Note: This post is about Elisabeth “Lisa” Pauly née Krüger, one of my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s “silent heroes,” who hid him in Berlin during WWII for periods of his 30-month survival “underground.” Having learned she was married to my uncle’s cousin, I discuss how I worked out their exact relationship in what was on my part a clear case of over-thinking their consanguinity.
Among my uncle’s surviving papers are two declarations, pledged under oath, identifying people who provided life-saving support to my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (Figure 1) during the 30 months he lived “underground” in Berlin during WWII. My uncle’s trying ordeal began in October 1942 when friends warned him the Gestapo was preparing to pick him up for “questioning,” detainment which would have led to his deportation to a concentration camp and certain death; straightaway, he went into hiding to avoid arrest. The declarations written, respectively, on January 19, 1947 and February 3, 1947, were basically intended as letters of reference for the Americans. They attested to my uncle’s “good character” and provided a brief chronology of how and with whose help he’d survived underground. A little context is necessary.
As discussed in previous Blog posts, almost immediately after the war ended, my Uncle Fedor applied to what he described as the “pertinent authorities,” presumably the Russians in this case, for permission to take over the office and apartment of Hitler’s former dentist, Dr. Hugo Blaschke, which had survived the war unscathed. (Figure 2) Permission was granted in early May 1945. While my uncle’s situation may have seemed comparatively secure at the time, he’d apparently been warned by the Americans that he was at risk of being kidnapped by the Russians on account of his knowledge of Hitler’s fate, which Stalin sought to conceal. My uncle no doubt realized his danger since both Blaschke’s dental assistant, Käthe Heusermann, and Blaschke’s dental technician, Fritz Echmann, both of whom he knew, had been taken away by the Russians in 1945, not to reappear again in the West for many years. While my uncle maintained his dental practice in Blaschke’s former office until around July 1947, the declarations written in January and February 1947 strongly suggest my uncle was, so to speak, working on an exit strategy earlier.
One of the two affidavits provided to the American authorities on behalf of my Uncle Fedor was written by Elisabeth “Lisa” Pauly née Krüger. (Figures 3a-b) She mentioned how she hid him in her home for brief periods during the war and described her kinship as the wife of my uncle’s cousin; Lisa did not provide her husband’s name but only wrote he died in 1941, cause unknown. I first came across Lisa Pauly’s name in 2014 when I visited the Stadtmuseum in Spandau, outside Berlin, to examine the archived papers of two of my renowned great-aunts, Elsbeth Bruck and Franziska Bruck. There, I discovered a letter written by my grandmother, Else Bruck née Berliner, on February 2, 1947, mailed from Fayence, France to my great-aunt Elsbeth in Berlin care-of Lisa Pauly living at Maßmannstraße 11 in the Steglitz borough of Berlin. (Figure 4) Ultimately, this address proved to be useful for learning how long Lisa Pauly may have lived; more on this later.
Let me digress for a moment. In Post 33, I discussed the extraordinary lengths to which I went to finding two of my second cousins, born in Barcelona, but living outside Munich, Germany. Once I had established contact with one of these second cousins, Antonio Bruck, he connected me to a third cousin, Anna Rothholz, who in turn put me in touch with yet other third cousins, brothers Peter and Andreas “Andi” Pauly. This was a fortuitous development. Peter and Andi gave me a detailed hand-drawn Pauly family “Stammbaum,” family tree, developed by their father years before these could be created on-line. While I was still a long way from figuring out the hereditary connection between Lisa Pauly’s husband and my Uncle Fedor, this Stammbaum eventually paved the way for working this out, although not without some missteps.
As readers can see in Figure 5, a “Lisa” is highlighted, shown married to a “Franz” who died in 1941. Based on the affidavit Lisa Pauly had written in 1947, logically, I knew this was she and her husband. My confusion stemmed from the fact that Lisa’s husband was the son of Dr. Oscar Pincus and Paulina Charlotte Pauly, presumably named Franz Pincus. I continued my search, convinced there had to be a different Lisa who’d married a Pauly. After many fruitless months, I eventually began looking for her in Family Trees in ancestry.com. I finally found her on a tree listed as “Lisa Krüger,” born in the year 1890. (Figure 6) As discussed in Post 39, the tree is entitled “Schlesische Jüdische Familien,” Silesian Jewish Families. There is a notation in German on this tree that Lisa Krüger was married to a Franz Pincus, born in Posen [today: Poznan, Poland] on October 23, 1898, and that he went by the surname “Pauly.” I then realized my Uncle Fedor and Franz Pauly were second cousins, grandsons of sisters (Figures 7 & 8), and understood how badly I’d misconstrued their kinship. This was clearly a case of my over-thinking things and ignoring what the Pauly Stammbaum had clearly indicated.
Why Franz Pincus decided to change surnames and take his mother’s maiden name is unknown. Since both names are clearly Jewish and neither would have afforded an advantage in the Nazi era, I assumed Franz’s decision was made before the Nazis ever came to power. And, I was able to prove this using Berlin Phone Directories available on ancestry.com. Franz Pincus apparently changed his surname to “Pauly” between 1928 and 1930. A 1928 Berlin Phone Directory (Figure 9) lists a “Franz Pincus” living at Deidesheimer Str. 25 in Friedenau in the southwestern suburbs of Berlin, but by 1930 “Franz Pauly” is living at this address. (Figure 10)
As mentioned earlier, I knew from the affidavit Lisa had written and the letter my grandmother had written to my great-aunt in 1947, addressed to Lisa, that she resided at Maßmannstraße 11 in the Steglitz borough of Berlin. I searched both Lisa and Franz’s names in ancestry.com and found him listed at this address in Berlin Phone Directories between 1936 and 1940 (Figure 11), the year before he died. Beginning in 1966 and continuing through 1977 (Figure 12), Lisa’s name appears at the same address, suggesting the apartment building survived the war and that Lisa had lived there continuously, possibly from 1936 onwards. The disappearance of Lisa Pauly’s name from Berlin Phone Directories after 1977 may coincide with her approximate year of death. As we speak, I’m working to obtain Lisa’s death certificate from the Bürgeramt Steglitz to confirm when she died.
I’ve been able to learn almost nothing more about Lisa and Franz Pauly. While Peter and Andi Pauly have numerous Pauly family photos, they have none of either of them. It’s an enduring mystery to me how Lisa Pauly avoided deportation to a concentration camp given that at least three of her husband’s Pauly aunts were murdered in the camps along with their husbands and some of their children.
In the subsequent post, I will tell readers about other silent heroes who enabled my uncle to survive his 30 months underground in Berlin during WWII, inasmuch as I’ve been able to work this out.
Note: In this post, I relate the story of my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s knowledge of Adolf Hitler’s fate at the end of WWII, and how my uncle came in possession of this information. The story is told in my uncle’s own words borrowing liberally from his first-hand account of these events and describes briefly where I obtained his story. Recent discoveries and publications are also discussed.
Post 17 chronicled my uncle’s survival in Berlin during WWII, touching briefly on the post-war events that ultimately led him to flee Germany and immigrate to America. Thanks to two first-hand accounts written by my uncle following WWII, one a brief biography of his life, the second a compelling account he theatrically entitled “Former Berlin Dentist Proves Hitler is Dead,” I can now flesh out considerably more of my uncle’s life story and detail his knowledge of Hitler’s death. My uncle’s first-hand accounts were given to his illegitimate son who died in 2014 and have since passed into the estate of his son, from whom I obtained copies.
