I have decided therefore to remain in Berlin and there of my own
free will to choose death at the moment when I believe the position of the Fuehrer and Chancellor itself can no longer be
held.
I die with a happy heart, aware of the immeasurable
deeds and achievements of our soldiers at the front, our women at home, the achievements of our farmers and workers and the
work, unique in history, of our youth who bear my name.
That
from the bottom of my heart I express my thanks to you all, is just as self-evident as my wish that you should, because of
that, on no account give up the struggle but rather continue it against the enemies of the Fatherland, no matter where, true
to the creed of a great Clausewitz. From the sacrifice of our soldiers and from my own unity with them unto death, will in
any case spring up in the history of Germany, the seed of a radiant renaissance of the National-Socialist movement and thus
of the realization of a true community of nations.
Many
of the most courageous men and women have decided to unite their lives with mine until the very last I have begged and finally
ordered them not to do this, but to take part in the further battle of the Nation. I beg the heads of the Armies, the Navy,
and the Air Force to strengthen by all possible means the spirit of resistance of our soldiers in the National-Socialist sense,
with special reference to the fact that also I myself, as founder and creator of this movement, have preferred death to cowardly
abdication or even capitulation.
May it, at some
future time, become part of the code of honour of the German officer—as is already the case in our Navy—that the
surrender of a district or of a town is impossible, and that above all the leaders here must march ahead as shining examples,
faithfully fulfilling their duty unto death.
Second
Part of the Political Testament
Before
my death I expel the former Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering from the party and deprive him of all rights which he may enjoy
by virtue of the decree of June 29th, 1941; and also by virtue of my statement in the Reichstag on September 1st, 1939, I
appoint in his place Grossadmiral Doenitz, President of the Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
Before my death I expel the former Reichsfuehrer-SS and Minister
of the Interior, Heinrich Himmler, from the party and from all offices of State. In his stead I appoint Gauleiter Karl Hanke
as Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief of the German Police, and Gauleiter Paul Giesler as Reich Minister of the Interior.
Goering and Himmler, quite apart from their disloyalty to my person,
have done immeasurable harm to the country and the whole nation by secret negotiations with the enemy, which they conducted
without my knowledge and against my wishes, and by illegally attempting to seize power in the State for themselves.
In order to give the German people a government composed of honourable
men,—a government which will fulfill its pledge to continue the war by every means—I appoint the following members
of the new Cabinet as leaders of the nation:
President
of the Reich: DOENITZ
Chancellor of the Reich: DR. GOEBBELS
Party Minister: BORMANN
Foreign Minister: SEYSS-INQUART
[Here follow fifteen others.]
Although a number of these men, such as Martin Bormann, Dr. Goebbels, etc., together
with their wives, have joined me of their own free will and did not wish to leave the capital of the Reich under any circumstances,
but were willing to perish with me here, I must nevertheless ask them to obey my request, and in this case set the interests
of the nation above their own feelings. By their work and loyalty as comrades they will be just as close to me after death,
as I hope that my spirit will linger among them and always go with them. Let them be hard, but never unjust, above all let
them never allow fear to influence their actions, and set the honour of the nation above everything in the world. Finally,
let them be conscious of the fact that our task, that of continuing the building of a National Socialist State, represents
the work of the coming centuries, which places every single person under an obligation always to serve the common interest
and to subordinate his own advantage to this end. I demand of all Germans, all National Socialists, men, women, and all the
men of the Armed Forces, that they be faithful and obedient unto death to the new government and its President.
Above all I charge the leaders of the nation and those under them
to scrupulous observance of the laws of race and to merciless opposition to the universal poisoner of all peoples, international
Jewry.
Given in Berlin, this 29th day of April 1945.
4:00 A.M.
ADOLF HITLER
*