Goebbels children

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The Goebbels family on October 29, 1942: (back row) Hilde, Harald Quandt and Helga; (front row) Helmut, Holde, Magda, Heide, Joseph and Hedda.

Magda and Joseph Goebbels had six children. Some writers have claimed that their names all began with "H" as a tribute to Adolf Hitler, but there is no record of the parents ever having given this explanation. Magda Goebbels also had a son, Harald Quandt, from her first marriage.

Background

Floorplan of Führerbunker wing.

It is claimed that, according to David Irving, on June 29, 1934, the day before the Night of the Long Knives, Goebbels had ordered Magda to take Harald, Helga and Hildegard out of Kladow, and bring them to a villa further inside Berlin. They remained there until the following January, when Magda returned to Kladow, now pregnant with Helmut. That Easter, Goebbels recorded a complaint in his diary that Magda had spent all her time with the children, and failed to notice him.

In 1936, Goebbels' diary records that he purchased a motorboat for Magda and the children. That summer, when Magda took a vacation to the White Hart sanitarium, the children were left in the care of unknown friends in Schwanenwerder.

During the winter of 1937, Joseph, Magda and their five children posed for a series of promotional images to advertise Winter Relief charity collections - by this time, he had also purchased several ponies for his children..

When the Goebbels marriage reached crisis point in the summer of 1938, over Goebbel's affair with Czech actress Lída Baarová. Hitler himself intervened and negotiated an agreement whereby the actress would be banished and the couple would keep up public appearances for a year subject to any reasonable conditions Magda might make. One of her conditions was that Josef would only be able to visit Schwanenwerder and see the children with her expressed permission. If, after that year, Magda still wanted a divorce, Hitler would allow it, with josef as the guilty party, and she would retain Schwanenwerder, custody of the children, and a considerable income..

Josef abided scrupulously by the agreement, always calling for permission before visiting and expressing his regret at missing Magda if she was not there, or taking his place, amiably, with his family at the tea table, if she was. It is claimed that the children at no time seemed to be aware that their parents were living seperately at this time.

On Mother's Day 1939, Magda and her children appeared on the cover of Berlin Illustrated. On June 28, she took the children to spend the summer in Bad Gastein visiting her father Oskar Ritschel.

On February 12, 1941, the Goebbels children were evacuated along with thousands of other children from Berlin during the bombings. Hermann Göring had offered to house them, so they were taken to stay at his villa on the Obersalzberg. On April 30, Magda took the children to wait out the war in Bad Aussee, Austria, though they returned to Schwanenwerder by November.

In January 1942, Helga, Hildegard and Helmut all accompanied Joseph on an excursion to Lanke, after he informed their schools that they were visiting Holdine and Heidrun who were ill with whooping cough. That October, Joseph was presented with a 30-minute film of his children playing from the German Newsreel Company, as a gift for his 45th birthday.

On February 18, 1943, Helga and Hildegard were photographed along with Magda at one of Joseph's best-known events, the Total War speech. On March 1, after Allied bombers attacked Schwanenwerder, Goebbels brought his six children to live with him in Berlin.

In Autumn 1944, Joseph spoke about his potential suicide with Max Winkler, asking that his six children would be properly looked-after, after his death. He indicated that while he didn't doubt his daughters would find success, he thought perhaps it would be best if Helmut were pushed towards a career in agriculture. December 3 was Hitler's last visit to the Goebbels' household, where he met with the children for the first time in four years.

In January 1945, Joseph sent Günther Schwägermann to his villa at Lanke, ordering him to bring Magda and the children to stay at an air raid shelter in Schwanenwerder.

By April 22, 1945, the Red Army was entering Berlin and the Goebbels brought their children to the Führerbunker where Adolf Hitler and a few personnel were also staying to direct the final defence of Berlin. Red Cross leader Karl Gebhardt approached Joseph about taking the children out of the city with him, but was dismissed.

General Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven later described the children as "sad" but Erna Flegel, with whom they had much contact in the bunker, characterised them as "charming" and "absolutely delightful" as did their young governess "Frau K".

Hitler was very fond of the children, and even in the last week of his life still took great pleasure in sharing chocolate with them as well as giving them the use of his bathroom .

They are reported to have played with Hitler's dog Blondi during their time in the Führerbunker, where they slept in a single room. While many reports suggest there were three separate bunk beds, secretary Traudl Junge insisted there were only two. The children are said to have sung in unison while in the bunker, performing for both Hitler and the injured Robert Ritter von Greim, as well as having been conducted in play-song by pilot Hanna Reitsch. Junge would later claim she was with the children on April 30 when Hitler and Eva Braun killed themselves.

Children

Magda once described the temperaments of five of her children to her sister-in-law Eleanore (Ello) Quandt by describing how each would react to learning they had been deceived by their spouse:

• Helga- Would seize a revolver and shoot the unfaithful husband out of hand, or at least try to.
• Hilde- Would collapse altogether, sobbing and weeping, but would soon appear to be reconciled if her husband expressed remorse and swore to be faithful in future.
• Helmut- Would never believe that his wife would deceive him
• Holde- Would never quite get over the infidelity, but would be too proud to reproach her husband. Finally, through the breach of confidence on the part of her husband she would go to pieces altogether.
• Hedda- On the other hand, would give a peal of laughter and say "Come here you rascal and give me a kiss"

Harald

Main article: Harald Quandt

Magda married Günther Quandt in 1921 and ten months later Harald Quandt was born to the couple. Magda and Günther Quandt's marriage ended in divorce in 1929 and in 1931 Magda married Joseph Goebbels (Adolf Hitler was witness).

Harald not only attended his mother's wedding to Goebbels, but also formed quite an attachment with him, sometimes accompanying him to gatherings, standing on the platform near to "Uncle Josef" wearing his Hitler Youth uniform. After his appointment as Minister, Goebbels demanded that Harald's father release Magda from her obligation, under their divorce settlement, to send Harald to live with him in the event of her remarriage.

He would later serve as a Lieutenant in the Luftwaffe, was the only family member to survive the war and became a leading West German industrialist during the 1950s and 1960s.

Harald died in 1967, when his personal aircraft crashed over Italy. He was survived by five children.

Helga Susanne

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Helga with Hitler.

Born September 1, 1932, Helga was the oldest child and reportedly the one most favoured by Adolf Hitler, presenting him with flowers on his birthday one year. In 1935, she is featured on the cover of two magazines. In July 1936 she was sent away on vacation to her grandmother in Peenemünde. She was photographed with her younger sister Hilde and her father at the 1937 Berlin Frühjahrsregatta, a rowing competition. In 1939 she required surgery on her throat. She had told Joseph that when she grew up she intended to have only two children of her own.

Helga was 12 years old when she died. Bruises found on her arms postmortem led to wide speculation that she had struggled against receiving (according to most accounts) an injection of morphine, which was used to quickly sedate the children before they were apparently killed with cyanide capsules.

Hildegard Traudel

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1937 Frühjahrsregatta.

Born April 13, 1934, Hildegard was commonly called "Hilde". She was photographed with Helga and her father at the 1937 Berlin Frühjahrsregatta, a rowing competition. In a 1939 diary entry, Joseph referred to her as "a little mouse".

Hilde was eleven years old at the time of her death.

Helmut Christian

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Helmut (far left) at Adlerhof.

Born October 2, 1935. In spite of his remarkable physical resemblence to Josef Goebbels, Helmut was in every other way very different, he was sensitive and something of a dreamer. Though when his teacher at the Lanke primary school reported, to his father's dismay, that his promotion to an higher form was doubtful, he responded so well to intense tuition from his mother, and his Governess that he not only achieved promotion, but also excellent marks. He wore braces on his teeth.

David Irving claims that in a 1939 diary entry, Joseph referred to Helmut as a clown and that he had earlier recorded Helmut's desire to become a subway conductor when he grew up .

Traudl Junge, relates that, upon hearing Hitler's gunshot, Helmut shouted "That was a direct hit!" mistaking it for the sound of a mortar landing near the Führerbunker.

Helmut was nine years old at the time of his death.

In September 1945, during an interview with Stars and Stripes, the wife of Otto Meißner said she believed Helmut had been fathered by Adolf Hitler.

Hedwig Johanna

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Born February 19, 1937, she was commonly called "Hedda". She had insisted, in 1944, that when she grew up she was going to marry SS Adjutant Günter Schwägermann, having been captivated by the fact he had a fake eye.

She was eight years old at the time of her death.

Holdine Kathrin

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Born May 1, 1938, "Holde" was the fifth child in the Goebbels' marriage, and was recorded in Goebbels' diary as having been an arduous birth. Controversial historian David Irving has speculated that she may have been the result of an affair between Magda and Hitler.. Meissner claims that Holde was the "least lively" of the children and was somewhat "pushed aside" by the others to her considerable distress. He claims Goebbels responded to this by making her something of a favorite, to which she responded with devotion.

The children were killed on the eve of Holdine's seventh birthday.

Heidrun Elisabeth

Born October 20, 1940, "Heide" was four years old at the time of her death.

Death

Stories of brutality and rape by the advancing Soviet troops were circulating in Berlin, and there was much discussion in the Führerbunker about suicide as a means to escape humiliation or punishment from the Soviets.

