Constanze Manziarly

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Constanze Manziarly
Manziarly in 1943
Born(1920-04-14)14 April 1920
Disappeared2 May 1945 (aged 25)
Berlin, Germany
StatusMissing for 78 years, 10 months and 25 days
Occupation(s)cook, dietitian
EmployerAdolf Hitler
Notes
*death never confirmed. The date of death provided is the date in which Constanze Manziarly disappeared.

Constanze Manziarly (14 April 1920 – disappeared 2 May 1945) was born in Innsbruck, Austria. She served as a cook and dietitian to Adolf Hitler until his final days in Berlin in 1945.

Early life[edit]

Manziarly was born in Innsbruck, Austria, on 14 April 1920.[1]

Career[edit]

Manziarly began working as cook and dietitian for Hitler from his 1943 stays at the Berghof until his death in Berlin on 30 April 1945. Hitler took up residence in the Führerbunker on 16 January 1945. The Reich Chancellery bunker complex in Berlin was made up of two bunkers, the lower Führerbunker and the older upper bunker, known as the Vorbunker.[2] Two rooms in the Vorbunker were used for food supply. Another room was made up of the kitchen which had a refrigerator and a wine store. Manziarly used the kitchen to prepare Hitler's meals while he stayed in the Führerbunker.[3]

Together with Gerda Christian and Traudl Junge, Manziarly was personally requested by Hitler to leave the bunker complex on 22 April.[4] However, all three women volunteered to stay with the dictator until his death, and he apparently gave each of them a cyanide capsule to take should they decide to end their own lives.[5]

Manziarly left the bunker complex on 1 May in a break-out group led by SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke. Evading the Soviet Red Army troops, they made their way north to a German Army hold-out in the cellar of the Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brewery on Prinzenallee. The group included Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, Gerda Christian, Else Krüger, and Traudl Junge.[6] Early on 2 May, the German group was captured by Soviet soldiers.[6] Mohnke tasked the four women with trying to deliver his written report to Hitler's successor, Karl Dönitz. The women walked out of the brewery courtyard and made their way into the Soviet occupied area of Berlin. The women split up, with Christian and Krueger waiting at a water supply area.[7] Manziarly, whom Junge thought looked like "the ideal image of Russian femininity, well built and plump-cheeked", was wearing a Wehrmacht jacket, and went to find some civilian clothes while Junge waited for her.[8] Junge next saw Manziarly being taken towards a U-Bahn subway tunnel by two Soviet soldiers; she reassured Junge that "They want to see my papers." Manziarly was never heard from again.[8]

Portrayal in the media[edit]

Constanze Manziarly has been portrayed by the following actresses in film and television productions:

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Junge, Gertraud (2011). Hitler's last secretary : a firsthand account of life with Hitler. New York, N.Y.: Arcade Publishing. p. 290. ISBN 9781628721614.
  2. ^ Mollo, Andrew & Ramsey, Winston, ed. After the Battle, Number 61, Seymour Press Ltd., London, 1988, pp. 28, 30.
  3. ^ Stavropoulos, D. Berlin 1945: The collapse of the 'Thousand Year' Reich, Periscopio Publications, 2009, p. 82.
  4. ^ Junge, Traudl (1989). Voices from the Bunker, pp.1–3.
  5. ^ Beevor, Antony (2002). Berlin: The Downfall 1945, p. 278.
  6. ^ a b O'Donnell, James (2001) [1978]. The Bunker, New York: Da Capo Press, pp. 271, 274, 283, 291.ISBN 0-306-80958-3
  7. ^ Junge, Traudl (1989). Voices from the Bunker, pp. 150–151.
  8. ^ a b Junge, Traudl (2004). Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary, p. 219, ISBN 1-55970-728-3.
  9. ^ Hitler: The Last Ten Days at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  10. ^ The Death of Adolf Hitler at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  11. ^ The Bunker at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  12. ^ Der Untergang at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata