Eva Braun was born this day, 6 February, 100 years ago.
Eva Braun first met Hitler whilst working as an assistant and model to Hitler’s official photographer, Heinrich Hoffman. It was 1929 and she was 17, Hitler 40. At the time Hitler had taken upon himself the responsibility of looking after his 21-year-old niece, Geli Raubal. The exact relationship between uncle and niece has never been properly ascertained except that Hitler was overly-possessive and jealous of the company she kept. On 18 September 1931, Raubal committed suicide by shooting herself with Hitler’s pistol.
Hitler’s relationship with Braun began soon after Raubal’s death and possibly before. Raubal’s jealousy of Braun has been mooted as a possible cause of her suicide.
The Invisible Woman
Germany, as a nation, never knew of Braun’s existence as Hitler went to great lengths to keep her hidden from view. He was, as he often remarked, primarily wedded to the German people and wanted to maintain his popularity amongst German women, whose adoration for Hitler sometimes contained a sexual dimension.
The painting shows the distant moon, its light shimmering over the sea, reflecting in the gentle waves. As a work of art it is pleasant to the eye but doesn’t linger too long in the memory being almost instantly forgettable. Painted almost a century ago, it was probably sold to a middle-class family or a local business where, hung on a wall, it was promptly ignored for years to come. But this week, it sold at an online auction for €32,000 (almost £27,000). The price tag reflects not the work’s artistic value but the notoriety of the man who painted it – for it was created by the 24-year-old Adolf Hitler.
The mixed-media work, entitled ‘Maritime Nocturno’, was offered to the owner of the Slovakian auction house, Darte, by the family of a Slovak painter, who may have met Hitler in Vienna during the time the impoverished Hitler was trying to carve out a living as an artist.
So how did the future dictator start off as an artist?
Originally published in 1925, Adolf Hitler’s semi-autobiographical rant, Mein Kampf, sold moderately at first. A second book, a follow-up written in 1928, was never published. However, by the end of 1933, Hitler’s first year in power, Mein Kampf had sold over a million copies. By 1939, at the outbreak of war, it was outselling all other titles in Germany with the exception of the Bible. Honeymooning couples were given a copy of Mein Kampf to savour, and no patriotic German home could be seen without a copy taking pride of place on the bookshelves. Although Hitler later claimed he regretted writing it, Mein Kampf made the German dictator a very rich man.
Now, 87 years on from its first appearance, excerpts from Mein Kampf are set to be published in Germany by a British publisher, Albertus Press. The book has not seen the light of day in Germany since the end of the Second World War but, contrary to popular belief, it is not banned there. Using the Swastika and the Nazi salute for non-educational purposes are forbidden in Germany but not the purchase or reading of the central ideological tenet of Hitler’s thinking. However the state of Bavaria, which seized the copyright to Mein Kampf after the war, has steadfastly refused to re-publish the book fearing it could fuel racial tensions and be exploited by neo-Nazi groups.
On this day, 3 January in 1903, Alois Schicklgruber died. His only claim to fame was that he was the father of Adolf Hitler.
Born 7 June 1837, Alois Schicklgruber was the son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber, a 42-year-old unmarried farmhand. The identity of his father remains uncertain: on Alois’ birth certificate the space for the father’s name was left blank and the word illegitimate scrolled across it. When aged five, his mother married Johann Georg Hiedler. But five years later, following his mother’s death, the 10-year-old Alois went to live with his stepfather’s brother, his uncle, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler.
Aged 13, Alois found employment as an apprentice cobbler before joining the Austrian Customs Service at the age of eighteen, an organization that was to remain his employer for the rest of his working life.
In 1923, the future Nazi minister for propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, wrote a novel. Recently, a carbon copy bearing the author’s corrections and amendments, came up for auction in Connecticut. 158 pages long, Michael Voormann: A Man’s Fate in the Pages of a Diary is written as a diary and is both autobiographical and a tribute to Goebbels’ friend, Richard Flisges, to whom the novel is dedicated.
