Runyon's Weird Run-in with Hitler's Last Dentist
By Peter David Orr
Theodor "Ted" Runyon, Jr., won a Fulbright scholarship to study in West Germany, where he earned the degree of Doctor of Theology. Ted’s time in Germany set a course for his subsequent career. He studied with some of Germany’s most celebrated theologians and returned to the U.S. deeply convinced of the value of cross-cultural study and the necessity the practical application of the Gospel message to everyday interactions. In short, Ted developed a missional calling to bring the Gospel to the German people, who he sensed carried a sense of deep an irredeemable guilt for the crimes perpetrated during the Third Reich.
Ted's course of study required "Praxisfelder" (field experience credits) both in Church administration and in the community. In the latter capacity, Ted signed up to work in the processing center of Camp Friendland. Situated near Göttingen at the strategic "tri-zone" border where the British, American, and Soviet occupation sectors met, Camp Friedland (established by British forces in September 1945) became the symbolic "Gateway to Freedom" and the primary transit hub for millions of expellees and returning soldiers in post-war West Germany. Its most poignant legacy involves the processing of Heimkehrer (returning German POWs) and particularly the Spätheimkehrer—the "late homecomers" released from Soviet labor camps between 1946 and 1956—whose beleaguered return was treated as a deeply emotional national event. While the International Red Cross facilitated the diplomatic channels and transport for these releases, the German Red Cross served as the camp’s operational heart, administering vital medical care and managing the famous "Suchdienst" (Tracing Service), a massive data effort that successfully reunited countless families separated by the chaos of the war.
Ted and his future wife, Cindy, worked at Camp Friedland when the most important Fuehrerbunker witnesses who had been captured by the Soviets in the last days of the Battle of Berlin were finally permitted to come home. Ted and Cindy offered Christian counselling to the German POWs. Among the hundreds of former German soldiers and government officials that they encountered, the highest proportion of indicted war criminals returned to West Germany between October of 1955 and April of 1956.
Among many interesting, challenging, and profound conversations, one stands out and is particularly important to the question of Hitler's 'last days'.
"Recollections of Camp Friedland and Dr. Kunz" by Theodore Runyon, Jr.
As a theology student at the University of Göttingen in 1955-56, I worked in the reception and processing center of Camp Friedland. My wife Cindy and I provided spiritual guidance and counsel to hundreds of returning prisoners of war. None had been permitted religious expression or study and most had been imprisoned for nearly a decade. We gave each man a simple Bible at the end of each session. All were grateful and some cried tears of joy. Despite appearing as crushed, hollow men, I was often taken aback by how many were still driven by thoughts of revenge and hatred for their captors. At least half avowed readiness to take up arms against the communists.
Countless felt abandoned by God and rejected any talk of Jesus or God. It was these same men, who, unsolicited, ended up sharing war and prison camp experiences.
Of this sort, perhaps most memorable was a dentist, formerly of the SS. The previous day this fellow had sought out two young reporters, saying he had performed extensive dental work on Hitler the day before his death.
During our time with this fellow, I believe his name was Dr. Kuntz [sic. Kunz], repeated and expanded upon his prior claim, saying 'Hitler had called me to the Chancellery for dental treatment'. When I expressed my astonishment, Kuntz responded, 'Hitler was still convinced escape from Berlin was possible. A special armed motorcade was standing at the ready to drive him to an airstrip.'
When I asked about Eva Braun, Kuntz said he would have treated her, too, on May 1, but everyone was by then persuaded there was no longer a way out of Berlin. He insisted he last spoke with Eva [Braun] that evening [April 30, 1945]. She had invited him [Kunz] for tea and cakes in the Chancellery bunker along with two female secretaries. Hitler was not there, and Dr. Kuntz assumed Hitler was already dead.
Dr. Helmut Kunz was indeed SS. He was a highly qualified and sought after dentist and oral surgeon. Prior to his arrival at the Reich Chancellery (April 23) he had treated other higher ups in the Nazi regime, including, most recently, Magda Goebbels. On April 24, 1945, Dr. Kunz took over Blaschke's dentistry office that was directly beneath Hitler's main office in the New Reich Chancellery (see diagram, below). He was accompanied by two SS men who were dental assistants and a third SS man who was a security guard. His activities in the final days of the war are, to say the least, very unusual and suspicious.
Given the opportunity to attempt to break out of Berlin on May 1 & 2, he decided to remain in the Fuehrerbunker until Soviet soldiers entered. He immediately surrendered and was very cooperative. He was interrogated by the Soviets who were suspicious of him from the get-go. After one day of harsh questioning Dr. Kunz changed his original story - admitting that he did know Hitler, Braun, Goebbels, and many others in Hitler's inner circle. On May 5, 1945, he admitted to knowing crucial details about Hitler and Goebbels' suicides. He claimed to have assisted in the filicide of the Goebbels children.
He (Dr. Kunz) was the key to SMERSH finding Dr. Blaschke's Berlin dental office and Blaschke's "chair assistant", Käthe Häusermann (her sketch of Hitler's dentition, supposedly "drawn from memory"). It was Kunz who was first asked by SMERSH investigators to examine copies of Hitler's ENT X-Rays and compare them the broken and charred dentition and jaws that had been found in a pile of bone fragments and ashes. It was Dr. Kunz who was entrusted with Hitler's jaws, which were kept in a jewelry box. He personally carried them on the flight from Berlin to Moscow, contrary to the claims of 'Elena Kagan' (not her real name), the famed "interpreter" who maintained that she carried it with her everywhere.
When Dr. Kunz arrived at Camp Friedland, he sought out the media and made some very curious statements, like this one:
