Hitler

by Volker Ullrich

  174 Theodor Heuss, Hitlers Weg: Eine historisch-politische Studie über den Nationalsozialismus, 6th edition, Stuttgart, Berlin and Leipzig, 1932 (quotations on pp. 103, 131, 105, 138, 148f., 99, 100). In late October 1931, Heuss sent the manuscript (minus the final chapter) to the Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft publishers in Stuttgart. By 19 Dec., the proof corrections were finished. “It is entirely without polemic—an empirical study spiced up with a lot of irony,” Heuss wrote to his friend Friedrich Mück in Heilbronn on 21 Dec. 1931. Theodor Heuss, Bürger der Weimarer Republik: Briefe 1918–1933, ed. Michael Dorrmann, Munich, 2008, no. 186, pp. 431–3, no. 193, pp. 447–53 (quotation on pp. 450f.). For a facsimile of the first edition, see p. 451. On 25 Jan. 1932, Goebbels noted: “Read Theodor Heuss’s pamphlet ‘Hitlers Weg’ [Hitler’s Way]. Better late than never. Not completely stupid. He knows a lot about us. Exploits this somewhat unfairly. But it’s a critique you don’t have to be ashamed of.” Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 203. See also Peter Merseburger, Theodor Heuss: Der Bürger als Präsident. Biographie, Munich, 2012, pp. 279–85.

  175 Klemperer, Tagebücher 1925–1932, p. 739 (entry for 25 Dec. 1931); Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 400 (entry for 31 Dec. 1931).

  10 Hitler and Women

  1 Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, p. 210.

  2 Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Veran​twort​ungsl​osigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 303.

  3 For a summary see Hans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle, War Hitler krank? Ein abschliessender Befund, Bergisch-Gladbach, 2009, pp. 52–60; see also Heinz Linge, Bis zum Untergang: Als Chef des Persönlichen Dienstes bei Hitler, ed. Werner Maser, Munich, 1982, p. 94; Werner Maser, Adolf Hitler: Legende—Mythos—Wirklichkeit, 12th edition, Munich and Esslingen, 1989, pp. 323f.; Gustav Keller, Der Schüler Adolf Hitler: Die Geschichte eines lebenslangen Amoklaufs, Münster, 2012, p. 25, repeats the story of the bitten penis without discussion. On the tale that Hitler had lost a testicle after being wounded at the beginning of October 1916, see Thomas Weber, Hitler’s First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War, Oxford and New York, 2010. pp. 154f.

  4 Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, pp. 183f. In his unpublished memoirs (p. 3), Hanfstaengl writes that Hitler was, “in the medical sense, impotent” and lived in a “sexual no man’s land.” Hitler has “no normal sex life,” he added (p. 42); BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. In an interview on 28 Oct. 1951, Hanfstaengl contended that Hitler had had a sexual relationship with Rudolf Hess. IfZ München, ZS 60.

  5 See Guido Knopp, Hitler: Eine Bilanz, Berlin, 1995, pp. 140f.

  6 Lothar Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis: Das Doppelleben eines Diktators, Berlin, 2001, p. 7. The theory of Hitler’s repressed homosexuality has also been put forward in Manfred Koch-Hillebrecht, Homo Hitler: Psychogramm eines Diktators, Munich, 1999, pp. 249, 406.

  7 Lothar Machtan, “Was Hitlers Homosexualität bedeutet: Anmerkungen zu einer Tabugeschichte,” in Zeitschrift für Gesch​ichts​wisse​nschaft, 51 (2003), pp. 334–51 (quotations on pp. 337, 336). In contrast, see Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Veran​twort​ungsl​osigkeit, p. 353, who rejected assertions that Hitler was homosexual as a “fanciful combination that can be disproven by pure, empirical facts.”

  8 Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef: Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler, 3rd edition, Munich and Vienna, 1985, pp. 153, 152, 155. See also Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 61, who cited Eva Braun as saying: “Believe me, he’s an absolute eunuch and not a man, despite his constant desires.” See also Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926–1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 631 (entry for 28 Jan. 1935): “Hitler is said most probably to be neither hetero- nor homosexual, but rather a eunuch who has no sexual feelings.” (Kessler’s statement was based on remarks by Hermann Keyserling.)

  9 Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 448. See also Helm Stierlin, “Anziehung und Distanz: Hitler und die Frauen aus der Sicht des Psychotherapeuten,” in Ulrike Leutheusser (ed.), Hitler und die Frauen, Munich, 2003, p. 264. Stierlin asserts that “the erotic needs and sexual energy that were blocked in his private self were allowed to express themselves all the more wildly in his public self.”

  10 Guido Knopp, Hitlers Frauen und Marlene, Munich, 2001, p. 37.

  11 Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, pp. 230f. (dated 25/26 Jan. 1941); also for the following quote. See Karl Wilhelm Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener bei Hitler, Hamburg, 1949, p. 43: “Often during his excursions, he would exclaim: ‘My God is that a beautiful girl (a beautiful woman).’ ”

  12 Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 152.

  13 See Brigitte Hamann, Hitlers Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators, Munich and Zurich, 1996, pp. 517–19.

  14 Joachim Radkau, Das Zeitalter der Nervosität: Deutschland zwischen Bismarck und Hitler, Munich and Vienna, 1998, p. 147.

  15 See above, p. 61. Speer recalled Hitler’s close circle of intimates noticing that he “never broached sexual topics or told dirty jokes.” Speer to Joachim Fest, 13 Sept. 1969; BA Koblenz, N 1340/17.

  16 See Maser, Adolf Hitler, p. 315.

  17 Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augen​zeuge​nberi​chten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 139.

  18 Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Veran​twort​ungsl​osigkeit, p. 355. A relationship between Hitler and Jenny Haug was also confirmed by Maria Enders, an employee in the NSDAP offices, in a conversation on 11 Dec. 1951; IfZ München, ZS 33.

  19 See Martha Schad, “ ‘Das Auge war vor allen Dingen ungeheuer anziehend’: Freundinnen und Verehrerinnen,” in Ulrike Leutheusser (ed.), Hitler und die Frauen, Munich, 2003, pp. 30–55; Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen, Munich, 2003, pp. 63–135.

  20 Hitler, Monologe, p. 316 (dated 10/11 March 1942).

  21 Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 139; see Schad, “Freundinnen und Verehrerinnen,” p. 40. All the same, Hitler still sent “Fräulein Bechstein” a birthday telegram in June 1938. Daily diaries of Max Wünsche dated 23 June 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125.

  22 Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 148.

  23 Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 238. The prison guard Franz Hemmrich also recalled (p. 44) Hitler being “extremely indifferent” to the female sex: “He treated them with charming politeness but without the slightest hint of salaciousness in either his words or his gaze.” IfZ München, ED 153.

  24 Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 145 (dated 27 March 1942). In a conversation about the “women’s question” in July 1924 in Landsberg, Hitler declared: “Women have no place in the political representation of the people. Politics is an exclusively male domain, especially in those areas where the logical extension of politics means that men will have to shed their blood.” Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908–1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 345 (dated 10 July 1924). See diaries of G. Feder, vol. 11 (entry for 1 Nov. 1929); IfZ München, ED 874.

  25 Hitler, Monologe, pp. 315f. (dated 10/11 March 1942); p. 310 (dated 1 March 1942). See also Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 273 (dated 8 March 1942): “Marriage, as Hitler sees it, is…a task in which career battles are the job of the man, and the household order, the sanctuary from which the struggle for survival is launched, is the woman’s role.”

  26 Hess, Briefe, p. 332 (dated 8 June 1924). According to testimony by the highest party judge of the NSDAP, Walter Buch, on 1 May 1947, even before 9 Nov. 1923 Hitler had declared: “I cannot marry. My wife will be Germania.” IfZ München, ZS 805. Hitler seems to have seen his sister Paula on rare occasions. Gottfried Feder confirms
her presence in Munich in February 1923: diaries, vol. 5 (entry for 8 Feb. 1923); IfZ München, ED 874.

  27 R. Buttmann’s diary for 23 Dec. 1924; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 82; Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 1: Die Wiedergründung der NSDAP Februar 1925–Juni 1926, ed. and annotated Clemens Vollnhals, Munich, London, New York and Paris, 1992, doc. 8, p. 32.

  28 Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 153.

  29 Anna Maria Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund: Adolf Hitler, seine Nichte Geli Raubal und der “Ehrenarier” Emil Maurice—Eine Dreiecksbeziehung, Munich, 2003, p. 94.

  30 “Hitlers unbekannte Geliebte: Ein Bericht von Gunter Peis,” in Stern, 13 June 1959, pp. 28–34.

  31 On what follows see Peis, “Hitlers unbekannte Geliebte,” on which was based Anna Maria Sigmund, “Marie Reiter,” in idem., Die Frauen der Nazis: Die drei Bestseller vollständig aktualisiert in einem Band, Munich, 2005, pp. 673–729; Schad “Freundinnen und Verehrerinnen,” pp. 69–79.

  32 Hitler, Monologe, p. 230 (dated 25/26 Jan. 1942).

  33 See above, pp. 263f.

  34 Henriette von Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, Munich, 1983, pp. 244f.

  35 Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis, p. 180.

  36 Hitler, Monologe, p. 208 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942).

  37 Sigmund, “Maria Reiter,” p. 694. Hitler’s postcards and letters are reprinted in full in Anna Maria Sigmund, Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 3, Munich, 2002, pp. 11ff.; see Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 187–96. The authenticity has been assured. A graphology report can be found in the appendix of the Stern report of 13 June 1959.

  38 Sigmund, “Maria Reiter,” p. 698.

  39 Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Veran​twort​ungsl​osigkeit, p. 357. See Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 156 (“the only woman he ever loved”); Das Hitler-Bild: Die Erinnerungen des Fotografen Heinrich Hoffmann, ed. Joe J. Heydecker, St. Pölten and Salzburg, 2008, p. 77 (“Hitler’s great love”); Fest, Hitler, p. 447 (“his one great love”); Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 352 (“Hitler, for the first and only time in his life…became emotionally dependent on a woman”); Ronald Hayman, Hitler & Geli, London, 1997, p. 3 (“Geli was the crucial woman in Hitler’s life, more important than Eva Braun”).

  40 For biographical details see Anna Maria Sigmund, “Geli Raubal,” in: idem, Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, Vienna, 1998, pp. 131ff.; idem.; Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 23ff.

  41 Memoirs of Franz Hemmrich, p. 44; IfZ München, ED 153.

  42 Quoted in Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 101.

  43 Hess, Briefe, p. 385 (dated 17 Sept. 1927). Hitler, Angela Raubal and Geli Raubal added greetings on a postcard sent by Rudolf Hess to Ilse Pröhl from the Sächsische Schweiz on 2 Sept. 1929; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 39. See Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923–1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 1/2, p. 258 (entry for 22 Aug. 1927): “I’m getting to know the boss’s relatives. Likeable people just like him”; p. 260 (entry for 24 Aug. 1927): “Took my leave of the boss and his sweet niece Geli.” See ibid., p. 267 (entries for 8 and 10 Sept. 1927).

  44 H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 46. On Geli Raubal’s outward appearance see also Hayman, Hitler & Geli, pp. 102–4; Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, Hamburg, 1967, p. 107.

  45 Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, p. 124; see H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 50. Gottfried Feder confirmed that Hitler’s niece had been at the Osteria Bavaria for the first time on 10 Nov. 1927; G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 10; IfZ München, ED 874.

  46 H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, pp. 55–9 (quotation on p. 58).

  47 Ibid., p. 61; see Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 125f.

  48 Geli Raubal to Emil Maurice, 24 Dec. 1927; partially reprinted in Sigmund, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen um Hitler, vol. 1, pp. 140f. (see p. 141 for a facsimile of the letter).

  49 See Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 127–9 (see p. 128 for a facsimile of a reference signed by Hitler, which gives the leaving date of Jan. 1928). See also IfZ München, ZS 290.

  50 Nerin E. Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler: Leben und Schicksal, Velbert und Kettwig, 1968, p. 24.

  51 Quoted in Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 127.

  52 H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 51. In 1929 Hanfstaengl observed Geli Raubal and Hitler taking in a performance at Munich’s Residenztheater together. They behaved like a “romantic couple,” Hanfstaengl noted. Note by Hanfstaengl “Geli & A. H.”; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 26.

