In the summer of 1928, in an attempt to win over the workers who voted for the left, Goebbels published three articles in the newspaper he created, Angrif (Attack), which were very reminiscent of communist style. He emphasized that in the capitalist state the worker is “not a human being, not a producer and not a creator. He has been turned into a machine, into a number, into a robot with no feeling or purpose." And only National Socialism, Hitler's comrade-in-arms argued, would return the lost dignity to the workers and make their life meaningful. Goebbels managed to push Gregor Strasser into the background in a very short period, which Hitler was very pleased with - the last political rival in the north was out of the game. As a reward, the Fuhrer appointed Goebbels responsible for propaganda in the party.
Hitler, repelling Strasser's attempt to change the direction of National Socialism, forgave the repentant opponent and placed him in charge of reorganizing the party. Thanks to the efforts of him and Goebbels, by the end of the year the membership of the party had increased to 100,000.
To consolidate his achievements in the northern lands, Hitler arrived in Berlin on November 16, 1928 and spoke at a large rally at the Sports Palace. Fearing possible attempts by the Reds to disrupt this event, the Fuhrer brought with him the entire detachment of personal protection. It consisted of specially selected young men whose duty it was to protect the leader at all costs, even at the cost of their lives. These guys called themselves "schutzstaffel" (security squad) or SS for short.
Many of the 10,000 people who gathered for the rally had never heard Hitler, and his first words did not make much of an impression. In addition, for some reason, the microphones had deteriorated, and the speaker was almost inaudible. There was a noise in the hall. Then Hitler himself turned off the microphone and spoke as loudly as possible. Even the Reds fell silent, they began to listen to him attentively. And Hitler spoke about the degeneration of the nation, the decline of culture, the suppression of the individual. In the end, his throat could not stand it, and the speaker was forced to leave the podium. The Fuhrer did not say anything essentially new, but his personal charm had a downright magnetic effect on the public. “Before the magical effect of his words,” Goebbels later remarked, “all resistance collapses. You can either be his friend or his enemy. The secret of his strength lies in his fanatical faith in the movement, and with it in Germany.”
A month later, at a meeting between Hitler and students at the University of Berlin, the American journalist Louis Lochner observed a similar phenomenon: “My first impression of him was that of a great artist. I left the meeting and thought how a person with faulty diction could have such an effect on young intellectuals - a person who shouted, raged, stamped his feet.
One such young intellectual was Albert Speer, a professor at the Institute of Technology. He came to the meeting at the request of his students, without much desire, and expected to see Hitler in military uniform with a swastika on his sleeve. But it turned out that the Nazi leader “was in a decent suit and looked quite respectable. Everything about him was modest.” Speer was especially struck by the fact that he spoke somehow hesitantly and timidly, as if he were giving a lecture on history. “For me, there was something sympathetic about all this and contrary to what his opponents were trying to portray - a hysterical demagogue, a squealing and gesticulating fanatic in uniform.” Gradually, the timidity disappeared, Hitler spoke with hypnotic persuasiveness, and Speer was carried away by a wave of enthusiasm, which he felt almost physically - "it canceled out any skepticism, any reservations."
Well-defined organizational work, combined with Hitler's personal qualities as the leader of the party, began to bear fruit. The social base of Nazism was expanding, which drew attention to the next congress of the National Socialist Party, held in 1929 in Nuremberg. The congress placed emphasis on work among the middle strata of the population. University graduates and other representatives of the bourgeoisie began to be accepted to leading party positions. Leaving the workers to Goebbels and Strasser, Hitler took over the war veterans and business people, realizing that without them he would never come to power. To this end, he joined a bloc with the nationalist association of veterans "Steelhelm" and the right-wing German National People's Party, led by film and press magnate Alfred Hugenberg. This bloc was formed by the right to fight against the American, more liberal plan for paying reparations (the Young Plan).
Such an alliance could prove dangerous for Hitler, alienating many adherents from the left from the party. But Hitler was convinced that he could hold both sides, and this would allow him to succeed in the upcoming plebiscite on the Young Plan.
