[Music] it is among the most famous footage of world war ii a rather decrepit adolf hitler decorates child soldiers outside his infamous bunker in war-ravaged berlin in 1945. but what is the story behind the footage who were the young hitler youths and what have they done to merit such attention hitler had arrived in berlin for the last time on the 16th of january 1945 aboard his armored train the furore zondazug he had come from his last western front headquarters the adler horst or eagles erie near ziegenberg after masterminding the ardennes and nordvin defensives against the americans both offensives had run out of steam and hitler had been faced by a new threat in the east which required his immediate attention it was becoming clear that a huge soviet winter offensive was about to commence and indeed on the 18th of january it was unleashed in a month's hard fighting the red army advanced within a hundred kilometers of berlin but then unexpectedly halted while stalin attempted to capture territory in austria and eliminate remaining german forces on his flanks in prussia and pomerania the delay in the assault on berlin gave the germans a short breathing space to improve the capital's defenses and shore up the eastern front with whatever forces that could be found including teenagers and even children though the soviets were still some distance from the city berlin was already a shattered ruin having been pounded mercilessly by huge british and american air raids for years such were the number and frequency of the raids that hitler eventually gave up sleeping in the badly damaged reich chancellery and in february 1945 began spending his nights deep underground in the fura bunker beneath the reich chancellery garden he would continue to work in the chancellery during the day until mid-march 1945 when he moved almost permanently into the bunker the hitler youth under its one-armed leader arthur axmann was to play its part in the defense of germany and boys as young as 12 were in action against the red army all along the crumbling eastern front mostly employed in supporting roles as messengers couriers and supply personnel when the battle of berlin got underway many hitler youth units entered full combat alongside the remaining army fafnesses and folk storm home guard units much confusion surrounds the famous film of a decrepit hitler decorating a group of hitler youths in the reich chancery garden many have claimed the film is from the battle of berlin in april 1945. this is untrue the film was shot on the 20th of march 1945 and broadcast in remaining cinemas shortly afterwards as part of a deutsche vacancial military bulletin it was however the last surviving film footage taken of hitler the last time the german people would see their leader before his death the following month another awards ceremony was held on the 20th of april hitler's last birthday also at the reich chancery but this was not filmed or photographed the hitler youths in the film were not from berlin instead they were young soldiers who had distinguished themselves in action elsewhere and were selected for propaganda reasons to represent the hitler youth at a medal ceremony at this stage the soviets had not advanced on berlin so the city was not a battleground yet hitler's appearance was carefully stage managed as he had deteriorated physically in quite dramatic fashion this film shot nine days earlier is hitler's last visit to the front he visited general theodore busa's ninth army headquarters at schloss friend valder on the order river the uncontrollable shaking in his left hand is clearly visible his mental faculties were not impaired and he remained as sharp and demanding as ever but he was certainly not capable of any more of the loud and expressive public speeches he was once famous for indeed his last broadcast speech had been made on the 30th of january 1945 marking the 12th anniversary of his assumption of power in 1933.
the german public never heard him speak again but hitler had a crutch to lean on and this crutch was his energetic and faithful propaganda minister dr joseph goebbels who now performed the speeches needed to galvanize the public to continue the war goebbels who was also gaul leiter of berlin visited the order front right up to the front line trenches to show solidarity with the troops anxiously awaiting the final soviet drive on berlin [Music] it was while on a visit to the recently recaptured town of lauben that goebbels was famously filmed congratulating a very young soldier the silesian town of laoban now in poland was the site of a fierce tank battle and the last german victory of the war the silesian industrial area was vital to the germans lauban was on the front line during the massive soviet assault that commenced on the 1st of march 1945. german panzer forces counter-attacked and had lauban knocked out about 30 soviet tanks the german counter-attack ground to a halt on the 6th of march but lauban was one of several towns and villagers recaptured in total during the short campaign the red army lost 162 tanks and 159 assault guns against only 10 german panzers destroyed though the german infantry suffered heavy losses the soviets learned to not underestimate the german's ability to hit back even so late in the war wilhelm hubner was a 16 year old hitler youth who had distinguished himself in the heavy fighting at lauben attached with his unit as messengers to the fuhrer grenadier division hubner had repeatedly braved soviet fire to carry messages from headquarters to frontline battalions he also frequently filled a wheelbarrow with panzerfaust and provisions and took these to the front lines constantly under fire hubner was singled out for his conduct and when dr goebbels visited the shattered town on the 9th of march hubner was decorated with the iron cross second class by the town's battle commandant and then personally congratulated by gobbles carefully filmed of course for propaganda purposes hubner was ordered to be flown to berlin one of 20 hitler youths of all ages to meet hitler himself at the reich chancellery on arrival in berlin hubner and 19 other hitler youths from towns all along the oda front were given a large breakfast and received new clean uniforms driven to the reich chancellery they were lined up beneath hitler's office window in the gardens on the 20th of march and briefed by hitler youth leader artaxman oxman told them to be at ease and not to greet hitler with the nazi salute then oxman decorated each of them with the iron cross second class and several also received wound badges in black shortly afterwards hitler appeared with a large retinue of staff officers and aids and walked slowly up to the assembled boys he then shuffled down the line axmann introducing each boy in turn with whom he exchanged a few words shook hands and patted cheeks the youngest boy on the parade was 12 year old alfred czech a farmer's son from goldenau in silesia he had made two trips under enemy fire using his father's horse and cut to retrieve wounded german soldiers rescuing eight on the first trip and four on the second he was ordered to berlin to meet hitler and to receive his iron cross standing beside czech was 16 year old ervin scheiderwig at the conclusion of the short ceremony the 20 boys trooped down into the furabunka for lunch with hitler and ava brown and his staff where the boys recounted their war stories hitler was particularly taken with hubner's story as he himself had been a front-line messenger in world war one and drew comparisons [Music] at the conclusion of the special lunch they were each given one wish before being returned to combat check asked for and got an accordion check was unable to return home to golden now as it was occupied by the soviets soon afterwards he was sent to the zudayton land and there shot through the lung in combat after recuperation and imprisonment he returned in 1947 at the age of 14 to his home he discovered that his father had been killed by the soviets when he was serving in the folk storm shot in the neck czech threw away his iron cross and was expelled from the region with his family as germany's post-war borders were redrawn he worked as a miner before eventually emigrating to west germany he purchased another iron cross and had a frame photograph of himself with hitler appearing on several tv programs until his death in 2011 age 78. willie heubner settled in lanshut in bavaria after the war and became a mechanic he appeared in several television documentaries as well including the famous the world at war series hubner died in april 2010 at the age of 81.
