The Wilmington morning star., 1947-05-11
HITLER COULD
NOT HAVE WE'D
Secret Papers Disclosed By
War Department Last
Night

Adolf Hitler could not have mar
ried Eva Braun before they died
because such an act would have
been Gin bad taste"
Former Nazi Grand Admiral Err
ich Raeder makes this and other
assertions about Hitler and Ger
many in hitherto secret documents
published tonight by the War De-
partment.
In addition to denying reports
that Hitler legitimized his rela-
tons with Miss Braun, Raeder al
so declared without foundation ,
rumors that the couple had escap-
ed to Spain or Argentina.
The published documents includ-
ed:
I. A statement by Nicholas
Horthy, Jr., son of the former
Hungarian regent, that Germans
bombed two Hungarian towns with
Russian planes to ruse the coun-
try to war On the Nazi side.
2. Readers inside story of how
three famous German b~attleships
hoodwinked the British and sneak
ed through the English channel in
February 1912.
3. An appraisal Of Hitler by Col.
Gen. Alfred Jodl as IAN idealist
and a visionary, an artistic ma
ture."
Raeder is now serving a prison
sentence as a Nazi war criminal.
His opinions and observations
were recorded in a series of pa
pers written in Moscow after his
capture by the Russians at the
time of Germany's collapse.
He said he was satisfied that
Hitler died in wrecked Berlin and
that probably "a cement burial
place had been erected for him in
his AFRAID shelter in which his
remains will not easily be found
II consider the rumor of a mar
riage to Eva Braun and their es-
cape to Spain or the Argentine
without foundation" r a d er
wrote, II don't believe that at this
time the Fuehrer would have dis
played such bad taste"
The Horthy statement about the
German bombing of Hungarian
towns with Soviet planes included
the revelation that Soviet Foreign
Minister V. M. Molotov told the
Hungarian prime minister Russia
wanted friendship with Hungary.
But the prime minister conceal
ed Molotov's words from the re-
gent, and after the Nazi bombing
treachery 'it was impossible to
avoid war;"
The English channel break
through was achieved by the Ger
man warships Scharnhorst, Gnei.
senau, and Prinz Eugen. They
we're transferred from Brest on
the orders of Hitler, "who always
watched operations of the big
ships with uneasiness.'
The ships, escorted by destroy
ers, started shortly after dark.
They we're not discovered for sew
eral hours. When the convoy
reached a point in the channel OPP
posite Dieppe, however, a British
plane sighted and reported it.
But the British had considered
the attempt completely improb-
able" Raeder said, and so were
taken by surprise. They launched
an air attack, however, but did
no damage.
The German ships would have
escaped without a scratch had not
the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau hit
mines late in the dash. They we're
only slightly damaged.
Jodl, who was executed as war
criminal at Nuremberg last Octo-
Der, wrote his appraisal Of Hitler
in the month Germany surrender
ed. He said Hitler became a fana-
tic and ruthless antagonist only
because he was "disillusioned" by
the Allies "unscrupulous" war
methods.
Jodl conceded the war was "a
mistake" But he said the Ger
mans would never feel any guilt.