29 Facts About Heinz Linge

Heinz Linge was a German SS officer who served as a valet for the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, and became known for his close personal proximity to historical events.

Heinz Linge was employed as a bricklayer prior to joining the SS in 1933.

Heinz Linge served in the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Hitler's bodyguard.

In 1934, when he was part of No 1 Guard to Hitler's residence on the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, Heinz Linge was selected to serve at the Reich Chancellery.

On 24 January 1935, Heinz Linge was chosen to be a valet for Hitler.

In September 1939, Heinz Linge replaced Karl Wilhelm Krause as chief valet for Hitler.

Heinz Linge worked as a valet in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, at Hitler's residence near Berchtesgaden, and at Wolfsschanze in Rastenburg.

Heinz Linge stated that his daily routine was to wake Hitler each day at 11:00 AM and provide morning newspapers and messages.

Hitler would then dress himself to a stopwatch with Heinz Linge acting as a "referee".

Heinz Linge would take a light breakfast of tea, biscuits and an apple and a vegetarian lunch at 2:30 PM.

Heinz Linge was one of many soldiers, servants, secretaries, and officers who moved into the Reich Chancellery and Fuhrerbunker in Berlin in 1945.

Heinz Linge delivered messages to Hitler and escorted people in to meet with Hitler.

Heinz Linge later wrote that after Hitler and Braun were married, the dictator spent his final night lying awake and fully dressed on his bed.

Heinz Linge described her as looking pale and of having had little sleep.

Heinz Linge explains that Hitler and his wife committed suicide in Hitler's private room in the bunker.

Heinz Linge recalled how he went into Hitler's private study after hearing a sudden bang and found that Hitler and Braun were dead.

Heinz Linge concluded that Braun had taken what must have been cyanide poison.

Heinz Linge later wrote that he burned other personal effects of Hitler's while an SS bodyguard oversaw the burial of the burnt bodies in a shell crater.

Heinz Linge was one of the last to leave the Fuhrerbunker in the early morning hours of 1 May 1945.

Heinz Linge spent ten years in Soviet captivity and was released in 1955.

Unlike Heinz Linge, Gunsche hated working on the project and begrudgingly gave the Soviets truthful information.

Heinz Linge initially told the Soviets that he heard Hitler's suicide gunshot before explaining that he only said this to keep his account from appearing "frail" in light of "shadowy areas" of his memory.

Heinz Linge claimed to have learned of the suicide from the smell of gunpowder, despite being separated by several doors and Hitler's rooms being well ventilated.

Heinz Linge told the Soviets that he and Bormann could tell that Hitler and Braun were dead by looking at them, but did not explain why they did not summon Hitler's doctors to confirm the deaths.

Heinz Linge stated that he saw a coin-sized wound to Hitler's right temple with one or two trails of blood running down his cheek, and no exit wound or other damage to the skull.

Gunsche reportedly told the Soviets that he only learned of Hitler's method of death from Heinz Linge, but testified in 1956 that he saw an entry wound to the right temple, which convinced him that Hitler died by a suicide gunshot.

In 1956, Heinz Linge provided testimony in a West German court investigating Hitler's death.

In light of theories that Hitler had survived, Heinz Linge asserted that the corpse was hidden in a "common grave", undiscovered somewhere about the Chancellery garden.

Heinz Linge is portrayed by actor Thomas Limpinsel in Oliver Hirschbiegel's 2004 German film Downfall.