Continued (2)

[back to part 1]

GUTIERREZ tried another trick. A letter was handed to Franz Konrad ostensibly written by brother Fritz at Schladming, dated August 24, 1945:

"Lieber Franz!

   "Bitte sei so gut und sage alles den beiden Herren, wie du die ganzen Sachen hast. Sie sind bei uns und wollen die Schriften. Bitte sei so gut und denk aber nach wo du sie hingegeben hast. bei uns sind sie nicht auch das Gold ist nicht hier. Sage es Ihnen bitte und sturze uns nicht ganz ins Unglück. Wenn du uns noch ein wenig Lieb hast dann sage es Ihnen wo die Schriften sind. Minni(?) Willi Mitzi und alle wie wie hier sind gehen dem Tode entgegen. Das ist meine letzte Bitte an dich. Bitte denke nochmal scharf(?) nach sonst ist unser Leben aus.

   "Es grüssen dich alle recht herzlich. Fritz, Minni(?), Willi, Mutter, Mitzi. Aber sage es ehrlich wo du die Schriften hast. sonst habe Sie alles geholt von uns.

   "d. Fritz."

On August 25, Konrad was interrogated in detail about his past in the Party. He told of the verschiedenen Aktionen im Zuge der Verkleinerung des Warschauer Ghettos, wodurch die Juden durch ein besonders Kommando aus Lublin erfaßt wurden and abtransportiert 5,000 at a time by rail. "In Lublin bestand eine Aktion Reinhardt" -- deren Chef S.S.- und Polizeiführer Odilo Globocnig war, und as Konrad later learned liquidated them. He himself was later known by the soubriquet "Ghetto König" (or Ghetto Konrad.)

Still not satisfied that Konrad was telling the whole truth, Gutierrez and his youthful interpreter and friend Bill Conner (1983: a Washington lawyer, "in Federal employ") forced Konrad on August 25 to sign this statement at Zell am See.

"Ich Franz Konrad sage aus, daß ich schon alle Auskünfte über die Sachen worüber ich gefragt worden bin, schon gegeben habe. Mir ist bekannt, daß es Verrat ist wenn ich irgendwelche Auskünfte über diese Sachen verschweige. Mir ist weiter bekannt, da ich mich nach den heutigen Gesetzen der Todesstrafe schuldig mache, wenn ich Informationen die zur Aufklärung politische und kriminalistischer Fälle dienen verschweige oder entstelle. Franz Konrad, Witnesses: Robert A. Gutierrez, William J. Conner."

Interrogated again on August 25, Konrad began: "Ich will Ihnen noch etwas über die Devisen erzählen, die ich vergraben habe." He told again of the currency he had buried in the Schlackenhalde, and added: "Die Amerikaner waren zu dieser Zeit schon im Schloß Fischhorn. Nicht weit von der Stelle, wo ich die Devisen vergraben habe, standen auch die Autos, mit denen Göring angekommen ist."

The reason for these latter details became evident only later -- Konrad was diverting suspicion: Because when the cinder pile was searched, the money was not there. Konrad would recall in October 1945:

"Der C.I.C. von Zell am See hat mich an der Stelle, wo ich die Büchse vergraben hatte, nachgraben lassen. Die Büchse war aber nicht mehr da. Ich kann mit nicht erklären, wer sie dort ausgegraben hat, vielleicht war es ein Angehöriger von dem Stab Göring, die damals im Schloß wohnten, oder es war ein amerikanischer Soldat, die Amerikaner waren ja zu der Zeit auch schon im Schloß."

Questioned about the cases he had sent to Schladming, he admitted "Ein Lederkoffer ist dabei, der gehört mir, es ist nur Wäsche und persönliche Dinge von mir drin." And added, "Ich erinnere mich jetzt, daß ich mit dem zweiten LKW auch einen kleinen Lederkoffer mit optischen Geräten, wahrscheinlich ist es ein besonderer Fotoapparat, mitgeschickt habe. Das muß der Frau Fegelein gehören, ich wollte es ihr später zurückgeben."

On September 13, Konrad was turned over by the C.I.C. at Zell am See to the internment camp Glasenbach near Salzburg, from where he would later be transferred to Germany. Another less accurate letter dated January 8, 1946, stated that he had been arrested on August 26 and sent to Civilian Internment Camp, Camp Orr, on September 10, 1945. He had pictures showing the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in his possession.

Franz Konrad had clearly lied: he had cached considerably more Hitler and Eva Braun material than he had so far grudgingly admitted to the C.I.C.: he had left it at first with his widowed mother Maria Konrad at Schladming, and after the first C.I.C. search of brother Fritz's home it was moved there.

On October 11, 1945 Gutierrez went back to Schladming and took from the brother's home 28 reels of moving-picture films depicting the life of Hitler, Eva Braun and intimate friends, assorted negatives of the same type, four gold Schaffhausen men's watches, one gold women's watch set with 50 diamonds, two pairs of gold cuff links, $1,000 in American notes, and ten English pound-notes. Gutierrez reported he turned these over to Seventh Army C.I.C. on October 27 or 29. (There is a probably inaccurate report signed by Garvey that Conner and Gutierrez recovered these articles "on 20 September 1945 from Frau Erwin Haufler at her home in Ammerland am Starnberger See." Garvey attempted on February 19, 1946, to transfer these valuables to the OMGUS Financial Branch, but they agreed to accept only the currency, while the four Schaffhausen gold watches and three rings were transferred to Property Control Branch, Office of Military Government.)

The hunt continued. An American C.I.C. officer took a (dictated?) handwritten letter from Franz Konrad to his widowed mother at Schladming, speaking warmly of his rosy prospects in American service in the coming year, and begging her to hand over to the bearer the letters from Hitler and the diaries. It adds:

"Alles, was ich Dir in dieser Beziehung früher gesagt habe, ist erledigt und ich habe keinerlei Interesse an diesen Sachen."

Haufler had been interrogated at length, and it was plain from him that Konrad was concealing things. He insisted that there were hundreds of letters from Hitler an Eva Braun: about 250 of them.

By now Franz Konrad was being held in the S.S. Camp "Markus Orr" near Salzburg. On October 17, 1945 Gutierrez and Conner again interrogated him. He repeated that on his first trip to Schladming, which seemed to him the safest location, on May 1,2 or 3, he had personally deposited there his stamp collection, food, radio sets, Hitler's uniform -- and, he admitted when pressed, a Hitler letter -- in a tin trunk. The second trip had been made without him on about May 6, sending schnapps, a Blechkiste with photoalbums. "Ich habe auch viele Fotografien verbrannt." Etwa 20 Filme, zum Teil lose, zum Teil auf Spulen aufgewickelt. "Ich weiß bestimmt, daß ich die Filme persönlich verbrannt habe," he insisted. "Ich weiß das deshalb so genau, weil ich dadurch ein gutes Feuer im Ofen bekam."

This was clearly a lie, as the agents pointed out in an internal memorandum later in October, since all these films had since been recovered by the C.I.C. And this was important, because as for the letters ("Es waren etwa 50 Briefe") he claimed to have burnt them also.

"Die Briefe von Hitler an Eva Braun waren alles Briefkarten. Erst beim Verbrennen habe ich gesehen, daß die Briefe zum Teil schon Jahre alt waren, soweit ich mich erinnere, waren Briefe von 1939 und 1940 dabei... Die Kassette mit den Briefen habe ich ausgeleert, die Briefe habe ich -- bis auf einen, der bei meinen Sachen in Schladming liegen muß -- alle verbrannt."

He still made no attempt to explain why he kept one letter, nor did he describe it; nor was he asked. He remembered only burning them, with Sturmmann Franz Schuller present. Hauptscharführer Pläher might have been dabei, and Oberscharführer Rahn, or perhaps Rahn was only present when Konrad later burned die Sachen vom Reichsführer.

Gutierrez(?) reproached Konrad that he was lying. Konrad replied: "Wenn Sie sagen, Sie hätten die Filme in Schladming gefunden, so kann ich mir das nicht erklären. Ich habe gedacht, ich hätte alle Filme verbrannt. Dann habe ich vielleicht nur die Filme verbrannt, die nicht auf Spulen waren. Ich weiß das nicht mehr genau." He insisted that he had taken to Schladming only what he had described, and had not concealed anything anywhere else, e.g. at Kufstein or Kirchberg.

He described how he had witnessed Erika Lorenz -- one of Himmler's lesser secretaries -- taking all of his documents out of the weisse Panzerschrank im Büro von Haufler, tossed them into a laundry basket, and burn them; she had annoyed him by reading some of them first -- "Ich selbst habe nichts von den Papieren gelesen." Es war dabei ein mit Schreibmaschine geschriebenes Buch dabei, eine geschichtliche Abhandlung. Konrad wollte das auf die Seite legen, der Oberscharführer Rahn nahm es aber wieder fort and it was burnt with the rest. Konrad denied having told anybody, "Ich hätte einen interessanten Schriftwechsel zwischen Himmler und Hitler gelesen." As for the string-tied package he had left with Frau von Broskowicz, he now said: "Ich habe damals auf meine Flucht nach Kirchberg nichts anderes mitgenommen als das Paket, was ich bei Frau von Broskowicz hatte. Ich habe Ihnen wahrheitsgemäß gesagt, daß ich dieses Paket verbrannt habe, weil es mir unterwegs zu schwer wurde." He was not questioned further about this package. (But interrogated on October 29, he claimed that it was a "package of documents about Warsaw.")

Questioned in the same camp and on the same day, October 17, Erika Lorenz confirmed having been sent to Fischhorn on May 1, 2 or 3 to burn Himmler's files.

"The things that I burned were mostly files. There were also a number of large envelopes there containing letters from Himmler's parents and from his wife. That was written right on the envelopes. I did not look closely at the papers, but threw everything in the fire without reading it."

She did not recall Konrad or any other S.S. officer being present. The job took at most an hour, then she left the castle. Recalling that Konrad himself admitted having handled some of the contents of this cabinet, the C.I.C. agents Gutierrez and Conner later tried telling Erika Lorenz that they were actually in possession of some of these items, and noted that she was upset by this disclosure. "It is intended to interrogate Frl Lorenz once more," they reported.

On October 23, Gutierrez and Conner discussed the matter with French security unit at Kitzbühl, in the French zone of Austria, and were given permission to interrogate the husband of Konrad's niece, Rudolph Meier, who lived in the village of Kirchberg. He admitted, after first denying it, that he had buried a large sum of currency for Konrad in four sugar cans in his garden: 400,000 RM and some foreign currency and jewelry.

Damagingly, Meier also told the C.I.C. that Agnes Konrad, Franz's wife, had visited him about a week ago, anxious for news about her missing husband, and related that her sister-in-law Minna Zefererbeck (wife of Franz's brother Fritz) had told her at Schladming recently that the Americans had confiscated Konrad's possessions concealed there, including his stamp collection; but that they still had not found "the glass jars with the writings (Schriften) and the gold" which were still buried there at Schladming: "The sister-in-law said she would rather be shot than give those items up." Agnes Konrad said that (the husband of Franz's sister, Willy Pichler) had sold the radio sets for 12,000 RM which she still had, and she talked about "writings, photos, and the private effects of Eva Braun."

On October 24, Gutierrez and Conner drew up a report on their find: it included two rings, postage stamps to the face value of 17,325 RM, and currency as follows: 365,898 RM, $140 dollars in gold, $615 in paper notes, $1 Canadian, 6,500 Swiss francs, 10, and 100 Swedish kroner. The valuables were turned over to the French authorities. In a summary on this swoop, Gutierrez and Conner reported that they had contacted Minna Zefererbeck -- sister-in-law of Frau Agnes Konrad -- at Schladming

"once again, but have not as yet recovered the above-mentioned buried items. These agents believe that the 'writings' referred to are the exchange of letters which were in Konrad's possession."

This was stated in an assessment by Gutierrez and Conner of the conflicting evidence, written on about October 24. So far, Erwin Haufler had proved reliable, while Franz Konrad had consistently lied to conceal how much money he had stashed away, and how much of the Eva Braun property he had saved. They were convinced that he had saved her Hitler letters. "It seems very unlikely," they reasoned, "that Konrad would burn these letters which could be hidden easily, and were of such great historical value, and would attempt to preserve the films and photo albums, which are much bulkier and of less importance." Their conclusion:

"Konrad undoubtedly still has these letters and very likely Hitler's diaries; also possibly correspondence between Hitler and Himmler."

They recommended: "That ... the search be continued."

