Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker

by Yelena Rzhevskaya

By the will of fate I came to play a part in not letting Hitler achieve his final goal of disappearing and turning into a myth I managed to prevent Stalins dark and murky ambition from taking root his desire to hide from the world that we had found Hitlers corpse - Elena RzhevskayaA telling reminder of the jealousy and rivalries that split the Allies even in their hour of victory, and foreshadowed the Cold War- Tom Parfitt, The GuardianOn May 2,1945, Red Army soldiers broke into Hitlers bunker. Rzhevskaya, a young military interpreter, was with them. Almost accidentally the Soviet military found the charred remains of Hitler and Eva Braun. They also found key documents: Bormann's notes, the diaries of Goebbels and letters of Magda Goebbels.Rzhevskaya was entrusted with the proof of the Hitlers death: his teeth wrenched from his corpse by a pathologist hours earlier. The teeth were given to Rzhevskaya because they believed male agents were more likely to get drunk on Victory Day, blurt out the secret and lose the evidence. She interrogated Hitler's dentist's assistant who confirmed the teeth were his.Elenas role as an interpreter allowed her to forge a link between the Soviet troops and the Germans. She also witnessed the civilian tragedy perpetrated by the Soviets. The book includes her diary material and later additions, including conversations with Zhukov, letters of pathologist Shkaravsky, who led the autopsy, and a new Preface written by Rzhevskaya for the English language edition.Rzhevskaya writes about the key historical events and everyday life in her own inimitable style. She talks in depth of human suffering, of bittersweet victory, of an author's responsibility, of strange laws of memory and unresolved feeling of guilt.

352 pages, ebook

Published March 30, 2018

Reviews

[Translator Monkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read. As gripping as the Rzhev pages, which serves as a massive prologue to the Berlin operation that found Rzhevskaya assisting in the identification of Hitler's fate, I found the "afterword" of her 1965 meeting with Zhukov to be absolutely fascinating. It shed more light on Zhukov's life in a few dozen pages than I'd ever have expected.

Highly recommended for anyone with a taste for language and history.

[Noel Cisneros]

Rzhevskaya relata el bombardeo de Moscú y después su integración al ejército rojo, su avance por los territorios ocupados por los nazis y su llegada a Berlín; cómo ahí fue parte del equipo que encontró el cuerpo -y demostró que era de él- de Hitler. Así mismo, cómo Stalin se esforzó por ocultar que el cuerpo era de Hitler y la dificultad de integrarse a la vida después de la guerra.

[Brad Pretty · Rating 4 out of 5]

One could say that this is a perfect example of Soviet propaganda piece but I love how she begins to deconstruct it further and further as she does (what I assume to be) revisions.

It's great insight into the minds of those on the eastern front and the subsequent disillusionment.

Still very nationalistic, but in an interesting way.