World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseWerner Haase was born in Köthen, Duchy of Anhalt, Germany. In 1924, he gained a medical doctor's degree and became a surgeon. In 1933, he joined the Nazi Party. In 1934, he joined the staff of the surgery clinic of Berlin University. In 1935, Adolf Hitler made him his deputy personal physician. In 1941, he joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) organization of the Nazi Party. He served as one of Hitler's traveling physicians, in the mean time also took care of the health of those on Hitler's staff. In the final days of the European War, as Soviets neared Berlin, Germany, Hitler ordered his chief physician Theodor Morell to leave the city, thus Haase was elevated to be Hitler's acting chief physician. During this time, he tended to wounded soldiers and civilians during the Battle of Berlin. When Hitler decided to commit suicide, Haase was summoned as the expert in this matter. He took one of the cyanide pills given by Heinrich Himmler's men and tested it on Hitler's dog, Blondi, killing the dog; Blondi's puppies were then taken out by SS guards to be killed by pistol fire. On the following day, Hitler committed suicide by biting down on a cyanide pill while simultaneously firing a pistol in his head, as instructed by Haase. He remained in Berlin after Hitler's suicide and continued to provide medical treatment to the wounded. He was captured by the Soviets on 2 May 1945 and, four days later, helped the Soviets in the identification of Joseph and Magda Goebbels, who had committed suicide, and the six Goebbels children, who had been murdered by their mother before the suicide. In Jun 1945, he was charged with being "a personal doctor of the former Reichschancellor of Germany, Hitler, and also treated other leaders of Hitler's government and of the Nazi Party and members of Hitler's SS guard" by the Soviets. He passed away from tuberculosis in the hospital ward of the Butyrka prison in Moscow, Russia.

Werner Haase Interactive Map

Werner Haase Timeline