The book "The Last Days of Hitler" by Hugh Trevor-Roper was first published in 1947. The historical book was written within a year following the mysterious disappearance of Hitler in 1945. After four months without any news of his whereabouts, Trevor-Roper was hired to investigate the matter. Having spent many years investigating the Nazi Regime, he had come to be known as the expert of the Nazi Regime . The book describes leadership during the Nazi Regime and continues to demonstrate the downfall of this regime, which ended in mass suicide for Hitler and most of his confidants. Trevor-Roper manages to capture the events that led to the end of the Nazi Germany regime and recollect the last ten days that led to the death of Hitler.
The book which was a work of counterintelligence proves to have been a difficult one to compile. In his preface and introduction, he recounts how difficult it was to get a witness to cooperate and open up to him. The facts, in his conclusion, correspond with the facts that we now read today in history, which means that despite the challenges, he was successful in his extensive research. The Russian authorities who were a great source of information for his book were paranoid, secretive and indifferent. He recounts how Bormann, who was suspected to be a Soviet spy, meets his death under unclear circumstances. He uses irony to demonstrate how Hitler is forced to reiterate into his banker after his reign of terror, and how his egoistic character continues to mislead him through the fight even when the odds are against him. Hitler is incapable of accepting defeat and continues to bark orders to a German army many weeks after it ceases to exist. The power struggle between Bormann, Goering, and Himmler soon ensues, while Bormann continues to plot how he was going to negotiate with their enemies and make them his allies so that he could lead the post-war Germany. Trevor-Roper uses the three characters to demonstrate the nature of the leadership during Hitler’s reign . Speer is another character in the book which is used by the author to shed light on Hitler’s evil plan to destroy the infrastructure in the country. Speer uses his intelligence to keep this from happening. The intimidating Berlin Banker is where Hitler and his close associates retired and committed mass suicides near the end.
The book of which two-thirds was written in less than a month demonstrates a great deal of clarity and fluency. The author uses irony to expose the absurd nature of the leadership used by the Nazi leaders. He manages to expose the absurdity of other leaders in the Nazi regime, while maintaining his central focus on the egomania who was behind the Nazi Regime, Hitler. Trevor-Roper uses forensic materials to demonstrate how Hitler presided over the court and acted as both judge and jury . The historical book which relies heavily on facts lacked the documented evidence to reveal that most of the information in the book is true. The disappearance of Hitler had generated a lot of heat across the world as well as speculation, and in a span of four months, nothing was for sure. When Trover-Roper embarked on the task, within a few months, he had managed to rule out all information regarding the whereabouts of Hitler.
The book demonstrates a lot of intelligent. The author who was an intelligence officer during the Nazi Regime had journalistic skills. The book demonstrates extensive research that was conducted to enable the compilation of the book. The book contains personal documents and political documents which had been transported from Hitler’s bunker to expose the egomaniac that Hitler had become. The book is based on evidence-based arguments which make the book credible . The book is also written to capture Hitler’s last ten days which led to his death. The events in the book are arranged in a chronological manner that makes the events of the day vivid to the reader. The historical text captures a terrible regime and its ceremonious finale with the use of facts and narration, and at the same time manages to demonstrate an impeccable mastery of the English language.
The book received a lot of hostility from the Catholic Church. One of the issues that brought hostile criticism to the book was the assumption that the church was too lenient with its confessionals. In his first edition, Trover-Roper used the Jesuits and compared Hitler to the Grand Inquisitor. This aspect made him appear like an earthiest who did not believe in Christianity. The book is offensive to Christians and mostly to the Catholic Church. In his first edition of the book, Trevor-Roper referred to Jesuit teachers who convinced people that they were sinless . Further inquiries into the matter by Trover-Roper proved that Hitler had not received such teachings from any Jesuit. These references have been since removed from its consequent editions. This discovery brought a lot of scrutiny into the authenticity of the book.
Other issues of credibility that resulted from his book include that of his judgment of Albert Steer. Other writers and researchers named the minister as an individual who was indifferent and who did everything for survival and had become actively involved in the Nazi regime. Trover-Roper in his book names Steer as a technocrat without any interests in politics. Trover-roper later changed his conclusion regarding Steer and named him as a highly intelligent man who had been corrupted by Hitler. Other credibility issues that surround the book have since been raised due to the discovery of Hitler’s diaries and his will. Multiple copies of these documents allegedly surfaced at the time. A copy of Hitler’s diary that was authenticated by the author was later ruled out as a hoax . Is it possible that other copies are still out there and if not, how authentic are the sources that the world and Trover-Roper decided to settle on? The evidence used in the book appears to be shaky.
The book is also full of generalizations. These generalizations are from his observations and prior experience during his time as an intelligence officer . Further examinations into these generalizations have come up with contradicting facts. The book displays the lack of objectivity on many instances. The author is rather subjective and is likely to have succumbed to pressure to come up with a final report on Hitler’s death. Many critics of the author have observed that Trevor-Roper was made and destroyed by Hitler . Hitler’s daily which turned out to be a hoax is one major event which caused the world to question Trevor-Roper authenticity.
In conclusion, ‘The Last Days of Hitler’ is a great book which sheds light on a significant time in history. The author of the book, though misguided at times by his personal judgment, manages to capture a lot of facts that were consistent with the Nazi era and revealed the events leading to the death of Hitler. The author manages to achieve this within a short period and with the lack of resources. The author conducts his own research and compiles it in a manner that captures the leadership in Nazi Germany and the events leading to the end of a terrible regime. Most facts in the book have since been authenticated by researchers over the years. The book is a good read for anyone looking for relevant information into the Nazi Regime.
Works Cited
Harrison, Edward. "The Last Days of Hitler revisited." The Spectator 15 March 2007.
Ree, Jonathan. Book review: History and the Enlightenment by Hugh Trevor-Roper. 14 May 2010. Web. 3 August 2016. <https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/2297/book-review-history-and-the-enlightenment-by-hugh-trevor-roper>.
