by Glenn Meade
The historian nodded. “Certainly there was a relationship between them. One that went far deeper than a normal uncle-niece relationship. You see, she lived in the same house as Hitler for a time, and they became very close. In 1927, when Hitler moved to his berghaus in the mountains at Berchtesgaden, his stepsister moved in with him to act as his housekeeper. Hitler distrusted many of those around him, so his half sister was an obvious choice. She tended to his housekeeping needs, organized his meals, his clothes. And with her came her daughters, Friedl and Geli.”
Volkmann said, “What about their father?”
“He died when Geli was quite young. Perhaps that was part of her attraction to Hitler. Very early on, he became a kind of father figure. She was a high-spirited woman. Flighty, if one is to believe the history books.” Hanah Richter smiled. “She was born in Vienna, so perhaps it was her Viennese charm. Of course, Eva Braun took center stage as far as Hitler’s private life is concerned. She was the mistress all the history books record. But before her came Geli Raubal. She was Adolf Hitler’s first real romantic attachment—I won’t say love, because the man was incapable of human love. But let us say it was a romantic attachment. She adored her uncle, and he her.
“For a time they went everywhere together, and when Hitler moved to his apartment in Munich, Geli joined him. She was studying medicine at Munich University at the time, so the move was convenient, but close friends knew that the arrangement was more than simple convenience, that it was an excuse for them to remain together.”
“What do you mean?”
The historian shrugged. “Think about it. It was rather a strange relationship. Just the two of them, uncle and niece, living in the same apartment together. And Geli was only twenty-three when she died. Naturally, tongues wagged in the Nazi Party about the arrangement. Hitler had always had a preference for young, fresh-faced girls—the younger, the better—because he couldn’t relate to women of his own age. And besides, young women were more easily manipulated and fell easily under his spell. Of the seven women with whom we know he had intimate relationships, most of them were young. And of the seven, six committed suicide or made a serious attempt to do so. So Geli Raubal wasn’t alone in that regard.
“Hitler seemed to have had a mesmeric effect on women. The ones he was intimate with as well as the mass of German women he was to appeal to when he became führer.
“And like a lot of German women at the time, Geli Raubal found his personality magnetic. She would have done anything for him. She most certainly wanted to marry him despite their being related. And for a time, Hitler plainly acted like a suitor. He hinted to some of his close party friends that he might actually marry her.”
Hanah Richter looked at them. “Repugnant as that might seem, one must remember that this was before Hitler’s true brutality began to show. His career was on the rise. He seemed destined to lead Germany. Geli Raubal would have gladly married her uncle, despite their age difference of nineteen years and despite the near-incestuous connotations it would imply. So she flirted wildly with him, seduced him, if you like.”
The wind rattled at the clapboards again, and the fire embers flickered. Volkmann stared at the flaring coals for a moment, then looked back as Hanah Richter started to speak again.
“It was an absurd situation, of course, and it couldn’t last. The people close to Hitler in the Nazi Party who knew what was going on were horrified: middle-aged uncle who intended on marrying his very young niece. In their public lives, most Nazis were outwardly moral, but we know that privately they were vipers. And they were against it all the more because Hitler was preparing to take part in the presidential campaign. A Nazi victory was absolutely vital. It was everything the party had struggled for. Geli Raubal was Hitler’s niece and half his age. So marriage or the hint of scandal would have been disastrous for the party. It certainly wouldn’t have helped Hitler’s image in his public life. But I think that in the end he just led the poor girl in a merry dance until he got tired of her and moved on to Eva Braun.”
Volkmann glanced over at the photograph lying on the table. “So why did Geli Raubal kill herself?”
Hanah Richter considered. “If we’re to believe the history books, she was going through some kind of emotional disturbance. Probably because she realized Hitler was slowly but surely withdrawing from their relationship. On the seventeenth of September, 1931, the two had a blazing argument in Hitler’s Munich apartment. When Hitler was leaving, Geli Raubal calmly said good-bye to him, then went up to her room. The next morning she was found dead, shot through the heart at close range. There was a small-caliber pistol on the bedroom floor next to her. The Bavarian police determined that she had died sometime in the early hours of the eighteenth.
