In April 1945, as the Red Army was closing its grip on Berlin, coming closer and closer to Hitler's last refuge under the Chancellery gardens, one of his favourite pilots managed to fly a small aeroplane into the burning capital and land it near Brandenburg Gate. On board she carried a wounded future head of the Nazi Luftwaffe.

Aircraft Capitan Hanna Reitsch. Here is the story of her remarkable Berlin coup. And of her post-war denial.



Music theme: “Assembly Line Frustration" © Ionics Music | TerraSound.de

Sound effects:
BBC Sounds (artillery barrage, Junkers Ju-88, Stukas, Messerschmitt, air-raid sirens, park ambience)
Search Results | BBC Sound Effects (bbcrewind.co.uk)

Freesounds.org (Junker Ju-52 by Reinsamba, Creative Commons Licence 4.0
https://freesound.org/s/128542/

Frog in the throat: private

Support the show

Read fascinating stories from Berlin's past and present, and listen to all the episodes from Season 1 and 2 of the podcast on Substack: theberlincompanion.com

Enjoy Berlin audio-tours created by yours truly: download Berlin Companion Audio-Walks App (free access code for all annual Substack blog supporters).

You can also find me at: @kreuzberged, @berlincompanion.bsky.social, The Berlin Companion on Instagram.

And if you would like to become a regular subscriber to this show and help me spend more time digging in my vast archives, chasing new stories and turning these into shiny new episodes - get a subscription and become Berlin Companion's Companion:-)

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1459384/support