Christa Schroeder was one of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

’s personal secretaries before and during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Early life

She was born in the small town of Hannoversch Münden and moved to Nagold

Nagold

Nagold is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the northern Black Forest. It is located in the Landkreis of Calw . Nagold is known for its ruined castle, Hohennagold Castle, and for its road viaduct...

 after her parents died. There she worked for a lawyer in 1929 and 1930.

Nazi career

After leaving Nagold for Munich, Schroeder was employed as a stenotypist in the Oberste SA-Führung, the Sturmabteilung

Sturmabteilung

The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...

 high command. There she got to know Hitler in early 1933, when he had just been appointed chancellor. He took a liking to Schroeder and hired her same year.

Schroeder lived at the Wolfsschanze

Wolfsschanze

Wolf's Lair is the standard English name for Wolfsschanze, Adolf Hitler's first World War II Eastern Front military headquarters, one of several Führerhauptquartier or FHQs located in various parts of Europe...

 (Wolf's Lair) near Rastenburg, Adolf Hitler's first World War II Eastern Front military headquarters from 1941 until he and his staff departed for the last time on 20 November 1944. On 20 April 1945, during the Battle of Berlin

Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....

, Schroeder, Johanna Wolf

Johanna Wolf

-Biography:Wolf was born in Munich and joined Hitler's personal secretariat in 1929 as a typist, at which time she also became a member of the Nazi Party. When Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933 she became a senior secretary in his Private Chancellery. Wolf, Hitler’s senior secretary, was one...

, Albert Bormann

Albert Bormann

Albert Bormann was a NSKK officer, who rose to the rank of Gruppenführer during World War II. He was an adjutant to Adolf Hitler. Albert was the younger brother of Martin Bormann.-Biography:...

, Admiral Karl-Jesco von Puttkamer

Karl-Jesco von Puttkamer

Karl-Jesco Otto Robert von Puttkamer was a German rear admiral who was naval adjutant to Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler during World War II.-Biography:...

, Dr. Theodor Morell

Theodor Morell

Theodor Gilbert Morell was German Führer Adolf Hitler's personal physician. Morell was well known in Germany for his unconventional treatments....

, Dr. Hugo Blaschke

Hugo Blaschke

Dr Hugo Johannes Blaschke was a German dental surgeon notable for being Adolf Hitler’s personal dentist from 1933 to April 1945 and for being the chief dentist on the staff of Heinrich Himmler with the rank of SS Brigadeführer.Blaschke was born in Neustadt and studied dentistry in Berlin and at...

, and several others were ordered by Hitler to leave Berlin by aircraft for the Obersalzberg. The group flew out of Berlin on different flights by aircraft of the "Die Fliegerstaffel des Führers" over the following three days. Her account of her service as Hitler's secretary (Er war mein Chef, Herbig, 2002) is an important source in the study of the Nazi years.

Life after the war

She was arrested on 28 May 1945 in Hintersee near Berchtesgaden. Schroeder was interrogated by the French liaison officer Albert Zoller serving to the 7th US-Army. She was released on 12 May 1948. The interrogation and later interviews in 1948 formed the basis for the first book published about Hitler after World War II in 1949, Hitler privat (“Hitler in private”). An English translation of Schroeder's book Er war mein Chef was published in 2009 under the title He Was My Chief: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Secretary (Frontline Books, London). The book includes Anton Joachimsthaler's introduction from the original German edition and a new introduction by Roger Moorhouse

Roger Moorhouse

Roger Moorhouse is a British historian and author. Born in Stockport, Cheshire, he was raised in Hertfordshire and attended Berkhamsted School. Inspired to return to education by the East European Revolutions of 1989, Moorhouse enrolled in the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the...

. The book was serialised in The Sunday Telegraph magazine "Seven", The Week

The Week

The Week, styled as THE WEEK, is a weekly news magazine.-History:It was founded in the United Kingdom by Jolyon Connell in 1995. In April 2001, the magazine began publishing an American edition; an Australian edition followed in October 2008. Dennis Publishing publishes the U.K. and Australian...

magazine and the New York Post

New York Post

The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

newspaper.

Schroeder worked as a secretary for a construction company in Munich. Schroeder died on 28 June 1984 in Munich aged 76.

Sources

• Zoller, Albert: Hitler privat (“Hitler in private”)
• Schroeder, Christa: Er war mein Chef (“He was my boss”). Herbig, 2002
• Schroeder, Christa: He Was My Chief, Frontline, 2009