Last Days of the Reich

The Diary of Count Folke Bernadotte

Folke Bernadotte

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781848325227
• eBook ISBN: 9781473815858
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Biografie in ambito militare

Count Folke Bernadotte was one of those rare figures in war ' a man trusted by both sides alike. Shortly before the war ended, Bernadotte was the leader of a rescue operation to transfer western European inmates to Swedish hospitals in the so-called 'White Buses'. This work through the Swedish Red Cross involved mercy missions to Germany and it was through this link that Bernadotte came into touch with prominent Nazi leaders in the 1940s. During the last months of the war, Bernadotte was introduced to Heinrich Himmler ' one of the most sinister men of the Third Reich. Bernadotte was asked by Himmler to approach the Allies with the proposal of a complete surrender to Britain and the US ' providing Germany could continue to fight the Soviet Union. The offer was passed to Winston Churchill and Harry Truman, but rejected. The course of these negotiations is narrated in this book with a simple, compelling clarity and thrilling immediacy. This new edition of Bernadotte's memoir includes a Preface by his two sons, and an Introduction by a leading Swedish author discussing Count Bernadotte's wartime record and his post-war assassination.

LAST DAYS OF THE REICH

My plane left Bromma Airfield, heading West, one day at the end of October, 1944. My destination was Paris, via London. In Paris I was to confer with Allied representatives regarding Sweden’s share in post-war reconstruction and other problems. Paris was again a free city in a free land, and one could even at that period safely prophesy that the life of the Nazi empire would be not a thousand years, but little more than a decade.

There are two episodes during my visit to Paris in autumn of 1944 which I shall always recollect with especial pleasure. One was my meeting with General Eisenhower, the other a luncheon where the Swedish Consul-General in Paris, Raoul Nordling, was one of the guests.

On a lovely autumn day, October 2nd, my plane landed on a military airfield at Versailles, where the Allied GHQ had been established. I was immediately conducted to the Supreme Commander’s office, where the General, a powerfully-built man, in his fifties, received me with the unaffected friendliness and absence of side which is characteristic of Americans in high positions.

I had been in charge of the organization concerned with the internment of American airmen who had made forced landings in Sweden, and it was on the suggestion of General Curtis, United States Air Force, who had been to Sweden in connection with this, that I visited the Supreme Commander.

General Eisenhower impressed me enormously. I felt here was a man of real greatness, a personality as vital as it was generous and warmhearted. He gave one the feeling of being relaxed and calm, with complete confidence in his ability to reach his goal and carry out the gigantic task he had undertaken. Here, I felt, was a man who knew what he wanted and had the ability to get it. One of his most striking characteristics was his strong sense of humour, which was seldom absent during our talk and gave a charmingly ‘human’ touch to his personality. The General is very human, and very humane. He expressed no hate of those who had been his antagonists in the Second World War – and certainly none for the enemy’s military leaders.

His subordinates are unanimous as to the complete absence of any rigid militarism in their Supreme Commander. This, perhaps, offers the explanation of his greatest quality; the magnificent ability with which he has preserved the team-spirit among the Western Allies, and, often under conditions of great delicacy, adjusted and co-ordinated the sometimes conflicting wishes expressed from various quarters.

General Eisenhower began his talk by expressing his general appreciation of what I had been able to do for American airmen in Sweden, and then went on to discuss the general situation. I was pleased to observe that he had a friendly understanding for Sweden’s political attitude. However that may be, he stated in the course of this talk that he was of the firm opinion that Sweden’s neutral policy had been the right one, not only from her own point of view, but also from that of the Allies. This was an opinion which I encountered during several of my conversations with representatives of the British and American High Commands. General Eisenhower then discussed with me the question of how and where Sweden could most effectively assist in the postwar problems.

I informed him that I had had a preliminary discussion with representatives of UNRRA, and that the Swedish authorities and the Swedish Red Cross were anxious to hear the views of Shaef. I mentioned that in certain quarters of UNRRA doubts had been expressed as to whether the offers of assistance by neutrals would be favourably received. Eisenhower strongly rejected this opinion, and insisted that all offers of assistance would be accepted. Personally, he said, he thought it very natural that neutral countries should wish to take part in the task of restoration. He wished the occupied countries to establish their own administrations as soon as they were liberated, after which they would be regarded and treated as sovereign states with whom neutral organizations could deal direct and plan post-war action.

Regarding Germany, General Eisenhower stated that the Allied Supreme Headquarters would only collaborate with a single organization covering all the zones of occupation. When I asked him for his opinion concerning Poland in this respect, he thought it would be only right if, for example, the Swedish Red Cross approached the Polish authorities to ascertain their wishes, but that the Russian authorities would probably expect to be consulted. He emphasized, however, that he was not in possession of detailed information regarding plans in Eastern Europe.

