all Rights Reserved ©
Militaria Autumn Auction 2022
Lot 384:
Autograph of Rochus Misch
Original autographs. Made after the war (probably shortly before his death).
Dimensions: 15×10.5cm
Rochus Misch (born July 29, 1917 in Stare SioÅ‚kowice, German Alt Schalkowitz, died September 5, 2013 in Berlin) – Oberscharführer (sergeant) in the SS, a painter-wallpaper maker, telephonist and Adolf’s adjutant by profession Hitler during World War II. He was the penultimate living resident of Hitler’s shelter in Berlin in May 1945 and the last living witness to the suicide of the Fuhrer.
The father died 2 hours before the boy was born. Mother died when R. Misch was 2.5 years old. From then on, he was raised by his maternal grandparents.
After graduating from primary school, he became a painter-wallpaper maker and interior decorator in the city of Hoyerswerda. Later, he worked for some time as a painter’s apprentice, and then founded a painting company with an older colleague in Hornberg (Black Forest).
In 1937 he joined the Verfügungstruppe, a unit that was originally a military branch of the SS under Hitler’s orders. He completed four years of military service there, which was to secure him a position in the public sector. After the outbreak of World War II, he was wounded during the siege of Modlin during the September campaign. The bullet passed two centimeters from his heart, hitting the lung.
In April 1940, he was appointed to the SS-Begleitkommando des Führers (Hitler’s guard). Then he became one of the closest associates and helpers of the Fuhrer, serving as a bodyguard, operator of the telephone exchange and courier. From January to May 1945, he lived almost all the time in Hitler’s bunker under the Reich Chancellery. He witnessed the discovery of the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun, was in the shelter complex during the murder of Joseph Goebbels’ children and the death of Goebbels. He left the shelter two hours before it was taken over by Soviet soldiers. On May 2 he surrendered to the Red Army, which captured the German capital.
He was taken prisoner of the Soviet Union, where he stayed until 1954 as a prisoner of the labor camp. After returning from captivity, he returned to Berlin, where he lived in the same house until his death. He was the last living witness (after the deaths of Otto Günsche in 2003 and Siegfried Knappe in 2008) of the last days in Hitler’s bunker at the Reich Chancellery.
In 2005, he gave extensive interviews to French journalist Nicolas Bourcier. The result was a biography of J’étais garde du corps d’Hitler 1940–1945 (I was Hitler’s Bodyguard 1940–1945) translated into a number of languages; published in Poland under the title I was with Hitler until the end of 1940–1945. He worked as a consultant to screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie on the film Valkyrie. He also gave an interview to the BBC
VERY IMPORTANT !!!
Shipping from our office in Europe
Condition: As in the attached photos.
Share this lot:
all Rights Reserved ©