With Hitler to the End: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Valet

"With Hitler to the End: The Memoir of Hitler's Valet", by Hitler's majordomo Heinz Linge, is another book by one of Hitler's staff. (I say "majordomo" rather than "valet", because Linge was more than just Hitler's valet, he also made personal arrangements for Hitler, was responsible for the other household staff, and ended the war with an equivent rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the SS.)Linge enlisted in the SS in 1933, which at the time the SS primarily provided security for Nazi meetings and served as Hitler's personal bodyguard. In late 1934, he was selected to serve at the Reich Chancellory, and after training, was attached to Hitler's personal staff in January 1935. For the next 10 years, he was at Hitler's side, eventually carrying Hitler's corpse up from his bunker in Berlin and helping cremate the body. With the exception of perhaps Eva Braun, Hitler's mistress and eventual wife, Linge was probably as close to Hitler as anyone during those years, although the relationship remained strictly master-servant.Linge was strictly domestic staff ... waking the dictator in the morning, packing his luggage for trips, opening his office door and announcing vistors ... and was not directly privy to decisions and discussions about the war. However, he is a wealth of knowledge about Hitler the person, as opposed to Hitler the warlord.The book is an easy read, and shows what kind of person Linge believed him to be, as well as the changes that occurred in Hitler over Linge's 10 years of service. Linge found Hitler to be strict but a decent person, albeit with a lot of idiosyncrasies that grew worse with the war. This tracks with other autobiographies of his personal staff. The monstrous, maniacal side of Hitler, who could order millions to was their deaths with few or no qualms, was apparently more reserved for his military generals and staff. Linge shows the personal side of Hitler, and opens the door, so to speak, on his daily behavior, likes, dislikes, and helps flesh out the man.Linge denys any knowledge of the atrocities ordered by his boss, which I have trouble believing. While his secretaries, who also denied knowing anything, could perhaps be telling the truth (as they were officially only used for specific tasks), Linge was more-or-less on-duty with him every day and had a much greater access to Hitler, and probably overheard a great deal about everything.Linge was offered the opportunity to flee Berlin near the end of the war. But he, like Hitler's remaining secretaries, refused to leave and stayed on until the bitter end and almost certain capture by the Soviets. Its an interesting contradiction in that Hitler, undoubtedly one of the most evil men of the 20th century, inspired such loyalty in his personal staff. And unlike one of his secretaries, Trudl Junge, who wrote her own autobiography entitled "Until the Final Hour", where she acknowledges that they should have known what was going on and repents her time with Hitler, Linge never repents or apologizes in his book.While you don't get the impression that Linge was a great thinker or anything other that what he claims to be, this is a good book ... better than most of the others I've read ... to learn about Hitler from a personal side, rather than as the war leader. Four stars.

The book is the memoir of Hitler's SS officer valet, Heinz Linge. Linge's book is well written and easy to read.It opens in 1933, when Linge joined the "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH was Hitler's SS bodyguard regiment). He was then selected for duty at the Reich Chancellery at the end of 1934. Once there he was selected to be a manservant (valet) to Adolf Hitler. Linge then begins setting out his ten years with Hitler that is shown through anecdotes and observations. The book is not meant to be a scholarly written resource as to those times and events. However, it is a very interesting read, because it sets forth scenes and conversations that give a more rounded picture of Hitler and his inner circle. Linge's portrait of Hitler is not the crazy, one dimensional, blood-thirsty leader that people have come to expect. As Roger Moorhouse (the author of "Killing Hitler: The Third Reich and the Plots Against the Führer") states so well in his introduction: "His portrayal is affectionate, certainly, but it is not without criticism." The author does admit to having a "blind faith" in Hitler overall. He talks about how Hitler in the 1930's "bred" great hopes with all the new construction projects and plans for Germany. He covers the time as part of the inner circle that ultimately was cut off from much of the harsh realities of the "outside world" especially after the Second World War started.Much like "Traudl" Junge (Hitler's personal secretary and an author of her own memoir), Linge claims to have been apolitical and not aware of the horrors of the Third Reich. However, that statement is harder to swallow coming from Linge. Junge was a rather naive, young woman who saw Hitler as a fatherly figure. Hitler liked to project that image to her with trite, pleasant conversations. Here in Linge's book he gives examples of private talks and discussions that are more frank and man-to-man. As stated, Linge recounts: Hitler's daily routine, dinning habits, his private life (with Eva Braun and the inner court), his "most intense pastime" of architecture, health issues, leadership style, his opinions of others, the war and even faults. Further, the author dispels some myths as to Hitler, Speer, and others.Some of same antecdotes recounted by Linge in this book also appear in "The Hitler Book", edited by Henrik Eberle and Matthias Uhl. Since "The Hitler Book" book was compiled mainly from the Soviet interrogations of Linge and Gunsche (Hitler's most personal aides), that book presents events from a Soviet doctrine point of view as to how the information and history should be recorded. That bias is absent in Linge's memoir. Again, the book is worth reading and most interesting as to the atmosphere before and leading up to the war.

Straight matter of fact historical experience written extremely well by the author.For any reader who enjoys historical fact away from fiction.

This is one of four books that I have read. Two by Hitler's secretaries, one by his driver and now this one by his valet. Very well written and the truth from someone who really was there and witnessed it all. This is the icing on the cake. Well worth reading.

A good read and page turner

Very clear and straight forward book. Another side of Hitler people do not think about.

Deliberately avoids anything about himself and his colleagues.Just a plain simple man?