Goebbels and the First World War
One imagines there’s a degree of envy here – born in 1897, Goebbels was old enough to fight in the First World War but was rejected due to his clubfoot. (Throughout his life he had to wear a special shoe to compensate his shorter leg.) After the war, he sometimes liked to pretend that his disability was in fact a war wound. But in his novel, Michael, in common with Flisges, sees active service on the Eastern Front during the Great War. Michael’s war record reflecting Goebbels’ wishful thinking.
Michael returns to a democratic Germany, seeking revolution and answers, but not sure where to find it. Michael is a socialist and a Christian, attempting to write a play about Jesus (as indeed Goebbels had) and describing Jesus as one of the greatest men to have lived.
Hitler’s personal account book is to be sold at auction in Connecticut. This 175-page handwritten ledger covers his expenses for the period 1 April 1944 to 16 April 1945, 14 days before his suicide in his Berlin bunker.
The journal, which the auction house, Alexander Autographs, claims has never been seen before, contains hundreds of entries, written in Hitler’s hand, detailing a whole range of expenses and cash payouts. Neatly organized, each page includes the date, a description, and the amount spent. Each expense is categorised and include ‘Theatre and Music, Education Facilities, Health, Paintings & Art, Buildings, Emergency Contributions, Donations, and Miscellaneous’, the latter being the most commonly used.
On this day, May 10, seventy years ago in 1941, occurred one of the most bizarre incidences of the Second World War – the appearance in Scotland of top-ranking Nazi, Rudolph Hess.
Hitler and Rudolph Hess
Hess was one of the original members of the Nazi Party, joining in 1920. Three years later he was involved in the failed Munich Putsch and, for his part, was imprisoned alongside his leader, Adolf Hitler. Devoted to Hitler, Hess acted as scribe as Hitler dictated his biographical Mein Kampf. Upon their release, Hess became Hitler’s private secretary and in 1933 was promoted to deputy leader of the Nazi Party. In 1939 Hess was appointed second-in-line to Hitler as Head of State, second only to Herman Goering.
Hess’ Flight to Scotland
Although a fervent and ideological Nazi, Hess felt that, as fellow Anglo-Saxons, Britain and Germany should not be at war with one another. Thus, on May 10, 1941, he took it upon himself to fly single-handedly from Augsberg in Germany to Scotland with the express purpose of negotiating a peace between the two nations. Around 11 pm, after a five-hour flight, Hess jettisoned his plane and parachuted out, landing awkwardly and breaking his ankle. He had landed on Floors Farm, near the village of Eaglesham in Renfrewshire, eight miles south of Glasgow.
A 45-year-old ploughman, named David McLean, who had heard the crashing of the plane, rushed out, armed with a pitchfork, to find Hess who initially identified himself as Captain Albert Horn. Prodding the German with his pitchfork, McLean escorted the hobbling Hess back to his cottage where McLean’s mother offered Hess a cup of tea (Hess refused, asking only for water). Here, in this slightly muffled TV interview, Mr McLean, with his mother, describes his strange encounter with the Nazi apparition from the skies. “He was a gentleman,” she says, and “after all he was somebody’s son.”:
The Duke of Hamilton
Upon being officially arrested, Hess demanded to see the Duke of Hamilton, whom he misguidedly believed had some influence within the British government, but was adamant he did not want to see Churchill, whom he held responsible for waging war on Germany. Churchill, on his part, had no intention of seeing Hess and ordered his internment, rather melodramatically, in the Tower of London (the Tower’s last political prisoner). Then, until the end of the war, Hess was kept in various military prisons and hospitals, whilst observed, interrogated and analysed.
Hitler, on hearing of Hess’ treachery, stripped his old comrade of all positions and responsibility, and ordered him shot should he ever step foot back in Germany. To the German public, the Nazi Party explained away Hess’ defection as being a result of his ‘mental illness’.
British Intelligence, backed up by medical opinion, had come to much the same conclusion – that Hess was mentally ill. The German was deeply depressed, had attempted suicide and was convinced he was about to be murdered.
Hess Stands Trial at Nuremberg
In 1946, Hess was sent back to Germany to stand trial at Nuremberg, irritating his co-defendants by continually fidgeting, rocking and laughing inappropriately. He was found guilty of various lesser charges, including conspiring against the peace, but crucially not of war crimes, which carried the death penalty. Instead, Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment within Spandau prison in Berlin. (Although in West Berlin, Spandau was jointly-managed by all four allied powers – Britain, the US, France and the Soviet Union).
Hess in Spandau
From 1966, following the release of other Nuremberg-sentenced Nazis, including, most famously, Albert Speer, Hess became Spandau’s sole inmate. His mental health had deteriorated still further and the three Western powers petitioned his release on humanitarian grounds. The Soviets however were determined that Hess should remain behind bars to the end of his life.
Finally, in 1987, during Mikhail Gorbachev’s tenure as Soviet leader, the Soviet Union relented and agreed to Hess’ release. But on August 17, 1987, Hess, aged 93, was found dead. He’d hung himself in the prison summer house with an electric cord. Spandau prison was then destroyed to prevent it becoming a shrine to Neo-Nazis.
The Alternative Theories of Hess
The story of Rudolph Hess’ flight to Scotland and his subsequent imprisonment does not end there. Conspiracy theories abound to this day. One such theory argues that Hitler approved of Hess’ mission; wanting to make peace with Britain to allow him a free hand in the coming invasion of the Soviet Union (launched a month later in June 1941). Another theory postulates that Hess’ plane was shot down and Hess killed (or shot soon after) and that it was a double that appeared in the Nuremberg dock and spent 41 years in Spandau.
Even his death raises questions – aged 93, Hess needed constant care and help – he was reportedly unable to tie his own shoelaces or lift his arms – let alone hang himself, and that, on the eve of his release, he was murdered on the orders of British Intelligence to prevent embarrassing revelations coming to light.
Will we ever know the full truth? The chances are that yes, possibly we will. But not until 2017 when, 30 years after his death, the official files on Rudolph Hess are opened.
In January 1945, with the Soviet Red Army bearing down on Germany, Hitler left his HQ in East Prussia and moved back to Berlin and into the Reich Chancellery. A month later, he went underground into the Chancellery’s air-raid shelter, a cavern of dimly-lit rooms made of solid, high-quality concrete.
Hitler’s Health
During his last few months, Hitler’s health deteriorated rapidly. In February 1945, after so many years of shouting and screaming, he had to have an operation on his vocal chords which, following the operation, obliged him to stay silent for a whole week.
Despite the implorations of his staff, Hitler refused to leave Berlin and when, realising the war was truly lost, he decided to end his life. Shuffling around with a stoop, Hitler looked much older than his fifty-six years. A new pain in his eye required daily doses of cocaine drops, and, perhaps from the onset of Parkinson’s disease, his left hand shook constantly. His eyesight had become so poor he had to have his documents written in extra-large print on specially-made ‘Fuhrer’ typewriters.
He ate poorly – devouring large portions of cake. He’d fallen out with many of his senior colleagues – in particular Goring and Himmler, both of whom he accused of treachery and ordered to be arrested and court-martialled. Goebbels, however, remained loyal to the last, broadcasting to the nation, demanding greater effort and sacrifice against the enemy.
Hitler the General
In his final days Hitler ordered a scorched-earth policy throughout eastern Germany and the destruction of anything that could be of use to the Soviets. What happened to the German citizen was not of Hitler’s concern – as far as Hitler was concerned, they had proved themselves unworthy of him.
From within the bunker Hitler continued to dictate operations but his grip on reality had deserted him. He refused to listen to the glum reports from the front and ordered a constant stream of counterattacks deploying non-existent troops and refusing the troops that did exist room to retreat and re-group.
At the end of March a group of twenty Hitler Youth boys lined-up in the Chancellery garden for Hitler to inspect. Lined-up from the eldest to the youngest, Hitler, with his shaking left hand behind his back, shook hands with each child, pinching the cheek of the last, the youngest child. He delivered a short speech and thanked them for their bravery before shuffling back into the bunker. It was to be Hitler’s last appearance in public.
Hitler and Eva
On April 21, Hitler celebrated (of sorts) his 56th birthday. A week later, just past midnight on April 29 in a ten-minute ceremony, Hitler married his long-term partner, Eva Braun. Twenty-three years his junior, the German people knew nothing of her. Her presence, although not a secret amongst the Nazi hierarchy, was not something Hitler wished publicized lest it should diminish the adoration of Germany’s women. Goebbels and Martin Bormann stood as witnesses as a hastily-found registrar nervously asked the couple whether they were of pure Aryan descent and free of hereditary diseases.
