Editing Josef Terboven (section)

==Last months of the war and death==
On 25 September 1944, Terboven, in his capacity as ''Gauleiter'' of Essen, was named commander of the ''[[Volkssturm]]'' units in the Gau. In reality, it was his Deputy ''Gauleiter'', [[Fritz Schlessmann]], who executed those duties as he had been Acting ''Gauleiter'' in Essen during Terboven's absence in Norway since 1940. In October 1944, in response to the [[Red Army]] advance in to the [[Finnmark]] region of northern Norway, Terboven instituted a [[scorched earth]] policy that resulted in the forced evacuation of 50,000 Norwegians and widespread destruction, including the burning of 10,000 homes; 4700 farms; and hundreds of schools, churches, shops and industrial buildings.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=454}}

As the tide of the war turned against Germany, Terboven's personal aspiration was to organise [[Festung Norwegen]] (Fortress Norway) for the Nazi regime's last stand. However, after Hitler's suicide, his successor, ''[[Großadmiral]]'' [[Karl Dönitz]], summoned Terboven to his headquarters in [[Flensburg]] on 3 May 1945 and ordered him to cooperate with winding down hostilities. Terboven expressed his desire to continue fighting. Consequently, Dönitz dismissed Terboven from his post as ''Reichskommissar'' on 7 May and transferred his powers to ''[[General der Gebirgstruppe]]'' [[Franz Böhme]].{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=455}}

With the announcement of [[German Instrument of Surrender|Germany's surrender]], Terboven committed [[suicide]] on 8 May 1945 by detonating {{convert|50|kg|0}} of [[dynamite]] in a bunker on the [[Skaugum]] compound.<ref>{{citation |first1=Christian |last1=Goeschel |title=Suicide in Nazi Germany |page=152 |publisher=OUP Oxford |year=2009 |isbn=978-0191567568 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIjccRg7_UYC&pg=PA152 |postscript=.}}</ref> He died alongside the body of SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' Rediess, who had shot himself earlier. Terboven's family survived in [[West Germany]], although his daughter, Inga, in an event in 1964 unrelated to her father's history, killed her two-year-old daughter by strangulation. Terboven's wife, Ilse, died in 1972.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2021|p=456}}