+

+
[

] = remarks by the translator.

Beginning: Remer is shown in the Wochenschau as a

Colonel. He had been Major
on 20st of July 44 and
played a very important role to end the plot against the
Fhrer - so told in the Wochenschau; read after what he will
tell us himself about that day.
Now he speaks in front of his soldiers:
"In these days, we are - thanks God - political soldiers. Our now political mission
means: Securing of our
habitat, defension of our German country, and also
defension of our National Socialist idea, and we will execute
this political mission
under any circumstances till to our
final victory; ..." The promotion to liutenant Colonel had
already been on Remer's desk before 7/20/'44, that means
he would have become Colonel in any case, but after the
event of that day it got faster. The Wochenschau does not
tell that to us, but Remer explains it during the interview.
Beginning of the interview:
The interviewer first explains us that
Remer's name is
related to the day of 7/20, he is one of the most important
witnesses of that historical day in Germany. The interviewer
wants to ask him some questions about his youth, his life,
but also about this very special day.
General Remer
wrote twoo books about Conspiracy and treachery around
Hitler, about war hounding against Germany, and will bring
out a third book, soon (the title was not yet mentioned,
maybe it's about the book "20st of July 1944" published
later).

Question: You were born in 1912 in Mecklenburg. What can

you tell us about your youth?
General Remer: As you said right, I am from Mecklenburg,
City Neu-Brandenburg, and went to school and High school
with humanistic education there. In my youth, the "Bndische
Jugend" was an important part of my life, they had been
founded before the well-known boy-scout and pathfinder
Groups. We went to hike, to camp out and so learned and
saw much about
our German country and also some
other countries. We were educated there in the Prussian
way. That means we heard about honor, fidelity, reliability
and
conscientiousness. The patron of that movement
was General Mackensen (famous German General). We
visited him several times for his birth day, I remember to
have lead there 300 people several times by bycicle.
Question: The 20s were very bad years for most people in
Germany. How did you go through them?
General Remer: My father was an
official. I had six
brothers. Three of them were all together with me in the
Bndische Jugend and
did the same field exercises. That
exercises were leaded by true soldiers in later years, and I
wanted to get a soldier from the beginning on and more and
more. Marshal Mackensen helped me then to start as a
Soldier, in spite of the strong limit of hundred thousand men
in
the whole
German
army, and I could start in
the 4th
Infantry Regiment in Kolberg. After the military
and infantristic school, I had to do much with young soldiers.
I saw there the same young people again that I had seen
before I had started: open-minded and optimistic men with
bright eyes, who went to the Flag with enthusiasm. In that
time I realized that a state is not only a theory, but a certain
nation must belong to a certain state, a certain society to a
certain nation, and so I got a kind of national Socialist! I have
stayed that since this time, even if I was not a member of the

Party. Not only the Prussion state theory was important, but
the people who made that state.
Question: Did you welcome the change in politics when in
1933, the Fhrer became leader of the Reich?
General Remer: Of course. And all around me did so. We felt
that we were taken serious as soldiers, and from that time
also had true functions and missions.
We were glad that universal military conscription was
introduced, that made more work and more people around
us and sure new duties.
Question: Were you ever a member of the party?
General Remer: No, and even not later. Soldiers must not be
party members in the first time. But sure I felt as a Prussian
and German, me and many around me had experienced the
treaty of Versailles with all its sadnesses and difficulties:
hunger, disarmement, being afraid for Germany's existence,
unemployment, economical and political sorrows.
Question: After 33, did you realize that a war could come
again?
General Remer: Never we expected that, before it suddenly
started in '39. There was the necessity to pent up, to get at
least not far away from other armies in number and
fundamental equipment, so this made the work for us, no
idea of war. We had many many things to do by teaching our
subordinates. And I know that I heard Hitler say clearly and
several times : "We can not use any war, we want to build,
not to destroy." That was even in '39 he told "till '43
there won't be any war at all."
But then, nearly over night,
a Polish problem arised. The British had stimulated the
Polish state to get more aggressive against Germany, in
Polish newspapers they told to fight a battle near Berlin, the
Polish army was mobilised and ready to attack Germany,

