Rochus Misch
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Image:Misch.jpg Rochus Misch (born in Oppeln, Upper Silesia, Imperial Germany on July 29, 1917) was an Oberscharführer in the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler who worked as a courier, bodyguard and telephone operator for Adolf Hitler from 1940 to 1945. As a junior member of Hitler's permanent staff, Misch travelled with the German leader from bunker to bunker throughout the second world war. On January 16, 1945, following German defeat in the Battle of the Bulge, Misch, together with the rest of Hitler's personal staff, moved into the Führerbunker in Berlin, not to leave it for any significant periods of time until the end of the war. Misch handled all of the direct communication from the bunker.
Following the suicides of Hitler and Joseph Goebbels on, respectively, April 30 and May 1, 1945, Misch and mechanic Johannes Hentschel, two of the last people remaining in the bunker, exchanged letters to their wives if anything were to happen to them. Misch was captured after fleeing the bunker on May 2, only hours before the Red Army seized it.
After his release from captivity in 1954, Misch returned to Berlin where he lives only 2km away from the Führerbunker.
Following the rediscovery of the bunker in the 1990s, Misch has stated publicly that the bunker should not be completely destroyed, being an important part of world history.
In May, 2005, Misch again made the news, when he was accused of tainting the memories of Holocaust victims after calling for a plaque in memory of the Goebbels children, who were killed by Magda Goebbels, shortly before her own suicide, on May 1, 1945.
As of 2006, Misch is invariably mentioned as one of three remaining survivors of the Führerbunker.
[edit] References
- Burns, Chris. (October 15, 1999). "Berliners debate what to do with Hitler's bunker". CNN
- Hall, Allan. (May 3, 2005). "Hitler, the Tragic Goebbels Children and Me: 60 Years on, Fuhrer's Nurse Tells Her Story". The Daily Mail, p. 13
April 22 | April 23
Julius Schaub • Christa Schröder • Johanna Wolf | Theodor Morell • Albert Speer
April 29 | April 30 | May 1
Robert Ritter von Greim • Hanna Reitsch • Heinz Lorenz • Wilhelm Zander • Heinrich Müller • Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven | Otto Günsche • Gerda Christian | Wilhelm Mohnke • Martin Bormann • Artur Axmann • Traudl Junge • Ludwig Stumpfegger • Hans Baur • Erich Kempka • Johann Rattenhuber • Günther Schwägermann • Werner Naumann • Hans-Erich Voss
Committed suicide | Killed
Adolf Hitler • Eva Braun • Hermann Fegelein • Joseph Goebbels • Magda Goebbels • Wilhelm Burgdorf • Peter Högl • Hans Krebs | Goebbels children
Date of departure uncertain
Heinz Linge • Walther Hewel • Constanze Manziarly • Nicholaus von Below
Still present when Soviet forces arrived on May 2
Rochus Misch • Erna Flegel • Werner Haase • Johannes Hentschel
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