Downfall - Choices in the Face of Desperation
Adolf Hitler:
Frau Junge, Frau Christian, get changed. In one hour, a plane will take you south. Everything is lost, completely lost.
Eva Braun:
You know I'll stay with you. You can't send me away.
Traudl Junge:
I'm staying too, my Führer.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Downfall - Strategic Failures Amidst Enemy Advancements
Hans Krebs:
The enemy made a breakthrough. In the south, they took Zossen and are advancing towards Stahnsdorf. They're at the northern city border, between Frohnau and Pankow. In the east, they reached Lichtenberg, Mahlsdorf and Karlshorst.
Adolf Hitler:
With Steiner's attack, that will be all right.
Krebs: [stutters]
My Führer, Steiner...
Alfred Jodl:
Steiner couldn't gather enough forces for an attack. Steiner's attack didn't proceed.
Hitler:
The following will stay in the room: Keitel, Jodl, Krebs and Burgdorf.
Hitler: [exploding; Hitler's ranting is clearly audible outside the room]
That was an ORDER! Steiner's attack was an ORDER! Who are you that you dare to disobey my order?! So, this is what it's come to? The military lied to me! Everybody lied to me, even the SS! The generals are nothing but a bunch of vile, faithless cowards!
Wilhelm Burgdorf:
My Führer, I can't accept that the soldiers who bled for you—
Hitler:
They're cowards! Traitors! Failures!
Burgdorf:
My Führer, what you're saying is outrageous!
Hitler: [furiously flings his pencil onto the table]
The generals are the scum of the German people! They're without honour! They call themselves generals because they've spent years at a military academy, only to learn how to hold a knife and fork! For years the military has hindered my actions! It has put every conceivable obstacle in my way! I would have done well to have all the senior officers liquidated years ago like Stalin! I never went to an academy. And yet alone — all by myself — I conquered all of Europe. Traitors! From the very beginning I've been so betrayed and deceived! Such a monstrous betrayal of the German people! But all these traitors will pay! With their own blood they will pay! THEY WILL DROWN IN THEIR OWN BLOOD!
Traudl Junge:
Please Gerda, calm yourself.
Hitler:
My orders were spoken into the wind. It is impossible to lead under these circumstances. It's over. The war is lost. But gentlemen, if you think that I'm leaving Berlin, you'd be mistaken. I'd rather shoot a bullet through my head. Do what you will.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Downfall - Time Is Running Out in the Bunker
Traudl Junge:
Is it German artillery that I hear?
Otto Günsche:
I'm afraid not.
Junge:
But hasn't Steiner's attack started?
Hermann Fegelein:
You have to go as fast as you can. Time is running out.
Junge:
But the Führer has the situation under control. Steiner will make all the difference. He says it will change military history.
Fegelein:
Everybody, the Führer, knows that's a fantasy. I even wonder if he believes it himself.
Junge:
Why would he be playing games?
Fegelein:
What does he have to lose?
Gerda Christian:
I don't believe a word of it!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.