That night, following the subdued and rather surreal marital celebrations, Hitler dictated his will to his secretary, where he drew-up the make up of the government following his death. The admiral, Karl Donitz, was named as his successor, not as ‘Fuhrer’ but as president, and Goebbels as Chancellor.
“I’d rather blow my brains out.”
On April 29 Hitler made preparations for his death. Benzene was delivered into the bunker. Hitler insisted that his body be burnt, not wanting his corpse to finish up in Soviet hands, like an “exhibit in a cabinet of curiosities.” He ordered also the testing of the newly-arrived batch of cyanide capsules. The chosen victim was Hitler’s much loved Alsatian dog, Blondi.
On April 30, with the Soviets only 300 metres away, Goebbels tried one last time to convince the Fuhrer to leave Berlin but Hitler had already made it plain a week earlier, bellowing at his generals, “If you gentlemen think I’m going to leave Berlin you are very much mistaken. I’d rather blow my brains out.”
Near four o’clock, after a round of farewells, Hitler and his wife of forty hours retired to his study. Hitler wore upon his tunic, his Iron Cross (First Class) and his Wounded Badge of the First World War. His entourage waited outside nervously. A shot was heard. Hitler had shot himself through the right temple. Braun was also dead. She had swallowed the cyanide.
The bodies, covered in blankets, were carried out into the Chancellery garden. There, with artillery exploding around them and neighbouring buildings ablaze, Hitler’s wishes were honoured – 200 litres of benzene were poured on the corpses and set alight. With the bodies blazing, the entourage gave one final Hitler salute before scampering back into the bunker.
The official announcement, the following day, stated that “Hitler had fallen at his command post fighting to his last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany”.
Hitler had come to power as German Chancellor, aged 43, in January 1933. The Third Reich, which was meant to last a thousand years, had lasted twelve.
On this day, 23 March, in 1933, the German Reichstag voted in the Enabling Act, allowing Hitler to rip up the constitution. He’d been in power less than two months.
Barely a month after Hitler’s appointment came the Reichstag Fire started, whether accidentally or not, by 24-year-old Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch arsonist who may or may not have been a communist. Rumours persisted that it was the Nazis themselves that set the parliament building ablaze.
Either way, Hitler, who saw it as a “God-given signal”, made political capital of it, blaming the communists, having all political opponents rounded up and beaten, and put into ‘protective custody’. President Paul von Hindenburg (pictured with Hitler), increasingly senile, accepted Hitler’s request following the fire for a decree suspending all political and civil liberties as a ‘temporary’ measure for the ‘protection of the people and state’. These temporary measures were never revoked.
In March the last parliamentary elections took place. Only Hitler, it was claimed, could save Germany from the Communists, and the SA, using violence and intimidation, silenced all other parties. The Nazis polled 44% of the vote, not enough for a majority but enough to squash any future political resistance.
TheEnabling Act
The post of Chancellor was one that lasted four years before another election. But Hitler requested more than the prerequisite amount of time to deal with the nation’s problems. He proposed the Enabling Act in order to allow him greater time and to dispense with the constitution and the electoral system. Constitutionally, Hitler needed a two-thirds majority to pass the act. Having bullied and threatened any potential opposition into silence, the Reichstag convened in the Berlin Opera House, its grand hall lined with Stormtroopers. Only the Socialist Democrats were brave enough to vote against the proposal but the Enabling Act was easily passed by 441 votes to 84.
There would be no more elections nor a constitution to keep Hitler in check. The Reichstag had, in effect, voted away its power.
Within a matter of weeks it had become illegal to criticise the government. A new secret police force was established, the Gestapo, which immediately began arresting ‘unreliable’ persons. Dachau, the first concentration camp which opened within weeks of the Nazis coming to power, catered for their custody. Trade unions were banned, freedom of the press curtailed, and all other political parties declared illegal, leaving only the Nazi party. Germany had become a one-party state with Hitler its dictator.
The first anti-Jew laws: ‘Non-citizens.’