Rudolf Meier was again grilled at Kirchberg, on October 25. He fleshed out his earlier story: Konrad's packet of 400,000 RM was wrapped in two maps, unprinted side outwards, and tied with telephone wire. The foreign currency was wrapped in black packing paper. Until now, he said, it had been looked after by the Schützingers, who kept a tavern near Zell am See, and whose daughter Julie had worked at the telephone switchboard in his office at Fischhorn. He himself (Rudolf) had visited Schladming only once: before being arrested on August 21, Konrad had asked him to go and inquire if the second truck he had sent there had arrived -- he had only known for certain of the first truck arriving.

Of Agnes Konrad's visit to him a few days before October 20, anxious for news of her missing husband Franz, Meier now recalled more details: she had gossipped freely of two preserving-jars of gold and of Eva Braun's jewelry which he had brought to Schladming, which she would not surrender to the Americans -- "She would tell them that other Americans had already picked it up." Meier added: "Frau Konrad mentioned further that diaries and writings had been brought to Schladming. Her husband Konrad was supposed to have sent them there. I remember now that she said, 'I also heard in Schladming that Franz sent diaries and writings there. The Americans found all of that, however.'" However, she had gained the impression that Konrad's relatives, her in-laws, were not telling her everything.

Questioned about that portentous word, "Schriften" -- writings -- Meier said:

"Konrad himself never mentioned diaries to me. He did often speak about writings which might be very valuable some day. In this connection he also mentioned chests and suitcases, some of which were wonderfully packed. He also said that a great many papers had come to Fischhorn. He said he had sorted these papers and had sent to Schladming those papers which he regarded as having great value."

Rudolf's wife, spoken to that same October 25, bore out his story: Anges Konrad had said to her, "Hitler's diary is supposed to have been in Schladming. It fell into the hands of the Americans." She also mentioned private letters between Hitler and Eva Braun, and that Franz's brother's wife had let her know that some things had been walled in there, but that the Americans had evidently found them. Franz's documents and papers about Warsaw were in the safekeeping of her housekeeper at Bruck an der Mur.

On October 27, Gutierrez wrote a full report on the treasure trove found at Fritz Konrad's home at Schladming on the 11th and at Rudolf Meier's home at Kirchberg a few days ago. The Schladming treasure was handed to Special Agent Origene J. Paquette, Jr., of the C.I.C. 307th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment at Headquarters Seventh Army, on October 29. Gutierrez obtained a receipt.

At first Gutierrez concealed from S.S. Hauptsturmführer Konrad that he had recovered these treasures. That day, October 29, he again grilled Konrad in the internment camp. Konrad denied taking anything to Kirchberg, adding:

"I know that for certain. I am certainly not mistaken. I don't know what you are driving at. You can't have found anything there, for I brought nothing there."

Gutierrez, knowing that his men had already dug up the four cans of Konrad's concealed R.S.H.A. money, over 400,000 RM, at Kirchberg, pressed him on the point, relishing every denial. Konrad hotly denied having taken anything to the village. When finally Gutierrez tired to toying with him and made it plain that they knew the truth, Konrad unashamedly admitted having lied. He explained: "The reason that I deliberately concealed the fact that the money was hidden in Kirchberg was that I wanted to have some compensation for the stamp collection which you took away from me." (And a few minutes later, revealingly: "I did conceal that money in Kirchberg from you, but I didn't think that my nephew Meier would betray me. ... I didn't know how much you really knew.") But, he added: "Now I am certainly concealing nothing more from you."

Gutierrez was not impressed. Konrad now felt obliged to confess to a string of lies -- no doubt in order to maintain the security of still more lies as yet undetected. He now confessed that he had lied too about burying a can of valuables in that cinder pile at Fischhorn. He confessed that -- as Haufler had always maintained -- he had received 1 million Reichsmarks, not 500,000, from Spacil. Konrad futher maintained that the 400,000 RM were in the package he had picked up from Frau von Broskowitz, which he told the C.I.C. he had burned. (He said he had given her the package about a week before his arrest.)

Was his mind working overtime? Since the money had been betrayed to the C.I.C., perhaps he planned to use its capture to save some other valuable package from detection. He explained now that when he had given the package to her, he had told her the package contained documents about the Warsaw ghetto, which she should keep safely, as he had planned to write a report to Hitler revealing the atrocities committed there against the Jews. These documents were actually partly with his things at Schladming, and partly in his dwelling at 20 Adolf Hitler Platz, Bruck an der Mur. "These included charts in various colors showing how the Jewish quarter was systematically reduced in size."

