Although the material in the Muller files on the 20 July plot runs to thousands ofpages, probably the most dramatic material is contained in the final chapter.
Q Although this is not important to this discussion, could you perhaps answer a question about the twentieth of July aftermath? One of the Stauffenberg family has asked about the fate of the Colonel...
M He was shot in the courtyard of the headquarters of the Replacement Army in the Bendler Street early on the 21st.
Q I was referring to the actual disposition of the remains. There has been a rumor that the bodies were secretly buried somewhere in Berlin and the family wants to get some verification of this. This isn’t because they are aware of your existence but I have a note here...
M They were taken away to the St. Matthew’s cemetery and buried. The next day...or rather that day, I was at a conference with Himmler present and I mentioned to him that perhaps it would be a good idea to make positive identification of the bodies. I had not seen them and neither had Himmler. He agreed that this was probably a good idea. Then I suggested that I do this personally. Also, there was a question about what the final disposition would be. I said that we shouldn’t leave even a scrap behind that our enemies could make relics from and again he agreed. I suggested that after the corpses were properly and accurately identified that they be totally destroyed. By cremation. And the ashes disposed of. There was general agreement then but the question of how the ashes should be gotten rid of came up. I said I would see to it personally. I went out to the cemetery with a forensic group and the bodies were dug up, photographed with and without their uniforms. The pictures went to Himmler and to me and I have a set somewhere if you want to see it. They weren’t in the best of shape. Beck had head wounds and of course Stauffenberg had lost an arm and an eye before, not to mention a bullet hole in one shoulder. But they could be identified without any real problems and then we had them put into postal service cloth mail sacks and transported to a nearby crematorium and burned. I stayed there throughout and personally supervised the business. When it was all over, there was a question about the ashes. I had them put into a metal bucket that had been full of sand for fire bombs and made very sure there were no teeth or other bits left over.
Q Not a pleasant task for you, I imagine.
M You imagine wrong. The question of what to do with the ashes was solved when one of the technicians asked the director of the crematorium where the lavatory was. I could see at once what to do with the remains so I simply put the contents of the bucket down the toilet and pulled the chain. I think it took two or three flushings to finish the business. Only then did I let the man use the facility. There was nice frosting on their cake, believe me. The bucket I took with me and threw it into the river. Tell the family not to look too hard for poor Claus. I would say he was in his proper element. I mentioned this once to Goring and he laughed for quite some time and later sent me a box of very good cigars and a case of excellent wine.
Q I don’t think I will repeat any of this conversation. At least not outside our agency. We don’t view Stauffenberg as any kind of a hero but then we know quite a bit about him and not only from you.
M We should have done it all while he was still alive.
World History
