Thought I'd share this one, there's been some discussion over at the Axis History Forum about who exactly Baroness Von Varo was, as she's mentioned as being present in the Führerbunker during the last days of the Reich, but no one seemed to have a clue who she might be. So here's a cut and paste of my final post having discovered who she was, the link has a pile of very interesting transcripts for anyone interested in the realities of Berlin in it's final days before the end of the war.

For any potential treasure hunters out there there's a tantilising part of her testimony involving the SS she was with dumping all their medals, etc into a well. Had I too much money I'd go look for it...


Having exhausted all avenues searching for "Varo" and looking for that as an aristocratic name over hundreds of years of noble history both of which proved totally fruitless I've finally cracked exactly who this women was.

Her full name is actually Irmengard Baroness von Varo zu Bagion, and she was sheltering from the bombings in an adjacent bunker due to her friendship with Ruger an officer of Hitler's Escort Commando. She attempted to leave Berlin with Kempe. She was questioned in 1948 by Mussmano at Stein Castle. Transcripts of that interrogation, along with others are available here: Mussmano Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates : About , her's especially her efforts to get out of Berlin are really quite gripping.

cheers,

Great find, thanks for the link!