Junge, Traudl

▪ 2003

Gertraud Humps Junge 

      German secretary (b. March 16, 1920, Munich, Ger.—d. Feb. 10/11, 2002, Munich), was Adolf Hitler's private secretary from December 1942 until he dictated his last will and testament to her shortly before his suicide in April 1945. Junge was hired originally for the German chancellery typing pool. Her professional notes and intimate knowledge of life in Hitler's bunker during the final days of the war in Europe provided much information for investigators and scholars after World War II. She denied having known anything about the Holocaust until after the war and later expressed remorse over her ignorance. She spent six months in prison after the war and then later became a journalist. Junge published an autobiography, Bis zur letzten Stunde, in early 2002. Im toten Winkel (Blind Spot), a documentary based on interviews with her, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival just hours before her death from cancer.

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