Summary of Volker Ullrich's Eight Days in May

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 On April 30, Hitler took his own life. Krebs and the Soviet commander, General Vasily Chuikov, arrived at Schulenburgring 2 in the Tempelhof district to inform him of the news. Chuikov seemed unimpressed.

#2 Goebbels hoped that the conflicts of interest between the western Allies and their Soviet partner would come to a head and that the Soviet leadership might be inclined to desert the anti-Hitler front. It took a while to establish a telephone connection to Chuikov's command and then to agree on a time and place for the peace envoys to meet the Soviet side.

#3 The German message was delivered by Krebs, and it was clear that the two sides were irreconcilable. The only possibility was a total unconditional surrender to the Soviet Union as well as the United States and Britain.

#4 The German negotiators returned to the chancellery to give Goebbels a preliminary report. They were accompanied by a Soviet major, who was shot when they came under SS fire en route. It took hours for Dufving to arrive at the chancellery and relay the news that the Soviets were insisting on unconditional surrender.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669354598

IRB Media

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Insights on Volker Ullrich's Eight Days in May

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

On April 30, Hitler took his own life. Krebs and the Soviet commander, General Vasily Chuikov, arrived at Schulenburgring 2 in the Tempelhof district to inform him of the news. Chuikov seemed unimpressed.

#2

Goebbels hoped that the conflicts of interest between the western Allies and their Soviet partner would come to a head and that the Soviet leadership might be inclined to desert the anti-Hitler front. It took a while to establish a telephone connection to Chuikov's command and then to agree on a time and place for the peace envoys to meet the Soviet side.

#3

The German message was delivered by Krebs, and it was clear that the two sides were irreconcilable. The only possibility was a total unconditional surrender to the Soviet Union as well as the United States and Britain.

#4

The German negotiators returned to the chancellery to give Goebbels a preliminary report. They were accompanied by a Soviet major, who was shot when they came under SS fire en route. It took hours for Dufving to arrive at the chancellery and relay the news that the Soviets were insisting on unconditional surrender.

#5

On the morning of May 1, as Krebs was making his way to Chuikov’s command post, Dönitz sent a radiogram message to the chancellery. It was another effusive confirmation of Dönitz’s unbroken subordination: My Führer, my loyalty to you will always be unconditional. I will thus undertake all attempts to relieve you in Berlin.

#6

Hitler had named his successor, Dönitz, on April 30. Speer was unaware that Hitler's testament had dismissed him as armaments minister in favor of his rival Karl-Otto Saur. That was payback for the refusal of Speer in the final months of the war to carry out to the letter the Führer's orders to leave nothing behind in Germany.

#7

Hitler’s testament was in effect, but there was no explicit acknowledgment that Hitler was dead. Bormann was keeping Dönitz in the dark about when and how Hitler had died. He was determined to save his skin and continue playing a leading role in the German government.

#8

After the idea of a separate arrangement with the Soviets was discarded, Hitler’s suicide was announced to the public. Hitler left the form and timing of an announcement to the troops and the public up to Dönitz.

#9

On April 30, Dönitz was already considering who he could appoint as foreign minister. He initially chose Konstantin von Neurath, who had served as foreign minister in the final two presidentially appointed governments of the Weimar Republic and in the Nazi regime until 1938.

#10

Dönitz attempted to contact Neurath, but he was unsuccessful. He then asked Ribbentrop, who had replaced him as foreign minister, if he knew where Neurath was. Ribbentrop insisted on a personal meeting with Dönitz.

#11

The office of foreign minister was given to Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk, the longtime finance minister. He had survived all changes in government since 1932, and had been confirmed in his post by Hitler's testament. He knew there were no laurels to be reaped from the position, but he needed a man who could advise him politically during the decisions to come.

#12

On May 1, Dönitz announced that Hitler was dead. Between 9 p. m. and 10:25 p. , the state radio station in Hamburg and its subsidiaries in Flensburg and Bremen broadcast selections from Wagner’s operas Tannhäuser, Das Rheingold, and Die Götterdämmerung.

#13

The German public was given false information about Hitler’s death. Covering up Hitler’s suicide concealed the fact that he had evaded responsibility for the regime’s crimes.

#14

Dönitz’s speech was a clear attempt to shift blame for the continuation of the war in the west to the British and Americans. He promised that as far as he was able to do so, he would create tolerable conditions for the German people.

#15

Dönitz was appointed Germany’s new president and commander in chief on May 1. He pledged to continue the battle against the