“Hitler was in Nuremberg when he heard the news of her death. Outwardly, he appeared devastated, but those close to him in the party thought he was actually relieved that Geli was out of his life. And of course there were the rumors. The press at the time went wild and printed all kinds of stories. They ranged from the slightly believable to the utterly ridiculous.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“That Hitler had her killed in a fit of jealousy because she was seeing someone else. Certainly Hitler was prone to violent fits of jealousy. On one occasion he broke her nose during a row. So it’s possible he had her killed, of course. He would have been quite capable of that, and just as possible that his associates in the Nazi Party killed her because they saw the relationship with his young niece as a threat of scandal that might ruin their hopes of power. But it’s more likely she killed herself out of some sort of desperation. If you want my opinion, I’d have to say a combination of accident and desperation—the fact that she realized Hitler was never going to marry her and wanted to end their relationship, all of which probably sent her into a fit of depression. But then, we shall never really know the true story.”
“What else did the newspapers say?”
Hanah Richter smiled. “There were so many rumors, not all of them credible. The most scandalous suggested that Hitler had his niece killed because the affair had gotten out of hand and threatened his public image. The police were called in to investigate but nothing came of it and no charges were brought. There were allegations that the justice minister at the time, Herr Gürtner, had the file of evidence destroyed. Certainly it disappeared, and whatever evidence there was against Hitler was never found.
“After Hitler came to power, Gürtner rose very quickly within the ranks of the Nazi Party, so perhaps that speaks for itself and deepens the mystery. Perhaps he did help Hitler in some way to hide the real truth, whatever it may be.” Hanah Richter shrugged. “Certainly there was some mystery about the death, but most people close to Geli thought the suicide was simply a dramatic accident that happened when she was at a low ebb. That she was playing theater with the gun when it went off. And I’m inclined to agree.”
Volkmann stared down at the Chaco photograph, the mountains in the background, the unseen hand linking the woman’s, the Nazi swastika emblazoned on the armband. “Who do you think the other person in the photograph might be?”
“Possibly Hitler. They were still seeing each other at that time, though for a period before that, Hitler tried to remove himself from the relationship because of pressure from the party. Geli decided to make him jealous and started seeing Hitler’s chauffeur, Emil Maurice. She even became secretly engaged to Maurice. When Hitler found out, he flew into a rage and dismissed his chauffeur. Then Hitler started seeing her again secretly, until her death.”
“The eleventh of July, 1931. Can you recall anything special happening on that date?”
“You mean special for Geli Raubal?”
“Yes,” Volkmann answered.
Hanah Richter thought for a moment. “She died on September eighteenth, so your photograph would have been taken more than seven weeks before her death. Geli was in hospital for a minor problem a week before your date, during her medical school semester. And
about two weeks later, I believe, she stayed with some friends in Freiburg. In between, she saw Hitler a number of times, but he was busy with the presidential campaign and didn’t have much time for her.” Hanah Richter’s brow furrowed in concentration. “No, I’m sorry. The date you mention is not one that sticks in my mind. Believe me, if it were, I’d remember.”
“One more question. Did Geli ever visit South America?”
“Definitely not. She traveled only in Germany and Austria.” The historian looked from Erica to Volkmann. “Has your question got something to do with how you came to have the photograph?”
Volkmann nodded. “Yes, it has. Does the name Erhard Schmeltz mean anything to you?”
“In what connection?”
“In connection with Geli Raubal.”
The historian frowned. “Who was Erhard Schmeltz?”
“A Nazi Party member. Someone Hitler knew well.”
The historian shook her head. “Well, whoever he was, he mustn’t have been very important. I don’t ever recall hearing that name in connection with either Hitler or Geli.”
