From now on Eva Braun’s position was apparently assured. This was noticeable at Haus Wachenfeld even if she did not appear at official functions. When Haus Wachenfeld was revamped into the Berghof in the summer of 1936, she moved into a room on the first floor of the annexe adjoining Hitler’s bedroom, while her sisters and friends who were always around her even had guest rooms at their disposal. She looked after their needs herself but her gratitude was tangible if one accepted them wholeheartedly. Her friendships with women were very variable and generally short-lived. Like all other females in Hitler’s circle she was ignorant of politics. In the presence of women Hitler avoided all political talk regarding ongoing or planned operations. Often one would hear Eva Braun complain: ‘I never know anything, everything is kept secret from me.’
In her appraisals, particularly of artistes, she lacked objectivity: if a face did not fit well with her that person’s good qualities were irrelevant, he or she had to go. Eva changed her clothing a couple of times daily, employed a hairdresser and always gave the impression of being well-groomed. Her wardrobe was always well-stocked with clothing ‘for materials testing’. She had two Scotch terriers, Stasi and Negus, which she often walked. She was keen on sport, practising frequently. She also had a bullfinch which she taught a popular song by whistling to the bird through pursed lips. She liked listening to gramophone records, particularly the tragic songs of Mimi Thoma, reading periodicals and crime novels, and kept up to date about the latest film releases, and so filled her time well.
All accounts which allege that Eva Braun was employed as a housekeeper and ran the Berghof outstandingly well have no foundation in fact.[112] After Frau Raubal’s departure, Frau Endres, Herr and Frau Döhring and later the Mittelstrassers were the competent housekeepers. For special receptions, at which Eva Braun never appeared, house manager Kannenberg and his wife Freda would travel down from the Führer-apartment in Berlin to do the necessary in their expert, routine manner.
When Hermann Fegelein,[113] Waffen-SS liaison officer to Hitler at FHQ, was on duty for the first time at the Berghof, he asked Marion Schönmann how he could arrange to be invited for lunch. That was at the beginning of 1944, when he arrived in Obersalzberg with Himmler. Marion introduced Fegelein to Eva Braun and he obtained his lunch invitation through her. After Fegelein had left the Berghof she confided to Marion Schönmann that Fegelein had made a big impression on her and added: ‘A few years ago the boss said that if I fell in love one day with another man, then I should let him know and he would release me.’ Now she said to Marion: ‘If I had known Fegelein ten years ago I would have asked the boss to let me go!’ But the problem was to be resolved in another way.
After the failure of various efforts to marry off her younger sister Greta to men in Hitler’s wider circle (e.g. to diplomat Hewel, adjutant Darges, minister Wagner), Eva Braun now matched her sister with Fegelein. He was a recognised heroic figure for women. Greta Braun was, as one would say today, sexy, and Fegelein might have been thinking of the advantages of one day being Hitler’s brother-in-law. Thus the marriage took place and was celebrated as a great occasion on the Obersalzberg and in the tea-house on the Kehlstein. Eva said: ‘I would like this marriage to be as wonderful as if it were my own!’ And so it was.
Eva expressed her gratitude thus: ‘I am so grateful to Fegelein for marrying my sister. Now I am somebody, I am the sister-in-law of Fegelein!’ Clearly she suffered from the anonymity to which she was condemned. She was never permitted to appear in public, but as Fegelein’s sister-in-law there was a basis for her presence in Hitler’s circle, and she could now be close to the man who had won her heart.
Against Hitler’s wishes Eva came to the Reich Chancellery in February 1945 and moved into her apartment next to Hitler’s private rooms. She expressed the wish for music but had no gramophone. I lent her mine which had been in the Voss-Strasse bunker. While Hitler was attending his military conferences we used to play records, drink champagne and quite often dance with off-duty officers. Hermann Fegelein was frequently amongst those who danced with Eva Braun. Today I can recall clearly the unforgettable scene. After a dance Fegelein would lift Eva chest high. At eye level they would gaze at each other full of tenderness and loving: Eva was obviously strongly attracted to Fegelein. I am convinced that her feelings for him went well beyond those feelings for a brother-in-law, but I do not believe anything went on between them. Upon her arrival in Berlin in February 1945 she said to me: ‘I have come because I owe the boss for everything wonderful in my life.’ In my opinion she remained faithful to him although undoubtedly she and Fegelein had to struggle against the overwhelming feelings that attracted them mutually. A tragedy, for at this time and place they were made for each other. The fact that Fegelein, after deserting his post at the Reich Chancellery in April 1945, rang Eva Braun there and urged her ‘to leave the Reich Chancellery and come to him’ supports my presumption and observations.
