0:00:17 > 0:00:21'My name is Geraint Talfan Davies.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23'I've been a journalist for most of my life,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26'chasing and telling other people's stories.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30'But there's one story I never got the chance to tell.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35'A mystery that's bothered me for the past 15 years.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41'My uncle, Idris Morgan, died in 2000.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44'All that remains of him now -
0:00:44 > 0:00:47'a few boxes of old photographs and documents...
0:00:47 > 0:00:52'and a copy of a diary, given to me before he died.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56'Meticulously typed up and bound, it recounts a momentous year
0:00:56 > 0:00:58'in a young man's life.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01'A year that would bring Idris face-to-face
0:01:01 > 0:01:03'with Adolf Hitler's right-hand man
0:01:03 > 0:01:05'and confront him with tragedy...
0:01:06 > 0:01:10'The suspicious death of a dear friend.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25'What drove my Uncle Idris, then in his 80s,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30'to return to an old diary, to pick through its handwritten pages,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33'to type it up afresh and bind it so meticulously?
0:01:34 > 0:01:37'Was it simply an old man's nostalgia,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40'or was it unfinished business?
0:01:42 > 0:01:45'80 years on, I've come back to Berlin to try and find out.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55'In September 1933,
0:01:55 > 0:01:59'Barclays employee Idris Morgan arrived in Berlin
0:01:59 > 0:02:02'to complete a 12-month exchange with the Dresdner Bank.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07'He was 27 years old and single.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16'The city he arrived in was a far cry from the village of Penmark
0:02:16 > 0:02:20'in the Vale of Glamorgan, and the farm he'd grown up on as a child.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25'From the narrow streets of Barry to the wide avenues of Berlin,
0:02:25 > 0:02:26'the young Idris Morgan
0:02:26 > 0:02:29'may only have travelled a few hundred miles...
0:02:30 > 0:02:32'..but he'd arrived in another world.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40'And it's here in Central Berlin, the shy and studious young Idris,
0:02:40 > 0:02:42'arrived at Dresdner Bank's Depka 54,
0:02:42 > 0:02:46'on the corner of the Kurfurstendamm and Olivaer Platz.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50'He would spend much of the next 12 months working at the branch.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54'An ordinary job perhaps, but these were no ordinary times.'
0:02:58 > 0:03:02IDRIS: "During the day, the Depka was closed from 12:45 until 2pm,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06"while Hitler made his speech from the Siemens factory."
0:03:06 > 0:03:08MEN CHEER
0:03:08 > 0:03:11"Wireless was installed in the bank to broadcast the speech."
0:03:12 > 0:03:15"There was one minute's silence throughout Germany at one o'clock
0:03:15 > 0:03:18"and all work stopped for one hour in order that
0:03:18 > 0:03:21"everyone might hear the speech."
0:03:42 > 0:03:45CHEERING
0:03:46 > 0:03:4880 years on,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51I've come to the bank's headquarters in Central Berlin
0:03:51 > 0:03:54to see if any record remains of my uncle's time in the city.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Professor Johannes Bahr, an authority on the bank's history,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00says he has something to show me.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04That is incredible, isn't it?
0:04:05 > 0:04:07It really is, after 80 years...
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Hard to credit that this has actually survived.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13So complete.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15And a photograph.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20How utterly, utterly amazing.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28- And...a Lebenslauf...- That's a CV.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30That's a CV?
0:04:30 > 0:04:32There's another interesting list here.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35What is this word at the bottom - "Arier"?
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Aryan. It means Aryan.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50So every member of staff would have had to answer that question,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53although I notice here that Idris... has not answered it.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58Well...
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Yes, he may have got away with it, others didn't.
0:05:02 > 0:05:08'Anti-Semitic messages were increasingly explicit at this time.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11'Blatant propaganda, designed to instil suspicion
0:05:11 > 0:05:13'and fear in the German people.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18'Whether these messages had a direct influence on Idris's thinking,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20'it's impossible to say,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23'but like many Germans at that time,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26'he took the path of least resistance,
0:05:26 > 0:05:28'and in doing so,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31'ended up accommodating the wishes of the Fuhrer.'
0:05:31 > 0:05:36"I've given notice to Fraulein Heiser that I would leave
0:05:36 > 0:05:39"because I want to live with a family, if possible,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41"in order to talk more German.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44"I was approached by a Jewish member of staff who suggested that
0:05:44 > 0:05:47"I should go and live with a Jewish lady of his acquaintance,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50"who has an apartment near the Tiergarten.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53"I think such a move would be inadvisable in the present climate
0:05:53 > 0:05:57"of opinion in Berlin, so I put him off."
