Emilie Christine Schroeder, also known as Christa Schroeder (19 March 1908 – 28 June 1984), was one of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's personal secretaries before and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early life

She was born in the small town of Hannoversch Münden and moved to

Nagold Nagold () is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the Northern Black Forest. It is located in the '' Landkreis'' (district) of Calw (Germany/Baden-Württemberg). Nagold is recorded for the first time in a historical document dating back to ...

after her parents died. There she worked for a lawyer from 1929 to March 1930.

Working for Hitler

After leaving Nagold for Munich, Schroeder was employed as a shorthand-typist in the ''Oberste SA-Führung'', the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

'' (SA) high command. There she got to know

in early 1933, when he had just been appointed

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

. He took a liking to Schroeder and hired her in June 1933. Schroeder lived at Hitler's World War II Eastern Front military headquarters, known as the ''

Wolfsschanze The Wolf's Lair (; ) was Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II. The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the village of Görlitz (now Gierłoż), about 8 kilometres (5 miles) east of the tow ...

'' (Wolf's Lair) near Rastenburg, from 1941 until he and his staff departed for the last time on 20 November 1944. When Hitler withdrew his headquarters to the ''

Führerbunker The () was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters (''Führerhaupt ...

'' in Berlin in January 1945, she went with him and his staff. Before late April 1945 Hitler would regularly have lunch with Schroeder and fellow secretary Johanna Wolf. On 20 April 1945, during the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Od ...

, Schroeder, Wolf,

Albert Bormann Albert Bormann (2 September 19028 April 1989) was a German Nazi Party official who served as a personal adjutant to Adolf Hitler and as the chief of a main office in Hitler's Chancellery. He reached the general rank of '' Gruppenführer'' in t ...

, Admiral Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer, Dr

Theodor Morell Theodor "Theo" Karl Ludwig Gilbert Morell (22 July 1886 – 26 May 1948) was a German medical doctor known for acting as Adolf Hitler's personal physician. Morell was well known in Germany for his unconventional treatments. He assisted Hitler da ...

, Dr

Hugo Blaschke Hugo Johannes Blaschke (14 November 1881 – 6 December 1959) was a German dental surgeon notable for being Adolf Hitler's personal dentist from 1933 to April 1945 and for being the chief dentist on the staff of ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Him ...

, six shorthand-typists and several others were ordered by Hitler to leave Berlin by aircraft for the

Obersalzberg Obersalzberg is a mountainside retreat situated above the market town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany. Located about south-east of Munich, close to the border with Austria, it is best known as the site of Adolf Hitler's former mountain resi ...

. The group flew out of Berlin on different flights on aircraft of the ''Fliegerstaffel des Führers'' over the following three days. Her account of her service as Hitler's secretary (''Er war mein Chef'', Herbig, 2002) is an important source in the study of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

years.

Life after the war

She was arrested on 28 May 1945 in Hintersee near Berchtesgaden. Schroeder was interrogated by the French liaison officer Albert Zoller serving in the 7th US Army. She was released on 12 May 1948. The interrogation and later interviews in 1948 formed the basis for the first book published about Hitler after World War II in 1949, ''Hitler privat'' ("Hitler in private"). An English translation of Schroeder's book ''Er war mein Chef'' was published in 2009 under the title ''He Was My Chief: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Secretary'' (Frontline Books, London). The book includes Anton Joachimsthaler's introduction from the original German edition and a new introduction by

Roger Moorhouse Roger Moorhouse (born 1968) is a British historian and author. Education He was born in Stockport, Cheshire, England, and attended Berkhamsted School and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the University of London, graduating ...

. The book was serialised in ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...

'' magazine Seven, ''

The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edi ...

'' magazine and the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' newspaper. After the war Schroeder worked as a secretary for a construction company in Munich. Schroeder died on 28 June 1984 in Munich aged 76.

References

Citations

Bibliography