13. See Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 93; Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler (Munich, 1985), p. 166.
PART ONE: THE MEETING
1. This account is based on a statement from Erich Kempka about Hitler’s last days, dated June 20, 1945, from Berchtesgaden, in MA 1298/10, Microfilm, Various Documents DJ-13 (David Irving), Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich (hereafter cited as IfZ Munich). Kempka’s account differs from that of other sources by approximately one hour.
1. HEINRICH HOFFMANN’S STUDIO
1. Hoffmann’s father, Robert Hoffmann, ran a portrait studio in Regensburg with his younger brother Heinrich. This brother had borne the title of “Royal Bavarian Court Photographer” since 1887 and gained international fame with his photographs of Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Edward VII of England. See Rudolf Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler: Fotographie als Medium des Führer-Mythos (Munich, 1994), p. 26. See also Joachim Fest and Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler—Gesichter eines Diktators (Munich, 2005), p. 4.
2. Hoffmann’s studio in Munich was located first at 33 Schellingstrasse, and later—until 1929—at 50 Schellingstrasse. See Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, pp. 26f.
3. See Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah (Munich and Berlin, 1974), p. 19. See also the original edition of Hoffmann’s memoir, Hitler Was My Friend (London, 1955), pp. 45f.; Henriette von Schirach, Der Preis der Herrlichkeit (Munich and Berlin, 1975), p. 97; Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, p. 34.
4. Heinrich Hoffmann, “Mein Beruf Meine Arbeit für die Kunst-Mein Verhältnis zu Adolf Hitler,” unpublished manuscript (presumably from 1947), MS 2049, IfZ Munich, pp. 7f. Cf. Fest and Hoffmann, Hitler—Gesichter eines Diktators, p. 4.
5. See Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, p. 34. On Eckart, see Margarete Plewnia, Auf dem Weg zu Hitler: Der “völkische” Publizist Dietrich Eckart (Bremen, 1970).
6. See Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, p. 34. On Hoffmann, see also Winfried Ranke, “Bildberichterstattung in den Zwanziger Jahren—Heinrich Hoffmann und die Chronistenpflicht,” in Die Zwanziger Jahre in München, exhibition catalog (Munich, 1979), pp. 53–73; Philip E. Mancha, “Heinrich Hoffmann: Photographer of the Third Reich,” in Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives (1973), pp. 31–40.
7. See Jan Brüning, “Kurzer Überblick zur Technik der Pressefotografie in Deutschland von 1920 bis 1940,” in Fotografie und Bildpublizistik in der Weimarer Republik, ed. Diethart Krebs and Walter Uka (Bönen/Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2004), pp. 11–28.
8. See Herbert Moldering, Fotografie in der Weimarer Republik (Berlin, 1988); José Macias, Die Entwicklung des Bildjournalismus (Munich, 1990).
9. “Reichsparteitag der NSDAP in Weimar, 3./4. Juli 1926,” in Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Archive, hoff-6750, Bavarian State Library [Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, or BSB], Munich (hereafter cited as BSB Munich).
10. Cf. Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, p. 37. There it says that Hoffmann rose to be Hitler’s “medium.” Cf. Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie (Berlin and Vienna, 1973) p. 353; Gerhard Paul, Aufstand der Bilder: Die NS-Propaganda vor 1933 (Bonn, 1990). See also Mathias Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP 1925–1933: Eine Untersuchung zur inneren Struktur der NSDAP in der Weimarer Republik (Munich, 2002); Werner Bräuninger, Hitlers Kontrahenten in der NSDAP 1921–1945 (Munich, 2004); also Thomas Tavernaro, Der Verlag Hitlers und der NSDAP: Die Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH (Vienna, 2004).
11. See Hagen Schulze, Weimar:. Deutschland 1917–1933, Die Deutschen und ihre Nation, vol. 4, (Berlin, 1982), p. 303.
12. See Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, pp. 36ff. and 49ff. The NSDAP headquarters already located at 50 Schellingstrasse moved into the rooms. Cf. Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen (Munich, 2003), p. 432, which states that according to the official notification of a change of address, Hoffmann gave up his studio at 50 Schellingstrasse as early as September 10, 1929. Baldur von Schirach later recalled that he first met Eva Braun in Hoffmann’s studio “shortly after” the fourth NSDAP convention in Nuremberg (August 1–4, 1929); see Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler (Hamburg, 1967), p. 118. Heinrich Hoffmann later stated, less precisely, that Eva Braun was “probably” hired in 1929 at the “founding” of his business; see Heinrich Hoffmann, statement from July 1, 1949, at the public hearing of the Munich Hauptkammer for oral arguments in the proceedings against Eva Hitler née Braun, “Öffentliche Sitzung der Hauptkammer München zur mündlichen Verhandlung in dem Verfahren gegen Eva Hitler, geb. Braun,” in Denazification Court Records, box 718, State Archives, Munich.
13. See Henriette von Schirach, Der Preis der Herrlichkeit (Munich and Berlin, 1975), pp. 23 and 97; and Gun, Eva Braun, p. 48.
14. Heinrich Hoffmann, statement from July 1, 1949.
15. See Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, pp. 49f. See also Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 118.
16. Eva Braun’s childhood friend, Herta Schneider, stated after the war that she learned of “Eva Braun’s acquaintance with Adolf Hitler in 1928,” while Braun “was a trainee at Hoffmann’s firm.” See Herta Schneider, statutory declaration of May 16, 1948 (typewritten original), in Denazification Court Records, box 1670, State Archives, Munich. Presumably this is a typo, since Schneider stated in the following year that Eva Braun met Hitler “when she was seventeen, in 1929.” See Herta Schneider, statement of June 23, 1949, at the public hearing of the Munich Hauptkammer for oral arguments in the proceedings against Herta Schneider, née Ostermayr, “Öffentliche Sitzung der Hauptkammer München zur mündlichen Verhandlung in dem Verfahren gegen Herta Schneider, geb. Ostermayr,” in Denazification Court Records, box 1670, State Archives, Munich.
17. See Gun, Eva Braun, pp. 52–53. Anna Maria Sigmund follows his account in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, p. 240. See also Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 136, where he states: “Hitler met Eva Braun in my office, just as all my other employees.”
18. See Nerin E. Gun, Red Roses from Texas (London, 1964); The Day of the Americans (New York, 1966). See also “JFK Assassination Documents,” CIA, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 1, Subject Card on Nerin Emrullah Gun, April 2, 1967, Mary Ferrell Foundation Digital Archive. In the CIA files it says: “Gun, born 22 February 1920 in Rome, is a suspected CP member who has been involved in Europe in espionage and falsification of documents.”
19. Ilse Hess to Albert Speer, Hindelang/Allgäu, 25. Juni 1968. Albert Speer Papers, N 1340, vol. 27, National Archive [Bundesarchiv, or BA] Koblenz (hereafter cited as BA Koblenz).
20. See Kershaw, Hitler 1889–1936, p. 282.
21. See Henriette von Schirach, Der Preis der Herrlichkeit, pp. 176f. On Eva Braun’s workplace, located above Café Stefanie, see the Völkischer Beobachter, Munich edition, November 8, 1929; also Sigmund, Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1 p. 242.