A STRIKING, darkish German woman ... is travelling ... to Nuremberg, under the guard of Allied officers with orders to deliver her to the International War Crimes Tribunal, it was learned authoritatively, by A.P.A. in Nuremberg. Officials disclosed that 31-year-old Frau Gerda Christian, Hitler’s personal secretary since 1939, would be held as a possible witness in the trial of the 21 Nazis standing charged as war criminals....

Here is the story she told interrogators of the last days of the Dictator:-

It was Eva Braun who proposed Hitler’s pre-suicide wedding. “The Fuhrer did not think of personal things at that time,” Gerda declared. The ceremony was both [a] surprise and strictly secret. Suddenly in the afternoon of April 28, Frau Christian and another secretary were called to see Hitler. After waiting a bit “Hitler and Eva Braun appeared together with Dr. Goebbels and Martin Bormann. Eva pointed to her wedding ring”.

The gesture was understood. Frau Gerda congratulated the couple warmly, she said. Then with the battle of Berlin raging about them, the six sat down to a “gay wedding breakfast”. All night long the party proceeded, not once did Hitler refer to his failures, his mistakes. Gaily he recalled the good old times….

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2021