Below, I review some of what was discussed in Post 17, but most of this post deals with newly uncovered facts from my uncle Fedor’s writings and elsewhere; they add considerably more texture to my uncle’s story and provide some detail on his role as a witness to an important historical event. I also describe how my uncle came to be in possession of his information on Hitler’s fate. I can imagine dubious readers scoffing at the notion that a Jewish dentist, a recently-persecuted one at that, would be in the right place at the right time in Berlin immediately after WWII to “prove” that Hitler had indeed died at the end of the war. But, the facts are what they are as readers will learn.
The following narrative is unquestionably one my uncle would have told with more elan and precision. Regrettably, my uncle is no longer here, so I must rely on his narrative to relate how he might have told his own story. Regardless, since my uncle’s tale is also a part of my family’s overall story, I think it is important I tell it and tell it without embellishments and half-truths; enough of these already surround the topic of Hitler’s death. As my uncle’s narrative makes clear, many writers, newspapers, and parties of his day sought to distort and discredit my uncle’s story, intentionally and unintentionally; some had broader political, social, or economic imperatives in mind, notably, Joseph Stalin. My uncle lost control of his narrative, so it is my intention with this post to reestablish dominion over the story and refer to other recent sources which corroborate my uncle’s tale.
My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck was born on August 17, 1895, in Leobschütz, Upper Silesia, Germany (today: Głubczyce, Poland). My uncle’s three siblings, including a younger brother who died in infancy, were all born in near-by Ratibor (today: Racibórz, Poland); according to my uncle’s first-hand account, my grandparents moved from Leobschütz to Ratibor when my uncle was three years old to run the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel, subject of Post 11. During WWI, my uncle fought in Ukraine on the Eastern Front. (Figure 1) He studied dentistry at the University of Breslau (today: Wrocław, Poland), passed the State Board Examination in 1921, and eventually set up his own practice in 1924 in Liegnitz, Upper Silesia (today: Legnica, Poland). (Figure 2)
He owned his practice in Liegnitz from November 1924 through April 1936, when he was forced out of business by the National Socialists. Already, by March 1932, the Nazis had relieved my uncle of his responsibilities as municipal school dentist (“Schulzahnarzt“) for schools in small communities surrounding Liegnitz; a Schulzahnarzt examined pupils‘ teeth, advising them on whether a followup with a dentist was required. There was widespread support among German dentists for the National Socialist ideology, so in expectation of their rise to power many dental organizations displaced their Jewish colleagues as a sign of “anticipatory obedience.“ Since my uncle could no longer practice dentistry in Liegnitz, he left. In his own words:
“In 1936 (Figure 3), I moved to Berlin, where I continued practicing as a dentist until October 1942. In that month I went underground to escape arrest, deportation to a concentration camp and even death, after having been warned that the Gestapo was preparing to pick me up. . .After thirty months of a trying ordeal, Berlin was occupied and the Nazi regime was brought to an end.“
In my uncle’s account of the events following the end of the war, the chronicle previously alluded to entitled “Former Berlin Dentist Proves that Hitler is Dead,“ my uncle explains the circumstances that put him in a position to be a witness to history:
“By reason of an interlocking of events, I believe that I am the only person on the Western Hemisphere to bring proof that Hitler is actually dead, as far as such is possible at all for someone who has not seen the corpse. However, if the corpse has been cremated, and the remains of the teeth are the only thing left, then only the dentist is able to make an identification.
All reports of the finding and identification of Hitler’s jaws are the result of my information given to correspondents or members of the occupying armies after the occupation of Berlin by the Allies. Since my statements were only repeated in part, or were misquoted or reported not in their correct sequence, they lack any proof. I therefore believe that the time has come to publish my knowledge of the identification of the jaws of Hitler and Eva Braun, which took place between May 9th and 13th, 1945.
The main person in this connection is Mrs. Käthe Heusermann, née Reiss regarding whom I must mention more details, because of the importance attached to her in this matter. She was born in 1909, and I trained her as a dental assistant in my office in Liegnitz, Silesia, in the year 1926 (Figure 4). She practiced in this profession until 1945, at least 15 years. Over this time, she worked with me for three-and-a-half years, and from 1937 on, that is for over eight years, she worked with Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist. She quickly advanced to the position of first assistant and, during the last years, she was mostly present during Hitler’s treatments, whether they took place in the Reich Chancellery or on the Obersalzberg estate. She was very much interested in her profession and possessed great experience. She had the special gift to remember very well the peculiarities of the patients’ mouths . . .”
Regarding Hitler’s American-trained dentist, Professor Hugo Blaschke (Figure 5), my uncle made the following observations:
“. . .He [Blaschke] studied at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia before the first World War, from which he graduated. Since he had not passed any examination in Germany, he was only rated a dental technician there. Having joined the [Nazi] Party early, he had a membership number below 40,000. He had already treated Hitler before 1933. Upon a decree by Goebbels, he was awarded the title of dentist, without having to pass any examination, and was later given the professor title by Hitler. His knowledge was that of an average dentist . . .“
It is important to emphasize the point my uncle Fedor was making about Hitler’s dentist. In former times, there were two types of German dentists which were distinctly different, one called a “zahnarzt,” the other a “dentist,” confusingly, both of which translate as dentist in English. Dr. Blaschke would today be called a “zahntechniker,” a non-academically trained dental technician primarily responsible for producing bridges and dentures, or “zahnbehandler,” dental practitioner. A “zahnarzt” in today’s parlance is an academically-trained dentist. This distinction as it relates to Dr. Blaschke becomes important later, insofar as the technical work he performed on Hitler.
Continuing with my uncle’s story:
“On April 26, 1945, Steglitz, in the southwestern part of the city [Berlin], was occupied by the Russians. Behind the advancing troops, I arrived, on May 4th, in the apartment of my former assistant Käthe Heusermann. This apartment was situated at Pariserstrasse 39-40 near Kurfürstendamm. A friendship of twenty years tied my person and the family of Käthe Heusermann. Käthe was alone in the bomb-damaged apartment and was very upset and confused. She had only returned to her apartment the day before, May 3rd, having spent the time before that in the Air Shelter in the Reich Chancellery.“
My uncle recounted what Käthe told him:
“When the bombardment of Berlin became disagreeable, she went to the Reich Chancellery for reasons of safety, where she worked as a nurse in the hospital shelter. On April 20th, Hitler’s birthday, Blaschke fled to Obersalzburg by plane. She was almost punished for disobedience by the SS for her refusal to go along. On April 28, Hitler and Eva Braun got married. Upon having received the news of Himmler’s offer of negotiations with the Allies, and when the army which was supposed to liberate Berlin did not arrive, which was to have been led by Wenck, Hitler had temper tantrums, but then calmed down, but was depressed and personally distributed cyanide capsules to everybody present. Käthe herself showed me—while relating the events—the capsule she had received.
On April 30th, Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide, he by taking a cyanide capsule between his teeth, and shooting himself in the head. The corpses were then taken into the Reich Chancellery garden by the SS, drenched in gasoline and burned.
