BBC - A former bodyguard of Adolf Hitler who witnessed the Nazi dictator's final hours has died in Germany aged 96.
Rochus Misch was the last survivor from Hitler's bunker in Berlin.
The former SS man had operated the telephones in the bunker and had proudly reminisced about his wartime duties for the "boss".
He had called Hitler "a very normal man... he was no brute, he was no monster", according to the Associated Press news agency.
For five years, Misch was part of the Fuehrer's inner circle, as a bodyguard, a courier and telephone operator.
AP said that in his interview he stayed away from the central questions of guilt and responsibility, saying he knew nothing of the murder of six million Jews and that Hitler never brought up the Final Solution in his presence.
"I knew about Dachau camp and about concentration camps in general," he told the BBC in 2009.
"But I had no idea of the scale. It wasn't part of our conversations. The Nuremberg Trial dealt with crimes committed by the Germans.
"But you must remember there was never a war when crimes weren't committed, and there never will be."
'I will never forget it'
Born in 1917 in the village of Alt Schalkowitz in what is today Poland, Misch was orphaned at an early age and grew up with his grandparents.
He was a house painter before joining the SS at the age of 20.
"In the Fuehrer's entourage, strictly speaking, we were bodyguards," Misch told the BBC.
"When Hitler was travelling, between four and six of us would accompany him in a second car. But when we were at Hitler's apartment in the Chancellery we also had other duties.
"Two of us would always work as telephone operators. With a boss like Hitler, there were always plenty of phone calls."
With the Allies advancing and the Nazis on the brink of defeat, Hitler retreated to his Berlin bunker and Misch became the final witness of the drama that took place there on 30 April 1945.
He said he was on the telephone when Hitler killed himself, so did not hear the gunshots.
But others in the bunker did hear them and Hitler's private secretary asked everyone to be silent and ordered that the door to the Fuehrer's room to be opened.
"I saw Hitler slumped with his head on the table. [Hitler's wife] Eva Braun was lying on the sofa, with her head towards him," Misch said.
"Her knees were drawn tightly up to her chest. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white frills. I will never forget it."
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| Rochus Misch |
The former SS man had operated the telephones in the bunker and had proudly reminisced about his wartime duties for the "boss".
He had called Hitler "a very normal man... he was no brute, he was no monster", according to the Associated Press news agency.
For five years, Misch was part of the Fuehrer's inner circle, as a bodyguard, a courier and telephone operator.
AP said that in his interview he stayed away from the central questions of guilt and responsibility, saying he knew nothing of the murder of six million Jews and that Hitler never brought up the Final Solution in his presence.
"I knew about Dachau camp and about concentration camps in general," he told the BBC in 2009.
"But I had no idea of the scale. It wasn't part of our conversations. The Nuremberg Trial dealt with crimes committed by the Germans.
"But you must remember there was never a war when crimes weren't committed, and there never will be."
'I will never forget it'
Born in 1917 in the village of Alt Schalkowitz in what is today Poland, Misch was orphaned at an early age and grew up with his grandparents.
He was a house painter before joining the SS at the age of 20.
"In the Fuehrer's entourage, strictly speaking, we were bodyguards," Misch told the BBC.
"When Hitler was travelling, between four and six of us would accompany him in a second car. But when we were at Hitler's apartment in the Chancellery we also had other duties.
"Two of us would always work as telephone operators. With a boss like Hitler, there were always plenty of phone calls."
With the Allies advancing and the Nazis on the brink of defeat, Hitler retreated to his Berlin bunker and Misch became the final witness of the drama that took place there on 30 April 1945.
He said he was on the telephone when Hitler killed himself, so did not hear the gunshots.
But others in the bunker did hear them and Hitler's private secretary asked everyone to be silent and ordered that the door to the Fuehrer's room to be opened.
"I saw Hitler slumped with his head on the table. [Hitler's wife] Eva Braun was lying on the sofa, with her head towards him," Misch said.
"Her knees were drawn tightly up to her chest. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white frills. I will never forget it."
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