More than 65 years after World War Two, Adolf Hitler's last surviving bodyguard has said that he can no longer respond to the continuous deluge of fan mail he receives from around the world, because of his advanced age.
Rochus Misch was by the German leader's side for five years and even saw the Führer after he committed suicide as the Russian tanks closed in. He is thought to be the last remaining member of the group who hid in that famous Berlin bunker.
His proximity to Hitler has caused him to become something of a celebrity, and his character has appeared in a number of films.
He was even consulted by Christopher McQuarrie, the writer who created Valkyrie, the 2008 film about an assassination attempt on Hitler's life.
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| Cult: Rochus Misch was Hitler's bodyguard for five years and saw the German leader after he had committed suicide in the bunker - but now he can't answer all the fan mail and requests he receives |
Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, who starred in the film, was not keen to converse with Misch and told the Los Angeles Times: 'I didn't want to meet him. Evil is still evil, I don't care how old you are.'
But the former bodyguard has a cult following. However, at the age of 93 and using a walking frame to move around, he can no longer deal with all the correspondence.
He told newspaper Berliner Kurier that, with most of the letters he receives asking for autographs, it was 'no longer possible' to reply because of his age.
'[The letters] come from Korea, from Knoxville, Tennessee, from Finland and Iceland - and not one has a bad word to say,' said Misch, who is believed to be the last man alive to have seen Hitler and other top-ranking Nazis in the flesh.
Misch travelled with Hitler from bunker to bunker during the Second World War.
On January 16, 1945, following the German defeat in the Battle of the Bulge, Misch and the rest of Hitler's personal staff moved into the Führerbunker in Berlin.
He was not to leave it for any significant period of time until the end of the war and handled all of the direct communication from the bunker.
He saw Hitler's body after his suicide and then fled the bunker before being captured by the Red Army - but he was released in 1954 and has lived in Berlin ever since.
'My first meeting with Hitler was rather strange,' Misch told BBC last year.
'I'd been in the job 12 days when Hitler's chief adjutant started asking me questions about my grandmother, about my childhood.
'Then he got up and walked towards the door. Being an obedient soldier, I flung myself forward to open it, and there was Hitler standing right behind the door. I felt cold. Then I felt hot. I felt every emotion standing there opposite Hitler.
'In the Führer's entourage, strictly speaking, we were bodyguards.
'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.'
Through his position his fame rose and in the past Misch used to send fans autographed copies of wartime photos of him in a neatly pressed SS uniform.
Now the incoming fan mail, including letters and packages, piles up in his flat in south Berlin's leafy Rudow neighbourhood, less than two kilometres from the Führerbunker.
His memoirs, 'The Last Witness,' were published in 2008 in Germany and are in the works to become a feature film.
With the death of Hitler Youth courier Armin Lehmann on October 10, 2008, Misch is the last survivor of the Führerbunker.
Courtesy Daily Mail, UK |
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