[and they mistreated the German ethnicity in Poland] and

when it went on, I was in a special unity that had IFV cars
with some special tank guns on it, in that kind an invention
by Hitler himself. So we had to show him a demonstration of
our skills on that weapon in the Reich's Chancellery.
I took part of the battles of France with the same weapon
and those same
soldiers until to the French surrender,
then fought in Romania and went to take part of the battles
in the Balkans. We went very fast through whole Bulgaria to
attack Yugoslavia, came to Skolpje and through whole
Albania to get together with the Italians. These feared us,
they thought we were enemies, and escaped as fast as
possible. [It had not been expectable that the Germans had
won that battles so fast.] Next attack was to Greece because
British Soldiers had started to occupy it in the South direction
of Larissa. We had there some heavy encounter with them,
they went off and escaped. We went to Termopyles and
there heared the new order to go back to
eastern
Germany and get refreshed.
We just had regenerated when, at 5 in the morning, we were
surprised by the news of the great war's beginning against
USSR. 24 hours later we were at Lemberg. After twoo other
days we passed through Stalin's lines, went against
Smolensk and other places. We had quite enough to do!
Question: You got the Ritterkreuz with Oak leaves. Did you
get it after 7/20/'44 only or before?
General Remer: I got
some awards
after fights in
Russia until '43. 48 infightings have been inscribed in my
military passport. I got most of them after we had tried to
break the ring of Stalingrad, and when that was impossible,
we went to Charkow; I was the last to go off then and leave

Charkow with my battalion, before it was re-attacked

because of the Genius of General Manstein, who was my
former commander. And with Strachwitz, I went against the
big Sovjet tank attacks during '43, that was the moment to
get the Oak leaves. And now, when
someone
is
getting these, there can be the occasion to go to Berlin. In
my case, the Fhrer himself wanted to talk to battle front
officers personally, and so I was chosen to
meet himself
one-by-one. He wanted to know the sorrows and hopes of
front people, so I was able to talk to him during 1 1/2 hours,
only him and me in the same room. That was in '43 already.
Question: What was your personal impression of the Fhrer?
General Remer: I'm a selective man, usually. First we just
sat face to face, eyed up each other,
and nobody spoke
a word. I got the impression that this man had to be taken
serious and knew what was going on. Just when we started
to talk, the door opened, and a Geman Shephard dog came
in, sat down at my feet, and so I stroked it. The Fhrer
looked at me, astonished, nearly angry, and said: "Nanu,
well so what, this never happened so far in my life!" I
answered: "My Fhrer,
children, little girls and dogs
always have liked me." And now, the communication stayed
confident and simple. I could tell him all my questions and
problems, and he
heard and answered in a kind that I
was sure he
truly cared about the
soldiers of the
front. I was surprised also that he knew
so many things
about us and cared about them. I remember to have told him
not to
fritter away our troups because the Sovjets were
stronger than we were. I told him to send elite troops to the
neuralgic points. He matched but told me that some officers
and Generals were preventing it [and the troops used to got
early destroyed in that time].