Goebbels and his wife also committed suicide, his children having previously been given injections with poison, by doctors.
Käthe’s reports with respect to these happenings coincides almost completely with statements made later by other witnesses . . .”
Following Hitler’s death, the staff in the Reich Chancellery divided themselves into smaller groups, hoping to break through the Russian lines, and get to the West. Resuming:
“The group which Mrs. Heusermann has joined, came to heavy combat with the Russians at the Weidendamm Bridge. In this battle, Deputy Leader [Martin] Bormann died . . .Of about 80 persons, only 30 were left, and these fled into the subway shaft. They hoped to get somewhere behind the Russians but were caught by the Russians at a station. The men were deported, while Mrs. Heusermann was taken along by a soldier and raped by him. Then he let her go, and she had to take the long walk home, through debris and corpses, always in fear of new insults.”
After recounting these events to my uncle, Käthe Heusermann advised my uncle to obtain permission from the pertinent authorities to take over Dr. Blaschke’s dental practice. The dental office was intact, and Dr. Blaschke had already fled to Obersalzburg, as previously mentioned, and was hardly likely to return. As a person persecuted by the Nazis, my uncle had a right to make this claim. The authorities did in fact grant my uncle permission to take over Dr. Blaschke’s apartment and practice at Kurfürstendamm 213 in Charlottenburg (Figure 6); as discussed in Post 17, post-WWII Address Directories locate my uncle at this address. (Figure 7) My uncle’s knowledge of the events surrounding Hitler’s fate, thus, stem both from his friendship with Käthe Heusermann, as well as his occupancy of Dr. Blaschke’s dental office.
“Then, during the days following . . . happenings took place which I believe to be proof that Hitler actually died. On Wednesday, May 9th, 1945, I met a Russian Lieutenant Colonel in the building, as well as woman in uniform and a gentleman in mufti, as they inquired from the Superintendent as to the whereabouts of Blaschke. As I learned later, they were the deputy military governor of Berlin, a female agent of the Russian secret police, and a certain Doctor Arnaudow, who had been assistant at the Berlin Charité with “Geheimrat Sauerbruch” [“Geheimrat Sauerbruch” is a successful and respected physician]. The latter was a Bulgarian and had brought the Russians who were looking for Hitler’s dentist . . .; furthermore, he acted as interpreter, although the agent of the Russian Secret Police, who called herself “Lola,” spoke a little German.
Since the Superintendent could give them no information, I declared that Blaschke had fled and that I now had his practice. Then they asked me for written details regarding the treatments which Hitler had received. Upon my remark that I presumed they wanted to identify parts of corpses found, the Lieutenant Colonel made a sour face and put his finger to his mouth, from which I assumed that my suspicion had been correct. Then they came to the office, where we looked for reference cards as well as X-rays of Hitler. However, only those of Göring, Goebbels, Himmler, Ley and other high-ranking party members could be found, which the Russians took with them. Upon their question whether anybody knew about Hitler’s teeth, I called in the former technician of Blaschke, Fritz Echtmann, who lived with his family in the same apartment [building]. He could not give them any information, since he never was present at a treatment, and since the technical work had been done before his time. When it was found that Käthe Heusermann had been present for many years at all treatments of Hitler, I was asked to get her. “
My uncle found Käthe at the home of a neighboring doctor’s. She was apparently very hesitant to come with my uncle because of her previous experience with the Russians and her fear she would be considered a prominent Nazi. However, feeling she had no choice, she came along and was questioned by the Russians about Hitler’s mouth and provided the following information:
“On a front tooth there was a so-called rim-crown, furthermore there was a cut-off bridge in his mouth, since the molar, which would have served as support, had to be removed. She gave them more details regarding some crowns and other treatments . . .She furthermore declared that the written data regarding Hitler’s treatments were kept in a box which was either still at the Chancellery, or which Blaschke had taken with him to Obersalzberg.
Then the Lieutenant Colonel asked her to come along with him to the Chancellery, to look for the box . . .”
Käthe was not returned to her apartment until two days later, on Friday, May 11th, at which point the Russians then took the technician Fritz Echtmann. (Figure 8) My uncle visited her on Saturday, and she painted the following picture of what had transpired:
“First of all, they asked that she give as detailed as possible a description of Hitler’s teeth, with pertinent sketches. Then she was shown a number of skulls and parts of jaws, on which there was still some flesh, which in some instances were charred or burned. Among these, she definitely recognized the jaws of Hitler, with the aid of the details written down, and the peculiarities she had noted. One jaw, which contained a bridge made from Palapont (i.e., artificial colophonium on a colloidal base), was identified as that of Eva Braun, who had received this bridge only a few weeks previously. She declared, upon questioning that the technical work had been done by Fritz Echtmann, Blaschke’s technician. This fact most probably was the reason for later on picking up Fritz Echtmann.
During the entire time, the Russians took down in writing the proceedings, which Käthe had to sign on each page. She also had to swear that she would not speak of the identification of the remains of Hitler, until the Russian Press and the Radio would have published same. Lola, of whom Käthe only had heard . . . that she was an agent of the Russian Secret Service, said to her ‘Mrs. Käthe, you will be a very famous woman, you are the only person who not only knows, but also can prove that Hitler is really dead’”
My uncle learned from Fritz Echtmann’s wife that her husband came home on Sunday, May 13, 1945, accompanied by two Russian Officers, and was given about two hours to pack his suitcases before again being taken away. Käthe was also taken away at the same time, told she would be needed for longer but not to be afraid. From that time on, my uncle did not learn of their whereabouts for many years.
The above were the facts as reported by my uncle insofar as the days in May 1945 are concerned, but my uncle also wrote about happenings thereafter, specifically related to news correspondents and writers and the inaccurate accounts they published:
“In the beginning of July 1945, the Allied occupation forces arrived in Berlin. The U.S. Correspondent Sigrid Schulz met with Käthe Heusermann’s doctor . . .and this doctor told her that the Russians had taken Käthe along. She [Sigrid Schulz] came to me with a few American Correspondents on July 5, 1945, to my practice, in order to find out whether Käthe had come back. On this occasion I told her about the identification of Hitler’s teeth, but I noticed from the questions that my report was regarded as fantastic and not believed. On July 7th, three English correspondents, lead by William Forrest of the London’News Chronicle‘ came to me. I gave them the report of what had happened, and within the next few days, a story appeared in the English newspapers, without any commentary and so distorted that no burden of proof could be put on these reports. However, this publication of my name and address made it possible to contact my family in England again, who believed me dead as victim of the Nazis.“
It is clear from the above that because my uncle’s story was so seemingly preposterous and unbelievable, news correspondents took the opportunity to weave their own tales. Consequently, my uncle almost immediately lost control of the story he had to tell and its factual basis. Continuing:
“Thereafter, I was frequently called upon by correspondents who, however, greatly doubted my stories, and therefore most of those reports showed incorrect facts. One paper said I was the Führer’s dentist, another one said that I had identified the corpse. Aside from many strange statements, the identification of Hitler’s jaws was branded as false. ‘France-Soir,’ on January 1, 1946, reported that the corpse had been discovered on December 19, 1945 by the Russians and that Hitler’s dentist, who [they claimed, albeit falsely] was a captive of the Russians, had identified the corpse. However, Blaschke is a prisoner of the Americans . . .Even the publication in ‘Oral Hygiene,’ 35th year, page 1540, September 1945, is very incomplete and distorted . . .how little importance was given to my knowledge regarding the circumstances, is shown by the fact that no mention was made in Trevor-Roper’s book at all [1947 Edition].”
