Lunch with Hitler

A recording of a conversation between Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany, and Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces, is the only known recording of Hitler speaking in an unofficial manner. The conversation took place on 4 June 1942, during a secret visit made to Finland by Hitler to honour Mannerheim's 75th birthday. Thor Damen, a sound engineer for the Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle), had been assigned to record the birthday celebrations, and recorded the first eleven minutes of Hitler and Mannerheim's conversation without permission. Damen was forced to cease recording after Hitler's SS guards told him to; they then demanded the tape be destroyed. Instead of destroying it, Yle was allowed to keep the tape in a sealed container if they promised that it would never be opened again. However, they later made the recording available to the public.