Question: Did that meeting take influence on your behaviour

on 20st of July '44?
General Remer: Not at all. That situation on 20st of July was
totally new in any perspective.
In May '44, I was in Berlin to relax, I had only fought at the
front itself so far. I got the Guard regiment who had to care
about security of diplomates and about the possibilities
concerning the many foreign workers around Berlin, there
were 1 million prisoners working in that year.
Question: You wrote a book about the events in July '44
already. But are there further impressions of that day?
General Remer: In any case, it's well known that the plot did
not only take place in Berlin and Germany but in many cities
under German control, and there was big treachery,
someone even had a direct connection to Switzerland, and
there was a simple second connection to Moscow - and told
them Hitler's intends in every day! [the officer called
"Werther" told all German strategies to the ennemy. We
guess it was Walter Scherff, but it's not totally sure, there are
several theories.]
I did studies on that problems through years. I know many
things that happened. At least, many members of the
revolution against Hitler must be ashamed because of their
community with traitors of whole Germany.
Question: What did the German officers think about the plot?
General Remer: They were totally against it. Most of them
told in ten thousands of letters that I got, that if it had got
through, the soldiers of the front had gone to Berlin and
fought them down! Nobody would have followed them. The
20st of July itself is the proof that the normal military way

does not work if the soldier does not want. The assasin
himself did not have the spunk to take a gun out of his
pocket after the bombing had failed; and if he must escape
before that, what about the General Stieff [or also
Fellgiebel]? There was the possibility to shoot the person of
the Fhrer after that all, and nobody of those "great Heros",
as they are told today, had the courage to stay consequent.
Question: How did the day go on for you?
General Remer: I did not know about the bombing in the
Fhrer's head quarter. For me, the 20st started with the
order "Wallkre", that meant the reserve army to get
mobilized. Some days before, that keyword had been told
already. [The conpiracy members first had wanted to try out
what would happen if they used that order. Their idea was to
use the reserve commando structure.]
So the reserve troops got up. I
had taken
part of a
meeting then after that first mobilisation, there was an official
feedback to be given. I suggested in that report that in case
of inner unrest, e. g. by the foreign workers, the anti-aircraftguns could be used to menace in such a case. My
suggestion was heard politely. [But possibly one could feel
that the whole exercise was going around other ideas.]
Anyway, nobody told me anything about a possibility of a
conspiracy. I had no idea at all of that. There were many
plots against Hitler, but that had nothing to concern to my
jobs at all.
Now, in that Wallkre case, I had to mobilize my troop, too, it
was alerted, live ammunition was given out, for example the
"honor guards" were recalled and had to be on standby.
Then I was informed at a report by the City Commander,
General von Haase: "The Fhrer was killed by a mortal

accident. There are inner unrests. Your Guard regiment gets

the mission to shut up the government's region. Nobody
must get in or out, and certainly no General and no minister."
It was told that the army's ground troops had to overtake
the .....how is it called again?......executive power. When I
got that strange order and heard that strange expression, I
asked the General von Haase: "Where? Why
did the
army take
the executive power? Where have that inner
unrests taken place? I have driven through Berlin and have
nothing seen, nothing at all." The answer was: "Neighter we
do know it
exactely. But you now have your order, follow
it."
I went back to my regiment's staff to give them my own
report concerning that new order, but I also mentioned that
I'd not got clear answers and did not know the situation and
circumstances in a clear way. I had the impression that
something was wrong and told it to them, and also told
to
my subordered officers to obeye to my person as it used to
happen at the front. I told that because a liutenant colonel
Wolters had been ordered to my side, whom I had not known
so far, and who had to care about the shutting up of train and
subway.
Then I heard that
Marshall von Brauchitsch
should have driven through Berlin in uniform. That was
strange because Brauchitsch had been suspended. In fact,
that was not Brauchitsch but Witzleben [but both played
nearly the same role]. Then an unknown General wanted to
get a bigger part of my troops, twoo companies, to become
the guard
over the Bendlerblock [where the government
was]. I refused because I had my own order to watch for the
Bendlerblock. [It's not possible normally in military service to
take order over new troops without official orders and
documents, even not for high Generals and even not at the
front except in emergency cases.]

