Seventy -three years contemplate this French analyst; More than two thirds of them, dedicated to investigating World War II. When Jean López It was lighting, only eight springs had passed since Adolf Hitler left this world at once … of cyanide and gun. The postwar years crossed as a child and the economic resurgence that arrived after the fall of the Nazi ram was shown. Perhaps the magnetism you feel towards this period is due. As much as to have dedicated his adult life to the dissemination of the conflict and as to narrate in a book, the last of the infinity he treasures, the last 106 days of the ‘Führer’ at the head of the third Reich.
The work, ‘The last hundred days of Hitler’ (Espasa), It translates into a data torrent from primary sources and collapses myths such as the one that states that entire Germany was from the hand of its leader until the final moments. «Many Germans struggled for fear. Hitler turned to executions to fight, ”he explains to this newspaper. Today, we asked López about the rales of the third Reich, about the fallen in disgrace of the greatest hampon in Europe, and about the truths and lies of the last stage of World War II.
-Why began the book on a day as specific as January 15, 1945?
Because it was the day Hitler definitely returned to Berlin, where he would not come out saved for a few hours at the head of the oder. It was also the day when he left all hope of relaunching the offensive in the west, in which the Soviets broke all the German defenses in Poland and in which they began to march at a rate of 50 km hour towards Berlin.
-If Hitler would have committed suicide, would the war have ended before?
Definitely. It was his determination to never ask for an armistice that kept the Germans fighting. However, if it had disappeared, let’s say on January 15, their successors could have continued the fight for some time; Enough to officially propose peace to the West and continue the war in the east. Although I believe that if these successors had been general of the ‘Wehrmacht’, they would have captured after having asked, in vain, an armistice to the Anglo -Americans, and only to them.
-What do you think would have happened to the third Reich if one of Hitler’s great hierarchs had inherited power?
If it had been Himmler, Goebbels or Bormann who had inherited power, I think they had continued the war until annihilation.
Hitler’s last photograph outside the bunker of the Foreign Ministry
-Why do you think that these last 106 days were the most destructive period of the entire World War II?
Because it was during these three months when there were lower military and civilians.
-How is explained that eighty million Germans, surrounded and desperate, resisted until the end when Hitler was already defeated?
Not everyone resisted until the end. As of February there was a growing number of defections and the regime resorted more and more to courts and summary hangings to keep the troops in combat. The ‘Wehrmacht’ fought by habit, the Nazis and their supporters, including young people, for fanaticism. The others, for fear of the Gestapo and the SS OA the revenge of the Soviet.
-How should we imagine Hitler during these 106 days? You describe it as a weak and bad breath …
Physically weak, but with the will intact. He retained his ability to convince others. But the truth is that, little by little, he was losing contact with the reality that surrounded him.
-How was the daily life in the bunker? What did it smelly there? What ate the troops and the hierarchs that resided inside?
Outside there was the noise of aerial bombing and, over the weeks, also that of Soviet artillery. Inside, in return, the constant noise of ventilation prevailed, the moisture that oozed from the walls, the overcrowding of the bunker … ‘We do not smoke, or we do it in secret, we speak in a low voice,’ they said. Food? Undoubtedly, military rations and, for the hierarchs, a somewhat better menu in which canned food played an important role. Hitler’s last food was spaghetti with tomato, by the way.
-Did the anarchy installed after Hitler’s death? The third Reich continued to operate?
Everything collapsed, transport above all. The peoples no longer had water or electricity. Actually, everything depended on local powers. It was in the big cities, where life was more disturbed, where there was a certain form of anarchy that reigned due to the violence exerted by certain uncontrolled groups: the SS and the Gestapo. These organizations executed the suspects until the end. They ended with thousands of people: prisoners of war, deportees, forced workers who had escaped, evaders and deserters who hid in ruins and basements … They also murdered groups of young people who had separated from their families and lived in gangs … It was a nightmare.
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