0:05:57 > 0:06:00It's easy to excuse Idris's nervous response.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04After all, he was a young man in a foreign country.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08But to know that my uncle, a member of my own family,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11arrived at this decision does make me feel uncomfortable.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17In the end, it was across a hallway from Dresdner colleague Fritz Sommer,
0:06:17 > 0:06:18his wife Anny,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22and their 21-year-old daughter, Gerda, that Idris opted to live.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Fun-loving Gerda was Idris's guide to the city,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36introducing him to her friends, showing him the sights.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38These were heady days.
0:06:38 > 0:06:44And then, to top it all, a proper date for this very proper Welshman.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46"November 18:
0:06:46 > 0:06:48"Took Fraulein Sommer to the annual dance
0:06:48 > 0:06:52"of the Dresdner Bank Sportvereine at the Philharmonic Hall.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55"Afterwards, she persuaded me to go on to Cafe Rusch
0:06:55 > 0:06:58"on the Kurfurstendamm, where we met Herr Kohli
0:06:58 > 0:07:00"and a few of his friends.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02"I eventually reached home at 4:30."
0:07:06 > 0:07:07As the year drew to a close,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Idris's friendship with the Sommers grew.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14It's clear from the diary that Gerda,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16her grandmother and parents
0:07:16 > 0:07:19had all taken a shine to their foreign visitor.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24"At midday, Gerda Sommer called at the bank
0:07:24 > 0:07:27"and I arranged to meet her in the evening.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29"We met for coffee at Cafe Kranzler
0:07:29 > 0:07:32"and then went to buy chocolates and some stockings.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35"Afterwards, I bought an extra suitcase for myself,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37"some cognac and cigarettes.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40"After dinner, I visited the Sommers
0:07:40 > 0:07:42"to present my offerings.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46"I also took the book of Welsh songs I had from my sister, Mary,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48"and we had some music."
0:07:51 > 0:07:53This was a happy time for Idris.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Perhaps the Sommers represented the family unit he'd never had.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01His elder sister, Alice, died when he was four.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Two years later, his mother died,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08giving birth to his baby sister, my mother, Mary.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12What remained of his childhood was spent trailing after his father,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14from one failed business to the next.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16A lost childhood.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Perhaps it was here in Berlin with the Sommers
0:08:23 > 0:08:26that Idris finally felt at home.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31But Christmas 1933 would be the last they would spend together
0:08:31 > 0:08:34before tragedy struck and life for the Sommers,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36and perhaps Idris too,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38was changed for ever.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48January 1934 brought with it an opportunity for Idris to spend
0:08:48 > 0:08:51a few days at Dresdner's prestigious headquarters
0:08:51 > 0:08:52at the Behrenstrasse.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Today, the building is a five-star hotel,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00but 80 years ago, it was the jewel in the Dresdner crown.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Despite heavy bombing during the Second World War,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08parts of the original structure still remain.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Most impressive of all at the heart of the building,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13the great banking hall,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15where Idris and his colleagues would often gather.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18- Yeah, this is the historical part. - Was this...
0:09:18 > 0:09:21Was this a balcony or were these arches filled in before?
0:09:21 > 0:09:24It was open and you can imagine a director of the bank,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27- walking around...- The big man looking at...- ..controlling the business.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- Looking at the money coming in. - Exactly, what's going on.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Despite the grandeur, the Dresdner Bank had been in crisis,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40following the crippling economic crash of the late '20s
0:09:40 > 0:09:42and it had to be bailed out by the state.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47But state support in Hitler's Germany came at a cost.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Three high-ranking members of the SS
0:09:50 > 0:09:52were put on the board of the bank.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56More than 500 Jewish members of staff were sacked.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01And it wasn't only at the workplace that the Nazi propaganda machine
0:10:01 > 0:10:03was having an effect.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07"Went with the Sommers to the Bock Bier Fest at Cafe Burke.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09"I thought it quite pleasant.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12"However, Frau Sommer was a bit upset,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14"and said she did not want to go there again,
0:10:14 > 0:10:19"as she was convinced it was a nest of Jews and anti-Nazis.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22"I was rather surprised at this, because I did not think
0:10:22 > 0:10:25"the Sommers were strong supporters of the Hitler party."