By this time, the Nazis already widely used the financial support of large industrialists. With their money, a three-story building in Munich was bought for the party headquarters.
In early September, Hitler himself moved into a spacious nine-room apartment in one of the fashionable districts of Munich. To look after the apartment, he invited Frau Reichert and her mother, Frau Dachs.
Hitler left his sister Angela in Berchtesgaden to manage the house, which became his property, and Geli, who was already 21 years old, was allowed to live in Uncle Adolf's new apartment.
The girl studied at medical courses in Munich. Hitler's feelings for his niece have not changed over the years. The uncle began to openly, albeit very cautiously, look after the young relative. They were sometimes seen together in the theater or in a restaurant. According to Hanfstaengl, Hitler was fascinated by Geli and, like a teenager in love, did not take his devoted dog eyes off her. She dragged Uncle Adolf shopping, although he confessed to Hoffmann that he hated this occupation.
At the same time, Hitler remained a strict uncle, not allowing his niece to go to theaters and restaurants with friends. Even when Geli convinced the patron to let her go to the ball, he put forward rather tough conditions: Geli would be accompanied by his assistants, Amann and Hoffman, and they would also take her home at 11 pm. Hoffmann tried to stand up for the girl, saying that she was upset by such severity, but the Fuhrer seriously answered his friend: "I love Geli and could marry her, but I want to remain a bachelor." What Geli considered a limitation, in his opinion, was dictated by common sense. “I don’t want her to fall into the hands of some adventurer or scoundrel,” he ended the conversation.
But Geli was not the only woman in Hitler's life during that period. Then he began to meet with Eva Braun, his future faithful companion for the rest of his life.
They met in early October 1929. Eva, the 17-year-old daughter of a school teacher from Munich, a beautiful and lively blonde, got a job as a saleswoman in Hofmann's photoshop. Like Geli, she preferred jazz to opera and American musical comedies to serious German dramas. According to the memoirs of the school teacher Frau von Heidenaber, Eva was considered a troublemaker in the class, she was smart, quick-witted, quickly grasped the essence of any issue.
One day, Eva stopped by after work to tidy up the folders with pictures, and stood on the stairs, laying them out on the top shelf. “At that moment,” she later told her sister, “the owner came and with him a man with a funny mustache, in a light raincoat and with a big hat in his hand. Both of them settled down at the other end of the room, opposite me. Noticing that the stranger was examining her legs, the girl was embarrassed. “That day,” she recalled, “I cut my skirt short and felt awkward because I wasn’t sure I had hemmed it right.” When she came downstairs, Hofmann introduced the man to her: “Herr Wolf. And this is our lovely little Fräulein Eva.” A few minutes later, the three of them were sitting over beer and sausages. “I was hungry and immediately swallowed the sausage, sipping beer for the sake of decency. The elderly gentleman complimented me. We talked about music, about the theater. I remember how he kept devouring me with his eyes. Then, since it was already late, I got ready to go home. I refused his offer to give me a ride in the Mercedes. Just think what dad would say! But before Eva left, Hoffmann took her aside and asked, “Didn’t you guess who this gentleman was? It's Hitler! Adolf Gitler!" - "Really?" – the girl was surprised.
Since then, Hitler often went to the shop with flowers and sweets for the "pretty siren at Hofmann's." Occasionally he took the girl to the cinema or to some sparse restaurant, but by the end of the year he began to come less and less. The reason was, apparently, the simple lie of the "charming siren": Eva once told her colleagues that she was Hitler's mistress and that he would soon marry her. Upon learning of this, Hoffmann, confident that the girl had never been in Hitler's apartment, called her into the office and made a serious suggestion. Eva burst into tears and admitted that she had lied. The photographer threatened her with dismissal if this happened again.
