The poison frontline Curious tale of Hitler and his food tasters in the spotlight again

Curious tale of Hitler and his food tasters in the spotlight again

- Deborah Cole

The story is almost too compelling to be true: a group of war-weary young women, long deprived of sufficient food, are herded together to dine on abundant vegetarian delicacies three times a day. The only price: risking their lives with each bite as they may have consumed deadly poison intended for Adolf Hitler.

The extraordinary account by then 95-year-old Margot Wölk created a sensation when it first appeared in a Berlin tabloid over a decade ago. Her decision to break what she called decades of silence about her wartime experiences captured the imagination of German reporters, then global media, finally inspiring a documentary, two novels and a play. This month, a movie "based on a true story", will be released in German cinemas, reviving fascination with the curious tale of Wölk and her "colleagues", as she called them.

The Tasters is based on a 2018 Italian historical fiction novel by Rosella Postorino, translated into English as At the Wolf's Table. Italian director Silvio Soldini said he approached the material as rooted in fact and liked that it turned a spotlight on to a rare women-centred narrative in the booming market for films about war and the Holocaust.

"It was quite unusual - telling for once a story about war and violence, without focusing on the man at war," Soldini said. "Instead we show how these women are affected, in this 'small' world in which they are forced to do something awful: constantly play Russian roulette for more than one year."