After that report, one of the officers, first liutenant Hagen,

addressed himself to me and told me to be very uncertain
about the whole story. But, as I knew, he told me to have a
close relation to the Propaganda ministery and its chief
Joseph Goebbels. I told him: "You know I try to know the
situation in a better way, a commander must do that before
deciding. But yes, I had to visit Goebbels some days before
because he is the protector of my division. Drive to Goebbels
and get better information." And I gave him a vehicle to go
there.
Then I went to a second report of the city's commander,
General von Haase. I had to announce him the installation of
my troops. He now told me to give special attention on
certain houses, which were shown by him on the map. When
I drove around that houses I saw it was the government's
most important buildings. Sure I wondered about that. When
I came to Haase for the third time, I had to ask him politely
about that. "Why don't you tell me it's the Government's
buildings? Why do you only tell me about some houses?
Why
aren't the orders clear? Sure I
would care about
government's buildings if I should, but why not tell it to me?"
Haase was angry and did not answer. I did not know
exactely why the alerts had been given.
When I just came out of this third report at Haase, still close
to his room, I got an announcement by first liutenant Hagen.
"Totally new situatioin!" he said, "there must be a
m.i.l.i.t.a.r.y. p.l.o.t. probably! Goebbels asks you, Mr. Remer,
to go to him, if you won't, he fears you to have been
imprisoned, and he's alerting the SS troops [who were rather
independent from the army's Generals], at least, they're on

standby already now."

What my reaction was? I told Dr. Hagen to come in to Haase
with me and tell him every word he had
said to
me. It
was immoderate how Haase came down now on Hagen. But
I said: "Mr. General, if there's spoken about a military plot,
we must try to get a more clear situation. Why shouldn't I go
to Goebbels and ask what he knows? Something must
happen. He is asking me to visit him to make the situation
more clear, and as a commander, I need a clear situation."
"You won't do that", Haase answered, "you won't drive to
Goebbels." And then I heard that he said by the way "yes,
Goebbels - we still also must arrest him". I jumped up. "It's
not the right action for me to arrest him. I have visited him
eight days ago, he is the protector of my division. Sorry, it's
not gentlemanlike now to arrest that person. I'm not the man
to do that." Haase scrutinized me by his eyes and now
answered "yes, OK, the police service will do that." Then I
got out.
Outside the city's headquarter, all was full of commanders
and high officers. I stood there a moment in the mitst and
had to think. I remembered 1918. The guard troops did
nothing in that time, and
so it was possible that the
German Kaiser
was deposed. I did not want to be that
guard troops leader who destroyed all by doing nothing. I did
not want such a situation and such reproach. Goebbels had
spoken about the SS he wanted to come out. He had asked
me to visit him again. I decided to go to Goebbels, even
against the opposite order by Haase. [Haase could be
against Goebbels without being against Hitler.]
Now, I did not know the role of Goebbels. I had to be careful.
I took a section of soldiers with me. I told them to get me out

if I wouldn't be back to them after 20 minutes. When I came

in there, I didn't talk anything about the idea to arrest
Goebbels. Goebbels asked me: "What do you know about
the general situation?" "Mr. minister, I came to you to know
something about the general situation", I answered. "I want
to know the game that's played. What about a military plot? I
want to know what's going on." "What do you know then?" "I
know that my troop is out there. Nobody, even no minister,
can pass through." "Don't you know that Hitler is alive?" "I
don't know anything. You must give me your word of honour
that Hitler is alive!" He looked surprised but then answered
"yes, I can give it. He spoke to me some minutes ago. Call
him!" Goebbels set the number and gave me the phone.
Silently, minister Speer, who also was in the room, had told
to Goebbels: "Now, all will be decided, after that what Remer
will do." I only heared that later.
Anyway. I took that phone's receiver into my hand,
announced me as major Remer,
commander of guard's
regiment,
and listened. Then it sounded back. "Do you
hear me? Can you recognize my voice? Do you understand?
I'm alive. Some clique of coward and honourless officers
have
made a plot
against me, thanks God it has
failed; but now we seem to have the saboteurs of the fronts.
Anyway, we will make short shrift with this plague. Now, I
give you power of attorney. You are responsible from now on
for Berlin, for the whole security, law and order
of the
Reich's Capital, including the government's district. Repeat
what I told you." And I repeated. Then
the call was over,
Goebbels asked "what did Hitler
tell you?" and I
reported. "What will you do?", Goebbels asked. "Now it's
important to inform all that troops out there. Nobody knows
Hitler is alive. I'll inform them. But I need to have my office
here; at the commander's headquarter, it's not sure enough."

