Bombing Hitler by Hellmut G. Haasis Page A

there was a Kripo officer standing with his pistol drawn. An officer said to Elser: “Here is your fo[rmer] fiancée. She is still convinced that you did not commit this attack. Now tell her yourself that you committed it.” An officer placed himself behind Elser and, to make him talk, he kept striking him on the back or on the back of his head. I am convinced that he talked only because he had been physically broken and feared the beatings. Even then he spoke only in fragments and they forced him to keep talking by continually hitting him. What he said was approximately this: He had taken black powder from the Vollmer Co[mpany], and with this he had built a time bomb. He had been induced to do this by foreign agents and had acted on their orders. He had established contact with the agents while working at the Waldenmaier Company, where, as an employee in the shipping department, he had come into contact with people from abroad. I was not able to learn more details—he couldn’t talk because they kept hitting him; on the other hand, they kept hitting him in order to make him talk. . . . Before the meeting was ended, a Kripo officer told me that I could now ask Elser something. But the only thing I could ask was: “Georg, did you do this?” At first Elser didn’t answer but just stared at me with an expression that I will never forget. Then slowly, he opened his mouth and said: ‘Elser.’ At that moment he was struck on the back of the head by the officer standing behind him and was not allowed to continue speaking. I was convinced at that time, and I am still convinced today, that Elser wanted to say he was innocent. As his former fiancée, I was able to read that much from his expression and his gestures.
    Several days earlier, on November 23, during his last interrogation, Elser had said he firmly believed that, in accordance with his religious beliefs, he had committed no sin with his assassination attempt against Hitler. This was likely what Elsa Härlen had read in his gestures.
    Heinrich Himmler frequently interjected himself into the inter-rogations of the Königsbronn group. On one occasion, he had them all brought face to face with Georg at the same time, but with no results. One night Elsa Härlen was awakened at 1:30 a.m. and taken to Himmler’s office. He was strikingly pleasant to her and had her tell him the smallest details: the troubles with her ex-husband, who drank, and how friendly Elser was by contrast. Himmler rarely interrupted her and did not appear mistrustful or haughty. She did not perceive the situation as an interrogation. After two or three hours, Himmler stood up, patted her on the shoulder, and said approvingly: “Hats off to you, Frau Härlen; you are truly a fine Swabian woman!”
    Two days later at noontime she was taken by car to the Reich Chancellery to see Hitler. After leading her down endless corridors and past many rooms, two SS men flung open a door and Elsa Härlen was suddenly standing in a large office. At a desk sat Hitler in a field-gray uniform. Not looking up, he continued reading. An SS man announced Frau Härlen; Hitler glanced up but said nothing. She wanted to raise her arm in salute, but she couldn’t. She got a poke in the ribs from the SS man, but all she could manage to do was stammer, “My Führer!” Her arm wouldn’t react—it was as if it had become lame. One thought raced through her mind, a mixture of comedy and horror. Seeing Hitler there before her, the only thing she could think of was: “Der Schnurrbart-August!” (“Mustache August” 1 ). Charlie Chaplin would surely have been pleased with her.
    Now Hitler began to interrogate Elsa Härlen, but, unlike Himmler, he wanted to twist her every remark, make her feel guilty. He insinuated that she had maintained contact with Elser when he was in Munich. She determinedly stuck to the truth: “No, my Führer,