Germany, Mass Suicides, and 1945

This is a historical essay which covers a unique part of German history which rarely ever gets mentioned.

In the week after 30 April 1945 (the day Hitler committed suicide), the news drifted out and was originally noted that he was dead, and then noted as being a suicide. 

What occurred then was a mass hysteria or collapse of society, with various numbers offered by the authorities and historians.  You can generally start at 10,000, and go upwards.  This period?  It's split along three periods of time, and for differing reasons.

For a fair number of Germans, they had come to view the Hitler era (from 1930 for the majority of Germans) as a significant part of their lives (roughly 15 years under one dynamic figure).  I would also offer that at least a quarter of society saw Hitler more of a cult-figure or Jesus-like character, than an actual politician or leader. 

So the one phase of this suicide era was the early months of 1945 on the far eastern side of what was Germany or today Poland.  Having little to no chance to escape with the German military, a fair number of people in the Silesia region convinced themselves that suicide was better than dealing with defeat or the Russians approaching.

The second phase is the four to six week period after 30 April....mostly in Berlin, where Nazi officers/leaders felt total and absolute defeat.  Just in the Berlin area alone, the 3,800-plus number is often thrown around. 

The last phase was three months after the war ended, with adults feeling a loss to such a degree....that living wasn't worth the effort anymore.

The encouragement to commit suicide?  This is an topic to bring into the discussion.   For those who rapidly advanced through the Nazi Party ranks, and through the military angle.....their whole life and success was built upon their belief in this cult figure of Adolph Hitler.  The war?  Most military strategists will tell you that from the fall period of 1942....the war was wrapped up and dissolving away.....that the German army simply wasn't built to handle the fronts required, and that the leadership proved little in the marginal success that came from early 1943 to the end in the spring of 1945.

The number of women who committed suicide?  This number goes back to the fear of the Soviet invasion, the potential for rapes, and suffering they'd gone through since the war started.  Toward the end of 1945, the peak for the suicide trend had finally been reached. 

The suggestion by Hitler and the propaganda machine to commit suicide?  This is dragged out into the open over the final two or three months of the Hitler end.  There are public statements by the party and by Hitler himself....better to end your own way, than via the invaders.  A fair number of Germans took that message and convinced themselves of the situation required.