Hugh Trevor-Roper was the author of “The Last Days of Hitler,” initially published in 1947. More will be said on Trevor-Roper below.
In his account, my uncle addresses some objections raised by correspondents. A few claimed that everyone in the Reich Chancellery could have been told that Hitler committed suicide when in fact he didn’t, but how then does one explain the existence of jaws for a non-existent corpse?
Alternatively, Selkirk Paton of the “Daily Express” wondered how my uncle knew that Hitler was really in the Reich Chancellery, suggesting the jaws found there might have been that of one of Hitler’s doubles. Beyond the fact that Käthe Heusermann would have noticed a double, the conditions for this scenario to have played out are practically inconceivable. At the least, this would have required that the dental work done on the double correspond with the work known to have been done on Hitler, that the double then shoot himself or be shot, the body burned, and the jaws or another prepared skull left in a place where the Russians could find it, an implausible sequence of events. Only Dr. Blaschke and Käthe Heusermann knew anything about Hitler’s teeth, so one or both of them would have had to be party to the deception. To believe the jaws found at the Reich Chancellery belonged to a double requires too lengthy a list of suppositions to merit serious consideration.
Yet another objection to my uncle’s explanation of events was that with the amount of gasoline employed, no remains would have been left to find. My uncle was easily able to refute this:
“This assumption is erroneous; I myself have seen many charred corpses during the last fighting days in Berlin, where parts were undamaged or could be recognized in part. I myself am astonished that the bridge of Eva Braun made of Palapont material, which is easily combustible, was not destroyed, but I could imagine that the entire body was not enveloped by gasoline, especially, since Käthe mentioned explicitly that some flesh, either charred burned or raw, was still on the bones.”
Returning to a subject I alluded to earlier, regarding the rim-crowns and cut-off bridges with which Hitler was fitted by Dr. Blaschke, my uncle made a few interesting observations related to this work:
“. . .The peculiarities of Hitler’s jaws are very extraordinary ones. Rim-crowns are seen very rarely only, since present-day dentists do not make them any longer, and cut-off bridges are not frequent either . . .
I had pointed out to correspondents a rim-crown as being ‘old-fashioned’ which, because of its comparative rarity, necessarily constituted an important factor [in the identification of Hitler’s jaws].
The fact that Dr. Blaschke knowingly performed ‘old-fashioned work’ on ‘his Führer,’ seems to me, as expert, rather ridiculous. On the other hand, he does not owe his title of professor, nor his various other titles, to the fact that he was an ace in his profession, but only to the fact that he was a faithful Nazi having a party membership number somewhere around 36,000 . . .”
After immigrating to America in July 1947, my uncle continued to follow news reports of Hitler’s fate. My uncle remarked on a series of six articles published by the “New York World-Telegram,” between July 19 and July 24, 1948, entitled “Is Adolf Hitler Dead or Alive?” written by Capt. Michael A. Musmanno, USNR, Judge International War Crimes Trials, Nuremberg.
The fifth article in this series, dated July 23, 1948, was of particular interest to my uncle since it dealt with the testimony of a Hans Fritzsche, who, as it turns out, had been in a Russian prison with Fritz Echtmann, Blaschke’s dental technician. My uncle surmised they were imprisoned together at the Lubyanka prison in Moscow, where Fritzsche was held by the Russians before he was brought to Nuremberg for trial. In any case, Fritzsche testified that Echtmann claimed he turned over X-rays of Hitler’s teeth to the Russians, and that together with Käthe Heusermann had identified a jaw shown to him as that of Hitler. My uncle knew this was not true. In his own words:
“Echtmann was Blaschke’s dental technician, but never his assistant; moreover, he had never done any technical work for Hitler, was never present at any treatment, and had no opportunity to gain any knowledge regarding the Führer’s mouth. While Hitler’s jaw had already been identified by Käthe Heusermann between May 9th and May 11th, 1945, Echtmann was not questioned by the Russians before May 11, when they [the Russians] brought back Mrs. Heusermann.
Echtmann could not have given the Russians the X-rays of Hitler’s teeth, since these were not in his possession. They were actually in a case which either remained on the Obersalzberg, or whom Blaschke took with him when he fled. When the Russians appeared for the first time in my office in Berlin, and questioned Echtmann about Hitler’s teeth, X-rays, etc., in my presence, he declared that he knew nothing whatsoever about these things . . .He had far too great a craving for importance to make plausible any such hiding of his knowledge. It was probably this same desire to prove himself important that explains his version of the story as told to Fritzsche . . .”
Clearly, in my uncle’s opinion, Echtmann was nothing but a self-aggrandizer, although my uncle left open the faint possibility that Echtmann had taken a few X-rays from the files at an earlier date as souvenirs, which he produced when questioned by the Russians.
From Fritzsche’s testimony, as described in the New York World-Telegram, my uncle, however, was able to learn about Echtmann’s more recent fate. Echtmann was finally released by the Russians in the spring of 1954 (Figure 9), while Käthe Heusermann returned to her family in 1955, after having been declared dead in 1950.
My uncle lamented his inability to parlay his knowledge of Hitler’s fate into something marketable:
“I tried very hard to interest some magazines in my story, among them Colliers, Life, Time, Newsreel, and Saturday Evening Post, but was not successful. My story appeared so fantastic that nobody believed it was true. Some editors advised me that they were publishing only staff-written manuscripts (Figure 10), others that my story did not correspond with the tenor of their magazines or that there was no public interest anymore in a story about Hitler. Finally, the time element diminished the possibilities to develop my story into a saleable manuscript.”
Hugh Trevor-Roper, following the release by the Russians of Fritz Echtmann, Käthe Heusermann, and others, published a Third Edition in 1956 of his book “The Last Days of Hitler.” My uncle remarked about this:
“Professor H. R. Trevor-Roper . . .refers in the Introduction . . . of his book to the fact that two Russian officers, a man and a woman, called on May 9, 1945 at the surgery of Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist, which was then carried on by me, and asked for Hitler’s dental records. Apart from newspaper reports, this was the first time, that the names of Fritz Echtmann, Käthe Heusermann, as well as my name were mentioned in a book of historical importance and value. Though Trevor-Roper’s story contains many inaccuracies, it generally covers what happened on and after May 9, 1945 with respect to the identification of Hitler’s jaws.”
My uncle Fedor passed away in February 1982, too soon to see himself vindicated and have his account of events in May 1945 validated. But validation has come, and, interestingly, in just the past few years and months.
Travelling with the Soviet vanguard when they entered the center of Berlin on April 29, 1945, was a 26-year-old Jewish woman named Elena Rzhevskaya, born Elena Moiseyevna Kagan in Belarus in 1919. She was a military interpreter for SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence agency. Like my uncle, she was a witness to events and findings about Hitler’s fate, corroborating much of what my uncle reported. As the Soviet forces advanced through Berlin, Rzhevskaya’s unit was tasked with finding people who could provide information on Hitler’s whereabouts.
