The who’s who of evil
For sale, book listing phone numbers of Hitler’s Nazi high command found by British officer in Berlin 72 years ago
IT has been described as a ‘who’s who of evil’.
An address book containing the phone numbers of Adolf Hitler’s top commanders has come to light 72 years after it was found in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin by a British officer at the end of the Second World War.
The previously-unseen directory contains the names, addresses and numbers of the hierarchy of the Nazi party.
Among the 200 people listed are SS monster Heinrich Himmler, propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and head of the Luftwaffe Hermann Goering.
Others include Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess – who bizarrely flew to Scotland in 1941 and was taken prisoner – Albert Speer, the Nazi who apologised at the Nuremberg war trials, and Reinhard Heydrich, main architect of the Holocaust.
Hans Frank, who ran occupied Poland under a murderous reign of terror, is also listed as is Joachim von Ribbentrop, who played a key role in starting the war. Hitler’s personal bodyguard and pilot are included as well. Remarkably, a folded-up letter found in the 6in by 4in book has survived. It was written by the private secretary of Goebbels rejecting a request for his autograph because he was too busy.
The black, leather-bound book was found in a desk drawer in the Reich Chancellery in 1945 by Captain John Hodge, who was later part of the war crimes investigation unit and was almost killed arresting SS guard Heinrich Hornetz at his home near Frankfurt in 1946. During the arrest, the Nazi’s wife ran out of the house screaming ‘English pigs’. Minutes later five armed Germans surrounded the property and opened fire. Capt Hodge was hit in the leg but managed to flee with his prisoner.
Both he and the address book survived, and it is to be sold at auction tomorrow through Henry Aldridge and Son of Devizes, Wiltshire. It has been given an estimate
‘You pick a bad guy and he is in there’
of £ 15,000. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: ‘This is a unique piece of history that offers both historians and collectors access to a previously unseen amount of information relating to the highest echelons of one of the most evil regimes in modern history. It really is a who’s who of evil. You pick a bad guy and he is in there. The only person of note who is missing is Adolf Hitler.
‘We don’t know for certain who it belonged to but it was clearly the property of a very senior Nazi, possibly Goebbels’s secretary.
‘This book is being sold by the family of someone who dedicated a chunk of his career to hunting these individuals.
‘On a personal note, my grandfather was kept prisoner by the Nazis at Lamsdorf, Poland, before he escaped back to England and I found it fascinating that the head of Nazi government in Poland, Hans Frank, is listed.’