- The great-great-grandson of one of Adolf Hitler's doctors has released details of historic letters.
- The letters show that the Nazi dictator was afraid of serious illness, Reuters reported.
- A TV documentary has previously claimed that Hitler suffered from extreme health anxiety.
The Swiss descendent of one of Adolf Hitler's longtime doctors has released details of historic letters showing how the Nazi dictator was afraid of serious illness.
Robert Doepgen found letters written by his great-great-grandfather Dr Carl Otto von Eicken when he was researching his family history for a school project, according to Reuters.
The news agency reported that von Eicken, who died in 1960, was an ear, nose, and throat specialist who had treated Hitler several times between 1935 and 1945.
The letters, which were partially published in the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, have had their authenticity confirmed by British historian Richard J Evans, Reuters said.
The documents offer a rare insight into Hitler's psyche and health anxiety.
"If there is something bad, I absolutely have to know," Hitler told the doctor after their first consultation in May 1935, according to the letters, per Reuters.
Previously, a television documentary claimed that Hitler suffered from extreme health anxiety. His mental health deteriorated greatly towards the end of the Second World War, according to notes from another physician, Theodor Morell, the documentary claimed.
The letters of von Eicken also suggest that Hitler had anxieties about his voice.
According to the documents, Hitler postponed an operation to remove a polyp until after a major speech. The letters said von Eicken had previously advised the Nazi dictator that he would need to rest his voice following the polyp procedure, Reuters reported.
Historians have previously noted that Hitler had a non-cancerous polyp removed from his throat.
Reuters reported that von Eiken, in his messages, had not once addressed the ethical dilemma of why he chose to treat a man who was responsible for the genocide of millions during the Holocaust.
According to NZZ am Sonntag, he told Russian interrogators after the war why he had decided not to kill Hitler. "I was his doctor, not his murderer'," von Eiken said, per the newspaper.
Hitler died by suicide in a bunker in Berlin shortly before the war ended in 1945.