The Murder of the Goebbels Children

Regardless of what you think of their parents, when you analyse it, the Goebbels children were victims of the same warped ideology and regime as so many other children. The only difference—they may have died in less painful circumstances, at least five of them.

So enthralled were Joseph and Magda Goebbels with Hitler that they gave all six of their children names starting with H to honour their beloved leader.

Their names were Helga Susanne, Hildegard Traudel, Helmut Christian, Holdine Kathrin, Hedwig Johanna and Heidrun Elisabeth.

There also was a half-brother named Harald, born in November 1921, from a previous marriage between Magda Goebbels nee Behrend Rietschel and German businessman Günther Quandt, founder of several companies, including BMW. Harald served as a lieutenant in the Luftwaffe during World War II. He survived the war and with his half-brother Herbert Quandt, ran their father’s businesses, including the aforementioned BMW after the war. The photograph below is of the whole Goebbels family, including the half-brother Harald.

Like any child, anywhere in the world, they are formed and conditioned by the environment they grow up in—this was the case with the Goebbels children. On the surface, they were loved by their parents, and maybe even a bit deeper than the surface, but not much. A normal-thinking and loving parent will do anything to safeguard their child’s life.

In the case of the Goebbels parents, their love for Hitler was larger than their love for their children. On 1 May 1945, the day after Hitler committed suicide, Joseph and Magda Goebbels decided to follow suit and also kill the children. Some people say they did this because of fear of what the Soviet army might do to the children, imagining it a fate worse than death. Joseph Goebbels was, of course, well aware of what this might entail, for he was one of the leaders of the regime that slaughtered millions of children in the most horrendous conditions and he had lost not one-night sleep over it.

I believe they killed their children so they would die pure Aryan, for there had been plenty of opportunities to smuggle their kids west of Germany, where the US and UK troops were stationed. Many in the bunker did leave, and it would have been easy to take the children with them if only they had been asked.

Joseph and Magda wrote goodbye letters to Harald, explaining their decision, calling the death “the only possible and honourable conclusion.” Magda convinced she was sparing her children from a life of humiliation, finalized the plan to end their lives.

It isn’t entirely clear who helped the Goebbels poison their children. The plan was to sedate them, but it is not certain who actually administered the drugs that put the children to sleep. The most likely candidate was Helmut Kunz, a dentist who served as one of the Nazi’s chief medical officers. Supposedly, Magda had asked him to help her kill the children, but he refused, saying he was “incapable” of such an act. She then told him that it was an order from Hitler, and he agreed to do it.

Kunz did give the children morphine, but it’s unclear who gave them the cyanide. Magda was unable to and was said to have called Dr Ludwig Stumpfegger, one of the SS’s doctors, to administer the “candy” to the children.

He gave the children cyanide in some form of chocolate.

Rochus Misch, the bunker telephone/radio operator, stated that Werner Naumann told him that he had seen Hitler’s personal physician, Dr Stumpfegger, give the children something “sweetened” to drink.[Another account says that the children were told they would be leaving for Berchtesgaden in the morning, and Stumpfegger was said to have provided Magda with the morphine to sedate them. Erna Flegel claims that Magda reassured the children about the morphine by telling them they needed inoculations because they would be staying in the bunker for a long time.

On the same night that their children were killed, Magda and Joseph Goebbels went in study in the Führerbunker. According to legend, the couple stood near where Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun had died and been burned as they bit into cyanide and shot themselves, perhaps at the same time. Another theory is that Günther Schwägemann, Nazi officer and object of their daughter Hedwig’s affection-Hedwig insisted, in 1944, that when she grew up she was going to marry Günther Schwägermann, having been captivated by the fact he had a fake eye.  -shot them. The bodies of Magda and Joseph Goebbels were set on fire.

On 3 May 1945, the day after Soviet troops led by Lt. Col. Ivan Klimenko had discovered the burned bodies of their parents in the courtyard above, they found the children down in the Vorbunker dressed in their nightclothes, with ribbons tied in the girls’ hair after they died.

Based on autopsy findings, there was some trouble when it came to giving Helga the poison. She either woke up from her slumber and resisted taking it or the dosage was insufficient to kill her. When Russian doctors autopsied Helga’s body, they found bruises, indicating that there had been a struggle. Her jaw may have been broken as well.

Helga was killed at age 12, Hildegard was killed at age 11, and Helmut was nine-years-old when he was killed. Holdine was eight years old at the time of her death. Hedwig was six years old, just four days shy of her seventh birthday at the time of her death. Heidrun was only four when she was killed. Helga was killed at age 12, Hildegard was killed at age 11, and Helmut was nine-years-old when he was killed. Holdine was eight years old at the time of her death. Hedwig was six years old, just four days shy of her seventh birthday at the time of her death. Heidrun was only four when she was killed.

I know some people will say, “They deserved what was coming to them” and to an extent, I can understand that sentiment, but these kids were not responsible for the actions of their parents, in fact, they were a victim of the warped ideology their parents had subscribed to.