I was very struck by the atmosphere at Eisenhower’s Headquarters. It was gay and friendly, and there were many signs of the never-failing American sense of humour. When I was shown round I saw a bust of Göring in a niche, which the Germans had forgotten in their precipitate flight. There it stood, but the face was turned towards the wall. ‘He’s a bad boy,’ said my guide, laughing, ‘he must stand in the corner until he says he is ashamed of himself.’ Among those with whom I had lengthy talks was General Spaatz, chief of the Allied Strategic Air Forces. One of his remarks impressed itself on me. ‘When, sometimes during the quiet hours of the night, I think about the appalling destruction my forces cause in Germany and among the civilian population, I have to make myself dwell on the suffering of the French people at the hands of the Germans. Only that thought makes it a little less painful to deal such blows at harmless people in Germany’ General Spaatz said he had never observed any hatred for the enemy in the American or British forces.

In one of the rooms at Supreme Headquarters I noticed a map on which were indicated the various zones of occupation in Germany as planned at that period of the war. There were three main zones. One line, from Lübeck, following the course of the Elbe towards the East, showed the Western boundary of the planned Russian zone. Northwestern Germany was to be under British occupation, and the South-west under the Americans.

However, I felt that here was a matter which was no concern of mine, and I refrained from asking any questions. I had come to Paris to discuss matters concerning Sweden’s humanitarian mission and for no political purposes.

The following day, November 3rd, I attended a lunch given at the Hotel Bristol by the Swedish Chargé d’Affaires, Belfrage. Among those present were my two travelling companions, Doctor Ulf Nordwall, Medical Adviser in Post-War Problems to the Swedish Red Cross, and Baron Erik Leijonhufod, Secretary to the Swedish State Committee for Post-War Relief. And then there was our Consul-General Nordling. I must admit that this man fascinated me. His enthusiasm was as irresistible as it was inspiring. Of course I had read in the papers about Nordling’s magnificent contribution to the liberation of Paris. I knew that he had played a highly important part as negotiator between the Allied Forces and the French Underground Movement on the one hand, and the German Occupational Authorities on the other.

Nordling is an old Parisian Swede filled with a deep love of France and the French, and a passionate desire to be of help to the vast number of those who so heroically carried on the struggle for their country’s freedom. His activities were sometimes misunderstood. It was necessary to maintain contact with the enemy as well as with the Underground Movement, and this gave rise to suspicions which have since shown themselves to be entirely without foundation. As we sat over our lunch he told us in his frank vivacious way of his many adventures and experiences during the days preceding the liberation of Paris. What especially interested and thrilled me was his account of how he had been able to prevent large numbers of women and men from being deported to Germany, and how he had succeeded in persuading the Germans to release a number of Frenchmen who had been imprisoned in France at the time of the capitulation of Paris. Nordling is not a civil servant who fears responsibility and takes cover under regulations and instructions, but fearlessly acts on his own responsibility. Without these qualities he could never have succeeded in his self-imposed mission. As I listened to him, I became infected by his enthusiasm. I asked myself if I couldn’t do something similar for those who were languishing in German concentration camps. Thus a seed was sown in me which was to grow into the expedition of the Swedish Red Cross into Germany in the Spring of 1945.

STOCKHOLM

December, 1944.

Seated in the plane which was carrying me home, my mind was occupied with the project to which Raoul Nordling’s talk had given rise. I asked myself would it be possible for Sweden to do something to lessen the suffering caused by the German system of concentration camps, to save at any rate some unfortunates otherwise doomed to die in horrible conditions? I felt little optimism, since I was well aware that the German authorities had firmly rejected all suggestions from the International Red Cross, as well as from the Red Cross organizations of belligerents and neutrals that they should be allowed to bring relief to the unfortunates in concentration camps. The Germans absolutely declined to allow any foreigner a glimpse into these infernos, as we feared them to be. Nor could we refer to any international agreement, for when the Geneva Convention was drawn up, in 1929, nobody had then thought of incarcerating political suspects in concentration camps. It was reserved for Nazi Germany to conceive this diabolical idea. The concentration camps were well guarded. No one forced behind those grim walls could escape, and no independent observer could enter, lest the dark secrets of this grim system be fully revealed. Of one thing I was convinced. It would be useless to negotiate with any but the most highly placed in the Nazi hierarchy. I knew that if anything was to be done, it must be done without delay. For some time there had been rumours, which could not be ignored, that the German authorities had the intention of ‘liquidating’ the prisoners in concentration camps if there should be a collapse in Germany’s defences, thus ridding themselves of dangerous witnesses.

These were my thoughts on my return to Stockholm, and just as was the case in Paris, it was an encounter with one person which became of decisive importance to the execution of my scheme. This time it was a distinguished Norwegian diplomat, M. Ditleff, a man of sixty, who had served his country in many important posts, and was at the time attached to the Norwegian Legation in Stockholm. It was he who suggested to me that the most important task would be to persuade the Nazi authorities to allow Norwegian civilians to be released from the camps in Germany and evacuated to Sweden. The idea appealed to me greatly, for it was very much on the same lines as Consul-General Nordling’s activity, but on a larger scale. M. Ditleff and I went deeply into the question, and arrived at the conclusion that to be successful it would be necessary to contact the Head of the SS, Reichsminister Heinrich Himmler. In such matters final decision rested with him A somewhat encouraging factor was that he was known to have expressed a liking for the Scandinavian countries and their peoples. There was perhaps a faint hope that he might give his approval to our project.

The next thing to do was to confer with the Swedish Red Cross, and with the Swedish Government. I knew that the latter had for some time been anxious to be of assistance to the Scandinavians imprisoned in Germany. Our Legation in Berlin had transmitted many requests for the liberation of individual prisoners. Our Minister, Arvid Richert, had been untiring in his efforts, which had been by no means fruitless. As is known, he had succeeded in obtaining the release of a number of Norwegian students who had been returned to Norway. This fact was brought up during the ensuing discussions in January and the beginning of February, but it was agreed that it was far more difficult for a Chef de Mission than for a private individual to make contact with those in authority over the concentration camps. As a diplomat he could only attempt such approach through the channels of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the risk that it would end in a cul-de-sac of official non-co-operation and never reach Himmler. When the Swedish Foreign Office instructed me to make an attempt to obtain the release of Norwegian civilians, a plan was agreed on.

At the request of the Swedish Minister, Richert, the Red Cross sent an expedition to Berlin at the time when my discussions were taking place. The object of the expedition was to collect and send home the numerous Swedish-born women who had married Germans, and now found themselves homeless and with no near relations. This gave me an excellent pretext for a visit to Berlin. On my departure by plane, on February 16th, it was officially announced that I was going to inspect the Red Cross expedition to ascertain if it required reinforcing in order to carry out its task. The real object of my visit to Berlin was, of course, to endeavour to meet Himmler and obtain his consent to the internment in Sweden, not only of the Norwegian, but also of the Danish prisoners in Germany. Before my departure I had submitted my plans not only to the Swedish Government, but also to the President of the Red Cross, Prince Charles. He had expressed the opinion that the scheme must embrace Danes as well as Norwegians. Consequently the field of operations had widened.

BERLIN

February, 1945.

I had no illusions as to the difficulties of my task, and little hope of obtaining more than a partial success. Though well aware of the many obstacles in my path, I persuaded myself that if I could only meet Himmler I could not fail to obtain some concession. The difficulty was just how to contact this man, at the time believed to be the most powerful personage in Germany. He commanded the German armies on the Oder Front, and as the Russian pressure on them was very great, his presence on this Front was indispensable. My difficulties were not diminished by the fact that I could not give the real reason for my visit to those whose help I was counting on to bring about a meeting. Any disapproval of my aims, and they would see to it that the meeting never came off.

When I arrived in Berlin the Yalta Conference had just ended according to the communiqué issued by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, the Allies were now going to co-ordinate their forces and launch a simultaneous attack on Germany from East, West, North and South. The Russians had already advanced well into the Reich, and in the West the British and Americans were beginning their great Rhine offensive. But though the Reich was commencing to crumble, the terror went on in the occupied territories. Between February 8th and 10th no less than thirty-four patriots had been murdered by the Germans in Norway. Events were rushing with increasing speed to the final crisis when anything might happen.

Berlin looked war-weary. The people looked fairly well fed, and though there were long queues outside food shops, in the end customers apparently got what they wanted. There was no real shortage of food, but people gave the impression of being utterly sick of the war and completely dominated by the wish to see it end quickly. The erection of barricades in the streets had begun. There was no panic, but neither was there any enthusiasm. The citizens of the Third Reich worked with the mechanical sense of duty which is characteristic of the German. The men mostly belonged to the Volksstürm, but there were women as well, and a good many foreign workers from the concentration camps. On closer inspection the barricades looked very flimsy. Anything which happened to be handy was used; ’buses, tramcars and cars were placed in position and filled with bricks and rubble. If the work proceeded without much enthusiasm, the Berliners had not lost their caustic sense of humour. One of the jokes of that time was that when the Russians came to Berlin it would take them one hour and two minutes to capture each barricade. One hour for Homeric laughter, and the remaining two minutes to overcome the barricade.

At the barricades and in food queues the Berliners waited for the enemy’s arrival, and around them, in all directions, death and destruction increased day by day. In the central parts of the city four houses out of every five appeared to have been destroyed by the terrific bombardments. Many of the inhabitants had, of course, been evacuated, but most of them remained, living in cellars, and if things were not actually at their best, life still went on fairly normally. The underground railways, as well as ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Preface
• Last Days of the Reich
• Epilogue
• Schellenberg's Story