Hitler's food taster, Margot Woelk, 95, has reported that Adolf Hitler only ate the freshest fruits and vegetables. Woelk used to check Hitler's food for traces of poison for two and a half years.
During WWII Woelk was taken by the SS to Hitler's headquarters in Poland and joined a team of women whose job was to protect the dictator from attempts to poison him.
Woelk is believed to be the only remaining member of the food tasting team.
"Between 11 and 12 o'clock, we had to taste the food, and only after all of us had tried it was it driven to the headquarters by the SS." She said to The Telegraph,"It was all vegetarian, the most delicious fresh things, from asparagus to peppers and peas, served with rice and salads. It was all arranged on one plate, just as it was served to him. There was no meat and I do not remember any fish."
She said they were forced to eat it and had no choice. "Of course I was afraid. If it had been poisoned I would not be here today," she said to The Telegraph.
Hitler's vegetarianism reflects the Nazi obsession with "Aryan bodily purity" reported The Telegraph. Hitler at one point in 1942 said that he intented to convert Germany to vegetarianism when he won the war.
Hitler eats rapidly, mechanically. He abstractedly bites his fingernails, he runs his index finger back and forth under his nose, and his table manners are little short of shocking,"The Telegraph reported was written in a secret diary by a German soldier, Joseph Goebbels.
Goebbels added that Hitler "believes more than ever that meat-eating is harmful to humanity. Of course he knows that during the war we cannot completely upset our food system. After the war, however, he intends to tackle this problem also. Maybe he is right. Certainly the arguments that he adduces in favor of his standpoint are very compelling."
Woelk was in the camp known as the "Wolf's Lair" where Hitler was stationed. She was finally smuggled onto a train back to Berlin by a soldier.
The Huffington Post reported that his vegetarianism may have started before 1939 as a one of his cook said that before the war he would eat stuffed pigeon, sliced ham and Bavarian sausages.
In a somewhat ironic fashion, given the Nazi's utter disregard for the lives of others, The Nazi animal protection movement was well documented. Foie gras was even banned due to animal cruelty during the time, reported The Huffington Post.
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