Peter Kranz ......Berlin 1945

[Annelie]

Wondering what happened to Peter Kranz very young hitler youth, whom was decorated by Hitler outside the Bunker in the final days.

Did he live or end up in capitivity? If he lives I hope he has had a good life.

One wonders what happened to these young boys.

[Durand]

Hallo Annelie,

From what has been reported elsewhere on AHF, it seems that “Peter Kranz” is a fictional character in the film “Downfall” who is supposed to represent a composite of the experiences of the Hitler Youth fighting in Berlin during that period. For more, see below:


viewtopic.php?t=81708&highlight

viewtopic.php?t=70206&highlight


Regards,

Durand

[Annelie]

Thanks Durand,

The name maybe fictional but the boy certainly wasn't. I have watched the clip of Hitler with this boy for years now on various history programs..but I guess it maybe one of those things to which we will not know.

[Durand]

Hallo Annelie,

A comment similar to yours was mentioned in the first linked provided above and a photograph of the event provided. It was suggested that the name of the boy in the photograph is Alfred Zeck. A check for Zeck here at AHF also reflected the possibility that the boy in question was Willi Huber. See:

viewtopic.php?t=29752&highlight

Regards,

Durand

[Annelie]

Thankyou Durand.

[Durand]

Hallo Annelie,

Out of curiosity, I did a bit more checking on Alfred ZECK. It seems that the name is spelled CZECH rather than ZECK. There was a discussion about this fellow at Feldgrau.com which turned up an interesting article from BILD on Alfred CZECH with information about his life after World War II.

The links are:

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/20 ... il__1.html

http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopi ... eter+kranz

A search for the name Alfred Czech (and Alfred Zeck) turns up loads of information. The following may be of interest:

The scenes in Downfall which have caused most outrage - those which show Hitler being nice to his dog and his secretaries or complimenting the cook on a plate of vegetarian ravioli - are all straight from the historical record. In only a couple of places does Eichinger fictionalise the story and stray towards Hollywood convention. One is the famous moment when a feeble and broken Hitler emerges from the bunker for the last time on 20 April 1945 - his 56th birthday - to pin decorations on the boy conscripts he has entrusted with defending Berlin to the last. In the film, the boy whose cheek Hitler pinches in an almost fatherly way receives his honour for zapping Russians with a mortar, whereas the real boy recipient, Alfred Czech, as emerged only this week, won the Iron Cross (which he has now thrown away) for saving wounded German soldiers.

In a rather queasy approximation of a happy ending to the film, the same boy is later shown escaping on a bicycle with Hitler's secretary through a sunlit forest, whereas in fact Czech and Junge were separately captured and it has been suggested that Junge had to give sexual favours to her Russian captors in order to escape.

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/fea ... 68,00.html

Regards,

Durand

[Annelie]

Thankyou Durand,

Was most interesting and I see others also found it so.
Also of interest in the thread was that Manstein had his name changed from Lewinsky.

With the correct name it is easier to do a search......danke!

[Shc]

Yes... Thank you Durand for finding the "real name" of the boy. I too was interested.

it has been suggested that Junge had to give sexual favours to her Russian captors in order to escape.

I don't really want to deviate from the subject but Junge gave sexual favours?
Has this been proven?


~Shc~

[Karl]

She has always denied it.