The Seventh Secret (33 page)

"Not positively. I suppose that Olympics film makes it clear enough."

Tovah resumed her questioning. "Between 1936, the time of the Olympics, and 1939, when the Second World War began, what did your father do? Did he go back to his acting career?"

"Actually, no. My oldest sister has told me that he was around the house a good deal, as if on call. But we lived well. I assume that Hitler had him on a retainer, some kind of regular financial stipend. It must have been a fair salary because, I repeat, we were very comfortable. However, once the war was really under-way, perhaps around 1940, my father began to leave the house and go out more frequently. Sometimes he would be gone for days. My sisters were always pestering my mother to know where Daddy was. Our mother would say that he worked for the government, some-times on special missions for the Führer. She made my father sound like a courier. But, knowing about my father's theatrical career, I eventually guessed that he often served as Hitler's stand-in or double."

"Yet you have no evidence of actual instances when he might have appeared as Hitler's double?"

"No, I don't," Josef Midler said a little unhappily. "I will say this. As the tempo of the war increased, my father was more frequently away and for longer and longer periods of time. In 1944, he was home only a few times, and then he was very close-mouthed. The last time I saw my father—I was just about eight years old—was in the final few months of the war. He came home to arrange for my mother, sisters, and myself to be taken to safety. He decided to move us to the Obersalzberg for the year after the war. I have some recollection that he was to go with us to the Obersalzberg when one afternoon four Gestapo agents arrived to take my father away once more. This was on orders from Hitler. I never saw my father again. He never caught up with us in the Obersalzberg. I have no idea what happened to him."

Controlling her excitement, Tovah asked, "Do you remember the date when your father was taken away the last time?"

"Not the exact date, but I believe it was in the final days of April 1945. The war ended a week or so after that. But my father had vanished and we never heard from him again."

Tovah inclined her head understandingly. The timing was perfect. Everything seemed to fit in sequence.

She studied the troubled Josef Müller. Then she blurted out her next question. "Could your father have been taken to Hitler in the
Führerbunker
and been with him to the end?"

Josef Mailer looked surprised. "My father and Adolf in the bunker? Oh, I don't think so. There would have been no explanation for two Hitlers. Someone would have seen and known. What are you trying to say?"

Tovah drew herself upright. "I think I'm trying to say that maybe your father was made to pose as Hitler and forced to kill himself to allow the real Hitler to live and get away."

The possibility froze the younger Müller's features. "I—I don't think that would have been possible. I can't imagine it."

"There are some people who do imagine it."

Josef Müller tried to recover his composure. "You're saying that my father, made to play Hitler, killed himself—or was killed—and then cremated to deceive the victors? That this was a ruse thought up by Hitler so that he could survive? You think that is a possibility?"

Tovah shrugged. "I don't know. I think that conceivably it could have happened. I haven't been able to prove it yet."

Josef Müller rose to his feet, agitated.

"I doubt if you'll ever prove it," he said. "I've read of Hitler's last period in the bunker. He was there, underground for weeks, never emerging. If Manfred Müller went down and entered the bunker as Hitler, it would have been assumed that Hitler had previously emerged and was now returning. I don't believe that ever happened.

"Are you certain that Hitler did not leave the bunker in that last week of his life? Or was not seen by someone returning to the bunker?"

Josef MüIler's agitation grew. "I'm not certain, of course. The only one who could be certain would be One of the SS or police guards outside the bunker in those last days who could swear that he had seen Hitler—or someone who looked like Hitler—enter the bunker near the very end. If you could find such a person, you might prove what you have imagined—that Manfred Müller went into the bunker while Hitler was still there, and that Manfred Müller died in Hitler's place. If you can find such a person . . ."

"Maybe I can."

"Then you may find out, once and for all, what happened to Adolf Hider—and—and, yes, what happened to my father. I wish you luck."

A
n hour later, returning to the Kempinski hotel, Tovah Levine went directly to the second floor and pushed the buzzer outside Emily's suite. Seconds later, Tovah was admitted.

"I was afraid you'd already be at the dig," said Tovah, catching her breath.

"I was just leaving," said Emily, buttoning her raincoat. Restlessly, she went to the window and gloomily studied the wet street below. "My crew is out there digging away. I think the drizzle is subsiding. Maybe it'll stop altogether." She turned to face Tovah, who was standing in the middle of the sitting room. "You look like you have something on your mind, Tovah. Why are you here?"

"I need your help. I think we can help each other. Can we talk a minute?"

"Of course. Please sit down."

Tovah plopped down on the sofa, waited for Emily to be seated. Hardly able to contain herself, Tovah said, "I just came from seeing Josef Müller."

Emily was completely puzzled. "Who?"

"The son of Hitler's double, Manfred Müller. The one who posed as Hitler during the Olympics."

"Of course! My mind's been in ten different places. So you saw Müller's son? Did it get you any place? What happened to his father?"

Breathlessly, Tovah recited details of her conversation with Josef Müller.

Emily had been listening intently. Suddenly she said, "But the son doesn't know what actually happened to his father?"

"Only that the Gestapo picked him up sometime during what history tells us was the last week of Hitler's life."

"When Hitler was already in the bunker."

