Adolf Hitler’s final minutes in his Berlin bunker in 1945 have been detailed by his bodyguard, one of the last people to see the Nazi dictator alive and the first person to see him dead. As a bodyguard he saw lots, including walking in on Eva Braun in a "flimsy nightie."
Rochus Misch, who died at 96 in 2013, revealed “intimate” details of Hitler’s final moments before his death in a book – Hitler’s Last Witness: The Memoirs of Hitler’s Bodyguard, which is being published in English in May for the first time by Frontline Books, according to The Independent.
“We heard no shot, we heard nothing, but one of those who was in the hallway said, ‘I think it’s done,’” Misch wrote. “Then everything was really quiet.”
“Everyone in the bunker waited nervously. The study door was opened ..."
Misch looked inside
“My glance fell first on Eva. She was seated with her legs drawn up, her head inclined towards Hitler. Her shoes were under the sofa. Near her…the dead Hitler. His eyes were open and staring, his head had fallen forward slightly.”
“Hitler had already told his adjutant that he did not want his body to be publicly abused as Mussolini’s had been and that he wanted his corpse to be burned,” wrote Martin Mace, the book’s commissioning editor.
Before Hitler’s death, a top general had called the bunker to alert Hitler that the army had failed and that the end of World War II was near.
“Shortly afterwards, Misch heard Hitler talking quietly to [Nazi party official, Martin] Bormann and others. He looked and saw Hitler walk into his study. Eva [Braun], now Mrs. Hitler, followed him in,” said Mace.
“He saw Otto Gunsche, the Fuhrer’s adjutant, close the door behind the newly-married couple. Gunsche told Misch that the boss was not to be disturbed.”
Misch became Hitler’s bodyguard after being injured in the 1939 Polish campaign, noted the Daily Mail.
From that point on, Misch was the dictator’s bodyguard, courier, orderly, chief of communications and privy to details of the dictator’s private life, noted The Mirror.
Misch said he knew of Hitler and Braun’s romantic relationship before it became public and recalled how Braun was originally introduced to Hitler’s staff and others as the “housekeeper.”
He said Braun and Hitler’s bedrooms had “private communicating doors,” and once he saw Braun in a “flimsy nightie” in the guest room while he was on his way to Hitler’s room to deliver some information. Braun put her finger to Misch’s mouth, telling him to keep quiet about what he saw.
Related Stories: