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Hitler's Last Secretary: A Firsthand Account of Life with Hitler by Melissa Müller, Traudl Junge
teriboop's review against another edition
4.0
Very enlightening account of life in Hitler's compound during the last few years of WWII from the inside, including the events around Valkyrie. Makes you realize how Hitler was able to affect so many people and how he destroyed the lives of even those close to him.
bookwormerica's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyed. I do think she was a good 80% as native as she says She was
turophile's review against another edition
3.0
This slip of a book is a memoir by Traudl Junge, who served as the last secretary to Adolph Hitler. She was with him for about two years right up until he committed suicide.
What struck me most about the book was the mundanity. I almost DNF’d several times during the first 75 page because nothing. Traudl grew up with a single mom, living with her mother, sister, and stern grandfather. She wanted to become a dancer, but couldn’t afford the lessons so became a secretary to pay for dance lessons. When she saved enough to quit, she was not allowed to do so because of the war. Through a turn of circumstances, she ended up applying for and being selected as one of Adolph Hitler’s three personal secretaries. Her main job duties were to transcribe handwritten speeches or to take dictation and transcribe. Her unofficial role was that of social companion. Hitler liked to be surrounded by a small group of people and Traudl became part of that circle. She and the other three secretaries traveled and stayed with him wherever he went.
During the first portion of Traudl’s story, there’s nothing remarkable about Hitler. His diet and sleep habits are quirky, but he’s quite kind to Traudl, acting almost like a father figure. If one didn’t know the horrible truth behind who he was and what he did, you’d think he was just an odd middle-aged man.
Traudl wasn’t terribly political and didn’t seem to grasp what was going on across Germany. Slowly, she bgan to sense something wasn’t quite right but never did anything to act on it. About midway through her memoir, one begins to see what a megalomaniac Hitler was, but the nature of his evil does not enter into the discussion often because, despite her proximity, Hitler’s discussion about the final solution were not part of Traudl’s work with him. His anti-semitism appeared in passing, but was not a prominent aspect of the stor.
I’m not sure what to take away from this story. It became more interesting as the story progressed. Perhaps one acquires a sense of how the charisma that drew many German’s to him, but it may be more about how people were anesthetized from the evil that was happening around them.
What struck me most about the book was the mundanity. I almost DNF’d several times during the first 75 page because nothing. Traudl grew up with a single mom, living with her mother, sister, and stern grandfather. She wanted to become a dancer, but couldn’t afford the lessons so became a secretary to pay for dance lessons. When she saved enough to quit, she was not allowed to do so because of the war. Through a turn of circumstances, she ended up applying for and being selected as one of Adolph Hitler’s three personal secretaries. Her main job duties were to transcribe handwritten speeches or to take dictation and transcribe. Her unofficial role was that of social companion. Hitler liked to be surrounded by a small group of people and Traudl became part of that circle. She and the other three secretaries traveled and stayed with him wherever he went.
During the first portion of Traudl’s story, there’s nothing remarkable about Hitler. His diet and sleep habits are quirky, but he’s quite kind to Traudl, acting almost like a father figure. If one didn’t know the horrible truth behind who he was and what he did, you’d think he was just an odd middle-aged man.
Traudl wasn’t terribly political and didn’t seem to grasp what was going on across Germany. Slowly, she bgan to sense something wasn’t quite right but never did anything to act on it. About midway through her memoir, one begins to see what a megalomaniac Hitler was, but the nature of his evil does not enter into the discussion often because, despite her proximity, Hitler’s discussion about the final solution were not part of Traudl’s work with him. His anti-semitism appeared in passing, but was not a prominent aspect of the stor.
I’m not sure what to take away from this story. It became more interesting as the story progressed. Perhaps one acquires a sense of how the charisma that drew many German’s to him, but it may be more about how people were anesthetized from the evil that was happening around them.
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