History Characters / Downfall2004

An SS lieutenant colonel and Hitler's personal chauffeur from 1934 to 1945. He was Gerda Christian's first husband before they divorced in 1943. On Gunsche's orders, Kempka provided the gasoline used to burn the corpses of Hitler and Eva Braun much to the latter's annoyance. He would later testify at the Nuremberg trials and be found innocent of war crimes, dying two decades later on January 24, 1975.

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: The film doesn't elaborate on why Grawitz is so fearful of being captured by the Russians. In real-life, Grawitz was responsible for killing homosexuals, mentally disabled and physically impaired in his research to "cure homosexuality", not to mention using prisoners as "human guinea pigs" for other inhumane experiments. In fact, Grawitz knew all too well that his crimes would lead to nothing less than a death sentence and if a miracle struck, a life sentence. The only thing that alludes to his crimes is Hitler exclaiming [[DramaticIrony that Grawitz did nothing wrong and that his medical research will be useful for future generations to come]].

* DirtyCoward: His desire to leave Berlin is primarily due to fear of being captured, since he was heavily involved with the Holocaust. When Hitler denies him to leave out of spite towards Grawitz's boss, Himmler, Grawitz didn't disobey the order. Instead, he decides to kill himself along with his wife and children rather than face justice for his crimes.

* UndyingLoyalty: Among those who stay with Hitler till the end. Near the end he joins in the Mohnke's group of survivors, and when the group votes for what to do Günsche is among those who vote for dying before dishonor. Yet when the surrender is declared he declines to commit suicide.

* UndyingLoyalty: Among those who stay with Hitler till the end. Near the end he joins in the Mohnke's group of survivors, and when the group votes for what to do Günsche is among those who vote for dying before dishonor. Yet when the surrender is declared he declines to committing suicide.

* CommanderContrarian: He serves this role to Hitler during the battle strategy talks but unlike the typical archetype, he offers reasonable counter arguments against Hitler's ludicrously delusional orders. Hitler is not amused.

* BearerOfBadNews: He has to break it to Hitler that Steiner could not carry his assault because he lacks to numbers for it.

* UndyingLoyalty: Despite his misgivings about Hitler's insult to the troops, he is still among the most loyal Nazis to Hitler. He nearly shoots someone for attempting to surrender to the Soviet forces and he stays in the bunker until everyone else have left.

* AFatherToHisMen: Subverted in the final cut. He stands up to Hitler when he insult the soldiers, but he doesn't fight alongside his men and he makes it clear he'll rather have Germany destroy itself than surrender for the sake of the soldiers. A deleted scene, however, would have shown more of Burgdorf's caring side to the soldiers with him cursing Bormann after discovering the truth behind the soldier causalities.

* BaitTheDog: On the surface, he seems to be a caring general to the soldiers fighting in the frontlines, standing up for their honor when Hitler insults them for failing him. But when it becomes clear that surrender is the best option for the German people, Burgdorf attempts to shut down all efforts to negotiate with the Soviets, preferring to let the Germans, including the surviving soldiers, die than suffer another humiliating defeat.

* FrontlineGeneral: The reason why he's never seen is because he is too busy fighting in the frontlines along with his men.

* NotSoStoic: He is usually calm even when he's forced to give uncomfortable answers to his wrathful superiors that no one wants to hear but when Goebbels accuses him of having doubt about Wenck, Krebs shouts in rage that Wenck has no army to begin with. He again loses his temper when discussing the German surrender in the aftermath of Hitler's suicide.