That worked, I informed them. There were twoo problems to

solve: General Guderian's tank troups had got into Berlin
and believed our guard regiment to have taken part of the
plot and have arrested Goebbels. It was easy to explain that
that was not true. The other problem was that some troops
had got the order to go into the government's district, where
my troops still stood. I ordered my troops to stay in and did
not allow any others to take control over the Bendlerblock.
These other troops
simply were sent away.
I needed more troops, about 16 companies. I also called the
reserve Brigade of Cottbus to help me. Now
a third
problem was probably getting on, that was the control of
mass media. The reserve brigade had got the order to
occupy the transmitter of Naumburg [central radio station]. I
called the commander here to me, and so many other
commanders. They knew I had Hitler's order. The message
officers had already informed them. So I was the youngest
but highest commander on the place now. In no case
anybody was an opponent to my orders now. The most
important man on the place has not been informed in any
kind by the conpiracy members. Maybe they knew there was
no chance me to work against Hitler. If I had known
Stauffenberg to be the bombing man, and had met him, I'ld
have shot him as a mangy dog. I'ld have done it even
without any legally sentence.
But without the guarding regiment, the conspiracy members
must have been quite naives to think they could have
success with their plot.
Stauffenberg had been wounded, he knew he would have
been retired after a won war, he must have had ambitions,
and that might have been the motivation of him and his

conspiracy.
One question was still wide open for me. Where did the
center of the conspiracy work right now? Where were these
people? I had still no idea that it was in the Bendlerblock
itself, that was controlled by my troops outside, but inside,
there had been a struggle, they had arrested General
Fromm, the Commander of the reserve army, and they tried
to make the Bendlerblock their headquarter. I did not know
yet that Fromm got free again and tried to arrest
Stauffenberg and others. I only knew I had to stop any
possibility to take influence on mass media.
The news' officers in the Bendlerblock sure knew my calls;
anyway I tried to call the chief of the main radio station, and I
got a connection to him. Now I told him, who had heard
about a plot: "You are liable by head that nobody will speak
on radio who has not been officially scheduled in the
program book!" He confirmed.
In no moment, others could use the radio and tv, although
many had the order by the conspiracy. When its members
realized that Hitler was alive, they simply drove home, even
the speech for radio rested in the pocket of the officer who
had it. Then I ordered Haase to come here. My troops were
around him, so he came, wondering why I was responsible
for him now and not he for me. When he came, he tapped on
my shoulder and asked: "Really, you talked to the Fhrer? Is
he truly alive?", and I suggested him to come up to Goebbels
with me. He came up and asked Goebbels for something to
eat and drink, pretending not to know anything.
Question: Did you know that General von Haase was part of
the conspiracy?
General Remer: I had no idea. Haase was just chic. Me and
my circles simply didn't take him for serious. We came from

