Heinz Linge (23 March 1913 – 9 March 1980) was an SS officer who served as a valet and protocol officer for German fuhrer Adolf Hitler. He rose to the rank of Obersturmbannfuhrer (Lieutenant-Colonel) during World War II, and he witnessed Hitler's last days in his Berlin bunker.
Biography[]
Heinz Linge was born in Bremen, German Empire on 23 March 1913, and he worked as a bricklayer before joining the SS in 1933. He served in the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler bodyguard unit, and he became Adolf Hitler's valet in 1935. He woke Hitler up each day at 11:00 AM with morning newspapers and messages, kept him stocked with writing materials and spectacles for his morning reading session in bed, had a light breakfast, had a vegetarian lunch at 2:30 PM, and had dinner with a few guests at 8:00 PM. Linge was one of the many personal staffers kept at the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin during the 1945 Battle of Berlin, and he closely witnessed the last days of Hitler's life. Hitler told Linge that his body could never fall into the hands of the Soviets, fearing that they would put him on display. Martin Bormann was the one who threw the torch at the papers placed over the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun, cremating the two of them as the other Nazi leaders in the bunker saluted him. Linge was one of the last Nazis to leave the bunker on 1 May 1945, and he was imprisoned by the Soviets until 1955. He died in Hamburg, West Germany in 1980.