0:10:31 > 0:10:34The New Year brought other tensions too,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37with Gerda's constant late-night partying
0:10:37 > 0:10:40with best friend Hilda Witke taking its toll on Fritz and Anny.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44"The Sommers confided in me about the difficulties they had had
0:10:44 > 0:10:47"and were still having with Gerda."
0:10:47 > 0:10:49"Herr Sommer got himself a bit worked up,
0:10:49 > 0:10:54"and left again at 1:30am to look for Gerda and Hilda.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57"He came back with them, in a nasty temper."
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Gerda's lifestyle was one she couldn't afford.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06She had no qualifications and no job,
0:11:06 > 0:11:11and perhaps this explains the string of men in hers and Hilda's orbit.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Knowing Idris as I did, a very proper man,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18I can't imagine he would have approved of Gerda's ways.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23Nevertheless, against his wishes, he became an accomplice,
0:11:23 > 0:11:24lending Gerda 50 reichsmarks
0:11:24 > 0:11:27so that she and Hilda could get a train to Leipzig
0:11:27 > 0:11:30without her parents knowing.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32"I must be careful not to get mixed up
0:11:32 > 0:11:35"in her complicated relations with her parents,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38"and perhaps I ought not to have given her the money.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41"But she can be very persuasive when she tries,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44"and uses her good looks to her own advantage."
0:11:57 > 0:11:59As spring turned to summer,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Idris' relationship with Fritz and Anny drew closer.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06They took regular trips together to the island of Lindwerder,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10where Dresdner Bank kept paddle boats for their staff.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12These were happy times.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16But in the photographs taken during these summer months,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Gerda is conspicuously absent.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25Idris was concerned for his friend.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30After visiting her at breakfast one morning, he writes in his diary:
0:12:30 > 0:12:35"She looked a complete disillusion, no doubt after another late night.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38"I cannot help thinking that if she goes on as she does now,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40"then long before she reaches her 30s,
0:12:40 > 0:12:42"she will have lost all her good looks."
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Idris was right to be worried.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51There was a new man in Gerda's life, a man more than twice her age.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Oberleutnant Wilhelm Bruckner, chief adjutant to Adolf Hitler.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01What do we know about Bruckner?
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Someone who can answer that question
0:13:04 > 0:13:06is historian Heike Gortemaker,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09an expert on Hitler's inner circle.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02In 1923, Hitler and Bruckner were imprisoned together at Landsberg,
0:14:02 > 0:14:07following the failed Munich Putsch, the first Nazi revolt.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12A close bond was formed between them, which is why, in 1930,
0:14:12 > 0:14:17Hitler appointed him chief adjutant, running his private office.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Bruckner was tall and blond, and in many ways,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22he represented the Aryan ideal.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Having Bruckner around made Hitler feel safe.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33The night that Gerda tells Idris
0:14:33 > 0:14:35about her relationship with Bruckner,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38there's no doubt she's very, very defensive about it,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42and she stresses, "There is no free access to my bed,"
0:14:42 > 0:14:46and Idris, well, Idris replies really sharply,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49"I had never suggested there was free access to her bed,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52"and had never sought it either."
0:14:54 > 0:14:58Did Idris feel protective of Gerda, or was he jealous?
0:14:59 > 0:15:02In any event, it was here on Friday, June 8,
0:15:02 > 0:15:07that Idris arrived at work to hear the shattering news,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10that his friend, Gerda Sommer,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13had been found dead in the apartment of Wilhelm Bruckner.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27Shaken, Idris raced across the city to Bruckner's apartment.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30It was here that my uncle would come face to face
0:15:30 > 0:15:32with Hitler's gatekeeper.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36"Frau Sommer and Fritz Sommer were there,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40"and Gerda's body lay sprawled, fully clothed, on the bed.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42"She looked terrible.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45"She had not washed off her make-up before lying down,
0:15:45 > 0:15:49"and there were yellowish and pink streaks at the corners of her mouth.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53"Bruckner came in while we were there, a big man, tall,
0:15:53 > 0:15:55"over six foot, and broad,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57"with student duelling scars on his face.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01"I would put him at about 40. He said the body could be moved,
0:16:01 > 0:16:05"as he and the undertakers had arranged everything,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07"and there would be no inquest."
0:16:11 > 0:16:13It seems from what Idris wrote
0:16:13 > 0:16:17that Bruckner was in a hurry to deal with the situation.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22Was this to protect his reputation, or to conceal foul play?
