Eva Braun

by Heike B. Görtemaker

  61. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 214ff.; Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 169.

  62. See Schmidt, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, pp. 62f.; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 106.

  63. Breloer, Unterwegs zur Familie Speer, p. 247. Cf. Fest, Die unbeantwortbaren Fragen, pp. 80f.

  64. On Hitler’s travels, see Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 239ff.

  65. Misch, Der letzte Zeuge, pp. 110f.

  66. Ibid.

  67. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 249; Misch, Der letzte Zeuge, pp. 111f. There is an extensive account of the meeting in southern France in Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp. 441ff.

  68. See Seidler and Zeigert, Die Führerhauptquartiere, p. 260.

  69. See Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Wehrmachtsführungsstab), ed. Percy Ernst Schramm, vol. I.1, August 1940–31. Dezember 1942 (Frankfurt am Main, 1965), pp. 257f.; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 419.

  70. See Schmidt, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, p. 100.

  71. See in this regard Seidler and Zeigert, Die Führerhauptquartiere, pp. 193ff.

  72. Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 256.

  73. Ibid., p. 290. See also Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 278f.

  74. Christa Schroeder to Johanna Nusser, Führer Headquarters, June 28, 1941, in ED 524, IfZ Munich. See also “Lagebesprechung im Kartenraum der ‘Wolfsschanze’ im Juni/Juli 1941,” Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Archive, hoff-36340, BSB Munich.

  75. Christa Schroeder to Johanna Nusser, Führer Headquarters, July 13, 1941, in ED 524, IfZ Munich.

  76. Christa Schroeder to Johanna Nusser, Führer Headquarters, August 20, 1941, in ED 524, IfZ Munich.

  77. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 292 and 295; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp. 444f., 466, and 485. See also Seidler and Zeigert, Die Führerhauptquartiere, pp. 205 and 208, according to which Hitler first, at the beginning of December, paid a visit to Army Group South in Mariupol on the Azov Sea in southeastern Ukraine, accompanied by Schmundt, Linge, and Morell.

  78. See Henriette von Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 235.

  79. See Schmidt, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, pp. 104ff., 116ff., and 150. On Hitler’s arrival at the Berghof, see Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 310, where he reports that he traveled with Hitler on April 24 to Berlin, where Hitler spoke before the Reichstag two days later.

  80. See August Eigruber, “Besprechung in München am 27. April 1942” (p. 2) and “Vortrag beim Führer am 28. April 1942 in München” (p. 4) in “Vorträge des Gauleiters Eigruber vor dem Führer in Angelegenheiten der Planung der Stadt Linz,” Political Files, Box 49, Upper Austria State Archives, Linz. Cf. Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 516.

  81. See Seidler and Zeigert, Die Führerhauptquartiere, pp. 261ff. See also Sigmund, Die Frauen der Nazis, p. 273, who writes: “The war’s proceeding so badly for Germany meant the end of the idyllic life on the Obersalzberg.”

  82. See Hans Georg Hiller von Gaetringen, ed., Das Auge des Dritten Reiches: Hitlers Kameramann und Fotograf Walter Frentz, 2nd ed. (Munich and Berlin, 2007), p. 125. Photographs from the same black-and-white series can also be found in the Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Archive, hoff-584; hoff-579, BSB Munich.

  83. See Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Archive, BSB Munich: Hitler with Speer’s children, Braun with a camera in the picture (hoff-578); Hitler on the terrace, Uschi Schneider getting up (hoff-312); Hitler in the great hall with Gitti and Uschi Schneider (hoff-2177).

  84. See Hiller von Gaetringen, Das Auge des Dritten Reiches, p. 125.

  85. See Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 80. Eva Braun, Junge writes, was the only person who was allowed to photograph Hitler “whenever she wanted.” See also Danielle Costelle, Eva Braun: Dans l’intimité d’Hitler (Paris, 2007).

  86. Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 182.

  87. Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 267. See also Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 182.

  88. Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 267.

  89. Lang, Der Sekretär, pp. 166ff. Cf. Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp. 371ff. On Bormann’s behavior, see Lang, Der Sekretär, p. 167.

  90. See Ilse Hess to Albert Speer, Hindelang, June 25, 1968, in Speer Papers, N 1340, vol. 27, BA Koblenz.

  91. Ilse Hess to Steffi Binder, n.p., August 7, 1941 (carbon copy), in Rudolf Hess Papers, J 1211 (–) 1993/300, vol. 2, file 21, BA Bern. Cf. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 175.

