Eva Braun was the mistress and long-time companion
of Adolf Hitler.
Hitler and Eva had a toxic, unstable relationship
and Eva attempted suicide multiple times.
As a student, Eva achieved average grades and
excelled at athletics. After school, she was employed as a salesperson for
Heinrich Hoffman, who was Hitler’s photographer, which is how the two met.
At the end of WWII, Eva travelled to Hitler’s side
against his orders in an act of loyalty. The pair committed suicide together
– Hitler shot himself, Eva took a
cyanide pill.
Eva Braun, born in Munich on February 6, 1912, was
born into a middle-class family. She was the second of three daughters of Fritz
Braun, a school teacher, and Franziska Braun, a tailor. Although it was
unconventional at the time, Eva’s parents got divorced and got back together
after one year. She was good at sports and had interests in clothes, makeup,
and films.
Eva’s relationship with Hitler
When Eva was 17 years old, she took a job as a
salesperson and clerk at a shop owned by Heinrich Hoffman, the official
photographer for the Nazi Party. During her time at the shop, she developed her
skills in photography and developing images. Many of the personal photographs
of Hitler were taken by Eva.
In October 1929, the 17-year-old Eva met Hitler,
who was 23-years older than her, when he visited Hoffman’s studio in Munich.
She fell deeply in love with him, although historians suggest Hitler’s feelings
for her were not the same. From accounts by Hoffman, Eva ‘was just an
attractive little thing, in whom, in spite of her inconsequential and
feather-brained outlook – or perhaps just because of it – [Hitler] found the
type of relaxation and repose he sought… But never, in voice, looks or gesture,
did he behave in any way that suggested any deeper interest in her’ (Guest
2006; citing Hoffman).
In 1932, Eva attempted suicide by shooting herself
in the chest. After her recovery, the two became lovers. Because Eva had learned
how to take photographs, she began working as a photographer for Hoffman, which
allowed her to travel with Hitler’s entourage taking pictures for the Nazi
Party.
Come 1935, Eva attempted suicide again by taking
an overdose of sleeping pills. Based on accounts and fragments of her diary,
she felt great despair at Hitler making insufficient time for her and their
relationship. In public, Hitler would
often treat Eva like a mistress, passing her envelopes of money in plain view
of everyone. She wrote in her diary about such treatment, stating: ‘yesterday
he invited us to dinner at the Vierjahrennzeiten. I sat with him for three
hours and we did not exchange a single word. At the end, he handed me, as he
had done before, an envelope with money in it. It would have been much nicer if
he had enclosed a greeting or a loving word’ (Braun 1935).
In 1936 Eva moved to Hitler’s house in the
Bavarian Alps where she spent her time enjoying activities such as sunbathing,
skiing, swimming, and gymnastics (Biography Editors 2017).
Hitler presented himself to the public as a chaste
hero, and Eva was never allowed to accompany him as his partner in public or at
rallies. She was expected to conform to the Nazi ideology of women as
homemakers. Hitler was also a very charismatic man. He believed he was sexually
attractive to many women and sought to leverage this for political gain. With
these issues combined with Eva’s troubled mind, she lived in a state of
constant anxiety that Hitler would leave her for another woman or be killed in
the war.
Eva continued to work for Hoffman while she was in
a relationship with Hitler. She took many photographs and made films of the
inner circle, some of which she sold to Hoffman for very high prices. She also
held the position of private secretary to Hitler. When Eva’s sister married a
man on Hitler’s staff, he used the opportunity to allow Eva to attend events,
where she could be introduced as S-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein’s
sister-in-law without causing controversy.
Eva lived a sheltered life throughout the war. In
the closing days of the war, 7 March 1945, however, Eva travelled to Berlin to
be with Hitler despite his instructions for her to remain in the Bavarian Alps.
She refused to let him die alone. After 15 years of being together in secret,
Hitler and Eva married each other in a civil ceremony on April 29, 1945. The
following day, Eva and Hitler committed suicide. Their bodies were burnt in the
gardens of the Reich Chancellery.
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