Hitler's pianist and his life in Scotland

Musician fled death camp & started again

- BY JEREMY ARMSTRONG

CHURCHGOERS in the village of Strichen, Aberdeenshire, were delighted with their new organist when he arrived in 1962.

But few of them had any idea about the harrowing journey he took to get there, or the dark truth about his past.

Walter Hambock had played piano for the Nazis, then escaped a concentration camp.

Now, for the first time, his remarkable story is being told in his own words, after his diaries were discovered.

Helen Duncan, Walter's goddaughter, said: "Walter began writing his memoirs and, after his passing, my godmother Helen lovingly continued his work. Sadly, she never managed to see it published before she died. I always promised myself I would finish it, to honour them both.

"With renewed interest and publicity, I decided now is the time."