0:16:22 > 0:16:26The official verdict was given as suicide, death by gas poisoning.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Perhaps this was right.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31The seals from the gas taps had been ripped away.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35But if the reason for her death was so transparent,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39why wait 24 hours before telling her parents?
0:16:39 > 0:16:40Why deny them an inquest?
0:17:17 > 0:17:21The second problem was perhaps more pressing.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23Tensions between Hitler and Ernst Rohm,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26leader of the party's paramilitary wing,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28the SA, were increasing.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30And soon, they would come to a head.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34This was not a good time to fall out of favour with the Fuhrer.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20Idris' diary provides the only known account of Gerda's death
0:18:20 > 0:18:22and the events leading up to it.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25It reports that Bruckner was called away to the Reich's Chancellery
0:18:25 > 0:18:30at 2am on June 7, leaving Gerda alone in his apartment
0:18:30 > 0:18:33with his servant girl Erica and her mother.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35According to the diary,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37it was on Bruckner's return later that morning
0:18:37 > 0:18:39that Gerda was found dead.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47For the Sommers, still reeling from the death of their only child,
0:18:47 > 0:18:51there was no time to dwell on how or why she had died,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53or why Bruckner was in such a hurry.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56They had a daughter to bury,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59and the official verdict of suicide presented them with a problem.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09In the Roman Catholic Church,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12taking one's own life was considered a mortal sin,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15a violation of the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill."
0:19:17 > 0:19:20This must have been an added source of grief for Gerda's mother,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23a Roman Catholic. The thought that her daughter
0:19:23 > 0:19:26and only child would be denied a Christian burial.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29ORGAN MUSIC
0:19:34 > 0:19:38And so, on the Saturday morning, two days after Gerda's death,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41her mother and grandmother came to Ludwigskirche
0:19:41 > 0:19:45to speak with a priest, to plead for his consent.
0:19:46 > 0:19:5080 years on, after the devastation of the Second World War,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53does any record remain of Gerda's death,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56and of the dilemma faced by the family and their priest?
0:20:10 > 0:20:11Oh, it's nothing.
0:20:14 > 0:20:15HE MUTTERS
0:20:19 > 0:20:20Good God!
0:20:23 > 0:20:25A child's drawing of a German tank.
0:20:27 > 0:20:28How extraordinary.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40Right...
0:20:40 > 0:20:41HE MUTTERS
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Here it is. Here it is.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06Gerda Sommer, Wurttemberger Strasse 27 and 28,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09date of death - 7th of June,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12date of the funeral - 12th of June.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14And what does it say about...
0:21:14 > 0:21:17a cause of death?
0:21:17 > 0:21:19"Unglucksfall.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21"Unglucksfall" - accident.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Not suicide.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25That's amazing.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Accident, not suicide.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Why the discrepancy?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Was this an act of compassion by Father Milz?
0:21:37 > 0:21:40TRANSLATION:
0:22:36 > 0:22:40For four days, Gerda's body lay in the crypt of the Stahnsdorf chapel,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44a place almost unchanged in 80 years.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58"Saturday, June 9th.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00"We all went out to Stahnsdorf
0:23:00 > 0:23:05"and chose a place for Gerda's burial and saw her again afterwards.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09"She had been properly laid out and looked much better.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11"White and peaceful."
0:23:21 > 0:23:23This is the room where Fritz
0:23:23 > 0:23:27and Anny Sommer came to see the body of their only child.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Parents facing up to their worst nightmare.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33An experience Idris' own parents endured
0:23:33 > 0:23:36with the death of their own daughter, Idris' sister Alice.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42For Gerda's parents, it was different. They suspected murder.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53And it is here to Stahnsdorf that they returned on Tuesday,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57June 12, 1934 for the funeral of their beloved daughter.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02It was a small affair, attended by only a handful of family
0:24:02 > 0:24:05and friends, amongst them Gerda's best friend Hilda Witke
0:24:05 > 0:24:11and her fiance, Gerda's aunt and grandmother Frau Scheffels.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15As for Bruckner, Idris writes in his diary:
0:24:15 > 0:24:17"Bruckner did not attend
0:24:17 > 0:24:22"but sent an SS officer as his representative with a wreath."
