Rosa 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 favourite. I only ever knew Hitler as a
kindly man who was good to me.'
His former housekeeper was Geli Raubal, with whom it was rumoured he had
a love affair. 'She shot herself in September 1931 and I was told as soon as I
went to work for him that he was not to be approached on the anniversary of
that day,' said Rosa. 'My sister and I shared a room that was directly
over Hitler's. We could hear him crying.'
For a long time she and Anni were the only servants in the home, known
as 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?'
Coming into such close proximity to Hitler made her feel faint, she said,
but she soon became accustomed to life at Berghof. 'I rose at 6am 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!".'
A photo taken at Rosa's sister's wedding, which Hitler attended
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.' Her time in service
also allowed her to see at close quarters the woman Hitler kept secret from his
people throughout his rule - Eva Braun. 'She was not so pretty close up,' Rosa
recalled.
'Himmler was always there too, thinner than what he looked like in the
photos, and Goebbels. 'And Bormann, I didn't like him at all. He was a
dirty pig.' By the end of 1934, the house was surrounded by minefields and SS
checkpoints. Rosa said. 'I felt like a prisoner instead of an employee.'
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. 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 had ordered such terrible things, I
just couldn't believe it,' she said. 'Even now, I prefer to remember the
charming facets of his personality.'
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