With the Enabling Act in place, the first of over 400 anti-Jewish measures was introduced. Now classed as ‘Non-Aryans’, the Jews were banned from teaching, receiving a university education, working in the civil service, the media, military and from owning businesses. Books by Jewish authors were banned, including works by Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. The Jewish population suffered daily torment and anti-Semitic hysteria triggered a mass exodus of Jews from Germany. Of the half million Jews in Germany in 1933, about 320,000 had emigrated by 1939, amongst them Albert Einstein and Marlene Dietrich. Many emigrated to the USA but others chose Eastern Europe where, once the war had broken out, they were soon caught in the Nazi war machine.
Fanatics, Hooligans and Eccentrics
The British Ambassador to Germany watched these developments with increasing alarm and, having seen Hitler rip up the constitution, wrote: “We are living in a country (Germany) where fanatics, hooligans and eccentrics have got the upper hand.”
Hitler was never truly comfortable in the company of women, but women found him strangely attractive.
Hitler’s First Love
Hitler’s first love, in Vienna, was a Jewish girl called Stefanie but, lacking the courage, he never spoke to her. Instead he wrote love poems about her which his youthful friend, the poor Kubizek, had to endure.
Hitler extolled the virtues of men remaining celibate until the age of 25. He was repulsed and fascinated by prostitutes and although he preached that only men of inferior races went to prostitutes he obliged Kubizek to accompany him on numerous trips into Vienna’s red light districts. Rumours persisted that Hitler caught syphilis from a Jewish prostitute. In the early 1920s Hitler’s driver spoke of them cruising the Munich nightclubs.
Once he had become a national figure, Hitler’s relations with women were always marred by his belief that he was wedded to his mission. A wife would not only be a distraction, it could damage his popularity in the eyes of his female fans. Evidence of Hitler’s popularity amongst women first surfaced during his trial following the failed Munich Putsch in which daily the courtroom was jammed with female admirers. On the day of sentencing it was festooned with flowers.
In 1926 the 37-year-old Hitler began seeing a sixteen-year-old called Maria (or ‘Mitzi) Reiter. But his dedication to his mission caused her to be sidelined. Depressed by his lack of attention, Reiter tried to commit suicide.
Hitler and his niece
In 1929 Hitler started on a relationship, maybe intimate, with the daughter of his half sister, 20-year-old Geli Raubal. Raubal moved into Hitler’s Munich flat and Hitler became obsessed by his niece, boiling over in rage when she started dating his driver, who was immediately sacked (although later re-instated). Hitler started controlling every aspect of Raubal’s life.
On September 19, 1931, she was found dead in Hitler’s flat. Aged 23, she had shot herself. Devastated, Hitler became more withdrawn. Heinrich Hoffman, Hitler’s official photographer, later stated that Raubal’s death “was when the seeds of inhumanity began to grow inside Hitler.”
Eva Braun
Eva Braun worked as a photographic assistant and model for Hoffman and it was through him she met the 40-year-old Hitler as a 17-year-old in 1929. Their relationship began soon after Raubal’s suicide and possibly before. (Raubal’s jealousy of Braun has been mooted as a possible cause of her suicide). Again, Hitler’s lack of attention resulted in an attempted suicide. Twice Braun tried, once by shooting herself, the second time by poison. Although Hitler looked after her materially, Braun was usually marginalised and only Hitler’s immediate circle knew of her existence.
As the end of the war approached Braun refused to leave Hitler’s side and joined him inside the bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery. Finally, aged 33, Braun was allowed to marry her man. Within 40 hours they were dead.
Eva Braun first met Hitler whilst working as an assistant and model to Hitler’s official photographer, Heinrich Hoffman. It was 1929 and she was 17, Hitler 40. At the time Hitler had taken upon himself the responsibility of looking after his 21-year-old niece, Geli Raubal. The exact relationship between uncle and niece has never been properly ascertained except that Hitler was overly-possessive and jealous of the company she kept. On 18 September 1931, Raubal committed suicide by shooting herself with Hitler’s pistol.
The bodies, covered in blankets, were carried out into the Chancellery garden. There, with artillery exploding around them and neighbouring buildings ablaze, Hitler’s wishes were honoured – 200 litres of benzene were poured on the corpses and set alight. With the bodies blazing, the entourage gave one final Hitler salute before scampering back into the bunker.
