Traudl Junge

Getraud Humps (16 March 1920 - 11 February 2002), nicknamed Traudl, was the last of Adolf Hitler's secretaries.

Background
Gertraud "Traudl" Humps was born in Munich, the daughter of a master brewer and lieutenant in the Reserve Army, Max Humps and his wife Hildegard (née Zottmann). She had a sister, Inge, born in 1923. As a teenager she thought of becoming a ballerina.

Traudl Junge began working for Hitler in December 1942. She was the youngest of his private secretaries. Junge said decades later, "I was 22 and I didn't know anything about politics, it didn't interest me", also stating that she felt great guilt for "liking the greatest criminal ever to have lived". She later acknowledged, "I admit, I was fascinated by Adolf Hitler. He was a pleasant boss and a fatherly friend. I deliberately ignored all the warning voices inside me and enjoyed the time by his side almost until the bitter end. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said things and how he did things."

In June 1943, she married Hans Hermann Junge, an SS officer who was killed in 1944, leaving her a widow. Junge witnessed the last days in the Führerbunker and her memoirs were a major source for the screenwriters of Downfall. On 1 May Junge left the Führerbunker with a group led by Waffen-SS Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke. Also in the group were Hitler's personal pilot Hans Baur, the chief of Hitler's Reichssicherheitsdienst (RSD) bodyguard Hans Rattenhuber, secretary Gerda Christian, secretary Else Krüger, Hitler's dietician Constanze Manziarly and Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck. Junge, Christian and Krüger made it out of Berlin to the River Elbe, but most of the others still alive were found by Soviet troops on 2 May, hiding in a cellar off the Schönhauser Allee. The Germans who had been in the Führerbunker and captured by the Soviet army were handed over to SMERSH for interrogation about what had happened in the bunker during the closing weeks of the war. Although Junge had reached the Elbe she was unable to reach the western Allied lines, so she went back to Berlin, getting there about a month after she had left, hoping to take a train to the west when they began running again. On 9 July, after living there for about a week under the alias "Gerda Alt" she was arrested by two civilian members of the Soviet military administration and was kept in Berlin for interrogation.

After many interogations, she was later released in the Soviet sector of Berlin, and with some help from her mother she managed to enter the Allied controlled Germany. Junge was held and interrogated for a short time by US soldiers about her time in the Führerbunker during the first half of 1945. She was then freed and allowed to integrate into postwar Germany.

The 2002 release of her autobiography Until the Final Hour, co-written with author Melissa Müller and describing the time she worked for Hitler, brought media coverage. She was also interviewed for the 2002 documentary film Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (some scenes were included in the Downfall prologue and epilogue) which drew much attention. Junge died from cancer in Munich on 10 February 2002 at the age of 81 and she was given global celebrity for a few days, reportedly having said shortly before her death, "Now that I've let go of my story, I can let go of my life."

In Downfall
Traudl is the secretary to Hitler in the film. Because Downfall is based off her memories, among others, she was depicted as a bystander and observer to much of the events happening in the Führerbunker. Her recollection of the events are included in the film's prologue and epilogue, taken from a 2002 interview (see above).

She was first seen in the film's storyline in November 1942, as she and four other ladies from Berlin approached the Wolf's Lair in the dark of night by foot. There she was interviewed by Hitler, asked to type a speech for him, and finally hired.

Two and a half years later, as the Soviets began firing artillery shells towards Berlin, Traudl was woken up by the sound and vibrations of the explosions. She was present in the hall where high-ranking officers shook hands with Hitler on his birthday, having a little talk with Constanze Manziarly. During Hitler's conversation with Speer around the model of Berlin she persuaded Hitler to leave berlin, saying the Soviets are swiftly sourrounding them.

She was later seen in a party thrown by Eva, drinking with Gerda. Seeing Eva dancing, oblivious to the war going on around them, she felt nauseated and told Gerda that she felt like being in a dream that she can't woke up from.

She was one of the many people that overheard Hitler's rants as he found out of Steiner's failure to launch an attack on the Soviets encroaching Berlin. She went to comfort Gerda who broke down to tears. As Hitler went out of the room and told her and Gerda that a plane was being readied to fly them out of Berlin, she replied that she would stay with him. to be continued.

Downfall Parody Universe
Junge is Hitler's secretary in Der Untergang. She is also the face of Hitler's affections at times. Traudl is also depicted as being clever, resourceful, and a source of lust among the bunker's men, namely Hitler and Speer. Being 25 years old in Der Untergang supports this claim.

She is almost always shown in the parodies with Gerda, and sometimes they are shown as best friends (possibly lesbians). She also comforts her when she cries in the Original Bunker Scene. For some reason Martin Bormann insults her when she brings him the mail.

Some Untergangers depict Traudl as an antic-doer, making her the only female in the film to be an antic master (as well as one of the only known females in the Parody Universe that are skilled in committing such acts, besides Felicity Merriman), although other Untergangers put her on the receiving end of Fegelein's pranks.

She has a Mirror Parody Universe counterpart named Egnuj Lduart, who is also one of Reltih's secretaries.