Image of evil: final picture of Hitler's chief henchman seconds after cyanide suicide

Published on Thursday 17 February 2011 11:15

AN IMAGE of Adolf Hitler's most senior henchman, taken seconds after he took his own life, is set to be sold at auction.

The previously unseen photograph of Heinrich Himmler – taken by British intelligence officer Guy Adderley in 1945 – shows the Nazi lying dead after biting a cyanide pill, still wearing his trademark glasses.

Lance-corporal Adderley kept the stark close-up, taken at a British safe house in Luneburg, Germany, among his wartime mementoes.

Now his family plan to sell the photograph, which has a pre-sale estimate of 2,000 to 3,000.

Auctioneer and militaria expert Malcolm Claridge said: "This is a very important and historic collection.

"Himmler oversaw the Gestapo and the concentration camps and is regarded as the architect of the Holocaust which resulted in the deaths of six million Jews and an estimated four million Poles.

"Guy Adderley was one of the team that arrested Himmler. He took the photographs of his body and there are two photographs showing senior British and Russian officers in the safe house with Adderley in the background.

"We also have Adderley's military identity card with his photograph confirming he was a lance-corporal and stating 'The bearer of this card is a member of the Intelligence Corps (Field Security Wing) and is authorised to wear civilian clothes.'

"The identity card bears an official purple stamp 'Security Officer – No2 Protected Area Orkney & Shetland.'

L-Cpl Adderley was one of the undercover team who arrested Himmler and his two Waffen SS bodyguards at Bremervoerde, Germany, in May 1945.

Mr Adderley, who died in his late 80s, was the photographer detailed to take the official pictures of Himmler's body after he took his own life.

His extraordinary collection detailing Himmler's dramatic capture and suicide is expected to spark worldwide attention when it comes under the hammer at Dreweatt's militaria sale in Bristol on 29 March.

Conspiracy theories have surrounded Himmler's death after army personnel were ordered to sign the Official Secrets Act keeping the details under wraps for 100 years.

By early 1945, Himmler believed victory had slipped from Germany's grasp and secretly attempted to start peace negotiations with US president Dwight Eisenhower in a bid to escape a war crimes trial. But Eisenhower refused to have anything to do with Himmler. A furious Hitler declared Himmler a traitor, stripped him of his powers and the SS chief went on the run.

When Himmler was arrested by the British 22 May, 1945, he had disguised himself by shaving off his moustache, wearing an eye patch over his left eye and carrying false identity papers.

Mr Adderley's collection includes a photocopied statement describing how Himmler was captured and how his interrogators had tried, unsuccessfully, to stop him biting down on his cyanide capsule.

The statement also notes, "This photograph was taken while he was still warm."

The mystery surrounding Himmler's death has been compounded by the way in which four British soldiers took his body from the safe house, bundled it into a truck and buried it in an unmarked grave nearby. It has never been found.