GIZEVIUS Hans Bernd (Gisevius)

Gizevius, Hans Bernd (Gisevius), (1904-1974), German diplomat and writer. Born July 14, 1904 in Arnsberg. Starting the diplomatic service with the Nazi rise to power in 1933, Gizevius held various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has been involved in several plots against Hitler. From 1940 to 1944 Gizevius was vice-consul in Zurich, and as such is often met with Allen Dulles, U.S. intelligence officials. After the failure of the July 1944 conspiracy Gizevius stayed in Switzerland. He was one of the main prosecution witness at the Nuremberg trials. After the war he spent several years in the United States and in West Berlin, but later returned to Switzerland, where he settled. He died in West Germany, February 23, 1974.

In his memoirs Gizevius describes the leading figures of the Third Reich and Hitler's attempts to eliminate. He was frightened by the immorality of the Nazi regime, especially the events of Kristallnacht - Jewish pogroms. He notes, . that the word "pogrom" totally inadequate to describe, . what happened in Germany: "No one Jewish home was left untouched, . any Jewish enterprise was left not looted, . none of the synagogue was left not set on fire ",
. Gizevius said that anyone who lived through those terrible hours, never forget them: "incites madness crowd poured out their emotions on the defenseless people ... Scared middle class staring at the Nazi monster, like a rabbit on the boa ". According Gizeviusu, despite the fact that the orders for the implementation of the pogroms came from Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, "the Fuhrer himself was responsible for these terrible and revealing sinister excesses.