What thoughts must have assailed her when it became known that Fegelein had been found with another woman at his flat![114] Her decision to die alongside Hitler was that much easier to take knowing that Fegelein was dead, shot by firing squad on Hitler’s order. The most amazing thing of all at this time was how normally things proceeded as the end of the Third Reich approached.
Chapter 13
Obersalzberg
IN 1877 MAURITIA ‘MORITZ’ Mayer bought the equestrian establishment and Steinhaus estate together with all the summer pasture around the Kehlstein mountain. She turned the Steinhaus into the first hotel on the Obersalzberg. Under her proprietorship ‘Pension Moritz’ became a much-visited resort for guests and convalescents. Rich people from the city arrived as a result, buying up old farms or building their own mountain retreats. Professor Karl von Linde for example purchased the so-called Baumgarten estate and laid a road, later called the Professor von Linde Weg, to the Hochlenzer.[115] The Berlin piano manufacturer Bechstein built a house there, and Dr Seitz, a paediatrician, set up a sanatorium for children. A Buxtehude businessman, Herr Winter, had an all-weather alpine chalet built there.
In the 1920s Adolf Hitler and senior NSDAP men Hermann Esser and Christian Weber came often to the Obersalzberg because the hunted NSDAP fugitive Dietrich Eckart, Hitler’s mentor, had found shelter there. It was through Christian Weber, who found lodgings for Eckart at the Brückner house, that Hitler came to the Obersalzberg for the first time. He was fascinated by the scenery. Hitler told us the story at tea one day. One can read all about it in Heim’s Monologe im Führerhauptquartier,[116] since a stenographic note was kept. Dietrich Eckart introduced Hitler to many of the local inhabitants including Frau Bechstein, with whose help he rented Haus Wachenfeld from Frau Winter of Buxtehude for 100 RM. The tenancy was put into the name of his half-sister Angela Raubal at first, and in 1927 he transferred it to his own name before eventually purchasing the house outright from the executors of Frau Winter’s estate in 1934.
In August 1933 I was summoned by telephone to Obersalzberg[117] unexpectedly. At the time I was working with the Liaison Staff. I arrived at Haus Wachenfeld in the afternoon to be welcomed by Frau Raubal. She was a widow six years older than her half-brother. She had had three children by her marriage to a taxation officiaclass="underline" Friedl and Geli, and a son, Leo, who taught in Linz. Frau Raubal ran the household for Hitler. She was capable, active and a person who maintained discipline, often hitting the table with her fist impulsively at mealtimes to make a point. She was a figure who inspired respect. She controlled her staff with a rod of iron and also felt responsible for ensuring the well-being of her half-brother, although he did not seem to want this particularly.
113
Herrmann Fegelein (b. 30.10.1906 Ansbach, d. 28.4.1945 Berlin). 10.4.1933 joined SS; 1935 founded SS Cavalry School at Munich; 1937 commander, SS Cavalry School; 30.1.1936 SS-Sturmbannführer; 1.3.1940 SS-Obersturmbannführer and commander, SS-Totenkopf-Reiterstandarte; 5.8.1941◦– end 1943 leader, SS-Cavalry-Brigade and commander, Kampfbrigade
114
Upon his arrest on 27 April 1945 at his flat at Bleibtreu-Strasse 10–11 by RSD officer Peter Högl, a red-haired woman was found with Fegelein. She was allowed to escape on a pretext and her identity remains unknown.
115
The Hochlenzer, built in 1672, was an old settlement on the salt road from Hallein to Augsburg which crossed the Obersalzberg. (TN)
117
Obersalzberg overlooks Berchtesgaden from the northern foot of the Hoher Göll. The mountain was owned by the NSDAP and was never the seat of government. The terrain of about 1,000 hectares was 278 hectares farmland and 716 hectares woods and mountainside. Seider and Zeigert,