Guarding Hitler: The Secret World of the Führer

by Mark Felton

The figures vary, but it is believed that during his lifetime over forty separate attempts were made to kill Hitler

Hitler’s extreme security needs created modern presidential and VIP protection.

There was an element of the reckless in Hitler, and sometimes he would deliberately place himself in danger.

He was obsessed by assassination and took an almost perverse interest in the finest details of his security apparatus, yet conversely stated that if someone wanted to kill him, there was nothing that could change his ultimate ‘fate’.

And it is indeed remarkable that Hitler managed to survive for so long as he was the target of plot after plot both before and after he assumed the mantle of Führer. Few leaders in modern history have attracted so many people bent on killing them – and survived.

Unfortunately, someone locked the toilet block door while the SS man was still inside, and he was unable to activate the bomb’s timer. Hitler was saved on this occasion by the call of nature.

Once again, Hitler found himself in the front lines following his close calls during the Polish Campaign.

Hitler was the first modern politician to travel by aircraft, beginning during his election campaigning in the 1920s and 1930s.