4. At the very end, Hitler gathered his loyal staff and released them from their oath to him, even if there was no way out
When it became clear that all was lost, Hitler resigned himself to his fate. Before he did so, he explicitly freed his staff from their oath of duty to him. Up until this point, they had all vowed to die before leaving their leader. This meant that his secretaries, as well as other staff such as his young couriers or radio operators, were free to leave. For instance, Heinz Linge was given permission to leave the Bunker by Hitler himself – but only after he had performed one last duty, guarding the Fuhrer’s bedroom while he committed suicide and then burning his body afterwards.
In her memoirs, Erna Flegel, who served as Hitler’s nurse in the Bunker, revealed that the Fuhrer personally thanked and said goodbye to his staff on the evening of April 28, 1945. He even handed them all cyanide capsules, half-joking that he wished he could give them nicer gifts. That evening, he would kill himself. The following morning, the staff were advised that they were free from their oaths to the Fuhrer and the Nazi Reich and could leave the Bunker – even if few dared to venture above ground, where the feared Red Army were taking Berlin street by street.
