Bombing Hitler Read Online Free Page A

into the border patrol office, Elser stopped again at the door and took another look in the direction of Switzerland. It gave one the impression that at the last minute he might flee to Switzerland. However, when Elser saw my carbine at the ready and I said to him firmly “Here’s the door,” he followed willingly into the inspection room. The thorough physical inspection undertaken here, with Elser stripped down to his shirt, yielded the following results: In his pockets Elser carried wire cutters and a sealed envelope, which contained numerous notes with sketches pertaining to the production of grenades and fuses, heat and hardness coefficients, and the labeling of ammunition crates, as well as their color, contents, and destination. In addition, Elser had parts of an ignition device with him (firing pins, spring, etc.) and a postcard with an interior view of the Bürgerbräukeller in color. The card bore the official seal of the Nazi Party and contained no writing. At the conclusion, Customs Secretary Traber, who participated in the inspection, found concealed under Elser’s coat lapel the former insignia of the Red Front. In answer to questions as to why he had the insignia and the postcard with him, he said, “Out of sympathy.” During the entire search and interrogation Elser appeared very cooperative and extremely calm. Elser was then turned over to the border police.
    This report serves as the basic text for Elser’s failed border cross-ing. Later on, the event was taken over by legends as wild and tangled as the rose bushes around Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The exact location and activity of the patrol remain unclear. The guards positioned themselves behind the house on the south side, in such a way that they were able to see over the border fence. From the living room on the ground floor they heard through an open window the radio broadcast of Hitler’s speech from the Bürgerbräukeller. They were not able to see into the neighbors’ backyards on the left side—and here might have lain Elser’s chance. If he had arrived in Konstanz earlier and had observed the changing of the guard—for the previous watch in the Wessenberggarten had been relieved just a bit earlier—he might have actually made it. At 8:25, Elser could not have known of this trap behind the house. Unconcerned, he walked past the house without looking to the right. The border guards were standing in the shadow of an old pear tree off the right corner of the house—while twenty-five meters beyond the fence the Swiss border street was brightly lit.

    Elser was no fool. When the customs officers stopped him, he knew to quickly assume his trusting and harmless manner. He mentioned the name of the former chairman of the Traditional Dress Club and said he was looking for him. Regarding the man in the light-colored coat on the Swiss side of the border, the clairvoyant Gestapo later claimed it was a British Secret Service man, Otto Strasser, or another contact. After that, the Gestapo interrogations focused for weeks solely on the question of whether this man had been wearing a hat or a cap. Rieger spoke of a hat, while others, including, interestingly, some who had not been there, said under intense pressure from the Gestapo, that it was a cap. The Gestapo was in a state of permanent paranoia. From this point on, anyone who had seen or might have seen anything suspicious was under the Gestapo’s constant watch and subject to interrogation, using methods garnered from the GPU (the Soviet secret police) and administered by the admitted GPU disciple Heinrich Müller, known as Gestapo Mül-ler. The paranoia was so widespread that long after the interrogations of Elser, even Xaver Rieger was kept under surveillance by a Gestapo informant to see whether he might meet with the British Secret Service or Otto Strasser.
    At the Kreuzlinger customs office, Elser looked toward Switzerland,