Mass suicides in 1945 Nazi Germany was the large-scale deaths of civilians, government officials and military personnel during the final weeks of the Third Reich and the war in Europe. Aside from high-ranking Nazi officials like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Philipp Bouhler, many others chose  Selbstmord (German: Self-murder) rather than accept the defeat of Germany. Studies have shown that the suicides were influenced through Nazi propaganda (reaction to the suicide of Adolf Hitler), the tenets of the Nazi Party, and the anticipated reprisals following the Allied occupation of Nazi Germany. For example in April 1945, at least 1,000 people killed themselves and others within 72 hours as the Red Army neared the East German town of Demmin.