Let me provide a little more context. The Soviets entered Hitler’s underground command center, the Führerbunker under the Reich Chancellery, on May 2nd. The next day, they apparently discovered the bodies of Joseph and Magda Goebbels’ six children in their bunk beds. Then, on May 5th, some charred human remains, including parts of a skull, some jawbones, and some teeth, were found in a shell crater in the Reich Chancellery garden. These were apparently taken to SMERSH headquarters in the north of Berlin and given to pathologists under strict instructions to keep their work under wraps.
Rzhevskaya was summoned to the pathology lab, and entrusted by her boss, Colonel Vassily Gorbushin, with a large, satin-lined, dark-red cigar box, containing what he believed to be Hitler’s remains. Ms. Rzhevskaya was asked to verify this. As my uncle recorded, the Soviets eventually learned about Käthe Heusermann when they visited Dr. Blaschke’s practice where my uncle had taken up residence. It is my very strong belief that “Lola . . .the female agent of the Soviet secret police,” referred to in my uncle’s account of events, was in fact Elena Rzhevskaya. In any case, after locating and interrogating Käthe Heusermann, as my uncle reported, Käthe confirmed the teeth were Hitler’s.
According to Elena Rzhevskaya’s memoir, Käthe Heusermann lead the Soviets to a special office that Blaschke kept at the Reich Chancellery where Hitler was treated; it was a dental office, fully stocked with dental tools and reclining chair, where Hitler’s dental X-rays were also discovered, the irrefutable evidence identifying Hitler’s teeth. Either Käthe never mentioned to my uncle that the X-rays of Hitler’s teeth had been found in the Reich Chancellery, had been instructed by the Russians not to discuss this, or he oddly failed to make note of this important fact in his account; we may never know. Regardless, the Soviets knew all along that Hitler was dead but, Stalin, for reasons we can only guess at, likely believed that if Hitler was alive, then Nazism was an ever-present danger; his desire to conceal the truth may also have been his opening salvo in the nascent Cold War. Consequently, Stalin squelched the truth and detained those who could prove Hitler was dead. Heusermann and Echtmann were arrested and secretly moved to Moscow, an eventuality my uncle was alerted to by American authorities, explaining why he decamped to America in 1947. Heusermann was held in solitary confinement for six years without trial, eventually charged, and sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag in 1951. However, her release was negotiated in 1955 by the West Germans, a few years after Stalin’s death.
In 1965, 12 years after Stalin’s death, during the comparatively liberal Khruschev years, Ms. Rzhevskaya was permitted to publish some of her notes on “Berlin, May 1945,” in the Russian literary magazine “Znayma.” During the Gorbachev era in 1986, she published her first memoir, “Berlin, May 1945: Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter,” but the editor removed any mention of the identification of Hitler’s teeth. It is only in 2017 that an English version of her memoir, “Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle of Rzhev to Hitler’s Bunker,” was published and that mention of Ms. Rzhevskaya’s role in helping identify Hitler’s teeth was made.
There’s an interesting and personal family anecdote to this story. As mentioned, the English-language version of Ms. Rzhevskaya’s book was published only in 2017, shortly after her death. In connection with the release, “The Times of Israel” published an article entitled, “The woman who carried Hitler’s teeth on V-Day,” and interviewed her grand-daughter Liubov Summ. According to Ms. Summ, Käthe Heusermann and Elena Rzhevskaya bonded during questioning and Käthe shared personal stories with Elena. Among them, Käthe told Ms. Rzhevskaya that at various times she had hidden in her home a Jewish dentist for whom she had worked before the war, the dentist obviously being my uncle Fedor. According to Ms. Rzhevskaya, my uncle showed up in late April 1945 and asked whether Käthe could hide him in her apartment, this when she was still reporting for work at the Führerbunker. While I have no doubt my uncle occasionally sought refuge with Käthe in his 30 months underground, I sincerely doubt this happened in April or May 1945.
A very recent development also warrants mention. An article was published on May 21, 2018 in “Deutsche Welle,” entitled “Hitler’s teeth analysis dispels myths of Nazi leader’s survival.” A team of French pathologists was recently allowed to examine a set of teeth kept in Moscow that were recovered in Berlin in May 1945. According to the article, this is the first time the Russian authorities had allowed anyone to examine these remains in over 70 years. The researchers’ conclusions, published in May 2018, in the “European Journal of Internal Medicine,” unambiguously concluded the teeth belonged to Hitler and proved he died in 1945.
My uncle certainly would have felt some measure of satisfaction in having the naysayers, self-aggrandizers, and purveyors of half-truths get their comeuppance as to the facts of Hitler’s fate. But, my uncle was a boundless optimist, not a vengeful man and certainly not one to dwell on “what-might-have-been,” and would have been happy that the truth of what happened to Hitler in the waning days of WWII eventually came out. A confirmation of the role he played in bringing facts to light and acknowledgement that his story was true would have brought him enormous pleasure. So, in some small way, I hope this Blog post accomplishes this.
REFERENCES
Charlier, P., Well, R., Rainsard, P., Poupon, J., and Brisard, J.C.
2018 The remains of Adolf Hitler: A biomedical analysis and definitive identification. European Journal of Internal Medicine.
Chase, Jefferson
2018 Hitler’s teeth analysis dispels myths of Nazi leader’s survival. Deutsche Welle (May 21, 2018).
Linge, Mary Kay
2018 How the woman who identified Hitler’s dental remains ended up in prison. New York Post (July 16, 2018).
Masis, Julie
2017 The woman who carried Hitler’s teeth on V-Day. The Times of Israel (September 6, 2017)
Rzhevskaya, Elena
2018 Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle of Rzhev to Hitler’s Bunker. Greenhill Books. London.
Trevor, Roper, H.R.
1947 The Last Days of Hitler. The Macmillan Company. New York.
1987 The Last Days of Hitler (Sixth Edition). The University of Chicago Press. Chicago (p. 32-33)
Note: This postscript discusses additional information obtained about the Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel from a Polish gentleman who has written a book on the history of Ratibor.
Following publication of Post 11, Mr. Paul Newerla from Raciborz, Poland, author of a book on Ratibor, entitled “Ratibor einst und jetzt” (“Ratibor, then and now”) (Figure 1), contacted me. He shared a lot of information and visuals from his book and other sources, including historic maps, to round out my understanding of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel, the inn owned by my family for three generations. Mr. Newerla also made me aware that my family’s connection to Ratibor extends a generation earlier. According to land registers from the city of Ratibor, Jacob Bruck (1770-1832), father of the original owner of the Prinz von Preußen, Samuel Bruck, was an arrendator, a lease-holder, on two properties within Ratibor. Jacob owned properties on Jungfernstrasse and Stockhaus-Gasse prior to construction of the family hotel; interestingly, an 1812 city map sent to me by Mr. Newerla shows the exact parcels owned by Jacob. (Figure 2)
Ratibor’s city walls, towers (Figure 3) and gates, surrounding the town, were only demolished in 1828, after which the Prinz von Preußen was constructed at the corner of Oderstraße and Bollwerkstraße. (Figures 4, 5, & 6) The same 1812 map just alluded to shows the city walls and gates. Approximating the position of the family hotel, it appears it was built almost atop where one Odertor, city gate, once stood.
