Former neighbours of the one-time German dictator, Adolph Hitler, have told of their experience living next door to the young Nazi.
In an interview with "Nuts and Looneys" magazine, Mrs Von Winklehorn said of him, "We knew him as 'little Hitler' back then, he was a very quiet, polite little boy - he had very few friends so he used to play with himself quite a lot".
She explained further, "It was quite sad really, to see a boy of his age sat all alone playing with himself. I would often secretly watch him as I polished my trinkets".
Her husband took up the story, "Ulma (Mrs Von Winklehorn) was quite concerned about the boy and quite often asked him to come in and play with her for a while - usually when I was out because he was very shy and she felt that I would put him off".
"Just the offer of a helping hand seemed to perk him up and after a bit of persuasion he would come over the garden wall", Mrs Von Winklehorn said
"As he got older he made one or two friends and they would entertain themselves at the back of the premises - it was such a joy to watch him and his pals have so much fun, they would always come and say hello". "If my husband was out they would quite often help each other to come over the garden wall and help me finish what I was doing".
The retired housewife says she knew nothing of his plans of world domination and was very dissapointed when she found out what he had been up to, "I didn't believe it was him until I went to the cinema and saw that funny walk of his".
The full account can be found in her autobiography, "How I helped Hitler come over the garden wall", published by innuendo books ltd.
