Berlin, 1945

Dufving completed Senior Staff Officers' training in the War Academy at 1944, and was then assigned as the 76th Panzer Artillery Regiment's chief of staff.

During the Battle for Berlin, Colonel von Dufving was the "military" Chief-of-Staff for General Helmuth Weidling

Helmuth Weidling

Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling was an officer in the German Army before and during World War II...

. Von Dufving had also been Weidling's Chief-of-Staff when Weidling commanded the LVI Tank Corps

LVI Panzer Corps

LVI Panzer Corps was a tank corps in the German Army during World War II.This corps was activated in February 1941 for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which commenced on June 22, 1941...

 (LVI Panzer Korps).

On 1 May, after Hitler's suicide on 30 April, German Chancellor (Reichskanzler) Joseph Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels

Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...

 sent General Hans Krebs

Hans Krebs (general)

Hans Krebs was a German Army general of infantry who served during World War II.-Early life:Krebs was born in Helmstedt. He volunteered for service in the Imperial German Army in 1914, was promoted to lieutenant in 1915, and to first lieutenant in 1925...

 and von Dufving, under a white flag

White flag

White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale.-Flag of temporary truce in order to parley :...

, to deliver a letter he had written to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov

Vasily Chuikov

Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov was a Russian lieutenant general in the Red Army during World War II, twice Hero of the Soviet Union , who after the war became a Marshal of the Soviet Union.-Early life and career:Born into a peasant family in the village of Serebryanye Prudy, he joined the Red Army during...

. Chuikov, as commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army

Soviet 8th Guards Army

The Soviet 8th Guards Army was an army of the Soviet Union's Red Army/Soviet Army, disbanded in the early 1990s.Activated in October 1941 as the 7th Reserve Army, the Army was redesignated the 62nd Army at Stalingrad in July 1942...

, commanded the Soviet forces in central Berlin. Krebs, having been a fluent Russian speaker, had been brushing up in front of his shaving mirror. Von Dufving took a Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

n officer as his Russian interpreter.

The letter Goebbels gave Krebs to deliver to Chuikov contained surrender terms acceptable to Goebbels. Chuikov was not prepared to accept the terms in Goebbels' letter or to negotiate with Krebs. The Soviets were unwilling to accept anything other than unconditional surrender

Unconditional surrender

Unconditional surrender is a surrender without conditions, in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. In modern times unconditional surrenders most often include guarantees provided by international law. Announcing that only unconditional surrender is acceptable puts psychological...

. Krebs was not authorized by Goebbels to agree to an unconditional surrender. The meeting ended with no agreement. Both Goebbels and Krebs committed suicide shortly afterwards.

Early the following day, Von Dufving was sent to arrange for General Weidling to meet with General Chuikov. Weidling left for his meeting with Chuikov about one hour before von Dufving and his party followed him.

At 5:55 a.m., on 2 May 1945, von Dufving, Hans Refior

Hans Refior

Hans Refior was an officer in the German Army during World War II.On 18 March 1945, Colonel Refior became the Chief of Staff for Lieutenant General Helmuth Reymann during the Battle for Berlin. Reymann was named the commander of the Berlin Defense Area on 6 March...

, Siegfried Knappe

Siegfried Knappe

Siegfried Knappe was an officer in the German Army during World War II. Towards the end of the war, Knappe was stationed in Berlin, where he gave daily briefings at the Führerbunker.- Biography :...

, and a German Major led a column of roughly one hundred German soldiers to the end of Bendler Street (Bendlerstrasse

Bendlerblock

The Bendlerblock is a building in Berlin, located on the Stauffenbergstraße , south of the Tiergarten. The building was erected between 1911 and 1914 for the Imperial German Navy Offices. During the Weimar Republic it served as the seat of the Reichswehr command and the Ministry of Defence...

). Knappe was also a member of Weidling's staff. The Soviets were waiting for them on the other side of the Landwehr Canal

Landwehrkanal

The Landwehr Canal, or Landwehrkanal in German, is a long canal parallel to the Spree river in Berlin, Germany, built between 1845 and 1850 according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné...

 (Landwehrkanal

Landwehrkanal

The Landwehr Canal, or Landwehrkanal in German, is a long canal parallel to the Spree river in Berlin, Germany, built between 1845 and 1850 according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné...

).

The ranking Soviet officer crossed to the German side of the bridge. Von Dufving saluted and reported to him. The Soviet officer spoke to von Dufving for a moment and then returned to the other side of the canal. About two dozen Soviet soldiers with submachine guns waited there. They had several American-made jeep

Willys MB

The Willys MB US Army Jeep and the Ford GPW, were manufactured from 1941 to 1945. These small four-wheel drive utility vehicles are considered the iconic World War II Jeep, and inspired many similar light utility vehicles. Over the years, the World War II Jeep later evolved into the "CJ" civilian...

s. The column of Germans crossed the bridge, walking upright and in single file. The Soviet soldiers all had big grins on their faces. One Soviet soldier said "Hitler kaputt" to the German prisoners and the Soviet soldiers all laughed.

The German prisoners were then transported to Soviet General Chuikov's headquarters near Tempelhof Airport. Here they met up with General Weidling. Once inside Chuikov's headquarters, Weidling had Knappe type a report directing all German forces still in Berlin to halt any form of resistance.

Post-war

In February 1949, as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, von Dufving provided evidentiary statements concerning Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg

Raoul Wallenberg

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish businessman, diplomat and humanitarian. He is widely celebrated for his successful efforts to rescue thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary from the Holocaust, during the later stages of World War II...

. While en route to Vorkuta

Vorkuta

Vorkuta is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin at the Usa River. Population: - Labor camp origins :...

, in the transit camp in Kirov

Kirov, Kirov Oblast

Kirov , formerly known as Vyatka and Khlynov, is a city in northeastern European Russia, on the Vyatka River, and the administrative center of Kirov Oblast. Population: -History:...

, von Dufving encountered a prisoner with his own special guard and dressed in civilian clothes. The prisoner stated that he was a Swedish diplomat and that he was there "through a great error."

According to von Dufving, the man he saw was well-dressed and travelled with a special guard or companion. When von Dufving asked the man if he had been with the Swedish Embassy in Berlin, he answered, "No – in Eastern Europe." According to von Dufving, the man spoke in almost perfect German accent. Although he was reading a newspaper in Russian, he told von Dufving that he didn’t really know Russian that well.

Footnotes