Edgar Feuchtwanger, Jew who grew up next door to Hitler, pens memoir
Academic, now 89, recalls in memoir the day he nearly ran into Nazi leader outside his door and how he sensed Germany would turn on Jews
Edgar Feuchtwanger, the son of a prominent German Jewish family with roots in Bavaria going back centuries, vividly remembers nearly bumping into his neighbour Adolf Hitler as a boy.
The 89-year-old academic's recollections are revealed in a new and startling memoir, When Hitler Was Our Neighbour.
Eight-years-old Edgar had been taken by his nanny for a walk when they nearly collided with Hitler.
"It so happened that just at the moment when we were in front of his door, he came out. He was in a nearly white mackintosh," Feuchtwanger said.
"We were in his way. He looked at me and there were a few casual bystanders in the street. It was about half past eight in the morning and they, of course, shouted 'Heil Hitler!'. He just lifted his hat a little bit, as any democratic politician would do. He didn't give the [straight-armed Nazi] salute … and then he got into his car."