A historian, Ms. Katrin Griebel from Zittau, Saxony, who has studied the surviving personal papers of two of my great-aunts, Franziska Bruck and Elsbeth Bruck, archived at the Stadtmuseum in Berlin, has gleaned some anecdotes about the family hotel. According to Ms. Griebel, the building occupied by the Bruck’s Hotel was the former palace of a marquis. Upon the nobleman’s death, the palace became known as the “Prinz von Preußen.”
By 1850, the marquis’s palace was assuredly a hotel. Mr. Newerla sent me notices related to two orchestral performances given by Johann Strauss the Younger at the “Prinz von Preußen.” In October 1850, Johann Strauss had plans to perform in front of the Russian Czar, and on his way to Russia he performed at the hotel the evening of October 17, 1850, spending the night. (Figure 7) On his return from Warsaw, he again stopped in Ratibor, giving an orchestral performance “im Saale des Prinzen von Preußen,” the “Hall of the Prince of Prussia,” on the afternoon of November 17, 1850 (Figure 8), leaving that same evening for Vienna.
The Bruck’s Hotel’s “Saale des Prinzen von Preußen” (Figure 9) served other community functions. Mr. Newerla has found records indicating that on October 31, 1859, Ratibor’s fire department held a large carnival ball there; the fire department also organized a theatrical performance, the proceeds of which were earmarked for the assistance of an injured fire brigade colleague.
Several pages from Mr. Newerla’s book discuss the founding in Ratibor of the “Peace Lodge XVII No. 361”of the “Independent Order B’nai B’rith” on May 9, 1886, which met at the “Prinz von Preußen.” B’nai B’rith was originally founded in 1843 in New York, and became established in Berlin, Germany in 1882. My great-grandfather, Fedor Bruck, was a member of Ratibor’s Lodge. Even though the statute of the Lodge specifically excluded politics from its field of activities, they were under police surveillance. While the Lodge continued to meet at the Bruck’s Hotel until at least April 1934 and steered clear of political matters, they appear to have been under pressure to disband.
Page 39 from Ratibor’s 1889 Address & Business Book (Figure 10), sent to me by Mr. Newerla, lists residents along Oderstraße, including number 16. Both my great-grandfather, Fedor Bruck, and grandfather, Felix Bruck, are listed at this address. Fedor is the “Besitzer,” or owner, and Felix Bruck the “Geschäftsführer,” the Managing Director (Figure 11); by 1892 Fedor Bruck was deceased. Under business listings, there are none for hotels, but Fedor Bruck is listed under “Gasthöfe 1 Classe,” first-class inns, and, oddly, under “Bade-Anstalten,” or bathing establishments. (Figure 12)
Mr. Newerla sent me a series of advertisements for the Bruck’s Hotel. (Figures 13-19) They appear to extend from the time the hotel was owned by my great-grandfather, Fedor Bruck, possibly through the 1930’s and later. Throughout its existence, it was known as the “Bruck’s ‘Prinz von Preußen’ Hotel,” even though it was no longer owned by my family.
“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”—Elie Wiesel
“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”—Elie Wiesel
NOTE: This article tiers off my previous post dealing with my Uncle Fedor, and a postcard he mailed on his 14th birthday from Breslau, Germany. For most of my readers, I expect this article will be of limited interest, so briefly let me explain why I’ve written it. With the exception of my Uncle Fedor, I had never heard of the other people whose names appear on the postcard. I had low expectations when I started gumshoeing, so was pleasantly surprised when I figured out all their identities. I was even more delighted when I found pictures of the person to whom the card had been mailed. Sadly, I also felt an obligation to share with readers the fate of my great-aunt Charlotte Berliner, and in a small way remember that she once existed. And, finally, I wanted to tell about the various databases I checked to uncover the vital events of the named people.
In the previous Blog post dealing with my Uncle Fedor Bruck, readers will recall that on his 14th birthday on August 17, 1909, my uncle went on a hot-air balloon ride in Breslau (today: Wrocław, Poland). Along with “Alfred & Lotte,” all signed a card postmarked from a mail train, copied here (Figures 1a & 1b), addressed to “Fräulein Helene Rothe” and sent to the attention of “Martin Rothe” in Meseritz in the province of Posen, Prussia (today: Miedzyrzecz, Poland). This was the first time I came across the surname “Rothe” in my family research.
I had been told by my parents that members of my grandmother Else Berliner’s (Figure 2) family had immigrated to New York. While I’d never met them growing up, my parents had occasional contact with them in America. These included two of my father’s first cousins, Peter Berliner and his sister (Figure 3); Ilse’s husband, Walter Goetzel, was even a witness at my parent’s wedding. (Figure 4) Gradually, though, our families lost contact. Still, without too much difficulty I was able to find Peter Berliner’s ancestors, though too late to meet Peter who died in 2000. It was while researching him in ancestry.com, however, that I learned his parents were Alfred Berliner and Lotte Berliner, née Rothe, thus, the great-uncle and -aunt “Alfred & Lotte,” who, along with my Uncle Fedor, signed the card postmarked in 1909 from Breslau, Germany. Hence, the Rothe family is related to the Berliner family by marriage.
Figure 2-My grandmother Else Bruck, née Berliner (1873-1957)
During a visit to the Polish State Archives in Raciborz in 2014, I discovered the certificates for two of Alfred and Lotte Berliner’s three known children, Peter Berliner and his sister, Ilse Goetzel, née Berliner. Both of these documents confirmed that Lotte Berliner, née Rothe, was their mother.
I discovered additional information about my great-uncle Alfred Berliner from familysearch.org, the Mormon Church website. Microfilm roll 1184448, containing Jewish death records from Ratibor, confirmed Alfred died there on February 19, 1921, and that his wife Lotte Berliner was present. (Figure 5) Readers may remember Alfred Berliner was a brewer and the owner of the “M. Braun Brauerei” in Ratibor. Alfred was interred in the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor, and a photo of his tombstone exists among the photos archived at the Muzeum Raciborzu that I examined in 2015. (Figure 6)
While all these documents provided conclusive evidence of when and where Alfred Berliner died, I did not yet know his wife’s fate. Previously, I’ve made mention of the database: Östliche preußische Provinzen, Polen, Personenstandsregister 1874-1945 (Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany [Poland], Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945). Not only was I able to locate Alfred and Lotte Berliner’s marriage certificate here (Figures 7a & 7b), but I also was able to find Lotte Berliner’s birth certificate (she was born Charlotte Henriette Rothe) (Figures 8a & 8b), that of two of her siblings, Helene Lina Rothe (Figure 9) and Curt Isidor Rothe (Figure 10), the names of her parents, Martin Rothe and Babette Pinner, and the death certificate of her father Martin. (Figure 11) Thus, with the historic documents found in the “Eastern Prussian Provinces” database, I was now certain that the 1909 postcard had been sent to Lotte Berliner’s sister, Helene Rothe, to the attention of Lotte and Helene’s father, Martin Rothe.
