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Christa Schroeder (born Emilie Christine Schroeder; March 19, 1908 – June 18, 1984) was one of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s personal secretaries before and during World War II.

Early life

She was born in the small town of Hannoversch Münden and moved to Nagold after her parents died. There she worked for a lawyer in 1929 and 1930.

Nazi career

After leaving Nagold for Munich, Schroeder was employed as a stenotypist in the Oberste SA-Führung, the Sturmabteilung high command.^[1] There she got to know Hitler in early 1933, when he had just been appointed chancellor. He took a liking to Schroeder and hired her same year. She was his secretary until his April 1945 suicide.

Schroeder lived at the Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg, where Hitler and other members of his staff lived. Her account of her service as Hitler's secretary (Er war mein Chef, Herbig, 2002) is an important primary source in the study of the Nazi years.

Life after the war

After the war, Schroeder was interrogated in 1945 by the French liaison officer Albert Zoller serving to the 7th US-Army. This interrogation and later interviews in 1948 formed the basis for the first book published about Hitler after World War II in 1949, Hitler privat (“Hitler in private”). An English translation of Schroeder's book Er war mein Chef was published in 2009 under the title He Was My Chief: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Secretary (Frontline Books, London). The book includes Anton Joachimsthaler's introduction from the original German edition of the book and a new introduction by Roger Moorhouse. The book was serialised in The Sunday Telegraph magazine "Seven", The Week magazine and the New York Post newspaper.

Schroeder died in 1984 in Munich.

References

1. ^ I was Hitler's secretary, The Daily Telegraph, April 26, 2009.

Sources

• Zoller, Albert: Hitler privat (“Hitler in private”)
• Schroeder, Christa: Er war mein Chef (“He was my boss”). Herbig, 2002
• Schroeder, Christa: He Was My Chief, Frontline, 2009