56 See Anni Winter’s statement dated 6 March 1948; cited in Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 467f. Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 119f., quotes a letter by Eva Braun from the spring of 1937: “I spend almost all my time with Liserl, Georg, Peppo, Toni and Röschen.”
57 See Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 167; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 302, 438; Görtemaker, Eva Braun, p. 194.
58 Linge, Bis zum Untergang, p. 74.
59 Plaim and Kuch, Bei Hitlers, p. 39.
60 Reinhard Spitzy, So haben wir das Reich verspielt: Bekenntnisse eines Illegalen, 2nd edition, Munich and Vienna, 198, p. 128.
61 See Julius Schaub’s statement, quoted in Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 468; Baur, Ich flog Mächtige der Erde, p. 114; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 95, 130.
62 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 106.
63 On the 1935 rally see Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 113, 116; 1937 rally: ibid., pp. 139, 320 (note 38); 1938 rally: ibid., pp. 177f., 324 (note 48).
64 See ibid., p. 63.
65 See ibid., pp. 117, 123, 208–15.
66 Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 50f.; Baur, Ich flog Mächtige der Erde, p. 114. The Bruckmanns were also aware of the existence of Hitler’s “girlfriend.” See Ulrich von Hassell, Vom anderen Deutschland: Aus den nachgelassenen Tagebüchern 1938–1944, Frankfurt am Main, 1964, p. 58 (entry for 22 July 1939).
67 See Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 122f. In the second volume of his Hitler biography (Adolf Hitler: Ein Mann gegen Europa, Zurich, 1937, p. 191), Konrad Heiden also mentions Hitler having a “girlfriend in Munich, a Miss B., a photographer by trade.”
68 See Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 125; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 418.
69 As in Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 59.
70 See Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 416, 470f.; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, pp. 65, 103; Speer, Erinnerungen, pp. 114f.; Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, p. 45; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 129f., 160; Plaim and Kuch, Bei Hitlers, pp. 74f.
71 Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 50.
72 Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, p. 59. Karl Brandt, Hitler’s personal physician, wrote from Kransberg prison in August 1945: “Hitler and his Eva were quite deeply connected emotionally.” Ibid., p. 228.
73 Albert Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, Munich, 2002, p. 198 (entry for 3 March 1949).
74 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 106.
75 Fest, Die unbeantwortbaren Fragen, p. 59.
76 Statement by Herbert Döhring, summer of 2001; quoted in Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 454.
77 Series of articles by Heinz Linge in the newspaper Revue (November 1955 to March 1956); here no. 45 (dated November 1955); collected in IfZ München, MS 396: see also Linge, Bis zum Untergang, pp. 64f., 68, 94.
78 See Plaim and Kuch, Bei Hitlers, pp. 75, 108; Knopp, Die Geheimnisse des “Dritten Reiches,” p. 317. When asked during his interrogation by Robert W. M. Kempner on 12 March 1947 whether Hitler had loved Eva Braun, Julius Schaub answered: “He liked her very much.” When pressed whether this meant Hitler had loved her, Schaub answered: “He was very fond of her.” IfZ München, ZS 137.
79 Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 231.
80 As in Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 359; statement by Christa Schroeder; quoted in Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 454f.
81 Hitler’s personal will and testament dated 2 May 1938; copy in BA Koblenz, N 1128/22; facsimile in Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, after p. 128. On the fear Hitler could be assassinated on his trip to Italy, see also Rudolf Hess to Karl Haushofer, 20 April 1938: “One has to accept that destiny is immutable and hope that it still needs this man as a tool for achieving Greater Germany.” BA Koblenz, N 1122/125.
82 See Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, p. 59; Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, pp. 216f.; Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 159; Fritz Wiedemann, Der Mann, der Feldherr werden wollte: Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen des Vorgesetzten Hitlers im 1. Weltkrieg und seines späteren persönlichen Adjutanten, Velbert and Kettwig 1964, p. 79; Misch, Der letzte Zeuge, p. 101; Wiedemann’s shorthand notes dated 25 Feb. 1939: “Guests only close acquaintances and friends. The sort of comfortable country life.” BA Koblenz, N 1720/4. Hermann Esser also later attested that the only friends invited to the Berghof were those “accepted by Eva Braun.” Interview with Hermann Esser dated 3 April 1964; BayHStA München. Nl Esser.
