...3 May...Lyndhurst was detained by Soviet intelligence officers who found the following items which had actualy belonged to Hitler:his gold pocket watch,a locket portrait of his mother,his Party Badge,a WW1 Iron Cross and a medal for a minor wound...
..Erich Haberman,an officer of the guard,was captured in civilian clothes in the basement of the Reich Chancellery's Hospital..he also stated he had seen Elisabeth Lyndhurst ..wearing around her neck a locket containing a portrait of Hitler's mother and that she had the Fuhrer's Gold Party Badge...
Did Hitler pass onto Lyndhurst his mementos?Another nurse from the Reich Chancellery hospital--Erna Flegel--stated that,on the night of 29/30 April,she was summoned to Hitler with all the medical staff and that the Fuhrer shook hands with everyone...
No mention of Lyndhurst.Perhaps Dr Haase collected the personal items and gave them to his assistant(Lyndhurst?) for safe keeping.This might have also included the Gold party Badge given to Magda Goebbels,and retrieved also after her death?Guardian: In your interrogation you describe how Hitler said farewell to his medical staff on the evening of April 29 1945, just before his suicide. What happened?
Flegel: He came out of the side-room, shook everyone's hand, and said a few friendly words. And that was it. There were a few people who then heard it (the shot, when Hitler killed himself the next afternoon) and there were others who didn't. The Führer suddenly wasn't there any more. The staff then decided whether to stay or not stay. I knew that the Führer was dead. Suddenly there were more doctors in the bunker, including Professor (Werner) Haase (one of Hitler's doctors). I didn't see Hitler's body. It was taken up to the garden. The Führer had such an authority that when he was there you knew it. It felt so extraordinary. He was so informal. He would talk to you quite normally.
Guardian: What happened next?
Flegel: Word spread that Hitler was dead. That meant that people no longer had to follow the oath of loyalty they had sworn to him.
I've always wondered (although I know it goes against the "accepted" version): Couldn't Hitler have had more than one Gold Party Badge? It's not unknown for recipients to put away their presentation copy of an award and acquire a "wearer's copy" to wear instead. It's also not unknown for soldiers to purchase multiple copies of a decoration for wear on multiple uniforms. And considering who the "recipient" was in this case, that certainly wouldn't have been beyond his means.Peter H wrote:Hitler's Gold Party Badge supposedly was also given to Magda Goebbels but this contradicts this view.
These details give the impression that she was a "true believer," whoever she was....We assembled in the lobby near the Führer's quarters and after 10 minutes Hitler himself came to us. Haase introduced me and Dr. Schenck to him. After that, on behalf of those who had been decorated, nurse Lyndhurst gave a short speech on loyalty to the Führer. Hitler thanked all those decorated for their service and went to his study and we went back to our posts.
Among those decorated were: Professor Haase - he was decorated with the Cross 'Kriegsferdienst [sic: Kriegsverdienst] Kreuz 1st Class' (for exceptional service) - and four nurses, Erna Flegel, Liselotte Chervinska, Elisabeth Lyndhurst and Rut (surname not known), who were given the 'Kriegsvendienst [sic: Kriegsverdienst] Kreuz 2nd Class', that had been presented by Hitler's aide-de-camp Günsche in the hospital before the audience with Hitler.