In late March 1945 an intelligence report, apparently drafted by the Security Service of the SS, described German popular opinion in the blackest of terms. The last remaining, desperate hopes of avoiding defeat had evaporated. The collapse of the German fronts in east and west, the Allied bombing, the ‘chaotic transport disarray’, had led to a ‘general hopelessness’:
A large proportion of the population has become accustomed to living only day-to-day. They make the most of any comforts of life that present themselves. Any otherwise trivial excuse is used to justify drinking up the last bottle which originally was saved for the victory celebration, for the end of the blackout, for the return of a husband or son. Many are getting used to the idea of making an end of it all. Everywhere there is great demand for poison, for a pistol and other means of ending one’s life. Suicides due to real depression about the catastrophe which is expected with certainty are an everyday occurrence. Numerous conversations with families, with relatives, friends and acquaintances are dominated by planning how one also could get by under enemy occupation. Savings are being set aside, hiding places are being sought out. Especially the elderly torment themselves day and night with somber thoughts and no longer are able to sleep for worry. Things that no one dared to imagine only a few weeks previously are today the subject of open discussions in public-transport vehicles and among complete strangers.
Source:
Bessel, Richard. “Introduction: To Hell and Back.” Germany 1945: From War to Peace. New York, NY, HarperCollins, 2009. 2. Print.
Original Source Listed:
‘Bericht aus Akten der Geschäftsführenden Reichsregierung Dönitz vom Ende März 1945’, in Heinz Boberach (ed.), Meldungen aus dem Reich. Die geheimen Lageberichte des Sicherheitsdienstes der SS 1938-1945, Vol. 17 (Herrching, 1984), pp. 6734-6740, here p. 6737. This report may also be found in Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv (=BA-MA), RW44, Nr. I/11.
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