Joseph's last testament, appended to Hitler's, claimed that his wife and children supported him in his refusal to leave Berlin qualifying this by asserting that the children would support the decision if they were old enough to speak for themselves. Both pilot Hanna Reitsch (who had left the bunker on April 29) and Junge (who would leave on May 1st) carried letters to the outside world from those remaining. Included was a letter from Magda to Harald who was in an Allied POW camp.

The following day, on May 1, 1945, the Goebbels' six children were allegedly drugged with morphine and killed with cyanide capsules broken in their mouths. Accounts differ over how involved Magda was with the killing of her children. The children were reportedly told they would be leaving for Berchtesgaden in the morning and Ludwig Stumpfegger (or possibly Helmut Kunz) was said to have provided Magda with morphine to sedate the children. Erna Flegel claims that Magda reassured the children about the morphine by telling them that they needed innoculations because they would be staying in the bunker for a long time. Erich Kempka reported after the war that he believed the children had been "taken away by a nurse" that day, just before he left the bunker. Some witnesses claimed SS doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger crushed the cyanide capsules into the children's mouths, but as no witnesses to the event survived it is impossible to know. O'Donnell concluded that although Stumpfegger was probably involved in drugging the children, it was Magda who killed them. He suggested that witnesses blamed the deaths on Stumpfegger because he was a convenient target, having disappeared (and died, it was later learned) the following day. Moreover, as O'Donnell recorded, Stumpfegger may have been too intoxicated at the time of the deaths to have played a reliable role.

Meissner claims that Stumpfegger refused to take any part in the deaths of the children, and that a mysterious "country Doctor from the enemy occupied eastern region" appeared and "carried out the fearful task" before disappearing again , but this explanation may owe more to Meissner's characteristic diplomacy and consideration than any reality.

Magda appears to have contemplated and talked about killing her children at least a month in advance. She also refused several offers from others, such as Albert Speer, to spirit the children out of Berlin. There was evidence (in the form of bruises) that the eldest child, twelve year old Helga, had awakened and struggled before she was killed. The children's bodies, in nightclother, with ribbons tied in the girls hair, were found in the two-tiered bunk beds where they were killed when Russian troops entered the bunker a day later.

Aftermath

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The bodies of the five girls.

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Helmut and Magda's bodies.

On May 3, 1945, the day after Russian troops led by Lt. Col. Ivan Klimenko had discovered the burned bodies of their parents in the courtyard above, they found the bodies of the six children in their beds, dressed in their nightgowns, the girls wearing bows in their hair.

Vice Admiral Hans Voss was brought to the bombed out Chancellery garden to identify the bodies. Since their faces were tinted a pale blue it was ruled that they had died of cyanide poisoning. The autopsy however, reportedly listed their cause of death as Toxic Carbohaemoglobin

Their bodies were shipped to Plötzensee along with an unidentified officer from the bunker. After autopsies and other matters were finished, the bodies of Joseph, Magda and the six children were shown to Feldpolizei and bodyguard Wilhelm Eckold.

After the war, Günther Quandt's sister-in-law Eleanore recalled Magda saying she did not want her children to grow up hearing their father had been one of the century's foremost criminals and that reincarnation might grant her children a better future life. Reitsch, who stayed in the bunker after flying von Greim to meet Hitler, said Magda asked her in the last days to help ensure she did not back away from killing the children if it came to that.

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Voss identifying the children.

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Voss at the site.

Reputedly, in 1970, the remains of the six children, as well as those of Joseph, Magda, Hitler and Braun were burned and scattered in the Elbe River by the Soviets.

Vintage footage of the children was used in the film Eye of the Dictator (1988), compiled from Nazi era footage.

In 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, historians and journalists were allowed to enter the Fuhrerbunker before its demolition - and it was reported that the children's room and its furnishings was still perfectly intact

Gallery

• File:Goebbels-Family-pic.jpg
• File:GoebbelsWithChildren.jpg
• File:Goebbels and Family.jpg
• File:Goebbels Family Portrait.jpg
• File:Magda-readings.jpg
• File:GoebbelsFamilyWithHitler.jpg

In popular culture

The 1997 historical fiction book The Karnau Tapes by German author Marcel Beyer was told from the point of view of Helga Susanne and the fictitious Hermann Karnau.

In the 2004 film Der Untergang,

• Helga Susanne was played by Aline Sokar
• Hildegard Traudel was played by Charlotte Stoiber
• Helmut Christian was played by Gregory Borlein
• Hedwig Johanna was played by Julia Bauer
• Holdine Kathrin was played by Laura Borlein
• Heidrun Elisabeth was played by Amelie Menges

External link

• A short film about the Goebbels family (showing home movie footage of the children, followed by Russian footage of the corpses of Goebbels and the children (from the BBC & various sources via Youtube))