Hitler’s food taster feared every meal would be her last
BERLIN— They were feasts of sublime asparagus, spiced with fear. And for more than half a century, 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: she had been Adolf Hitler’s food taster.
Woelk, then in her mid-20s, spent 21⁄ years as one of15 young women 2 who sampled Hitler’s food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned before it was served to the Nazi leader at the Wolf’s Lair, his heavily guarded military command centre in what is now Poland.
“(Hitler) was a vegetarian. He never ate any meat during the entire time I was there,” Woelk said. “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.” While many fellow Germans faced food shortages and a bland diet as the war dragged on, Woelk found sampling the Fuehrer’s food had its advantages. “The food was delicious — only the best vegetables, asparagus, bell peppers, everything you can imagine. And always with a side of rice or pasta,” she recalled. “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.” Woelk first revealed her secret to a Berlin reporter a few months ago. Since then interest in her life story has been overwhelming. School- teachers wrote and asked her for photos and autographs to bring history alive for their students.
Woelk says she was drafted into civilian service at the Wolf’s Lair after she left Berlin to escape Allied air attacks, going to stay with relatives in Rastenburg, now Ketrzyn.
Hitler was so secretive that, even in the relative safety of his bunker, she never saw him in person — only his German shepherd, Blondie, and his SS bodyguards.