Cheating Death

"He was a vegetarian. He never ate any meat during the entire time I was there. And Hitler was so paranoid that the British would poison him -- that's why he had 15 girls taste the food before he ate it himself.
"The food was delicious, only the best vegetables, asparagus, bell peppers, everything you can imagine. And always with a side of rice or pasta. But this constant fear -- we knew of all those poisoning rumours and could never enjoy the food. Every day we feared it was going to be our last meal."
Margot Woelk, 95, formerly a food-taster, employed at the Wolf's Lair, Rastenburg

One of the food testers of Adolf Hitler, Margot Woelk speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Berlin, Thursday, April 25, 2013. Margot Woelk was one of 15 young women who sampled Hitler's food to make sure it wasn't poisoned before it was served to the Nazi leader in his "Wolf's Lair," the heavily guarded command center in what is now Poland, where he spent much of his time in the final years of World War II. Margot Woelk kept her secret hidden from the world, even from her husband then, a few months after her 95th birthday, she revealed the truth about her wartime role. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

She did survive, however, even while she had spent two and a half years of her early 20s as a food-tester-taster to ensure that whatever was served up to Adolf Hitler was clear of any additive that might prove inimical to his health and well-being. He did have enemies, external and internal. Unsurprisingly, since he led an Axis political-military movement of governments dedicated to fascism, at war with democratic countries of the world.

He was an ardent vegetarian, he had his scruples, after all. A man for whom the very idea of consuming animals, dead animals, prepared as 'meat' to foul the temple of his body was abhorrent. A fastidious vegetarian with that famous compassion for the welfare of animals common among many Europeans who haven't an iota of care for other humans. So compassionate in fact that there was little left over for other creatures, particularly none for Jews, for Roma, for homosexuals or the elderly or those with compromised health.

They could moulder -- and they did, those that managed to survive the concentration camps -- until liberation. If they were only political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, Christians, survival of their ordeal would be simply a lesson learned. If they were in the sub-human category of Jews, Romas or homosexuals, well the world would be a better place without their contaminating presence. Although more than plenty of those in the former categories also perished.

The Fuhrer was also concerned with the future of his Aryan race. They were to be strong, healthy, the ideal human specimens, hearking back to the days of Greeks taking on the physical attributes of the gods. He thoroughly approved of the Olympic Games, and felt that by hosting them in Berlin, German prowess and skill would have a high-profile presentation. And smoking tobacco and alcohol consumption were frowned upon. Sedentary lifestyles were to be transformed into active, energetic lifestyles. He would transform a culture of indolence and neglectful habits to one that would stand out as a model to the world.

And Margot Woelk and the other fourteen young girls who were tasked to ensuring that the food served up to this supreme commander of the world's potential

The Olympic Torch is carried along a German avenue toward the stadium in Berlin. Below: Aerial view of the massive Olympic Stadium.

future did their part in the total scheme of things. Drafted, like them into civilian service, assigned to her task as food taster. After all those years her memories of what she kept hidden even after her marriage, remained clear enough, though she never had the occasion to see the great man in person.

There was a precedent that made his concerns that he might be poisoned drawn into sharp focus. An assassination attempt that went awry when a trusted German military member detonated a bomb in the Wolf's Lair that failed to kill its target. But which led the target to commit to an example by executing almost five thousand people in a paroxysm of penalizing any who might have dreamed of such a release from hell.

One of her SS friends, she related later, advised her to leave the Wolf's Lair for the good of her own health. One wonders why, if she was able to do so, she hadn't left much earlier, or simply made herself unavailable to act as a food taster for a monster. She returned by train to Berlin and went into hiding.

"Later, I found out that the Russians shot all of the 14 other girls", he explained, after Soviet troops had overrun the headquarters in January 1945. "For decades, I tried to shake off those memories. But they always came back to haunt me at night."

One would imagine so.