0:24:40 > 0:24:44Back in Berlin, the Sommers' attention returned to Bruckner.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49According to the diary, 24 hours had passed between the discovery
0:24:49 > 0:24:53of Gerda's body and the family or authorities being informed.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57A whole day in which a body was left on a bed in Berlin's
0:24:57 > 0:25:00intense heat wave of the time.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03This troubling fact was not lost on Fritz and Anny.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06"Fritz told me of their suspicions, that there
0:25:06 > 0:25:09"had been foul play involved and of their wish to push matters
0:25:09 > 0:25:13"to an investigation and a proper inquest.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17"I felt it was really none of my business but at the same time,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21"I tried to caution him to be careful, lest an investigation should
0:25:21 > 0:25:24"give rise to insinuations about Gerda's way of life
0:25:24 > 0:25:28"and her behaviour in recent weeks that might cause her parents
0:25:28 > 0:25:31"pain and reveal what might best lie hidden."
0:25:31 > 0:25:34But the Sommers refused to listen.
0:25:34 > 0:25:35They wanted answers
0:25:35 > 0:25:40and were convinced Bruckner knew more than he was letting on.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43TRANSLATION:
0:26:10 > 0:26:12And what of Bruckner's claim that he was called
0:26:12 > 0:26:14away in the early hours?
0:26:40 > 0:26:43June 1934 was a tense time.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48Plans to kill Ernst Rohm and other SA leaders were being drawn up.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Perhaps this was why Bruckner returned to the office.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Or perhaps there was another, more personal reason.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26The Sommers didn't know who to blame.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Could it have been the servant girl,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31jealous of Bruckner's affections for Gerda?
0:27:31 > 0:27:33Or Dr Wittman, Bruckner's neighbour,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37who had access to the flat via an adjoining door?
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Or was it Bruckner himself, ridding himself of an embarrassment?
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Suspicions mounted.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47"Frau Sommer said she had talked to the Fire Brigade men who were
0:27:47 > 0:27:49"the first to be called
0:27:49 > 0:27:53"and they told her that Gerda had blue marks on her throat."
0:27:58 > 0:28:01More evidence against Bruckner.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03As the heat arose in a sweltering Berlin,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Fritz and Anny waited for him to respond
0:28:06 > 0:28:08to their request for a meeting.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13But all they received were broken promises and silence.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Idris was not surprised.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20"My feeling is that he will not countenance any such investigation
0:28:20 > 0:28:24"but will see that everything is kept as quiet
0:28:24 > 0:28:27"as possible for the sake of his own reputation."
0:28:31 > 0:28:35'Under blue skies, the aeroplane carrying Herr Hitler...'
0:28:35 > 0:28:38On June 14, two days after Gerda's funeral,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Bruckner travelled to Italy with the Fuhrer.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Could it have been the planning of this important state visit
0:28:45 > 0:28:47that drew Bruckner back to the Reich Chancellery
0:28:47 > 0:28:49on the night that Gerda died?
0:28:51 > 0:28:54The Sommers were desperate for answers.
0:28:54 > 0:28:55According to the diary,
0:28:55 > 0:29:00Bruckner finally agreed to meet with them on June 27th.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03But when the day came, Bruckner didn't show.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09Instead, he was making preparations, with Hitler, to arrest and detain
0:29:09 > 0:29:11the leaders of the SA.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14Over the next three days, more than 200
0:29:14 > 0:29:19members of Hitler's own party were massacred, including old comrade,
0:29:19 > 0:29:20Ernst Rohm.
0:29:20 > 0:29:21GUNSHOT
0:29:24 > 0:29:27The Night of the Long Knives, as it became known,
0:29:27 > 0:29:32sent shock waves around the world, despite the regime's attempts
0:29:32 > 0:29:34to disguise the truth.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37HE SPEAKS GERMAN:
0:29:45 > 0:29:49This was a turning point for Germany. From this moment on,
0:29:49 > 0:29:51there was no going back.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57And for Fritz and Anny, their search for answers was over.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06"Later, I visited the Sommers. Both of them are upset over events,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09"especially Frau Sommer, who is not only worried about the thought
0:30:09 > 0:30:12"that Gerda had been mixing with people who are in the SA
0:30:12 > 0:30:15"and who, like, Bruckner, had taken part in the massacres,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18"but, at the same time, has a certain dread of what may happen,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22"if they go too far, impressing their request for investigations
0:30:22 > 0:30:25"into how Gerda met her death. Both of them have lost faith
0:30:25 > 0:30:29"in the National Socialist Party and in their present government.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33"Fritz went as far as to despair of Germany altogether."