“Have you any idea how a photograph such as this could have ended up in South America?”
“You’re absolutely certain it was an original and not a copy?”
“Yes.”
“So many Germans fled to South America at the end of the war. The photograph could have been taken there by someone close to Hitler or Geli. As to who, I haven’t the faintest idea.” Hanah Richter glanced pointedly at her watch. “Does that answer all your questions?”
Volkmann replaced the photograph in his wallet. “Thanks for your time, Frau Richter. Our apologies for keeping you up so late.”
“That’s quite all right.” She shook their hands and led them to the door. The taxi was still outside, and as they stood in the open porch, Volkmann turned to the historian.
“Do you know where Geli Raubal was buried?”
“In Vienna. The old Central Cemetery.”
“Is the grave still there?”
Hanah Richter shook her head. “I’m afraid the Nazi authorities in Vienna had that part of the cemetery destroyed in 1941. The grave and all the others around it were completely razed.”
“Why?”
“Heaven knows. It seems most strange. No one I ever spoke to about the matter knew who issued the order. I suppose it only added to the whole mystery of Geli’s death.”
“Do you think the Nazis wanted to cover something up?”
“You mean about her death? It’s possible, but then, we’ve no way of ever knowing.”
Volkmann hesitated. “There is one last thing.”
“Yes?”
“You said that Geli Raubal was a hospital patient. When?”
“In late June of 1931. She spent a few days in a private nursing home in Garmisch.”
“What was she being treated for?”
“Some said depression, because Hitler had spurned her and was seeing his new mistress, Eva Braun. Others said she went in for minor surgery. But I have no way of knowing. Why do you ask?”
Volkmann felt the biting wind coming in across the lake, glimpsed the waiting taxi driver in his cab, drumming his fingers impatiently against the steering wheel as he stared at them through the glass. Volkmann turned back, saw Erica pull up her coat collar against the icy wind. Hanah Richter waited, shivering, for the question to be answered.
“This proposition may seem absurd, Frau Richter. But could Geli Raubal have been pregnant?”
Hanah Richter raised her eyebrows. “Actually, that was suggested as one of the reasons why she might have been murdered by Hitler or his cronies. But it was never proven. A journalist at the time, a man named Fritz Gerlich, claimed Geli was pregnant by Hitler and that Hitler had her killed for that reason. But the story was never published.”
“What happened to the journalist?”
“He was arrested and later murdered in Dachau. But really his information was never proven. Why do you ask?”
Volkmann hesitated. “What if Geli Raubal already had a child?”
“You mean by Hitler?”
“Yes.”
Volkmann saw the woman’s expression change. She stood in the doorway, open-mouthed, the question totally unexpected, utter amazement on her face. Erica looked at him, too, a white, stricken look that for a moment made her appear ill.
Then Hanah Richter said incredulously, “Really, Herr Volkmann, something like that would never have escaped the history books.”
He saw the woman’s expression of amazement become disbelief. Then suddenly the disbelief turned to irritation as she hunched her shoulders against the biting cold and shivered. “You can’t possibly be serious.”
Volkmann said quietly, “No, of course not. You’ve been very kind. Thanks for your help.”
45
BERLIN. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22
They hadn’t spoken during the entire journey in the taxi back to the hotel. Volkmann stared out at the lights of Berlin from the cab window, but said nothing.
As soon as they had stepped into their room, Volkmann poured each of them a drink. Erica stared palely at him as he handed her a half tumbler of scotch, the aftershock of the question he posed to the historian still evident on her face.
“What you said to Hanah Richter . . . you really meant it, didn’t you, Joe? That Geli Raubal could have been pregnant? That she could have had a child by Adolf Hitler?”
“Yes.”
“But Joe, that’s absurd.”
Tension braided Volkmann’s voice. “Erica, it fits the puzzle. It fits everything we know and don’t know about the identity of Karl Schmeltz. And you heard what Hanah Richter said. Geli Raubal could have been pregnant. It’s also a likely reason why she might have been killed or committed suicide. Everything we heard tonight explains the mystery of Karl Schmeltz. Don’t you see that?”
