The British spy who captured Hitler

He took remarkable pictures of the Führer - and the story of the man behind them is even more amazing. Kim Sengupta reports

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2578495.ece

The British spy who captured Hitler

He took remarkable pictures of the Führer - and the story of the man behind them is even more amazing. Kim Sengupta reports

Published: 24 May 2007

Bayreuth in July 1939. The music lovers flocking to the town would have known that this could be the last time they would be able to enjoy the Wagner Festival for a while. The stormclouds were gathering and the conflagration of the Second World War was less than a month away.

It was here that a chance meeting took place which would lead to a unique set of photographs recording Adolf Hitler relaxing and imbibing culture as he prepared for the invasion of Poland.

The historic pictures, which surfaced yesterday, were taken by Charles Turner, a young English composer who had been visiting Bayreuth for the previous five year and who the Führer had invited to his entourage, which included Joseph Goebbels and Rudolf Hess, after being introduced by a mutual acquaintance.

What Hitler and the Germans did not know was that Turner was, in fact, a British secret agent who had been tasked with using the Festival to gather information and infiltrate the enemy.

Mr Turner had been sending back regular dispatches to his intelligence handlers in London after each of his visits to Bayreuth. Much of it is said to be about what people close to Hitler were saying about the impending conflict. A lot of it has been described as gossip, but "gossip which some pretty important people were engaged in".

The conversation between Hitler and Turner is still, somewhat surprisingly, deemed so "sensitive" that records are locked away in the vaults of MI6. The musician was, however, the only Briton to have such an audience. Sir Neville Henderson, the ambassador to Berlin, was also at Bayreuth hoping to engage in some last-minute diplomatic talk, but the Führer refused to see him.

The images produced by Mr Turner show Hitler in evening dress on his way to a concert followed by his personal SS bodyguard in uniform. Another is of him in his official car in a raincoat and fedora, rather than the usual peaked military cap. There are others of him accepting a bouquet from two suitably blonde, Aryan-looking girls.

Turner had high society contacts in England and this would have helped him makecontacts in influential circles in Germany. He was a ward of the Duke of Newcastle who had put him through Cambridge and then supported his musical endeavours.

The photographs were released by Mr Turner's son, David. He said last night "They have been special in a sentimental way. My father regarded these photos as an extraordinary souvenir of a remarkable event."

Mr Turner, of West Bridgford, Notts, said " They are very important to me and my family and for all that period of time - my father died in 1977 - I have regarded the possession of these photos as an intimate family matter."

Mr Turner said he decided to release the photos after embarking on a project to retrace his family's roots, "My father never spoke to me about it. That's not to say I didn't know what happened, but as a child your perception and awareness of things are very different.

"The photos were not available to me until after my father's death. They are pretty remarkable given he was using only a Kodak Eastman folding autographic camera."