William Shirer's Berlin Diary

And, at last, we come to the end of William Shirer's Berlin sojourn...his final, lengthy conclusions after the jump, and the recording of his last days on the Continent, which was his home for fifteen years. 

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We're coming to the close of William Shirer's career as a foreign correspondent in Berlin.  Due to the overarching censorship of the Nazi regime, which has pretty much prevented him from doing his job---reporting the news---he has decided to leave Berlin.  He's closed up their apartment in Geneva, his wife and child are on their way across France and Spain headed toward Lisbon whence they'll pick up a boat that will take them to the states, and Shirer, lighter at heart, is bound and determined to start wrapping up some business before he goes...

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October, 1940 in Berlin...the Tripartite Pact has just been signed, and Shirer is about to make a momentous personal decision, and speculates as to why the German invasion of Britain didn't come off..

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So, back to the other anti-Semitic time and place...it's September, 1940, and Shirer is living through increased censorship and nightly bombings of Berlin by the RAF.  He also takes a trip to Geneva, has lunch with John Winant, and reviews the various traitors hanging about the Rundfunk. 

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August 1940, the Battle of Britain is on, Shirer gets out of town on business a couple of times, and the bombing of Berlin starts...

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After taking a break from the war to visit his family in Geneva, July 1940 in Berlin is relatively uneventful...except for the speculation floating about when Germany will invade Britain.

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Back to Berlin for Shirer after his adventures in Paris and Compiégne...with scorching analysis of how the Germans managed to walk all over France and an explanation as to how he managed to scoop the world with his reporting of the armistice signing at Compiégne.  

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Compiégne becomes important once again...and Shirer is there to witness it. 

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A heartbroken Shirer inspects Paris after the Nazis have taken over...

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June, 1940: With Holland, Luxemberg, and Belgium captured, Hitler is marching across France...

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