Figure 12-March 1964 passport picture of Helene Rothe to whom 1909 postcard was sent by her sister Lotte and brother-in-law Alfred Berliner
I previously mentioned I was able to locate descendants of Peter Berliner and his sister Ilse, in America. Through them, I even obtained photos of the Helene Rothe to whom the 1909 postcard had been sent. (Figure 12) I also learned a little about “Tante Lena,” as she was affectionately known; members of the Goetzel and Berliner families visited her a few times in Landau in der Pfalz, Germany, where she then lived. They learned that her husband, Dr. jur. (lawyer) Johann Alois Schönhöfer, a non-Jew, hid her in a basement and protected her throughout WWII, and that she emerged severely malnourished, with a deformed back. Knowing where Helene Rothe had lived, I contacted the Rathaus, basically City Hall, in Landau, and obtained a copy of her death certificate and learned she died there on January 17, 1981. (Figure 13)
Lotte Berliner was the last name on the 1909 postcard whose fate I had still to work out. When researching one’s Jewish relatives during the Nazi era, at some point one must consider they may have been murdered in the Holocaust, and search their names in the database of victims. Such was the case with my great-aunt Lotte Berliner. She is listed in Yad Vashem, as having been deported from Berlin, Germany to Auschwitz-Birkenau aboard “Transport 27, Train Da 13 on January 29, 1943,” arriving there a day later (Figure 14); whether Lotte relocated to Berlin after her husband’s death is unknown. A recently added feature on Yad Vashem allows users to view the route trains took to transport their victims to the extermination camps, in the case of my great-aunt Lotte, Auschwitz-Birkenau. (Figure 15)
NOTE: The last two Blog posts have dealt with three of my grandfather Felix Bruck’s sisters, two renowned personages and a third who gave birth to a well-known artist. My grandfather had two additional surviving siblings, both of whom fled Berlin during the Third Reich never to return, and their stories will be the subject of upcoming posts. However, in this Blog post, I will talk about my father’s oldest brother, Dr. Fedor Bruck, and, tell his life story and relate his compelling tale of survival in Berlin during the era of the National Socialists. This is a story I’ve looked forward to relating to readers on account of some of the historic figures who played a direct and indirect role in my uncle’s life.
As a child, my Uncle Fedor was interested in hot-air balloons. Among my father’s surviving personal papers, there exists a postcard sent by my uncle to his maternal aunt’s sister on his 14th birthday, that’s to say on August 17, 1909, when his aunt and uncle, Alfred & Charlotte (“Lotte”) Berliner, took him on a hot-air balloon ride in Breslau, Germany (today: Wrocław, Poland). (Figures 2a & 2b) By researching the names on the postcard, I was able to entirely reconstruct a branch of my family I had previously been unaware using the “Eastern Prussian Provinces” database cited above.
Beyond the names, however, the postcard is interesting for multiple reasons. It came from an association (“des Artillerie-Vereins 1908, Ratibor und Umgegund”) founded in 1908 by former artillery soldiers from Ratibor and the surrounding area; the club’s stamp appears in the upper right-hand corner of the card. The artillery association partially supported itself by offering hot-air balloon rides, and the balloon pilots, Ulrich Gaebel and Hans Zynwi (?), signed their names. The oval cancellation mark, “Breslau-Oderberg,” specifically indicates the postcard was stamped and postmarked aboard a mail train, traveling the 256 miles between these locations; such mail trains were apparently common in Germany until 1945. The photo was taken from a hot-air balloon at a height of 150 meters, and shows the new Town Hall in Leipzig, a city in Saxony 231 miles to the west of Breslau. “Luftschiffer,” printed on the backside of the postcard, refers to German airship (balloon) units.
My Uncle Fedor fought for the German Army in World War I, and was assigned to the 89th Infantry Division as part of their fire brigade. (Figure 3) For a time in 1916, he was stationed in the Ukraine on the Eastern Front. A postcard written by my Uncle Fedor during his deployment there also survives among my father’s personal papers. This one is one dated September 3, 1916, and was written by my uncle to his Aunt Franziska Bruck in Berlin, the famed florist, in which he proudly tells her he has been promoted to the rank of a non-commissioned officer. (Figures 4a & 4b) My uncle’s duties on the Front ended when he was wounded, wounds from which he fully recovered.
By 1921, my Uncle Fedor had obtained a dental license from the University of Breslau. He owned his practice in Liegnitz (today: Legnica, Poland) (Figure 5) from November 1924 through April 1936 (Figure 6), when he was forced out of business by the National Socialists. Already, by March 1932, they had relieved my uncle of his responsibilities as municipal school dentist (“Schulzahnarzt”) for schools in small communities surrounding Liegnitz (Figures 7 & 8); a Schulzahnarzt merely examined pupils‘ teeth, advising them on whether a followup with a dentist was required. There was widespread support among German dentists for the National Socialist ideology, so in expectation of their rise to power many dental organizations displaced their Jewish colleagues as a sign of “anticipatory obedience.“ Since my uncle could no longer practice dentistry in Liegnitz, he left for Berlin in 1936.
Figure 9-My Uncle Fedor with Irmgard Lutze, the married lady with whom he had two children
During his time in Liegnitz, my uncle had an illicit love affair with a married non-Jewish woman (Figure 9) by whom he fathered two children, my first cousins. As offspring of a Jewish man, this could have been dangerous to the children and their mother, but because the cuckolded husband never betrayed them both children survived into old age.
After leaving for Berlin, for a period of time at least, my uncle could still work there, though under very trying circumstances. He continued to have his own practice at Fasanenstraße 20 in Berlin-Charlottenburg for a while. However, as a result of the “Regulation for the Elimination of the Jews from the Economic Life of Germany,” after February 1939, my uncle had his dental license revoked. Only in November 1939 was he again certified, but then only as a “Zahnbehandler,” which meant he could only treat Jews and relatives.
Interestingly, the archives at the Centrum Judaicum Berlin show that during this period, specifically on June 11, 1939, he converted from Judaism at the Messiah Chapel in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg, Kastanienallee 22. My Uncle Fedor must still have believed even at this late date that conversion from Judaism would alter his fate.; my theory is that as a wounded veteran of WWI, it was totally inconceivable to him that the Germans would incarcerate or murder him.
Figure 10-My Uncle Fedor’s “Holocaust Badge” of the specific design that Jews living in Germany, Alsace, Bohemia and Moravia were required to wear during the Nazi era
For several months starting in March 1941, my uncle had the good fortune of managing the practice of a colleague preparing to emigrate, and then, again, in June 1941, he took over a well-equipped practice located in the Kürfurstendamm. As a result, for a period of time he was better off economically than other Jews still in Germany, although by January 1942, he had been permanently displaced from this last office by a National Socialist colleague. (Figure 10)
Eventually, in a letter dated October 12, 1942, my uncle was summoned by the Gestapo to present himself to an “age transport.” Realizing this was a death sentence, he fled to a friend in Berlin-Dahlem and went underground. Roger Moorhouse, in his book entitled “Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler’s Capital 1939-1945,” estimates that of the 11,000 Jews who went underground in Berlin during the war years of 1939-45, only about 1400 survived the war, of which my uncle was one. Time and again, Uncle Fedor had good fortune. When his friend, Dr. Sieber, was arrested on February 15, 1943, by the Gestapo in his presence, he miraculously escaped. In the ensuing months, my uncle found refuge with a cousin or hid in “green belts,” coal cellars, and parks.
