Fest is Germany's most famous historian of the Third Reich. This short book tells the story of the last 14 days of Hitler's life ,with the author detailing the contradictions in the testimonies of the surviving witnesses. He also examines the mentality of Hitler and indicates that Hitler never wanted peace and was prepared to destroy Europe and Germany with a ruthless disregard for all humanity. ( )

Un récit particulièrement lisible, mais la question, essentielle, reste. ( )

איזה סיפור מזעזע. איזה טירוף. מי שקורא את הספר הזה מבין שהנחת הראציונליות, שעליה מבוססים כל מדעי המדינה, אין לה על מה לסמוך ( )

This book is the english translation of Der Untergang: Hitler und das Ende des Dritten Reiches. Written by one of the foremost German historians of the Third Reich, this is an extremely interesting work detailing the last two weeks of the life of Adolf Hitler, and those around him, up to his suicide in April 30, 1945. In less then two hundred pages Fest gives us a superb description of the catastrophic end of the Third Reich and also a concise analysis of the Nazi phenomenon that allows the book to stand on its own, even for readers who are not knowledgeable about the history of the regime. This brilliant book that was the basis of Oliver Hirschbiegel's 2004 film Der Untergang. ( )

It’s a very well written book which details the last days of Hitler’s life and the surrender of Berlin and the Third Reich. It was April 1945 when the Soviet forces launched an offensive against Berlin, and it became apparent very quickly that the city had no means to repel it. The city and the Third Reich surrendered at the beginning of May 1945. Hitler was dead by then. He spent this time inside his bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin where he tried to conduct a defensive and declined all offers for evacuation, and where he finally committed suicide. All his last activities, and the confusion following his death, the best they can be reconstructed, are described here.

I found the book a very good and compelling read. It read like fiction, but at the same time seemed to display sound judgement and great attention to both detail and historical truth. For me, it clarified the contradicting reports that followed Hitler’s death that persisted for many years after the war.

Now I am interested in Fest’s analysis of Hitler’s personality- even in the very short presentation of it in this book, he pointed to some interesting aspects of it. ( )