Sad News - Rochus Misch Passed Away

[Dean]

Great things you guys have said to remember him, gentlemen.
Here are some more images to remember him by.

-Edit-
I removed two images purported to be Mr .Misch
Thanks to the knowledge of HPL2008

[Studly]

Rest in peace Rochus a sad day indeed .

[Salzburg]

Very sad news.

I never met him as there always seem to be reasons why I cannot make such trips to Germany: business, family, etc. Now, as more and more of these old soldiers leave us, I feel more determined to make the time and the effort.

When things and people are gone, they are gone forever and the rich experience of being in their company is lost for all time. I shall make the time. I shall make the effort.

Martin

[thekid]

Very saddening to hear... Time passes too quick!

[HPL2008]

Great things you guys have said to remember him, gentlemen.
Here are some more images to remember him by. I really like the first image

Except that it isn't Rochus Misch. He was no member of the SA. Also, this is a relatively early photograph, certainly pre-1933 and Misch was only 15 years old at the time the Nazis seized power.

The second photo, showing a Heer soldier, is also not Misch.

[rogge16]

I believe the second photo is of Sepp Allerberger.

Luke

[Dean]

Ouch, I guess google images is as reliable as Wikipedia. Ill edit that.
Good call ,Andreas and Rogge17.


Here are some images that are for sure, him.
I like how he still held the same stance , with hands folded behind his back.

Dean.

[big ned]

Looking good Dean, you been working out???

[Dean]

You know it, Ned!

On another note, I found this interesting..actor Heinrich Schmeider , who played Rochus in the film "Downfall" actually died BEFORE Mr.Misch! He was only thirty years old when he died in 2010.

[HPL2008]

I believe the second photo is of Sepp Allerberger.

Spot on. The now-deleted photograph was a picture of Allerberger. (I hadn't recognized him at first, but have checked since your post.)

Ouch, I guess google images is as reliable as Wikipedia.

Well done. Of course, the problem is not so much Google Images as the misidentification of photographs on the websites it finds.

Looking good Dean, you been working out???

The man is a Greek freelance journalist named Kostas Kallergis. For the source of the photograph and others taken during his 2007 encounter with Rochus Misch, see: Hitle | When the Crisis hit the Fan

Anyway, we are straying a bit off course here.

This is about the death of a noteworthy man, the last survivor from the inner circle surrounding Hitler up until his suicide and an honest and invaluable period witness to these years.

Much dispute has surrounded Mr. Misch from the time he first came to public attention and until the end of his life.

We can objectively say that he fulfilled his duty as a soldier and was never directly or indirectly involved in any war crimes. Of course, the question whether it can be morally acceptable to actually guard the life of a man like Hitler is not an easy one to answer. His considering the 20 July plotters as "murderers of comrades" is also a controversial issue. We might not condone that sentiment, but seeing it from his personal perspective - that of a man who might have fallen to the assassination attempt had he happened to be in that room at that point in time - makes it at least understandable.

Whatever moral implications we might see in his service, between his near-fatal injury in the Polish campaign and his years as a Soviet prisoner, going from Lubyanka Buildung through nine years in various forced labor camps, he certainly paid a high price.

In the end, he was neither a hero, nor a villain, but an ordinary man who found himself in extraordinary times and circumstances.

May he rest in peace.