Most helpful to him during his underground odyssey was a dentist by the name of Otto Berger, a right-minded individual who was adamantly opposed to National Socialism. (Figure 11) Berger somehow was able to illegally procure papers for Fedor in the name of Dr. Friedrich Burkhardt, matching my uncle’s own initials; without these papers, it is certain that Fedor would not have survived the war. In March 1944, both Berger and Fedor were among nine survivors from a group of 44 people who had sought refuge in a basement destroyed by Allied bombers. Following this narrow escape, for a short period Fedor again hid with his cousin before returning to live with Berger, first in Berlin-Zehlendorf, then in Berlin-Steglitz. The last apartment was destroyed by fire on the eve of the Russian capture of Steglitz on April 26, 1945.
The capture of this part of Berlin marked the beginning of the next phase of my uncle’s life. When Fedor had his own practice in Liegnitz, he trained as one of his dental assistants a woman named Käthe Heusermann, née Reiss. (Figure 12) After Fedor was forced to close shop in Liegnitz and move to Berlin, she too moved there, and from 1937 on, she was in the employ of Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s American-trained dentist. (Figure 13) Following the Russian capture of Berlin, on May 4, 1945, Fedor visited his former dental assistant Käthe Heusermann in the Pariserstraße in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, and she encouraged him to apply to take over Dr. Blaschke’s dental office, which had only been lightly damaged. As a victim of National Socialism, he was entitled to such consideration.
Figure 13-Dr. Hugo Johannes Blaschke (1881-1959), Hitler’s American-trained dentist from 1933-1945
Dr. Blaschke’s dental office was located at Kürfurstendamm 213 (Figure 14), and was at the time situated in the Russian sector of Berlin. With the approval of the Russian commandant, Fedor Bruck was assigned Blaschke’s office and living quarters. Post-war Berlin phone directories for both 1946 (Figure 15) and 1948 list Fedor Bruck as a “Zahnarzt” (dentist) occupying these premises, as indeed he did until he left for America in 1947 (his name continues to show up in the 1948 phone directory even though he was no longer in Berlin).
My uncle’s former close association with Käthe Heusermann allowed him to become a “witness” to history. As Dr. Blaschke’s dental assistant, Käthe had always been present when Hitler was undergoing dental treatment. Because the dental records describing the work performed on Hitler had been lost or destroyed, Käthe Heusermann was questioned by the Russians and asked to give her opinion on the basis of memory whether the parts of the jaw found in the Reich Chancellery garden were those of Hitler. She recognized the dental work and affirmed they were indeed Hitler’s remains. Several days later, she conveyed this information to my uncle, which inadvertently placed him at risk.
Eventually, both Käthe Heusermann, and Dr. Blaschke’s dental technician, Fritz Echtmann, were captured by the Russians and imprisoned for some years. Stalin seemingly did not want any witnesses who could confirm Hitler’s fate, perhaps wishing to perpetuate the myth that Hitler had survived the war and was an ever-present danger. Since my uncle also knew of Hitler’s death, he too was in jeopardy of being kidnapped by the Russians, so, forewarned by the Americans, he decided to emigrate to the United States in July 1947.
Fedor Bruck never met Dr. Blaschke because he had already fled to the southern part of Germany by the time Fedor was assigned his dental practice. Blaschke was eventually captured and interrogated by the Americans, and imprisoned for a period of time. Fedor was able to salvage the abandoned dental records of some Nazis treated by Dr. Blaschke, although the records dealing with more prominent figures such as Himmler, Ley, Göring, Goebbels, and others were taken away by the Russians when they searched the premises. The salvaged records survive in the estate of Fedor’s grandson. (Figures 16a & 16b)
The events described above, including Fedor Bruck’s knowledge of some of these happenings, are documented in at least three books and one newspaper account. These include H.R. Trevor-Roper’s “The Last Days of Hitler,” Lev Bezymenski’s “The Death of Adolf Hitler,” and Jelena Rshewskaja’s German-language book “Hitlers Ende Ohne Mythos.”
Trevor-Roper’s book was initially published in 1947, and this edition makes no mention of Fedor Bruck. However, in the Third Edition of this book published in 1956, a lengthy introduction was added by the author. This was made possible by the release, in that year, of Russian prisoners whom Trevor-Roper had been unable to question during his initial inquiries in 1945. Fedor Bruck’s name and witness to the events described above are discussed on pages 32-33. In Lev Bezymenski’s book, the events are described on pages 53-57, and my uncle Dr. Bruck’s name is cited on page 53. Ms. Rshewskaja’s book mentions Dr. Bruck on page 120 and following. In addition, Fedor Bruck was visited on July 7, 1945, in the former office of Dr. Blaschke by three British correspondents, including William Forrest of the “News Chronicle.” Relying on the account provided by Fedor Bruck, William Forrest chronicled in an article published on July 9th the positive identification of Hitler’s remains.
Figure 17-My Uncle Fedor and my Aunt Verena Bruck, née Dick, on their wedding day on March 4, 1958
Like my father, my Uncle Fedor never again practiced dentistry after he arrived in America. In December 1952, Fedor Bruck became a citizen of the United States, and legally changed his name to Theodore A. Brook. He married for the first time on March 4, 1958. (Figure 17)
For a period of time after his arrival in American, my uncle worked as a night watchman in a church in the Upper Westside of Manhattan, although he eventually landed a job with the State of New York as a toll-collector on the Tappan Zee Bridge. (Figure 18) Unlike many Jews who’d been professionals in their countries of origin, my uncle never bemoaned the fact he’d had to change his vocation in America; I remember my uncle as a boundless optimist for whom the glass was always half-full. He loved his job as a toll-collector because it allowed him to engage in another of his lifelong passions, namely, coin collecting. His wife, my Aunt Verena, once recounted to me the time my uncle approached her about buying a coin book to identify valuable coins and estimate their worth. While she initially balked at the “extravagance“ of such an expense, she quickly changed her tune when my uncle regularly came home from his job with valuable coins exchanged for those of lesser value.
Figure 19-My Uncle Fedor on September 12, 1981, five months before he passed away
My Uncle Fedor passed away in Bronxville, outside New York City, in February 1982. (Figures 19, 20 & 21)
Figure 20-My Uncle Fedor astride a horse in Liegnitz in 1926 dressed as an “English Gentleman”
Figure 21-My Uncle Fedor astride a horse in Liegnitz in 1926 dressed as “Frederick the Great”
REFERENCES
Bezymenski, Lev
1968 The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives. Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. New York.
Brook, Richard
2013 Prinz von Preußen—Hotel rodziny Bruck. Almanach Prowincjonalny 1/2013 (17) (p. 58-73).
Lutze, Kay
2006 Die Lebensgeschichte des jüdischen Zahnarztes Fedor Bruck (1895-1982) Von Liegnitz nach New York. Zahnärztliche Mitteilungen 96, Nr. 10, 16.5 (p. 124-127)
Moorhouse, Roger
2010 Berlin at War. Basic Books. New York
Rshewskaja, Jelena
2005 Hitlers Ende Ohne Mythos. Neues Leben, Verlag. (120 ff.)
Trevor, Roper, H.R.
1947 The Last Days of Hitler. The Macmillan Company. New York.
1987 The Last Days of Hitler (Sixth Edition). The University of Chicago Press. Chicago (p. 32-33)
