Hitler and Mannerheim recording

Interior of the saloon coach where the lunch was held. This coach is now located in the town of Sastamala in the Pirkanmaa region.[1]

In June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Despite the initial and overwhelming success of the campaign, the Soviets repulsed the German assault on Moscow and stalled the German advance.[2][3][4] Hitler required his allies to tie down as much of the enormous Soviet military machine as possible.[5] In 1942, Hitler, under extreme secrecy, visited Finland, officially to congratulate Mannerheim on his 75th birthday.[6][3] Mannerheim did not wish to greet Hitler at his headquarters, as it would have appeared like a state visit.[7] Therefore, the meeting occurred at Imatra in Southern Finland.[8] At Immola Airfield, Hitler was greeted and accompanied by President Ryti and other state and military officials to Mannerheim's personal train, where a birthday meal and negotiations took place.[6][3]

Hitler and Mannerheim talking in the train

After the official greetings and speeches had taken place, Hitler and Mannerheim, accompanied by other German and Finnish officials, entered Mannerheim's private wagon for cigars, drinks and lunch.[7][9] In this wagon, a large and visible microphone had been set up by the Finnish sound engineer, Thor Damen, who had been assigned to record Hitler's official speech and birthday message to Mannerheim.[7][9]

After the official speeches, Damen continued to record the now-private conversation, with Hitler unaware that the conversation was still being recorded.[6][3][9] After 11 minutes, Hitler's SS guards realized what Damen was doing. They made a cutthroat gesture to demand that he cease recording.[3][6][7][9] The SS guards demanded the tape be destroyed, but Yle was allowed to keep the tape in a sealed container, promising never to open it again.[3][7][9] The tape was given to the head of the state censors' office, Kustaa Vilkuna, returned to Yle in 1957, and made publicly available a few years later. It is the only known recording of Hitler speaking in an unofficial tone and one of the very few recordings in which Hitler may be heard delivering a narrative without raising his voice.[9]

While the official reason for Hitler's visit – which had been arranged just the day before – was to celebrate Mannerheim's birthday, Hitler's actual purpose was to ensure that the Finns would remain allied to Nazi Germany by reiterating the dangers of Bolshevism, thereby preventing any Finnish feelers to either the Soviets or to the Western Allies. Hitler wanted to reassure himself that he had the Finn's continuing support.[10]

On the tape, Hitler dominated the discussion, with his audience – Mannerhaim, Finnish State President Risto Ryti and German Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel – mostly silent.[10] He discussed the failure of Operation Barbarossa, Italian defeats in Africa, the invasions of Yugoslavia, and Albania, his surprise of the Soviet Union's ability to produce thousands of tanks, and his strategic concerns about Romanian petroleum wells.[9] He was at pains to present German policy as having been consistent throughout, but also emphasized that imminent Russian aggression had given him no choice but to attack the Soviet Union.[10]

Aside from this broad summary of the war in the East, Hitler did not reveal any of his future military plans, specifically an upcoming German offensive, which the Finns were informed of only the day before it occurred.[10] Despite Hitler's visit and monologue, and a return visit from Mannerheim, the Nazi's continuing military crisis over the next six months would provoke the Finns into looking for a way out of their alliance with Germany.[10]

After the tape was revealed to the public, some believed it was a fake because Hitler's voice sounded too soft.[6] Photographs taken on the day of the event showed that Hitler had been drinking alcohol, which could have affected his voice, as he rarely drank.[11] After listening to the recording, Rochus Misch, Hitler's former bodyguard and radio operator, said: "He is speaking normally, but I have problems with the tone; the intonation isn't quite right. Sometimes it seems okay, but at other points not. I have the feeling it's someone mimicking Hitler. It really sounds as if someone is mimicking him."[6]

The BKA (German Federal Criminal Police Office) later examined the tape, and Head of Frequencies Stefan Gfroerer declared that it is "very obvious to us that this is Hitler's voice."[6]

The carriage where the meeting took place

• Mannerheim's saloon coach, where the meeting with Hitler took place, is displayed outside a Shell service station by Finnish national road 12 in Sastamala. It has been open to the public since 1969.[12] The private wagon, where the recording took place, is located in Mikkeli. It is open to the public only once a year, on 4 June, Mannerheim's birthday.[13]

• The recording was used by Swiss actor Bruno Ganz when he rehearsed Hitler's manner of speaking for his role in the 2004 film Downfall.[7]

• Diplomatic history of World War II
• Hitler's Table Talk
• Mannerheim (family)

Notes

Bibliography

• Dietrich, Otto (2010). The Hitler I Knew: Memoirs of the Third Reich's Press Chief. New York: Skyhorse. ISBN 978-1-60239-972-3.
• Kershaw, Ian (2000). Hitler: 1936-1945: Nemesis. New York: Norton. pp. 524–26. ISBN 0-393-04994-9.
• Reinhardt, Klaus (1992). Moscow – The Turning Point: The Failure of Hitler's Strategy in the Winter of 1941–42. Oxford: Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-0-85496-695-0.
• Virkkunen, Sakari (1994). Presidents of Finland II. Helsinki, Otava. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.
• Weinberg, Gerhard (1980). The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Starting World War II. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-88511-7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hitler's conference with Mannerheim.

• Yleisradio article on the recording, including a full copy of it
• The full recording on Yle Areena