83 See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 279 (entry for 21 Aug. 1935): “cultish nonsense”; Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 108; Wiedemann’s notes dated 25 Feb. 1939: “He had less sympathy for Darré’s cult of blood and soil and Himmler’s worship of everything ancient Germanic, which he made fun of occasionally.” BA Koblenz, N 1720/4.
84 See Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 111; Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 217; Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 77. On Hewel’s role see Eckart Conze, Norbert Frei, Peter Hayes and Moshe Zimmermann, Das Amt und die Vergangenheit: Deutsche Diplomaten im Dritten Reich und in der Bundesrepublik, Munich, 2010, pp. 153f.; Enrico Syring, “Walter Hewel: Ribbentrops Mann beim ‘Führer,’ ” in Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring and Rainer Zitelmann (eds), Die braune Elite II: 21 weitere biographische Skizzen, Darmstadt, 1993, pp. 150–65.
85 Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 216; see Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 142f.
86 See Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, pp. 81, 231; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, p. 138. On Martin und Gerda Bormann’s children see Koop, Martin Bormann, pp. 185f.
87 See, for example, Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 4, p. 214 (entry for 10 July 1937): “We’re staying at the Bechsteins’ house and are very comfortable.” See Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 99f.
88 See Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 105; Sereny, Albert Speer, pp. 109f.; Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 127–32.
89 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 107; see also idem, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 208 (entry for 19 June 1949). By contrast, Schwerin von Krosigk found that Hitler showed his “most human and attractive side” when he was around children. Krosigk wrote that his face, “which often looked so tense, as though it were covered by a mask,” relaxed when he was in the presence of children and took on an “expression of true cordiality and benevolence.” See Schwerin von Krosigk’s essay on Hitler’s personality (c. 1945); IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5. See also Sereny, Albert Speer, pp. 123f.; Nissen, Sind Sie die Tochter Speer?, p. 19.
90 Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 127 (entry for 18 Nov. 1947); see idem, Erinnerungen, p. 107; Nissen, Sind Sie die Tochter Speer?, p. 25 (Margarete Speer’s note). On Hitler’s dislike of snow and skiing see Rudolf Hess to his parents, 10 May 1937: “Now that at long last the warmth of spring has arrived, the Führer simply can’t believe it that somebody voluntarily returns to the ice and snow.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, 1.121-1989/148, 59.
91 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 107; questioning it is Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 131f. At the Berghof Speer was considered as “Eva Braun’s actual confidante.” Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, p. 221.
92 See Schmidt, Hitlers Arzt Karl Brandt, pp. 89–92; Neumann and Eberle, War Hitler krank?, pp. 100f.; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 173; Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 132f.
93 See Schmidt, Hitlers Arzt Karl Brandt, p. 93; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 174. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 148 (entry for 17 Aug. 1933): “Brückner has had a serious car accident. Fractured skull and an injured arm. Extremely serious. Hospital in Traunstein. I called the Führer. He was deeply shaken.”
94 See Görtemaker, Eva Braun, p. 134; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 386 (entry for 16 March 1934); Schmidt, Hitlers Arzt Karl Brandt, p. 95, falsely dates the wedding at the end of 1934.
95 See a summary of interviews with Hanskarl von Hasselbach during 1951 and 1952 in IfZ München, ZS 242; see also Neumann and Eberle, War Hitler krank?, pp. 103f.
96 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 119. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 5, p. 102 (entry for 17 Jan. 1938): “Dr. Morell got him on his feet with a bacterial cure. I’m very happy about that.” On Morell’s role see the transcript of an
interview with Anni Winter (undated): IfZ München, ZS 194; Ernst Günther Schenk, Patient Hitler: Eine medizinische Biographie, Düsseldorf, 1989, pp. 163f., 180; Neumann and Eberle, War Hitler krank?, pp. 90–3; Schmidt, Hitlers Arzt Karl Brandt, pp. 137–9.
97 In a letter in late August 1937 Eva Braun wrote that “Morell can be eternally grateful to me for being allowed to visit the mountain.” Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 140. See Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 177f.; Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, p. 231. A special identification card was arranged for Frau Morell on 3 Jan. 1938, which allowed her to visit the Obersalzberg; IfZ München, F 123. Frau Morell’s presence at lunch on the Berghof was attested to for 26 June and 4 July 1938 in Max Wünsche’s daily diaries; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125.