  92. See Akten der Partei-Kanzlei der NSDAP: Rekonstruktion eines verlorengegangenen Bestandes, Teil I, Regesten, vol. 1, p. viii (introduction).

  93. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 297.

  94. See Seidler and Zeigert, Die Führerhauptquartiere, p. 260; Gun, Eva Braun, p. 212, and the reproduction of the passport issued April 3, 1942, with entry stamp of June 21, 1942, after p. 176.

  95. See Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 196.

  96. See reproduction of Eva Braun’s passport and visa in Gun, Eva Braun, after p. 176. Gun writes that Eva Braun traveled to Portofino for a month every year (p. 212).

  97. See in this regard Bruno Frommann, Reisen im Dienste politischer Zielsetzungen: Arbeiter-Reisen und “Kraft durch Freude”-Reisen (Stuttgart, 1993).

  98. See Rüdiger Overmans, “Das Schicksal der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen des Zweiten Weltkrieges,” in Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, vol. 10.2 (Munich, 2008), p. 404. Kershaw gives the figures of 90,000 captured and around 146,000 fallen German soldiers (Hitler 1936–1945, p. 550).

  99. Traudl Junge Memoir, David Irving Collection, ED 100/106, pp. 11 and 17, IfZ Munich.

  100. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 726.

  101. See Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, n.p., July 21, 1943, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, pp. 12f.

  102. Cf. Goebbels, diary entry, June 25, 1943, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, Diktate 1941–1945), vol. 8, p. 537; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp. 728 and 736ff.

  103. Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp. 739ff. On Goebbels’s role, see Aristotle A. Kallis, “Der Niedergang der Deutungsmacht: Nationalsozialistische Propaganda im Kriegsverlauf,” in Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg (Stuttgart, 1979–2008), vol. 9.2, pp. 235ff.

  104. See Schmidt, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, pp. 155f.

  105. Goebbels, diary entry, August 10, 1943, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 9, p. 267.

  106. Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 340.

  107. Henriette von Schirach, Der Preis der Herrlichkeit, pp. 214f. See also Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 768.

  108. Goebbels, diary entry, August 10, 1943, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, Diktate 1941–1945, vol. 9 (Juli–September 1943), p. 267.

  109. See Gerda Bormann to Martin Bormann, Obersalzberg, August 13, 1943, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, p. 19.

  110. See Goebbels, diary entry, March 2, 1943, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, Diktate 1941–1945, Band 7 (Januar–März 1943), p. 454. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 340.

  10. THE EVENTS OF JULY 20, 1944, AND THEIR AFTERMATH

  1. See Kallis, “Der Niedergang der Deutungsmacht,” in Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, vol. 9.2, pp. 232f.

  2. Hitler suffered bruises and burns on his head, arms, and legs; both arms were severely swollen, according to the doctor’s report (Theodor Morell, July 20, 1944, Patient A., in Theodor Morell Papers, N 1348, BA Koblenz).

  3. See Tobias Kniebe, Operation Walküre: Das Drama des 20. Juli (Berlin, 2009); Bernhard R. Kroener, Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm: Eine Biographie (Paderborn, 2005), pp. 700ff.

  4. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 797; Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 395. See also Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 385: Hitler looked at the pictures “so little… the way he reluctantly paid attention to the pictures of destroyed cities.” Fegelein, though, “generously” showed around “the photos of the hangings.” Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, in contrast, reports (Mit Hitler im Bunker: Die letzten Monate im Führerhauptquartier Juli 1944-April 1945 [Berlin, 2006]
, pp. 65f.) that Hitler “eagerly” seized “the macabre pictures” and examined them “for a long time with practically lascivious pleasure.”

  5. See Fest, Die unbeantwortbaren Fragen, p. 143. On Fegelein, who played a leading part in “combatting partisans” and in “cleansing actions” and had the lives of thousands of civilians on his conscience, see Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler: Biographie (Munich, 2008), pp. 316f., 331f., and 549ff.

  6. Quoted in Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 167f. Schroeder was convinced that Eva Braun’s feelings for Fegelein “exceeded that of purely a sister-in-law” but that nonetheless “nothing happened between them.”

  7. Goebbels, entry of March 14, 1944, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 11, p. 472.

  8. Goebbels, entry of June 6, 1944, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 12, p. 414.

  9. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 370 and 379.

