I Was Hitler's Chauffeur: The Memoir of Erich Kempka

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I Was Hitler's Chauffeur: The Memoir of Erich Kempka

Erich Kempka served as Hitlerâ€™s personal driver from 1934 through to the FÃ¼hrerâ€™s dramatic suicide in 1945. His candid memoirs offer a unique eyewitness account of events leading up to and during the war, culminating in those dark final days in the FÃ¼hrer's headquarters, deep under the shattered city of Berlin.

He begins by describing his duties as a member of Hitlerâ€™s personal staff in the years preceding the war, driving the FÃ¼hrer throughout Germany and abroad, and accompanying him to rallies. The crux of his memoirs however covers his life with Hitler in the Berlin FÃ¼hrerbunker. During this time he was responsible for a transport fleet of cars, and often drove the likes of Speer or Kesselring on inspection tours to the hot spots on the front; and in March 1945, he accompanied the FÃ¼hrer to his final front-inspection tour. Kempka was also present when news came through of GÃ¶ring and Himmlerâ€™s efforts to seize power and negotiate a truce with the Western Allies.

Crucially, Kempka also witnessed Hitlerâ€™s marriage to Eva Braun, and his last dinner and personal farewell to all those present, before he and his wife committed suicide. Hitlerâ€™s final order to Kempka was that he have ready enough petrol to burn him and his wife. Under constant Soviet artillery fire, Kempke, Linge and others poured petrol over the bodies and burnt them.

The account concludes with Kempkaâ€™s hazardous escape out of a burning Berlin more than 800 km through enemy-occupied Germany, home to find his wife at BE. There he was arrested by American C.fI.C. personnel and interrogated before being sent to serve as a witness at Nuremburg.

REVIEWS

â€œâ€¦a very valuable memoir, giving us an insider view of Hitler's closest circles, and providing an invaluable account of the final months of the war as seen from the bunker.â€
History of War, 08/2011
Country USA
Brand Frontline Books
Manufacturer Frontline Books
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 8 Pages of Plates
ReleaseDate 2010-02-19
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781848325500

Country	USA
Brand	Frontline Books
Manufacturer	Frontline Books
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	8 Pages of Plates
ReleaseDate	2010-02-19
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781848325500

I Was Hitler's Chauffeur: The Memoir of Erich Kempka

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