A woman who served as Adolf Hitler’s food taster has claimed that the Führer was a dedicated vegetarian.

Margot Woelk, 95, said that Hitler ate only the freshest fruit and vegetables during the two and a half years that she was forced to check his food for traces of poison.

During the Second World War, Mrs Woelk, a German citizen whose husband had been sent to fight, was taken by the SS to Hitler’s Eastern Front headquarters in modern-day Poland, known as the “Wolf’s Lair”.

There, she joined a team of a dozen other women whose job it was to protect Hitler from any attempts to poison him.

She said: “Between 11 and 12 o’clock, we had to taste the food, and only after all of us had tried it was it driven to the headquarters by the SS.

“It was all vegetarian, the most delicious fresh things, from asparagus to peppers and peas, served with rice and salads. It was all arranged on one plate, just as it was served to him. There was no meat and I do not remember any fish.

“Of course I was afraid. If it had been poisoned I would not be here today. We were forced to eat it, we had no choice.”

Hitler’s apparent enthusiasm for vegetarianism reflected the Nazi obsession with Aryan bodily purity.