  10. Account by Herta Ostermayr, quoted in Gun, Eva Braun, p. 213.

  11. Goebbels, entry of August 24, 1944, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 13, pp. 305f.

  12. See Schmidt, Albert Speer, p. 123; Reuth, Goebbels, pp. 549ff.

  13. See Schmidt, Albert Speer, p. 125; Speer, Albert Speer: Die Kransberg-Protokolle 1945, pp. 47f.

  14. Ilse Hess to Lucian W. Reiser, n.p., May 16, 1944 (carbon copy), in Rudolf Hess Papers, J 1211 (–) 1993/300, vol. 12, file 148, Swiss Federal Archives, Bern.

  15. “Besprechung zwischen Herrn Albrecht und Frl. Schröder, früher Sekretärin v. Hitler,” Berchtesgaden, May 22, 1945, in MA 1298/10, Mikrofilm, Various Documents, DJ-13 (David Irving), IfZ Munich. See also Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 798.

  16. Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 148. Cf. “Besprechung zwischen Herrn Albrecht und Frl. Schröder, früher Sekretärin v. Hitler,” previously cited. See also Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 151, where Junge writes that Eva Braun wrote Hitler an “anxious and despairing letter,” so that he, “utterly moved by her devotion,” sent “his shredded uniform to [her in] Munich as a keepsake.”

  17. See Loringhoven, Mit Hitler im Bunker, pp. 7ff.

  18. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 155.

  19. See Gun, Eva Braun, p. 213. Gun is here quoting Braun’s friend Herta Schneider. In the Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Archive are pictures of a soldier presenting a uniform destroyed in the attack, presumably Hitler’s (hoff-53923, hoff-53921, BSB Munich).

  20. See Gun, Eva Braun, pp. 214–215. This alleged document is cited uncritically by Sigmund (Die Frauen der Nazis, p. 274).

  21. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 382 and 384.

  22. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 146.

  23. See John Zimmermann, “Die deutsche Kriegführung im Westen 1944/55,” in Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, vol. 10.1, ed. Rolf-Dieter Müller for the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Munich, 2008), p. 277.

  24. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 722.

  25. Goebbels, entry of March 14, 1944, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 11, p. 472.

  26. See Schenck, Patient Hitler, pp. 44ff. and 78f.

  27. Loringhoven, Mit Hitler im Bunker, p. 10.

  28. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 160.

  29. See Theodor Morell, 1944 pocket calender, in Theodor Morell Papers, N 1348–2, BA Koblenz. See also Schenck, Patient Hitler, p. 57; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 149; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 387 and 389; Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 152; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 726. Karl Brandt and Hanskarl von Hasselbach ceased to be Hitler’s accompanying physicians on October 10, 1944; the role was taken on by SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr. Stumpfegger (Reichsleiter Martin Bormann [Secretary to the Führer] to Reich Press Chief Dr. Dietrich, Führer Headquarters, October 10, 1944 (original), in Theodor Morell Papers, N 1348–4, BA Koblenz).

  30. See Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 415; Albert Speer: Die Kransberg-Protokolle 1945, p. 394; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 731. This idea of Hitler’s was strengthened by Alfred Jodl, Artillery General and Chief of the Operations Staff of the Army, who had been convinced since fall 1943 that the war would be “decided” in the west (Werner Rahn, “Die deutsche Seekriegführung 1943 bis 1945,” in Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, vol. 10.1, p. 21).

  31. See reproduction of the last page of her handwritten directions from October 26, 1944, in Gun, Eva Braun, after p. 176. Eva Braun noted in her last letter to her friend Herta Schneider, April 22, 1945, that she had left her last “testament at Wasserburgerstrasse” (see reproduction in Gun, Eva Braun, after p. 192).

  32. See Gerda Bormann to Martin Bormann, Obersalzberg, October 24, 1944, and Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, Führer Headquarters, October 25, 1944, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, pp. 138, 139.

  33. See Schmidt, Karl Brandt, pp. 495ff.

  34. See Hoffmann, “Mein Beruf,” p. 67. See also Gerda Bormann to Martin Bormann, Obersalzberg, October 24, 1944, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, p. 138. On August 28, Gerda Bormann still wrote that Eva Braun very much hoped to be able to work with Hoffmann in Munich or Reichenhall, but that nothing was yet decided (Gerda Bormann to Martin Bormann, August 28, 1944, in The Bormann Letters, pp. 91f.).

  35. See Gun, Eva Braun, pp. 145ff. Also named are paintings by Karl Rickelt, Johann Fischbach, and Adalbert Wex. Eva Braun is said to have owned a picture of Hitler and another of herself by Theodor Bohnenberger, a painter of portraits and nudes.

  36. See Hans Sarkowicz, ed., Hitlers Künstler: Die Kultur im Dienst des Nationalsozialismus (Frankfurt am Main, 2004).

  37. See Eva Braun testament of October 26, 1944, in Gun, Eva Braun, pp. 233f.

  38. Quoted in Henriette von Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 235.

  11. THE DECISION FOR BERLIN

  1. Theodor Morell, 1944 pocket calendar, in Theodor Morell Papers, N 1348–2, BA Koblenz. On November 22, Goebbels noted in his diaries: “The Führer has now arrived in Berlin, thank God” (entry of November 22, 1944, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 14, p. 258.

  2. See Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 395.

  3. Theodor Morell, 1944 pocket calendar, in Theodor Morell Papers, N 1348–2, BA Koblenz. Morell also notes in his calendar under the same date: “Met Miss E.” Again, a few lines later: “Met E. when leaving.” See also Lambert, The Lost Life of Eva Braun, p. 511.

  4. Goebbels, entry of November 24, 1944, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 14, p. 269.

  5. See Ulrich Völklein, ed., Hitlers Tod: Die letzten Tage im Führerbunker (Göttingen, 1998), pp. 23ff.

  6. See Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 167.

  7. See Sönke Neitzel, Abgehört: Deutsche Generäle in britischer Kriegsgefangenschaft 1942–1945 (Berlin, 2007), p. 166.

  8. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp. 743; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 398.

  9. See Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen von Martin Bormann, p. 64: “1/18 19.10 departure with Sonderwagen to Bln. Dad with Mom, with E. B., Frau Fegelein, and Bredow.”

  10. Dr. Hans-Otto Meissner, “Der letzte Befehl,” undated manuscript, p. 11, in Ms 291, IfZ Munich. See also Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 168, which says that Eva Braun arrived “in Berlin at the Chancellery in February 1945, against Hitler’s will.”

  11. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 169.

  12. See Loringhoven, Mit Hitler im Bunker, pp. 72f. The encounter is here erroneously dated to “shortly before Christmas,” at which time Hitler was at his headquarters on the western front.

  13. Goebbels, entry of February 1, 1945, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 15, p. 296.

  14. See Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, Führer Headquarters, December 28, 1944, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, pp. 154f.

  15. See Richard Lakowski, “Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karparten,” in Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, vol. 10.1, pp. 588ff. See also Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 400.

&
nbsp; 16. See Seidler and Zeigert, Die Führerhauptquartiere, p. 324; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 793. Gun, on the other hand, claims that Eva Braun celebrated her last birthday on February 8 in Munich (Eva Braun, p. 239).

  17. See Meissner, “Der letzte Befehl,” p. 11: “The bedroom next door, originally intended as just a cloakroom was furnished with a bed, table, and chair only in February 1945 so that it could serve as a place to sleep, and then occupied by Eva Braun when she showed up in Berlin unexpectedly and against Hitler’s orders.” See also Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 177, and Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 484: Eva Braun “had had some one the expensive furniture which I had designed for her years ago brought from her two rooms in the upper floors of the Chancellery.”

  18. These figures are taken from the following: Horst Boog, “Die strategische Bomberoffensive der Alliierten gegen Deutschland und die Reichsluftverteidigung in der Schlussphase des Krieges,” in Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, vol. 10.1, p. 790. See Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 792. See also Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945 (London, 2002), pp. 74f.

  19. Goebbels, diary entry of February 6, 1945, in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, Teil II, vol. 15, p. 320.

  20. See Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, February 6, 1945, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, pp. 174f. See also Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen von Martin Bormann, p. 106.

  21. Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 196. Schroeder says nothing in her memoir about Eva Braun’s presence in Berlin in February 1945. See also “Besprechung zwischen Herrn Albrecht und Frl. Schröder, früher Sekretärin v. Hitler,” Berchtesgaden, May 22, 1945, in MA 1298/10, Microfilm, Various Documents, DJ-13 (David Irving), IfZ Munich.

  22. See Martin Bormann to Gerda Bormann, February 6, 1945, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, pp. 174f.

  23. See Schmidt, Karl Brandt, p. 499.

  24. Ibid., pp. 500f.

  25. Ibid., pp. 501ff.

  26. Eva Braun to Herta Schneider, Berlin, April 19, 1945, in Gun, Eva Braun, pp. 247–248. Transcript in Speer Papers, N 1340, vol. 287, BA Koblenz. Walter Schellenberg, head of the secret service since 1944, even claimed in his postwar memoir that the death sentence passed on Brandt really had to do with “an intrigue in Hitler’s closest circle, including Eva Braun and her sister, Frau Fegelein” (Schellenberg, Aufzeichnungen, p. 361).