the front, he was a staff officer. We even dispised such stage

men of his kind. When he asked for eating, Goebbels more
than friendly asked him: "A
wine
from Mosel or
Rhine? Please, Mr. General,
you'll get it." But then
Haase went off the door and Goebbels assessed: "Now, that
are our revolutionary heros. They would like to eat. They
would like to drink. They would like to call their mother. But I
tell now what I would do at their place. I'ld rather bite my own
thumb off than make such undignified petitions!" That were
our "heros of 20st of July".
Then I got informed about the Bendlerblock, finally. I had to
go there. Very late only
I heard that somebody should
get shot in the Bendlerblock's courtyard. I was at Goebbels
again when that news came. Minister Speer was also in
there. Goebbels said: "That's it, now the accomplices who
know about who-is-who are executed." "I go there instantly,
Mr. minister", I told, "I'll try to avoid it because all things have
happened without blood." I wanted to prevent any
executions.
I asked minister Speer to give me his
personal car for it. He drove me there. When we came to the
Bendlerblock,
some executions had already taken place.
Speer stayed silent behind me. The General [Fromm] politely
shook my hand. When he heard I was responsible for the
whole business, [Fromm did not know it yet because he had
been imprisoned before] he started to wince. When I told him
to go to Goebbels and get information, he went there; then I
ordered many things in the Bendlerblock. When I was back
to Goebbels, too, Himmler came. I had got the order [by the
Fhrer] to stay until he would be there. So I could go to sleep
now, marched back with my troops under music, and went to
sleep.

During the next following days, I did not want to get a filmdiva. I wanted to go back to the normal military service. I
became the commander of the Fhrer's headquarter until he
went to Berlin; then the Ardennen-Offensive (battle of
Ardennes december 1944) came on, when Hitler gave all
orders orally. I got the order to go against Antwerpen where
the British had their ordnance. [The weather got better then
in december and the Royal Air force and also the Americans
bombed the Germans, so they didn't get through.] I fought in
some further battles, in Northern and Eastern Germany,
under the direct commandment of the Fhrer and his highest
officers.
I remember one of them, Heusinger, telling me "the battle of
Berlin will be won! And there will be new political
perspectives for us."
In January '45, after I had been promoted to general, I had
another occasion to talk to Hitler personally. I asked him if
there was any possibility to get to a reasonable peace. He
answered: "They do not only want to destroy me. They want
to destroy Germany. They want it more and more, you know
the contracts of Casablanca and Yalta. Our mission is to
fight. I
think with General Clausewitz
[Prussian
General in a desperate situation against Napoleon] who tells
us that in an honourable loosing there's the seed for new
rising. I'm sure we do our duty for Germany, but also for
whole
Europe.
I swore officially I won't surrender. I
won't. And now, dear Mr. General, go out and greet your
brave soldiers from me." And he shaked my hand, that was it
all.
Question: The Fhrer fell on 30st of April 1945. How was that
for you?

General Remer: I did not know about it, we just had do fight,
and I wanted to shoot myself if we lost. But then, my troop
didn't loose, we had the order to help General Schoerner
and his soldiers who should come but did not yet come
there, then the order was told that we should surrender
against the Sovjet troups, but I decided to blow the buildings
up, hold our personal weapons on us, and secretly go West
towards Bayreuth. We succeeded to get to West Allies. Then
it was over though.
After all, I can make some moral sentence. If an officer has
the painful duty of breaking his oath, he shall only do it by
knowing he's also
on the road
to give his own life
away, and when the moment comes to shoot a leader, then
shoot him personally, and after that: shoot himself or be
ready at least to shoot himself quickly. That is a hard
sentence, maybe, it has more honour in itself than some
journalists might estimate or even understand.
And concerning the last days of war: I'm still convinced the
Sovjet troops would have run over more of Europe if we
wouldn't have fought, yes, even fought against the West
Allies [who wanted to give away big parts of Land to the
Sovjets even if they also were their opponents]. Till the
beginning of May '45, Germans solved some respectable
parts of the continent against Bolshevism. [Ask Eastern
Europe's people if the felt well between 1945 and 1990. And
quoting his book, he ends: ] If now, there are many
complains
about the treatment of the traitors, because
they were sentenced to death, so just compare: France and
Great Britain also shot their traitors (and Remer, quoting his
book, gives some examples, mainly of 1st world war). And if
the Conspiracy members had succeeded, many more
Germans would have been catched by the Sovjets. Me,
I
hope for a true and just peace for the Continent.