Gutierrez was interested now only in the missing Hitler and Eva Braun documents. Konrad pleaded, inconvincingly, that he had burnt them and that his orderly Rottenführer Franz Schuller was his witness. "You must believe me," he pleaded, "when I say that if I had anything else hidden, buried, or in safe-keeping, I would tell you about it. You will certainly not be able to confront me with any further falsehoods, because I have nothing more anywhere that you have not already found."

Harried by Gutierrez about the diaries and letters, Konrad just kept shaking his head. "I burned the diaries -- that is, the book or both books belonging to Eva Braun -- for certain; I think I remember that distinctly." As for the unburnt items which he had personally taken from Fischhorn to Schladming in the woodburning truck, he recalled arriving there about 11 or 12 p.m., and that he, his sister Mietzi's husband Willy Pichler, and the driver Haferkamp had unloaded them into the cellar. Down in the cellar he had shown Pichler Hitler's torn uniform.

"Whether I showed him the letters -- -" he corrected himself instantly, "I mean, the letter, for I only had one, I am no longer certain."

On the following morning his brother Fritz had come and taken some of the things to hide in his father-in-law (Zefererbeck's) house. Gutierrez pressed him. Konrad insisted.

"I remember now that the box which contained the letters also contained little drawings, plans for buildings, probably drawn by Hitler. The box did not contain only letters, but also sheets with signatures, sketches, and so on. I thought at the time that I might keep this for myself, but then I burned everything. I know for certain that I burned the letters. You will never find the letters: no-one helped me to hide them away, no one saw me bury them or hide them; I burned them [at Fischhorn]. I threw the letters one by one into the fire; I read nearly all of the headings, dates and closing words. The whole burning process took about an hour."

The diaries trail seemed to lead to brother Fritz's house at Schladming.

Fritz's wife Minna Konrad geb. Zefererbeck was questioned by Gutierrez and Conner on October 31, 1945. She indignantly denied knowing anything about any suitcase with Hitler writings, protested that the Americans had taken the jewelry and, contradicting what Rudolf Meier had told Gutierrez, added:

"I said to no-one that we had anything further hidden or buried, which we did not intended to hand over to anyone."

Gutierrez quietly asked: "How did you know that we are looking for Hitler's diaries?"

She reminded him that he had said that when he first visited the house and questioned her husband Fritz. "If I still had anything I would turn it over to you immediately," she shrilled, "so that we would finally have some peace. I am supposed to have glass jars filled with gold? That is not true; I never got anything of the sort."

She recalled Franz Konrad's arriving at her brotherin-law Pichler's with the truck from Fischhorn on a Sunday, she believed, some day before the capitulation, because at about 7:45 a.m. the next morning Pichler had come and told her this. She went off to work that Monday, and when she returned her husband Fritz had come back (empty handed, incidentally) from seeing his brother Franz at Pichler's, said he had brought his effects, but had already left. Pichler had mentioned that in the estate (Siedlung) where he lived every cellar on the estate had the same key, so his house was not safe. A day or two later Fritz and Pichler had wheeled over three or four tin trunks and a large grey suitcase trimmed with black to her household, using a handcart, saying it was everything that Franz had brought on the truck. They were hidden in the hiding place in the attic which she, Minna, had already showed to the C.I.C.

Some days later a truck with the same driver as the first, she (incorrectly) recalled his name as being "Karl-Heinz or Heinz", (it was in fact Johannes Haferkamp), had arrived at Pichler's, then come on to her house, bringing a large suitcase -- which she had already shown the C.I.C., a leather suitcase containing a smaller suitcase, a wooden case with pictures, and two boxes of liquor. They were stowed in the same hiding place in the attic.

On the Saturday before the C.I.C. first called, they had extricated all these items from the attic to put them in a new courtyard hiding place. This was the first time she, Minna, had seen what was all in the chests. "I just remembered that there were four tin trunks. One contained stamp albums, another stamps and a tapestry; in a third were photo albums, and in the fourth various items: wool, stockings, etc." They were treated with mothballs and hidden in the courtyard.

[Continued in Part 3]

Mr Irving's Robert Gutierrez dossier

Album reveals secret life of Eva Braun

What happened to Hitler's letters to Eva Braun and her private diaries?