A 101-year-old Jewish woman living in Britain has astonishingly revealed she once lived next to Adolf Hitler and even saw a coffin being taken from his flat.
Alice Frank Stock spent years living in the same apartment block as the Nazi dictator while growing up in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s.
The centenarian’s family lived on Prinzregentplatz in Munich – just doors away from one of the most notorious figures in history.
Mrs Stock said she would sometimes see Hitler being rushed into the building while flanked by towering SS guards – most likely fearful of an assassination attempt.
Rumours were also rife about his nocturnal activities – including the mysterious fate of his niece Geli Raubal with whom he was reportedly in a relationship with.
Alice Frank Stock spent years living in the same apartment block as the Nazi dictator while growing up in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s. She’s seen aged 101 in her Bristol care home (left) and as a young woman in the 1950s
Mrs Stock says she once saw a coffin being carried out of Hitler’s apartment – which she and others thought could have been the body of Geli after she shot herself.
But she said Hitler was mostly unseen by her and her family, who were later forced to leave Germany just days before the outbreak of World War Two.
Now living in a care home in Bristol, Mrs Stock can still remember her days living in the affluent area and her encounters with her infamous neighbour.
‘We lived in a house – a big house – and there were two entrances,’ she said. ‘One was our apartment, number 14 – the other was either number 13 or 15. That’s where Hitler lived.
‘We heard many [rumours], from the cook and others. We saw a coffin being carried out of the entrance.’
‘I think a niece of Hitler’s was living there and then she died. There was speculation of how and when she died.
‘I think there was truth in it that the coffin was carried out and in it was a woman. But there was no confirmation ever – and you couldn’t talk openly.’
The centenarian’s family lived in this apartment block on Prinzregentplatz in Munich – just doors away from one of the most notorious figures in history
Alice Stock Frank, aged 3, with her brother Richard, aged 6. Alice spent more than a decade living in the same apartment block as Adolf Hiter when she was young
Raubal did indeed take her own life in Hitler’s Munich apartment in 1931 with his gun at the age of 23 – although theories about his involvement in the death persist today.
Hitler’s relationship with her – the daughter of his half-sister – was a matter of controversy even within the Nazi party.
It was rumoured among contemporaries that the pair were in a romantic relationship – despite the 19-year age gap and family ties.
Despite her close proximity to the Führer, Mrs Stock said she rarely saw him – and never had any personal interactions.
Alice Frank Stock is pictured in the 1950s
She said: ‘I never spoke to him. Once I went to the opera – I got tickets through the school, it was in the royal box. I was very pleased.
‘I got there in the evening and there were SS men saying: ‘You can’t come in here – go two boxes further down’.
‘As the curtain went up I looked at the royal box – and there was Hitler sitting there. I saw him once or twice coming home too. His car would draw up.
‘Two SS men would jump out stand either side and he would rush up to the house – terrified obviously of someone who would try and kill him.’
Mrs Stock also revealed that the fear of retribution was strong even at the early stage of Hitler’s career.
‘We had a wonderful cook who was elderly and very Catholic – and very anti-Hitler,’ she said.
‘Once she went out and saw a photo of Hitler hanging on the wall and she said: ‘Yes he should be hanged, the scoundrel – but not like this!’
‘I said: “You’ll get us all into a concentration camp”.’
When asked what she would say to Hitler knowing what she knows now, she said: ‘I wouldn’t want to talk to him because my feelings would be too strong – I couldn’t.’
Alice Frank Stock and her husband Roy are seen on their wedding day in 2004 (left) and during a holiday in the 90s (right)
The pensioner was born in the city of Augsburg before moving with her family to Munich as a three-month-old baby in 1918.
She spent her formative years there before being sent to study in Lausanne, Switzerland at the age of 17 due to the growing threat to Jewish people in Germany.
She then moved to London in 1937 with her parents two years later to attend secretarial college – just two days before the start of World War Two.
The family were forced to sell a 200-year-old violin to stump up the £1,000 needed to enter England – which Mrs Stock managed to smuggle out of Germany.
Alice Frank Stock’s husband Roy (pictured)
Talking about being Jewish in a society that was rapidly becoming outwardly antisemitic, she said: ‘In my school people were on the whole decent. My classmates were decent, too. But I can tell you of one incident, in an English lesson.
‘The teacher said: “Of course, we Germans face our God as free men while the Jews roll in the dust”. I didn’t say anything.
‘I went out into the corridor after and he said: “Look Frank, I didn’t know you were Jewish”.
‘I said: “Professor, why would you make such remarks? You don’t believe it yourself, do you?”.
‘He said: “You must go with your times”. That is the key sentiment, why thousands joined the [Nazi] party – because you had to go with your times if you wanted promotions.’
Mrs Stock worked for the BBC and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) after leaving Germany.
She would listen to radio transmissions from her birth country during the war and flag up anything noteworthy to her superiors – such as a large gathering of soldiers.
She then met her husband Roy Macdonald Stock – a Military Cross winner – while working for the OECD in Paris in 1966.
The pair were together for 38 years before they married in 2004, and do not have any children.
Alice Frank Stock’s parents August and Valerie in 1930. She then moved to London in 1937 with her parents just two days before the start of World War Two
They left the French capital in 2009 and retired to Bristol, where Roy was from originally. He sadly died in 2011.
Mrs Stock, who recently celebrated her birthday, added: ‘I have had a good life. [I would advise] lots of walking and hiking, along with the occasional glass of red wine.’
Hitler’s apartment on Prinzregentplatz was also the birthplace of the Nazi party.
He remained the property until 1934, when he moved due to becoming Chancellor.
Although he retained ownership he returned infrequently, preferring to spend his time in Berlin or The Berghof, a rented villa near Berchtesgaden.
The building in Munich still stands and has been occupied for various usages over the years.