Saturday 7 September 2013

Rochus Misch, Bodyguard of Hitler, Dies at 96

Rochus Misch dead: Last witness to Adolf Hitler's final hours dies aged 96 

 


He saw the bodies of his Fuhrer and his wife moments after their lives ended and made a career after the war in recounting life at his side
The last surviving witness of Hitler’s final hours in his Berlin bunker has died aged 96.
Rochus Misch was part of the Nazi inner circle for five years as the Fuhrer’s devoted bodyguard.
Misch, who was a staff sergeant in the SS, saw the bodies of Hitler and his new bride, Eva Braun, moments after they killed themselves on April 30, 1945.
The loyal henchman deeply admired his Fuhrer and continued to refer to him as “the Boss” in the decades after the Second World War.
In later life Misch told journalists: “He wasn’t a monster and he wasn’t superhuman.
“He stood across from me like a completely normal man with nice words. I only ever heard nice words from him.”
Misch died on Thursday in his home city of Berlin, reportedly after a short illness.
As the Nazis faced defeat, he had found himself living with Hitler and Braun in the cramped bunker in the grounds of the shattered Reich Chancellery.


Photos of Hitler and his wife Eva Braun's final moments in bunker published by LIFE magazine

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