"That's the point, Emily. If the real Hitler was down there all the time, without leaving and coming back—and yet Hitler was seen entering the bunker, it would mean another Hitler went down to join the real Hitler. If true, it would make all your conjecturing possible." She paused dramatically. "What we need is someone who saw Hitler enter the bunker—when Hitler was already in the bunker. An SS guard at the bunker entrance might know. You once mentioned meeting such a guard."

"Yes, Ernst Vogel was there on guard duty."

"Can I see him?" Tovah demanded. "Can you call Vogel for me?"

Emily was already moving toward the telephone. "Let me call him right now and find out. Then we'll know. "

Emily flipped to the back of her small address book, and immediately she dialed Ernst Vogel.

She had him on the line, and Tovah came off the sofa to edge closer.

After identifying herself, Emily proceeded to the main question. "Herr Vogel, a minor problem has come up for me about how long Hitler was down in the
Führerbunker
before he killed himself. I thought you might straighten me out."

"I hope I can," said Vogel. "Please speak louder."

Emily raised her voice. "According to the information we have gathered from at least twenty witnesses, Hitler moved from the Old Chancellery into the safer
Führerbunker
on January 16, 1945."

"Approximately that time," agreed Vogel.

"Now, we know that the last day Hitler was seen in the bunker alive," continued Emily, "was April 30, 1945."

"Correct."

"Very well. The question is—when was the last time Hitler was seen leaving the bunker for—for any reason, a walk, whatever—and seen returning to the bunker for good?"

"Ah, that question. Not difficult to answer. Eva Braun went for her final walk outside the bunker into the
Tiergarten
on April 19. But it was too dangerous outside, and she quickly returned, never to leave again."

"It is Adolf Hitler I'm asking about, Herr Vogel," said Emily impatiently. "When was the last time he went outside and then came back inside the bunker? According to our best informants, Hitler went outside the bunker at night to give his dog Blondi a stroll, or to watch Eva and two of his secretaries at target practice with their pistols on April 10. Then, on April 20, Hitler went through the tunnel to the Court of Honor of the New Chancellery to show himself at a reception for his fifty-sixth birthday, and newsreel cameras covered his appearance. Following that, he appeared outdoors in the garden beside the Führer bunker to pin decorations for heroism on twenty orphans who were members of the Hitler Youth. After that, he went down into the bunker to stay. That means he remained in the bunker from April 20 on, without ever going out again, for ten days, until his death. Or so say all our informants. Is that correct?"

Emily waited tensely for agreement or contradiction.

She heard Vogel say crankily, "They are all wrong, all of your informants are wrong. You say the last time Hitler went out and returned was April 20? No, that is absolutely wrong. I, myself, saw the Führer return from a walk outside the bunker with a young woman, probably one of his secretaries—I could not see her face—and go inside the bunker very late at night on April 28."

Emily exchanged a flushed glance with Tovah, whose ear was near the receiver. "Wait a minute, Herr Vogel," Emily said. "Although all my other sources say that Hitler was never seen leaving the
Führerbunker
in the last ten days of his life there, you are saying he left and returned to the bunker just two days before his death."

"Exactly what I am saying. I was standing on guard outside. Hitler himself was returning from somewhere, maybe a short walk, and was going down into the bunker. It was very late, and almost everyone below was asleep. I snapped to attention and gave the Führer a salute. He waved a hand absently at me and went on inside. It was the last time."

"Two days before his death. Did you see him leave to take that walk?"

"No, I wasn't on duty until just before he returned and went inside."

"You did not see him leave, but you saw him return and go inside. Herr Vogel, you are positive it was Adolf Hitler?"

"As positive as I am that I am me when I look into the mirror. It was Adolf Hitler, believe me, Fräulein
 
Ashcroft. I can prove every word I say is true. I kept a duty log of all important arrivals and departures at the
Führerbunker
, with the exact time of comings and goings. If you have any doubts, I can show you the log. It is in storage with my extra books in the basement. If you will give me—say two hours—I can show it to you.

Emily no longer had any doubts, but she said, "Thank you, Herr Vogel. I'll drop by in two hours."

Emily hung up, a broad smile on her face as she met Tovah's gaze. "You know, Tovah, the person that Vogel saw enter the bunker two days before Hitler's end, don't you?"

"Manfred Müller, no other," said Tovah happily.

R
ex Foster had telephoned Spandau Prison and asked to speak to the American director of the month, and his call had been transferred to Major George Elford, who spoke with a flat Midwestern accent.

After identifying himself, Foster had explained his business. "Albert Speer may have left one of his architectural plans behind, one he had borrowed and probably showed to Rudolf Hess before he was released from prison in 1966. I was hoping to find it. I need it for a book."

"Well, we have a lot of the prisoner's leftovers in storage, all right."

"I was authorized to look into this by its rightful owner, the man who loaned the blueprint to Speer," Foster had said. "I'm speaking of Rudi Zeidler, who used to be one of Speer's ten assistants. I can have him call you—"

"He already has," Major Elford had interrupted. "He left a message for me to admit you."

"Also, I'd like to meet you," Foster had added. "Anything special in mind?"

"Yes. I can tell you better in person."

"Well, okay. How's eleven-thirty today?"

"Fine. I'll be there."

Coming away from the telephone in their bedroom, Foster had mused aloud to Emily, who had been dressing.