Hermann Fegelein

Hermann Fegelein (October 30th, 1906 - April 28th, 1945) was Adolf Hitler's and Eva Braun's brother in law, Heinrich Himmler's adjutant and a Grueppenfuehrer (Major General) in the SS.

Among his war crimes were the deaths of 17,000 Soviet Jews in Byelorussia (Belarus).

Downfall and death

Fegelein fled the bunker after he couldn't talk Eva into leaving Hitler. He was arrested as he tried to flee Berlin, dressed as a civilian clothing and was with another woman. Once Hitler learned of Himmler's betrayal by negotiating with the Western powers, Hitler stripped Fegelein of his SS rank and had him court-martialed by SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke. Mohnke remembered that Fegelein was very drunk during the trial. Afterwards, Fegelein was taken away and shot outside in the Reich's Garden.

There are some conflicting reports over Eva's reaction to the execution of Hermann Fegelein, according to Otto Günsche (Hitler's adjutant) said she refused to speak on his behalf but Traudl Junge (Hitler's secretary) stated that Eva was pleading to Hitler for Hermann's life.

However Rochus Misch (last survivor of the Führerbunker) stated in a 2007 interview that Hitler never ordered Fegelein's execution. According to Misch, Hitler only ordered his removal from the SS and that he claimed to know the identity of Fegelein's killer, but refused to reveal his name.

Trivia

• Fegelein is famous in the Hitler rants parodies.

• There have been rumors that the other woman with Fegelein was an Allied spy, but this hasn't been proven.

• Albert Speer called him "one of the most disgusting people in Hitler's circle", because Fegelein was considered an opportunist who ingratiated himself with Himmler.

• Like Hitler and Eva, there are some conspiracy theorist who believe his execution never happened but was used as a ruse to flee with Hitler and Eva to South America.