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In 1942, at the height of World War II, Adolf Hitler hired 22-year old Traudl Junge as his private secretary. At the time, the naive Junge viewed the Fuhrer as a surrogate father figure, a gentle man in private, who was nothing like the crazed rhetorician of his speeches. But as the Nazi regime teetered on the brink of destruction, Junge became a firsthand witness to Hitler's plunge into delusion, apathy and depression.
Speaking out for the first time after more than a half-century of silence, Junge sheds new light on the private life of Adolf Hitler.
In spring 2001, through the efforts of writer Melissa Muller, Austrian filmmaker Andre Heller met Traudl Junge, who was Hitler's private secretary for the three years leading up to his ignominious death in 1945. Heller persuaded Junge that it would be historically relevant to record what she had witnessed, as well as cathartic to articulate her current attitudes toward her experiences after so many years of contemplation. Along with filmmaker Othmar Schmiderer, Heller crafted ten hours of interview footage into a stark yet riveting account of the infamous leader, and an exploration of Junge's emotional denial during her years of employment with him.
In BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY, Junge reveals the details of her relationship with Adolf Hitler during her time as his secretary in the final years of his life. Clearly troubled by her role as a confidante to one of history's worst tyrants, Junge often struggles with her emotions as she tries to justify her choices, sometimes watching herself in an earlier TV interview and commenting on the "banal" stories she had previously told about her former employer
During her first years with Hitler, Junge noted the difference between the private Hitler and his frenzied public persona. In addition to corroborating many of the Fuhrer's well-known personal quirks -- he did not like to be touched, did not smoke or drink, and suffered from "digestive" problems -- Junge came to understand Hitler's peculiar attitudes, noting that the Fuhrer was always willing to sacrifice individual happiness at the expense of greater ideals. Among Junge's more peculiar observations of the Fuhrer were the following: Hitler almost never said the word "Jew" in private, and Junge never heard him say the word "love."
As the Nazi hold on Germany grew more tenuous, Junge moved into the Reichstag bunker with Hitler and remnants of his staff, including Martin Bormann, Joseph Goebbels and Goebbels' family. Having survived an attempted assassination in July 1944 with just a few bruises, Hitler emerged with an ever-greater conviction that he was destined to win World War II. To Junge, the event turned Hitler into a paranoid, delusional tyrant who feared that Bolshevism would destroy civilization and whose win-at-all-costs motto was "We must triumph!" But by April 22, 1945, Hitler had lost hope, announcing to his remaining supporters, "All is lost. You must return to Berlin at once."
Some of his followers fled the bunker while others remained, declaring their loyalty to the Fuhrer. Despite an overwhelming sense of imminent doom, the group gathered for a few grim festivities, including the wedding of Hitler and Eva Braun. While the others held a somber celebration, Hitler pulled Junge aside for one more dictation: his final political statement, and private will and testament.
Junge was outside Hitler's room when she heard a shot and learned of his death. On Hitler's orders, his body, as well as the body of Eva Braun, were soaked in gasoline and burned in a courtyard to prevent the Russians from taking trophy corpses.
On Feb. 10, 2002, the day after BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, Junge died of cancer. Her last words to the filmmakers were: "I think now I'm beginning to forgive myself."
BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY was a 2002 Official Selection at the New York and Toronto International Film Festivals. It won a Golden Plaque Award at the 2002 Chicago International Film Festival and a Panorama Audience Prize at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival, where it had its world debut. The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "provocative...plays beautifully as a modern morality tale." The New York Times called it "riveting," and Entertainment Weekly hailed the documentary as "fascinating."
BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY is directed by Andre Heller and Othmar Schmiderer; produced by Kurt Stocker and Danny Krausz.
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