting career as head of the Drahtloser Dienst, and started his first broadcast, a daily program called "Es spricht Hans Fritzsche". In 1929 or May 1933 he joined the Nazi Party, and later the SA. In 1933 the Wireless News service was incorporated into Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry. In 1938, Fritzsche became head of the Press Division. In November 1942, he became head of the Radio Division. Fritzsche had no involvement in creating policy. During the war, he was Germany's most prominent radio commentator. In April 1945, he was present in the Berlin Führerbunker during the last days of Adolf Hitler and Goebbels. After Hitler's suicide on 30 April 1945, Goebbels assumed Hitler's role as chancellor. On 1 May, Goebbels completed his sole official act as chancellor. He dictated a letter to Soviet Army General Vasily Chuikov, requesting a temporary ceasefire and ordered German General Hans Krebs to deliver it. Chuikov commanded the Soviet forces in central Berlin. After this was rejected, Goebbels decided that further efforts were futile. Goebbels then launched into a tirade berating the generals, reminding them Hitler forbade them to surrender. Fritzsche left the room to try and take matters into his own hands. He went to his nearby office on Wilhelmplatz and wrote a surrender letter addressed to Soviet Marshall Georgy Zhukov. An angry and drunk General Wilhelm Burgdorf followed Fritzsche to his office. There he asked Fritzsche if he intended to surrender Berlin. Fritzsche replied that he was going to do just that. Burgdorf shouted that Hitler had forbidden surrender and as a civilian he had no authority to do so. Burgdorf then pulled his pistol to shoot Fritzsche, but a radio technician "knocked the gun" and the bullet fired hit the ceiling. Several men then hustled Burgdorf out of the office and he returned to the bunker. Fritzsche then left his office and went over to the Soviet lines and offered to surrender the city. Fritzsche was taken prisoner by Soviet Red Army soldiers. At first he was held prisoner in a basement and then sent to Moscow for interrogation at Lubyanka Prison where, according to his own account, three gold teeth were yanked from his mouth upon arrival. He was confined to a "standing coffin", a 3-foot-square cell where it was impossible to sleep, and placed on a bread and hot water diet. He eventually signed a confession. While on trial at Nuremberg, he wrote his account of Soviet prison which was published in Switzerland. Fritzsche was sent to Nuremberg, and tried before the International Military Tribunal. He was charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. In his positions in the propaganda apparatus of the Nazi State, Fritzsche played a role to further the conspiracy to commit atrocities and to launch the war of aggression. According to William L. Shirer, it was unclear to the attendees why he was charged. Shirer remarked that "no-one in the courtroom, including Fritzsche, seemed to know why he was there – he was too small a fry – unless it were as a ghost for Goebbels". According to the IMT prosecution, he "incited and encouraged the commission of War Crimes by deliberately falsifying news to arouse in the German People those passions which led them to the commission of atrocities". He was one of only three defendants to be acquitted at Nuremberg (along with Hjalmar Schacht and Franz von Papen). Fritzsche was later classified as Group I (Major Offenders) by a denazification court which gave him the maximum penalty, eight years' imprisonment. He was pardoned in September 1950. He married his second wife, Hildegard Springer, in 1950. He died of cancer in 1953. His wife died the same year. #history #ww2 #Stalingrad #Cталинград #Россия #Germany #military #worldwar #worldwar2 #war #ww #wwii #simplehistory #Paulus