May 8, 1945 marks the day that Germany capitulated after Soviet forces strangled the capital city of Berlin. World War II was officially over, and Adolph Hitler’s strategy to redefine the map of Europe was abated: “Here ended the epoch of the Third Reich, which according to Hitler should have lasted a thousand years.”

Extensive interrogations of two captives of the Soviet Army ─ Otto Güensche, Hitler's adjutant, and Heinz Linge, Hitler’s personal steward ─ were documented by the NKVD, the secret police agency of the Soviet Union. In 1949, they presented their work in a detailed report, to Stalin. “At the heart of the dossier lies the story with which the interrogations of Linge and Günsche began in 1945 ─ the final months in the bunker and Hitler’s eventual suicide.”

Hitler’s power to drive fear into the heart of his people enabled him to have absolute rule in Germany. No one dared to challenge the dictator. While German soldiers fought a catastrophic war on two fronts, he lived lavishly in the company of his entourage ─ enjoyed schnapps and champagne, ate delicacies, and held elaborate festivities.

Little is revealed about the war on the western front. The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler’s Personal Aides gives an exceptionally large amount of recognition to the Soviet Union’s role in the collapse of the Third Reich. As the German Army pressed eastward, the Soviet Army set in motion a sturdy defensive. The German Army was overpowered and forced to draw back. Hitler ordered his generals to prolong the fight and to kill any deserters. The war attested to be more devastating for the German Army. Hitler’s health waned, and he became paranoid, especially of his military officials. “When it came to the fiasco on the Eastern Front, Hitler had been just as clueless as his generals.”

According to Güensche and Linge, the final moments in Hitler’s Berlin bunker were austere as the Soviet Army closed in. Hitler and his recently wedded wife, Eva Braun, chose to take their own lives. Those that were still loyal to the dictator either plotted their own deaths or escaped.

In The Hitler Book, the editors use several secondary sources to amend inaccuracies that were given by primary sources to the NKVD. This book does not mention any account of the holocaust but does reveal questions surrounding the death of Adolph Hitler. Contrary to the editors’ belief, The Hitler Book is not a complete and accurate life of the German despot.