Hitler was the perfect boss
FORMER MAID BREAKS HER SILENCE
Hitler was the perfect boss
Hitler was the perfect boss: Former maid breaks her silence
By ALAN HALL
The Daily Mail, London Thursday, 4 December 2008
MUNICH — [Official] history has condemned him as the megalomaniac who brought death and misery to millions.
But for one woman, the name Adolf Hitler evokes a smile, not a shudder.
She is Rosa Mitterer who worked as a maid for the Führer at his mountain retreat in Bavaria in the 1930s.
Rosa is
91 and until now has kept a vow of silence about her experiences.
She has chosen to break it after realizing she is the last survivor of the
circle who served the [German leader] in the years before the Second
World War.
Hitler was the perfect boss
Hitler was the perfect boss: Former maid breaks her silence
By ALAN HALL
The Daily Mail, London Thursday, 4 December 2008
MUNICH — [Official] history has condemned him as the megalomaniac who brought death and misery to millions.
But for one woman, the name Adolf Hitler evokes a smile, not a shudder.
She is Rosa Mitterer who worked as a maid for the Führer at his mountain retreat in Bavaria in the 1930s.
Rosa is
91 and until now has kept a vow of silence about her experiences.
She has chosen to break it after realizing she is the last survivor of the
circle who served the [German leader] in the years before the Second
World War.
91-year-old Rosa Mitterer is the sole survivor of those who served Adolf Hitler in the years before the Second World War.
And her verdict on her former master: "He was a charming man, someone who was only ever nice to me, a great boss to work for. You can say what you like, but he was a good man to us."
Hitler with some young visitorsRosa went into Hitler's service at the age of 15 in 1932 when she was Rosa Krautenbacher. Her sister Anni had worked as a cook at Hitler's Berchtesgaden retreat since the late 1920s.
"She said he needed a housemaid and I would fit the bill," Rosa recalled.
"I remember so clearly the first day I spoke to him in the kitchen. I said I was Anni's sister and that made him smile, because Anni was his favorite. I only ever knew Hitler as a kindly man who was good to me."
For
a long time she and Anni were the only servants in the home, known as
the Berghof.
Recalling her first direct request from her master, she said she was drying some porcelain cups when he came down the stairs.
"'Hello,' he said softly. 'Sorry to trouble you, but could you make me some coffee and bring some gingerbread biscuits to my study?'"
He lived very modestly
Hitler
and Eva Braum at Berghof
Coming into such close proximity to Hitler made her feel faint, she said,
but she soon became accustomed to life at the Berghof.
"I rose at 6 a.m. every day and put on a red-green dirndl with a white apron. My first task was to feed his dogs — he had three German shepherds at the beginning called Wolf, Muck and Blondi.
"In those days, Hitler slept in his study. In it was an iron bed, one wardrobe, one table, two chairs and a shoebox. It was very modestly furnished. Beside the bed hung a picture of his mother."
She added: "I didn't have to be a Nazi party member or anything. After a while I relaxed a bit. Apparently it was Hitler's orders that Anni and I be taken to church every Sunday because he thought this would be 'good for us.'
"Another time he came into the kitchen, saw me and said, 'Ahh, I see our little one has grown a little plumper!'"
Can't believe Holocaust® tale
Part of her duties involved sorting out the fan letters and presents that were delivered in their thousands to the house.
"There were cigars, jars of jam, flowers, pictures," she recalled.
"We gave most of them away to poorer peasant families nearby on Hitler's orders."
In 1935 she fell in love with local businessman Josef Amorts and handed in her notice. She was told she could leave immediately.
"I only met Hitler once more, on December 10, 1936, when Anni married Herbert Doehring, manager of the Berghof. He came to the wedding and was nice to me, saying he missed me."
Rosa married in 1939 and had three daughters. She later remarried. A great-grandmother, she now lives in Munich.
"I rose at 6 a.m. every day and put on a red-green dirndl with a white apron. My first task was to feed his dogs — he had three German shepherds at the beginning called Wolf, Muck and Blondi.
"In those days, Hitler slept in his study. In it was an iron bed, one wardrobe, one table, two chairs and a shoebox. It was very modestly furnished. Beside the bed hung a picture of his mother."
She added: "I didn't have to be a Nazi party member or anything. After a while I relaxed a bit. Apparently it was Hitler's orders that Anni and I be taken to church every Sunday because he thought this would be 'good for us.'
"Another time he came into the kitchen, saw me and said, 'Ahh, I see our little one has grown a little plumper!'"
Can't believe Holocaust® tale
Part of her duties involved sorting out the fan letters and presents that were delivered in their thousands to the house.
"There were cigars, jars of jam, flowers, pictures," she recalled.
"We gave most of them away to poorer peasant families nearby on Hitler's orders."
In 1935 she fell in love with local businessman Josef Amorts and handed in her notice. She was told she could leave immediately.
"I only met Hitler once more, on December 10, 1936, when Anni married Herbert Doehring, manager of the Berghof. He came to the wedding and was nice to me, saying he missed me."
Rosa married in 1939 and had three daughters. She later remarried. A great-grandmother, she now lives in Munich.
Rosa at her wedding with Hitler
standing between her and her husband-
After the war she had to confront the reality of the man for whom she
had worked so willingly. And in particular the reality of the Holocaust®.
"That he would order such terrible things, I just couldn't believe it," she said. "Even now, I prefer to remember the charming facets of his
personality."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1091768/Hitler-perfect-boss-Former-maid-breaks-silence-charming-dictator.html
Continuing the fight for a better world —
NEW ORDER
Dept E
PO Box 270486
Milwaukee WI 53227
http://www.theneworder.org
"That he would order such terrible things, I just couldn't believe it," she said. "Even now, I prefer to remember the charming facets of his
personality."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1091768/Hitler-perfect-boss-Former-maid-breaks-silence-charming-dictator.html
Continuing the fight for a better world —
NEW ORDER
Dept E
PO Box 270486
Milwaukee WI 53227
http://www.theneworder.org
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