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Gerda was the last of the Sommers.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52I have come to Stahnsdorf Cemetery, on the outskirts of Berlin,
0:30:52 > 0:30:54to see if I can find the exact place
0:30:54 > 0:30:56where Gerda was buried.
0:31:03 > 0:31:057th June, date of death.
0:31:05 > 0:31:0712th of June, date of the funeral.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10Now, does this tell us where she is buried?
0:31:21 > 0:31:24- So, she was buried in Plot 176.- Yes.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32And where would we find that in the cemetery?
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Do you have a map of the cemetery?
0:31:43 > 0:31:47Cemetery records confirm that there was no headstone,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49but the position of other headstones
0:31:49 > 0:31:53should allow us to locate the site of the unmarked grave.
0:31:56 > 0:31:57That's correct.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03We have to take three metres... Yeah, a little bit more. Yes.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08- So, we know that Gerda's grave would be to the left.- This area.
0:32:08 > 0:32:14This area here. And, in fact, you can... There is a slight dip
0:32:14 > 0:32:16- in the ground. - This is too big a sign.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Here, there was a coffin in the ground.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22And after a long time, it's deeper than the area
0:32:22 > 0:32:24and it's a real find, for the place
0:32:24 > 0:32:25for Gerda Sommer.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30That is amazing that we have found it.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33We wouldn't have found it without you.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36It's a... It's a very special moment.
0:32:36 > 0:32:37Thank you.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50It is incredibly sad to think that she is lying here on her own.
0:32:51 > 0:32:56No gravestone, of course. The family couldn't afford it.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58I suppose the diary is her only memorial.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27Gerda may have been the last of the Sommers, but I have managed
0:33:27 > 0:33:31to track down the descendants of Anny Sommers' sister,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Frau von Fuhrich. She and her son Heinze were at Stahnsdorf
0:33:35 > 0:33:37the day Gerda was buried.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42I have come to Ulm, in southern Germany,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46to meet Heinze von Fuhrich's children, Helga and Klause-Deiter.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49- I am very afraid! Please come in.- Thank you.
0:33:49 > 0:33:50Thank you very much.
0:33:52 > 0:33:58We have here...a photograph of...
0:33:58 > 0:34:04- Oh, ja!- ..Fritz, Anny Sommer, Frau Scheffels...
0:34:04 > 0:34:05- Ja.- Now, is that your...
0:34:08 > 0:34:12And Gerda Sommer and my uncle, Idris.
0:34:12 > 0:34:13There is the whole family
0:34:13 > 0:34:15at home in Berlin.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23- This is Gerda?- Ja.- This is Gerda.
0:34:23 > 0:34:24Oh, that is it.
0:34:28 > 0:34:33What did Anny Sommer believe really happened to Gerda?
0:34:55 > 0:34:59So, they certainly didn't believe it was suicide?
0:35:15 > 0:35:21My uncle, his father died when he was very young,
0:35:21 > 0:35:27- and his own background... The family was broken.- Ja. OK.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32And I think he got very close to Fritz and Anny Sommer.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38That's right. That's right. Erm...
0:35:38 > 0:35:42and I think it was a very important time in his life.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52What was it that made Idris return to the diary as an old man?
0:35:52 > 0:35:56Surely something more than an urge to tidy loose ends?
0:35:56 > 0:36:01Perhaps it was his passion for history and his understanding
0:36:01 > 0:36:03of the importance of every act of witness.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09Or was it that, for this one year, he lived in close proximity
0:36:09 > 0:36:13to a family unit - turbulent to be sure, but alive
0:36:13 > 0:36:17and welcoming - the kind of close family unit that escaped him
0:36:17 > 0:36:19for the rest of his solitary life?
0:36:21 > 0:36:26One thing is certain, the memories of the year he spent in Berlin
0:36:26 > 0:36:30never left him - even at the end of his days.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35On his final night in the city,
0:36:35 > 0:36:38the Sommers presented Idris with a book.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42Inside the front cover, Fritz had included a short inscription,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45the words of the German author, Goethe.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51"If one thinks of it only as mountains, rivers and cities,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54"then the world is such a desolate place.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58"But as soon as we know one other person who is sympathetic
0:36:58 > 0:37:03"to our way of thinking, with whom we can commune in silence,
0:37:03 > 0:37:07"then this desolate globe is instantly transformed
0:37:07 > 0:37:09"into an inhabited paradise."