Otto Günsche

The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Otto Guensche.

Otto Günsche
Born	24 September 1917(1917-09-24) Jena, Thuringia
Died	2 October 2003(2003-10-02) (aged 86) Lohmar, North Rhine-Westphalia
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen-SS
Years of service	1933–1945
Rank	Sturmbannführer
Battles/wars	World War II

Otto Günsche (24 September 1917 – 2 October 2003) was a Sturmbannführer (Major) in the Waffen-SS and a member of 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler before he became Adolf Hitler's personal adjutant. He was captured by soldiers of the Red Army on 2 May 1945. After various prisons and labor camps in the USSR, he was released from Bautzen Penitentiary on 2 May 1956.^[1]

Biography

Günsche was born in Jena in Thuringia. After leaving secondary school at 16 he volunteered for the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and joined the Nazi Party. He first met Adolf Hitler in 1936. In 1944 he fought on the eastern front and then in France. He was present at the 20 July 1944 attempt to kill Hitler at the Wolf's Lair in Rastenburg.

As the end of the Third Reich became imminent, Günsche was tasked by Hitler with ensuring the cremation of his body after his death and Günsche stood guard outside the room where Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide.^[2]

Having ensured that the bodies were burnt using fuel supplied by Hitler's chauffeur Erich Kempka, Günsche left the Führerbunker a few hours later, on 30 April 1945. He surrendered to Soviet troops encircling the city soon thereafter and was flown to Moscow for interrogation by the NKVD.

He was imprisoned in Moscow and Bautzen in East Germany and released on 2 May 1956. During his imprisonment, Günsche was a primary contributor to Operation Myth, the biography of Hitler that was prepared for Joseph Stalin. The dossier was edited by Soviet NKVD (later known as the MVD, the forerunner of the KGB) officers. The report was received by Stalin on Dec. 30, 1949. The report was published in book form in 2005 under the title: The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides.

Günsche died of heart failure at his home in Lohmar, North Rhine-Westphalia in 2003. He had three children, including a son named Kai.

Portrayal in the media

Otto Günsche has been portrayed by the following actors in film and television productions.

• Hannes Schiel in the 1955 West German film Der Letzte Akt (Hitler: The Last Ten Days).^[3]
• Horst Gill in the 1970-1 Soviet film Osvobozhdenie and in the 1977 Soldiers of Freedom.
• Dan Meaden in the 1973 British television production The Death of Adolf Hitler.^[4]
• Götz Otto in the 2004 German film Downfall (Der Untergang).^[5]
  • Günsche became a central figure in the Downfall (Der Untergang) parody videos on YouTube, in a scene where he reports that Hermann Fegelein is not present in the bunker, thereby ending up on the receiving end of Hitler's subsequent anger.

Awards

• Wound Badge in Silver
• Infantry Assault Badge
• Iron Cross 2nd Class
• Iron Cross 1st Class

Bibliography

• Eberle, Hendrik and Matthias Uhl, eds. The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides.
• Joachimsthaler, Anton (1996, 1999). The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, The Evidence, The Truth. Brockhampton Press. ISBN 1-86019-902-X. 
• O'Donnell, James. The Bunker. New York: Da Capo Press (reprint), 2001. ISBN 0-306-80958-3.

References

1. ^ Joachimsthaler, Anton (1996, 1999), The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, The Evidence, The Truth, Brockhampton Press, p. 281
2. ^ Ian Kershaw (2000). Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis. Penguin Press. ISBN 0-393-32252-1. 
3. ^ "Letzte Akt, Der (1955)". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048295/. Retrieved May 8, 2008. 
4. ^ "The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) (TV)". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283307/. Retrieved May 8, 2008. 
5. ^ "Untergang, Der (2004)". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/. Retrieved May 8, 2008. 

External links

• Picture of Günsche

Persondata
Name	Günsche, Otto
Alternative names	Guensche, Otto
Short description
Date of birth	September 24, 1917
Place of birth	Jena, Thuringia
Date of death	October 2, 2003
Place of death	Lohmar, North Rhine-Westphalia