Hitler, known to be a maniac, never had his own kids but he liked spending time with those of others. His Chief Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels's six children were one of his surrogate families, as were the sons and daughters of his architect Albert Speer.

In the main picture, 50-year-old Hitler stands surrounded by children in fancy dress, probably the sons and daughters of Nazi dignitaries, invited to his 50th birthday party on April 20, 1939.

The photo is one of several taken at the Eagle's Nest, Hitler's mountain-top chalet in the German Alps in Bavaria, according to the Daily Mail which has also published the snaps in today's edition.

Other photos show how rapidly Hitler aged after posing at a 1933 rally of the Storm Department -- the brown-shirted mobsters who assisted the Nazi dictator's rise to power.

The pictures, released by the Rue des Archives picture agency which was founded in Paris in 1936 four years before Nazi forces occupied the city, also revealed that Hitler was obsessed with the French capital.