Minsky’s laugh echoed around the damp, dirty room. ‘So far. Give him time! But, please, professor, don’t tell anyone I said these things or we will both be shot. And don’t forget, the official Soviet line is that Hitler did not die here.’

‘Don’t worry, you’ve made that clear enough.’

The Russian snorted. ‘Uh, I have such a loose tongue. It will get me executed one day.’

Wilde wasn’t so sure about the loose tongue. He rather thought that every word that came from Minsky’s mouth was calculated, but he just smiled then crouched down to examine the seat in which Hitler might have died. The upholstery had the same rather sentimental pattern as the sofa. Not to Wilde’s taste. But there was no bloodstain. And any blood on the floor would have been washed away.

‘Heinz Linge, the valet, has a slightly different story,’ Minsky said. ‘He claims both Eva and Hitler were on the sofa. Have a look at the armrest on the left. There is a bloodstain, you see.’

Wilde studied it. There was certainly a stain, but whether it was blood was impossible to discern after four months.

‘It is worth remembering,’ Minsky continued, ‘that both Günsche and Linge were fanatical SS officers. They would lie to the death to protect their master, so we should take their testimony with a pinch of salt and pepper.’

‘Just salt.’

‘Ah yes, the English idiom. I get mixed up after all these years away from that fine country.’

‘On the matter of Linge and Günsche, though, I’d still very much like to talk to them, lies and all.’

‘Don’t get your hopes up, Professor. Come, do you wish to see the rest of the bunker? There are many more rooms.’

No, he didn’t. He wanted to get out of this fetid labyrinth as fast as possible. There was nothing to be learnt here. But he said yes, he would be pleased to tour the remainder of the underground shelter.

*

The worst place was the room with bunk beds where the Goebbels children had slept and died. He didn’t need Minsky to tell him that this was where it had happened, because it was manifest; here the ghosts were real. The very walls seemed to bleed with the tears of countless thousands of little boys and girls.