98 Morell to Hitler, 2 Feb. 1938; quoted in Beatrice und Helmut Heiber (eds), Die Rückseite des Hakenkreuzes: Absonderliches aus den Akten des Dritten Reiches, Munich, 1993, p. 50.
99 In remarks recorded in prison in September 1945, Brandt said he found it “incomprehensible” that Morell had been kept on so long as “the Führer’s personal physician.” Karl Brandt, “Theodor Morell” (19 Sept. 1945); BA Koblenz, N 1128/33.
100 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 120. On Eva Braun’s treatment by Morell see also the letter from Ilse Hess to Carla Leitgen, 3 Feb. 1938; quoted in Görtemaker, Eva Braun, p. 181.
101 Interview with Hanskarl von Hasselbach dated 1951/52; IfZ München, ZS 242.
102 See Sabine Brantl, Haus der Kunst: München. Ein Ort und seine Geschichte im Nationalsozialismus, Munich, 2007, pp. 81–4: Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 4, pp. 170f. (entry for 6 June 1937), 216 (entry for 12 July 1937). Max Wünsche’s daily diaries dated 20 June, 10 July 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125. See also Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 26f.; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 82f.
103 Theodor Morell to Hanni Morell, 28 May 1940; BA Koblenz, N 1348/6.
104 See Görtemaker, Eva Braun, p. 202; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 466f.; Hans Georg Hiller von Gaertringen (ed.), Das Auge des Dritten Reiches: Hitlers Kameramann und Fotograf Walter Frentz, Berlin, 2006, pp. 108–25.
105 See Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 422f., 458, 462, 472, 502, 507–15 (see p. 515 for a photograph from the wedding on 7 Aug. 1937); Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 70, 169f.; quotation in Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, p. 229. Max Wünsche’s daily diaries dated 2 July 1938 (7 p.m.): “Visit from Frau Marion Schönmann.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde NS 10/125.
106 See the exchange of letters between Sofie Stork and Fritz Wiedemann 1937–39 in BA Koblenz, N 1720/8. After the New Year’s party of 1937–8, the clique of friends referred to one another as “Fifty Brother” and “Fifty Sister.” On Sofie Stork see also Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 497–506; Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 168f.
107 See Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 182–9, 199; Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 217; interview with Hermann Esser dated 3 April 1964, vol. 2; BayHStA München, Nl Esser; Max Wünsche’s daily diaries dated 22 June, 5 July, 6 July 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde NS 10/125; Arno Breker, Im Strahlungsfeld der Ereignisse: Leben und Wirken eines Künstlers. Porträts, Begegnungen, Schicksale, Preussisch Oldendorf, 1972, p. 183; Jürgen Trimborn, Arno Breker: Der Künstler und die Macht. Die Biographie, Berlin, 2011, pp. 212f.
108 See Sereny, Albert Speer, p. 194; Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, pp. 231–3; Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 114; Schmidt, Hitlers Arzt Karl Brandt, pp. 102f.
109 See Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 160f.; Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, p. 231; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 96.
110 Speer, Erinnerungen, pp. 102, 105, 107. Joachim Fest does not challenge this description. See Fest, Hitler, p. 721; idem, Speer, pp. 140f. For a critical perspective on Speer’s account see Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 127, 129f., 161.
111 Sereny, Albert Speer, p. 112.
112 Ibid., p. 193.
113 Fest, Die unbeantwortbaren Fragen, p. 171.
114 See Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 105; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 95f.; Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, Hamburg, 1967, p. 266; Junge, Bis zur letzte Stunde, pp. 69, 72; Plaim and Kuch, Bei Hitlers, p. 47.
115 See Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 102; Gun, Eva-Braun-Hitler, pp. 105f.; Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 216; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 97; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, p. 81; Wiedemann, notes on “daily life”; BA Koblenz, N 1720/4. Details on timings according to the daily diaries of Max Wünsche from 16 June to 20 Nov. 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125.
116 Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 204 (entry for 13 May 1949).
117 Ibid., p. 205.
118 See Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 106f.; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 178; Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, pp. 73, 75; Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 102; Eberle and Uhl (eds), Das Buch Hitler, p. 201; Nissen, Sind Sie die Tochter Speer?, pp. 23f. (Margarete Speer’s note).
119 See Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 218; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 179; Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 102; Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 75; Eberle and Uhl (eds), Das Buch Hitler, p. 202.
120 Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 206 (entry for 13 May 1949).
121 Sereny, Albert Speer, p. 435. See ibid., p. 153: those who sat next to Hitler at the lunch or dinner table had the feeling afterwards that “he had really wanted to know something about them—cared about them.”
122 See Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 108; Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, pp. 77f.; Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, pp. 220f.; Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 108; Fest, Die unbeantwortbaren Fragen, p. 64; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 181f.
123 The first walk to the little tearoom took place on 9 Aug. 1937. See excerpts from the notebook of the “private secretary” to Hitler (probably Julius Schaub) about his daily routine during the years 1934–1943; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/16.
124 See Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 103; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 182–4; Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, pp. 78–80; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 109f.; Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 222.
125 See Heydecker, Hoffmann-Erinnerungen, pp. 166f.; Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 103; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 184–6; Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, pp. 81–3; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 110, 112f.
126 See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/2, p. 102 (entry for 9 June 1936): “Spent a long time alone with the Führer. He doesn’t like heavily made-up women. He thinks highly of Magda that she’s remained such a clear-headed simple woman.”
127 Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 81. On the above see Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 114; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 186; Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, pp. 228f.; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 5, p. 64 (entry for 22 Dec. 1937); Speer, Erinnerungen, pp. 104f.
128 Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 230; see also Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 188–90; Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 161; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 114f.; Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, pp. 88–94; Speer, Erinnerungen, pp. 104f. From June to November 1938 Hitler usually went to bed around midnight, although occasionally not until 1:30 a.m. Max Wünsche’s daily diaries; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125.
129 Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, pp. 53–5. See also Leni Riefenstahl, Memoiren, Munich, 1987, p. 250 (for Christmas Eve 1935).
130 Martin Bormann to Wilhelm Brückner, 14 Dec. 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/116.
131 Handwritten letter by Gretl Braun to Fritz Wiedemann (addressed to “Beloved ‘Fifty Partner’ ”), 31 Dec. 1938; BA Koblenz, N 1720/6. In his return letter of 5 Jan. 1939 (which he began with “Dear Fifty Sister”), Wiedemann assured Braun that “he had thought intensely about the previous year’s party on New Year’s Eve” and hoped “equally intensely” that he would see her again.
132 Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 119. See Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 175; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 102–4 (description of the New Year’s Eve 1938 festivities on the Obersalzberg by Ilse Braun). On Hitler’s “particular passion for fireworks” see Albert Speer to Joachim Fest, 13 Sept. 1969; BA Koblenz, N 1340/17. Hanfstaengl spoke i
n a note about Hitler’s “pyromaniacal tendency”; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.
133 Misch, Der letzte Zeuge, p. 111; see Knopp, Geheimnisse des “Dritten Reiches,” pp. 317f.
134 Schlie (ed.), Albert Speer, p. 225.
135 Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 150. In her essay “76 Jahre Leben in Deutschland” (1989) Henriette von Schirach describes the Berghof as the “stage of history”; BayHStA München, Nl H. v. Schirach 3.
136 Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 167 (dated 2/3 Jan. 1942). See Wiedemann’s notes dated 25 Feb. 1939: “Without doubt, the Obersalzberg was the place where the Führer determined the main lines of his policy.” BA Koblenz, N 1720/4.
137 Heydecker, Hoffmann-Erinnerungen, p. 85; Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 58. When Lloyd George’s daughter jokingly greeted him in from of the hotel in Berchtesgaden with “Heil Hitler!” the former British prime minister remarked in all seriousness that Hitler truly was a “great man.” Paul Schmidt, Statist auf diplomatischer Bühne 1923–45: Erlebnisse des Chefdolmetschers im Auswärtigen Amt mit den Staatsmännern Europas, Bonn, 1950, p. 340.
138 Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 157; see Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 192f.; Schmidt, Als Statist auf diplomatischer Bühne, p. 376; Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, pp. 58f.
139 Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 122.
140 See Lammers to Willhelm Brückner, Berchtesgaden, 21 Oct. and 25 Oct. 1938: Although Lammers insisted that he needed to get Hitler’s signature on two important draft laws, he was only granted access to him on 31 Oct.; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, R 43 II 886a. See also Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 150–2, 154f. In late November, Lammers again requested an appointment, writing: “Since I only had the chance to speak to the Führer in the most urgent cases, and then only in limited fashion, this summer and autumn, the last time on 31 Oct., numerous matters have piled up and can no longer be put off. To take care of them I will need at least an hour.” Lammers to Brückner, 22 Nov. 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/25.
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