Erica stared back at him. “I can accept that Geli Raubal could have been pregnant. But that she actually had a child? Joe, how could it be possible? If Hitler fathered a child, it could never have been kept a secret all these years.”
Volkmann heard the strain of incredulity in her voice. He swallowed his scotch and put down the glass. “It sounds crazy, Erica, I know, but it also makes some kind of sense. Think about it. Erhard Schmeltz and his sister immigrate to South America from Germany under mysterious circumstances in late 1931, two months after Geli Raubal’s death. They take with them a boy who’s obviously not their son. Remember what Wilhelm Busch said about Schmeltz? He didn’t have any children and had never married. As for Schmeltz’s sister, she was older than her brother, most likely too old to have a child that young. So that discounts either of them.”
She looked at him. “But the child could have belonged to one of them, Joe. Either of them could still have been the child’s natural parent.”
“Then why did they disappear from Germany so mysteriously? And what about the rumors Busch said went around when Schmeltz and his sister vanished? One of them was that Schmeltz had been sent away secretly. The circumstances suggest that the boy most likely wasn’t theirs. So who did he belong to?”
Tension mounted in Volkmann’s voice as he looked at her. “Erhard Schmeltz was a loyal and close friend of Hitler. Now consider what Hanah Richter said: Hitler had been having an affair with Geli Raubal, an affair that was well known among his friends and close acquaintances.”
Volkmann crossed to the window and turned back. “According to Hanah Richter, two months before Geli Raubal was found dead in her uncle’s apartment, she was a patient in a private nursing home. When she comes out, she’s under stress, something troubling her. It must have been something significant, because two months later, she supposedly kills herself. Whether Hitler had her killed or she committed suicide isn’t relevant.
“But what’s relevant is what could have been troubling her. She’s in love with Hitler. She wants to marry him. So why did she kill herself? Hanah Richter said Hitler had spurned her. That he wa
s preparing for the presidential elections, and it was vital for the Nazis to win. The last thing he needed was the kind of scandal his relationship with his niece might have caused.”
“But Joe, that she could have had a child? It’s just not possible.”
“Why not? You admitted she could have been pregnant. What if she was expecting a child by Hitler? What if the reason she went into the hospital in Garmisch was because she was expecting a child by her uncle? Hitler knows about it, realizes if news gets out that he’s made his niece pregnant, the whole affair could ruin his career. Just like Hanah Richter said, he might have dragged the Nazi Party down with him because of the scandal. So he, or those closest to him, come up with a plan. Send the child away, somewhere far from Germany. And with someone Hitler could trust. A couple like the Schmeltzes would have been ideal. And a jungle region in Paraguay couldn’t have been more remote, so the secret’s safe.”
He saw her look at him unbelievingly. “That kind of scenario would explain three very important things, Erica. One, the amount of money Schmeltz had when he arrived in Paraguay. Two, his sudden immigration. Three, the drafts from the Nazi Reichsbank sent to Paraguay until 1945. Someone high up had to sanction such large sums of money and keep it secret.
“If we’re to believe Busch, Erhard Schmeltz wasn’t a rich man. And a man who’s fallen out of favor with the Nazi Party doesn’t receive money from the Reichsbank. Nor does he keep his party membership.” Volkmann looked intently at Erica. “And I don’t believe Schmeltz was hoarding the money for some other Nazi, either. Or they’d have used some anonymous Swiss bank. Only Hitler or a very high-ranking Nazi would have had the authority to use the Reichsbank. So that leaves one strong possibility. The money was sent to support the boy. Geli Raubal’s and Hitler’s son.
“The very fact that we found the woman’s photograph at the house in the Chaco confirms the link between Schmeltz and Geli Raubal. And you heard what Hanah Richter said: if she had an affair with Hitler, why couldn’t it be possible that she had a child by him?”