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Customer Reviews of Voices from the Bunker

"Banality of Evil" Personified
I've read Voices from the Bunker three times and will no doubt read it again. It is one of the most fascinating books I have read about Hitler. The book is made up of first hand accounts by three members of Hitler's inner circle: secretary Traudl Junge, aides-de-camp Otto Guensche, and pilot Hans Baur. About 95% of the account comes from Junge who was hired as one of Hitler's private secretaries in January 1943 (just in time for the tenth anniversary of Hitler's coming to power and less than two and one half years before the end of the Nazi regime). During much of this time, Junge's duties were primarily social. She accompanied Hitler for meals and relaxation almost daily. Her viewpoint is, admittedly, from an isolated world with one set of beliefs and a "puppet master" who controlled her day-to-day life and thoughts. She describes Hitler's demeanor and routine at the Wolf's Lair (Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia), at the Berghof (his mountain retreat), and finally in the bunker as Berlin was being surrounded. She offers a unique perspective on many aspects of the dictator's life: his dietary habits, his outlook on the war, his after-dinner small talk with such intimates as Eva Braun, etc. Junge also describes how Hitler was affected by the July 1944 bomb plot and how he handled himself as he neared his suicide. Finally, Junge, Guensche, and Baur each offer their experiences trying to escape war-torn Berlin. Many top Nazis are included in Junge's account: Goebbels, Himmler, Albert Speer, etc. Hitler comes out looking very human in this book as Junge's perspective is from one in an isolated world where Hitler was the charming host who played with his dog and cared about his loyal friends and employees. As the authors state in the introduction: "It is generally agreed today that the most shattering feature of those who commit genocide is not that they are monsters, but that they are just like many other people." My only complaint is that the book leaves me wanting more. It is only 166 pages with many short chapters and two sections of black and white photos. Junge died fairly recently at the age of 81 and I've read that she completed a book The Final Hour before her death. I have yet to find this book but, if it is an expanded version of Voices in the Bunker, it will be excellent.

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Fascinating Insight
Written by Pierre Galante and Eugene Silianoff and first published in 1989, this 166-page book gives a facinating insight into the routine, daily life of the German dictator from 1943 to the last days in the Berlin bunker in April 1945 - mainly through the recollections of one of his secretaries - Frau Traudl Junge [nee Humps].

The book also tells how Fraulein Humps met her husband Hans Junge, an officer with the Leibstandarte-SS, while in Hitler's employ [Junge was then one of his valets], and the reaction - including Hitler's - to his death later, fighting on the Eastern Front.

Fully indexed, there are also numerous candid photos of the principals, including Hitler, of course, along with Eva and Gretl Braun, SS-General Hermann Fegelein, Gretl's husband who was later executed for desertion, Albert Speer, and Joseph Goebbels and his family, as well as several shots of the Berghof, Hitler's mountain retreat.

Now I see from a newspaper account that this insightful book has been joined by another in the same vein, this time authored by 81-year-old Frau Junge herself and entitled To The Last Hour.

Recommended.

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light reading, but an exceptionally unique author.
From the former secretary of the fuhrer comes a unique story which is easily believable because of the author herself. I've seen many interviews of Ms. Junge and have concluded that she is of high moral standard and has led a truly unique life because of the "Nazi nerve-center" she was a part of. Voices from the bunker illustrates the last few weeks of Hitler's life, aswell as the escape(s) of the surviving bunker dwellers. Because of her daily proximity to Hitler and the goings-on of the Fuhrer-bunker, the author offers a uniquely special rendition of the final days of Naziism. Covered in this book are the author's appointment to Hitler's staff, the activities of the "center of power" within the reich, circumstances leading to the eventuall downfall, Hitler's death and the escape from the bunker amidst Russian bombardment. This book is a light read, but filled with capturing discriptions of the last few weeks of the underground bunker which served as the command center of Adolf Hitler.