Friday, 08 December 2023
KaitaiaWhangareiDargavilleAucklandThamesTaurangaHamiltonWhakataneRotoruaTokoroaTe KuitiTaumarunuiTaupoGisborneNew PlymouthNapierHastingsDannevirkeWhanganuiPalmerston NorthLevinParaparaumuMastertonWellingtonMotuekaNelsonBlenheimWestportReeftonKaikouraGreymouthHokitikaChristchurchAshburtonTimaruWanakaOamaruQueenstownDunedinGoreInvercargill
NZ HeraldThe Northern AdvocateThe Northland AgeThe AucklanderWaikato HeraldBay Of Plenty TimesRotorua Daily PostHawke's Bay TodayWhanganui ChronicleThe Stratford PressManawatu GuardianKapiti NewsHorowhenua ChronicleTe Awamutu CourierVivaEat WellOneRoofDRIVEN Car GuideThe CountryPhoto SalesiHeart RadioRestaurant Hub
Voyager 2023 media awards
Subscribe
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Bitter memories linger of life as Hitler's food taster

Independent
20 Sep, 2014 05:00 PM3 mins to read
Saveshare

Share this article

facebookcopy linktwitterlinkedinredditemail
Now in her 90s, Margot Woelk has finally spoken of her distasteful war role.

Now in her 90s, Margot Woelk has finally spoken of her distasteful war role.

Margot Woelk was one of 15 young women forced to work at Adolf Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters as a food taster.

Margot Woelk was one of 15 young women forced to work at Adolf Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters as a food taster.

Every meal could have been her last. When they had finished eating the vegetarian dishes, 25-year-old Woelk and her colleagues would burst into tears because they were grateful to be alive.

Woelk was no Nazi, but she was employed at the Fuhrer's heavily guarded Prussian headquarters during World War II. She was the only one to survive. All her colleagues were shot by the advancing Red Army in January 1945.

Now a frail 96-year old widow, Woelk has overcome feelings of shame and broken decades of silence to tell her story to German television.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There were constant rumours that the British were out to poison Hitler," she told Berlin's RBB television channel. "He never ate meat. We were given rice, noodles, peppers, peas and cauliflower," she recalled.

Woelk, the daughter of a German railway employee, enjoyed a carefree youth until the Nazis came to power in 1933. She was bombed out of her Berlin apartment in 1941 and her husband Karl drafted into the army, so she sought sanctuary in the East Prussian town of Partsch, which is now Parcz, Poland.

The town was next door to Hitler's Wolf's Lair HQ and the town's mayor forced Woelk to become a food taster. Every day an SS guard picked up the girls in a bus and took them to a school where they had to taste the Nazi leader's meals. "I never saw Hitler in person. I only saw his Alsatian dog, Blondi," Woelk recalled.

Hitler's fears were well founded. On July 20, 1944, a group of German army officers tried to assassinate him by detonating a bomb in the Wolf's Lair. "We were sitting on wooden benches, and suddenly we heard and felt this incredible big bang. We fell off the benches and I heard someone shouting, 'Hitler is dead!' But of course he wasn't."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Nearly 5000 Germans suspected of involvement in the bomb plot were executed and Woelk was forced to move into Hitler's heavily guarded building.

By late 1944, the Red Army was advancing. An SS officer helped Woelk escape. She fled to Berlin, where she was raped by Russian soldiers. A British officer called Norman helped her recover. When he returned to Britain after the war he asked her to join him. But Woelk wanted to wait and find out if her husband Karl was still alive.

In 1946, a weak and injured Karl was released from a Soviet POW camp. The couple tried to live a normal life. But the war had taken a toll. They separated and Karl died 24 years ago. Woelk has lived alone since.

Related articles

World

Jewish bride called traitor for marrying Arab

22 Aug 05:00 PM
Sport|Rugby

Rebel with a cause

28 Aug 05:00 PM
Entertainment

The year for grandes dames

30 Aug 05:00 PM
Lifestyle

Book review: The Zone of Interest

05 Sep 06:00 PM
Saveshare

Share this article

facebookcopy linktwitterlinkedinredditemail
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Premium
World

Opinion: So many child deaths in Gaza, and for what?

07 Dec 08:19 PM
Politics

'He’s a born diplomat': Fran O'Sullivan on what Winston Peters is like behind the scenes

07 Dec 04:00 PM
World

Path clear for Putin’s fifth term as Russia sets election date

07 Dec 08:06 AM
Premium
World

Three climbers solve the ‘last great problem in the Himalayas’

07 Dec 05:00 AM

Kiwi’s business dream a global winner

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Premium
Opinion: So many child deaths in Gaza, and for what?

Opinion: So many child deaths in Gaza, and for what?

07 Dec 08:19 PM

NYT: Consider this - the most dangerous place to be a child in the world today is Gaza.

'He’s a born diplomat': Fran O'Sullivan on what Winston Peters is like behind the scenes

'He’s a born diplomat': Fran O'Sullivan on what Winston Peters is like behind the scenes

07 Dec 04:00 PM
Path clear for Putin’s fifth term as Russia sets election date

Path clear for Putin’s fifth term as Russia sets election date

07 Dec 08:06 AM
Premium
Three climbers solve the ‘last great problem in the Himalayas’

Three climbers solve the ‘last great problem in the Himalayas’

07 Dec 05:00 AM
“Never been a better time to buy an EV”
sponsored

“Never been a better time to buy an EV”

About NZMEHelp & SupportContact UsSubscribe to NZ HeraldHouse Rules
Manage Your Print SubscriptionNZ Herald E-EditionAdvertise with NZMEBook Your AdPrivacy Policy
Terms of UseCompetition Terms & ConditionsSubscriptions Terms & Conditions
© Copyright 2023 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP