Ein bisher unbekanntes Zeitzeugnis.

Warburg’s diary notes February–April 1945

Personal notes in the form of a diary, written by the German cell biologist Otto Warburg in the weeks before the collapse of Germany’s Third Reich (Feb.-April 1945), were found at the end of one of his laboratory notebooks, which are preserved in the Archives of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. These notes are unique in form and content: there seem to be no other surviving diary notes of this type. Written from a very personal perspective, they provide a detailed account of how Warburg experienced local events in this decisive and turbulent period. Furthermore, they clearly demonstrate Warburg’s embittered attitude towards some of his long-standing collaborators, whom he suspected of having denounced him to the Nazi authorities. In this paper, Warburg’s notes are fully transcribed and integrated into the historical context.