  53 See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 52 (entry for 13 July 1928); p. 54 (entry for 15 July 1928).

  54 Ibid., p. 123 (entry for 15 Nov. 1928). See ibid., p. 124 (entry for 17 Nov. 1928), p. 126 (entry for 19 Nov. 1928). About Hitler’s performance at the Sportpalast Rudolf Hess wrote to his parents on 21 Nov. 1928: “You cannot imagine what the meeting was like—18,000 people and the boss’s oratory has rarely been as captivating.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 41.

  55 See Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 154, 159.

  56 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 295 (entry for 2 Aug. 1929).

  57 Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 24.

  58 Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 124. See also an interview with Hermann Esser, dated 18 March 1964, vol. 1, who claimed that it was obvious that “Hitler was very attached to her, to say nothing of being in love.” BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

  59 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, pp. 105f. (entry for 19 Oct. 1928). On the rumours see also Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 105; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 323.

  60 Ralf Georg Reuth (ed.), Joseph Goebbels Tagebücher. Vol. 1: 1924–1929, Munich and Zurich, 1992, p. 428 (entry for 22 Nov. 1929). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 68 (entry for 20 Jan. 1930): “He’s not working very much…And then there are the women, the women.”

  61 Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 233. See also Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 198, where he claims that Hitler’s relationship “had directed his male libido into the proper channel for the first and only time in his life.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

  62 Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 153. Henriette von Schirach was also convinced that “there were no intimate relations between the two.” Quoted in Knopp, Hitler: Eine Bilanz, p. 144. See Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 327.

  63 Transcript of a conversation with Adolf Vogl and his wife on 2 Jan. 1952; IfZ München, ZS 167; see Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 235f.; Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 144. In October 1923, the lawyer Richard Dingeldey invited Hitler to dinner on Franz-Joseph-Strasse 37. Also on the guest list were “our common friends Herr and Frau Vogl” and the Wagner scholar and musical director Alfred Lorenz. See R. Dingeldey to “my most esteemed Herr Hitler,” 10 Oct. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/15.

  64 See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 185; Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 146: Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 202 (entry for 20 July 1930).

  65 See Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929–1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 98.

  66 See the bill issued by Rich & Söhne, Munich for “1 pair of snake leather shoes (cost 33 marks),” which Geli Raubal had purchased on 14 July 1931. The head of the company wrote: “My dear Herr Hitler! In accordance with your order, which we greatly value, we present you with a bill for the shoes purchased by your niece and send our fond regards with a Heil!” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557.

  67 Olaf Rose (ed.), Julius Schaub: In Hitlers Schatten, Stegen, 2005, p. 107.

  68 Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, pp. 125f. (quotation on p. 126). See also H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, pp. 62–4.

  69 H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 64.

  70 R
ose, Julius Schaub, p. 108. Schaub gives the date as 18 Sept., which cannot be correct as Geli Raubal spent that evening locked in her room.

  71 See Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 21; Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 170.

  72 Heydecker, Hoffmann-Erinnerungen, p. 78. See Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 128. On the morning of 19 Sept., Hess called Goebbels and told him: “Geli shot herself last night. What a terrible blow! I don’t dare to speculate about her motives. How will the boss get over it?” Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 103 (entry for 20 Sept. 1931).

  73 Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 203–5 (see p. 204 for a facsimile of the speeding ticket).

  74 See ibid., pp. 174f.

  75 Ibid., pp. 170f. See idem, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, p. 149.

  76 Statements from Georg Winter, Anni Winter, Maria Reichert and Anna Kirmair are part of the final report from the Munich police dated 28 Sept. 1931; reprinted in Sigmund, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, pp. 148f.; see also idem., Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 171–3.

  77 Hitler’s statement from 19 Sept. 1931; reprinted in Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 175f.; see idem, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, pp. 150, 154.

  78 Münchener Post, 21 Sept. 1931; for further examples of press commentary, see Regensburger Echo, 25 Sept. 1931 (“Tragedy in Munich’s Bogenhausen”), Freistaat, 22 Sept. 1931 (“Hitler’s family drama”), Fränkische Tagespost, 21 Sept. 1931 (“Suicide in Hitler’s apartment”) in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/13.

  79 See Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 179f.; idem, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, p. 151.

  80 Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930–März 1932. Part 2: Juli 1931–Dezember 1931, ed. Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1996, doc. 36, pp. 109–11.