The Taster

Author/Guide: V S Alexander

Why a Booktrail?

1943: Magda is assigned to the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat.

ISBN: 978-1496712271
Genre: Historical

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What you need to know before your trail

In early 1943, Magda Ritter’s parents send her to relatives in Bavaria, hoping to keep her safe from the Allied bombs strafing Berlin. Young German women are expected to do their duty–working for the Reich or marrying to produce strong, healthy children. After an interview with the civil service, Magda is assigned to the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat. Only after weeks of training does she learn her assignment: she will be one of several young women tasting the Führer’s food, offering herself in sacrifice to keep him from being poisoned.

Perched high in the Bavarian Alps, the Berghof seems worlds away from the realities of battle. Though terrified at first, Magda gradually becomes used to her dangerous occupation–though she knows better than to voice her misgivings about the war. But her love for a conspirator within the SS, and her growing awareness of the Reich’s atrocities, draw Magda into a plot that will test her wits and loyalty in a quest for safety, freedom, and ultimately, vengeance.

Locations

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Travel Guide

Travel to the real life locations of Hitler’s Germany and Poland

Margot Wölk (sometimes written as Woelk) was a German secretary who was among 15 women were selected to taste German leader Adolf Hitler’s food at the Wolf’s Lair in East Prussia. They did this for two years from 1943 to ensure that the food has not been poisoned and was safe to eat.

She was the only one of the 15 to survive World War II, and her secret role as Hitler’s food taster was not revealed until December 2012 when she was 95.

East Prussian village of Gross-Partsch – now Parcz, Poland.

This is where she moved out from Berlin to to be with her family in the countryside.

The Wolf’s Lair

The Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s Lair) was Hitler’s first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II. It was built for the start of Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the Soviet Union – in 1941.