Hitler's Personal Will

Although during the years of struggle I believed that I could not undertake the responsibility of marriage, now, before the end of my life, I have decided to take as my wife the woman who, after many years of true friendship, came to this city, almost already besieged, of her own free will in order to share my fate.

She will go to her death with me at her own wish as my wife. This will compensate us both for what we both lost through my work in the service of my people.

My possessions, in so far as they are worth anything, belong to the party, or, if this no longer exists, to the state. If the state, too, is destroyed, there is no need for any further instructions on my part. The paintings in the collections bought by me during the years were never assembled for private purposes but solely for the establishment of a picture gallery in my home town of Linz on the Danube.

It is my most heartfelt wish that this will should duly be executed. As executor I appoint my most faithful party comrade, Martin Bormann. He receives full legal authority to make all decisions. He is permitted to hand over to my relatives everything that is of value as a personal memento or is necessary for maintaining a petit-bourgeois standard of living, especially to my wife's mother and my faithful fellow-workers of both sexes who are well known to him.

The chief of these are my former secretaries, Frau Winter, etc., who helped me for many years by their work.

My wife and I choose to die in order to escape the shame of overthrow or capitulation. It is our wish for our bodies to be cremated immediately on the place where I have performed the greater part of my daily work during twelve years of service to my people.

Berlin, 29 April, 1400 hours.

Adolf Hitler

Witnesses: Martin Bormann, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Nicolaus von Buelow.