A theory has been cultivated in certain circles, similar to the ‘stab in the back’ legend, that in the final phase of his life the Führer was no longer master of his senses – that this is the only way by which the catastrophic end of the Third Reich can be explained. This is a fable. Up to that final moment when he took his pistol, held it to his right temple and pulled the trigger, he was Adolf Hitler, one hundred per cent compos mentis.