At the end of 1929, the plebiscite on the Young plan ended in the victory of Chancellor Stresemann with his liberal program, although he himself died suddenly before the votes were counted. Hitler's flimsy bloc with Hugenberg's national people's party needed 21 million votes to defeat this plan, but they collected less than six. Although this was a devastating blow to Hugenberg, Hitler deftly turned the defeat into a kind of victory. Unaccustomed to defending a lost cause, he nevertheless attacked Hugenberg with rage and broke off the alliance as suddenly as he had made it. He gradually but surely gathered strength, preparing the party for the upcoming parliamentary elections, although at that time few people took the Nazis seriously. In his memoirs, the former British ambassador in Berlin, Lord d "Abernon, wrote that since 1924 Hitler "goes into oblivion." Historian Arnold Toynbee was of the same opinion.
And Hitler worked for victory, considering it possible if he could win over as many workers as possible to his side. This required some spectacular propaganda trick. The opportunity presented itself in early 1930 with the death of law student Horst Wessel in Berlin. Horst, the son of a preacher, rebelled against the bourgeois environment and joined the stormtroopers, distinguishing himself in street skirmishes with the Reds. He wrote the poem "Raise the Flag High!" Dedicated to the memory of comrades who "fell at the hands of the Rot Front and reaction." It was published in the newspaper "Angrif" and later set to music. Wessel at that time fell in love with a former prostitute named Erna and moved in with her. Deciding to get rid of the couple, the mistress of the house asked for help from the communists. And then one day a group of reds burst into the lovers' room. Their leader, who at one time was also intimate with Erna, allegedly shouted: “Get it for it!” and shot Wessel. In an attempt to extract political capital from this story, the communists hastened to declare Wessel a pimp, which he never was. Goebbels, for his part, was not slow to make a kind of Jesus of the working class out of the deceased, which he was all the more not.
While Wessel was dying in the hospital, Goebbels managed to turn this private skirmish into a grandiose political rally at the Sports Palace, which ended with the performance of Horst's song: “The banners fly, the drums rattle, the trumpets rejoice, and the anthem of the German revolution sounds from millions of throats: “Raise the flag high! » When Wessel died on February 23, Goebbels decided to end the propaganda campaign with a grand funeral with a speech by Hitler. But the Führer had serious objections to such a show. He was supported by Goering, who returned from Sweden, having undergone drug treatment there and had just won the elections to the Reichstag. Goering considered the situation in Berlin more than tense and was not sure that the Fuhrer's safety could be ensured. “After all, there are only twelve of us in the Reichstag,” he declared, “and we simply do not have the strength to make political capital on this. If Hitler comes to Berlin, it will be a red flag for the communist bulls, and the consequences could be catastrophic.”
Hitler said he was sick, and the funeral took place without him. Goering was right. Here and there, fights broke out, which were started by the Reds, attacking the participants in the funeral. Even at the moment when Goebbels was standing at the grave, stones flew at him from behind the fence. But the one in charge of propaganda was exactly what he needed. “When the coffin sank into the cold earth,” he wrote, “the vile cries of subhumans were heard outside the gates. The deceased, still remaining with us, raised his tired hand and pointed with it into the distance: forward, regardless of the graves! Germany is at the end of the road!”
Reading these pathetic lines, it is impossible to imagine what the true relationship between the Reds and the Nazis was. Though they fought each other day in and day out, they shared a peculiar sense of camaraderie. And it often happened that the enemies instantly united if the police intervened in their brawls in bars and pubs. Both those and others were obsessed with the idea, believing that the end justifies the means. Both those and others treated all parliamentary procedures with the same contempt. And last spring, on May Day, they walked side by side through the streets of Berlin, demanding "freedom, work and bread." Both of them were united by a common hatred for the police commissioner - a Jew
Reading these pathetic lines, it is impossible to imagine what the true relationship between the Reds and the Nazis was. Though they fought each other day in and day out, they shared a peculiar sense of camaraderie. And it often happened that the enemies instantly united if the police intervened in their brawls in bars and pubs. Both those and others were obsessed with the idea, believing that the end justifies the means. Both those and others treated all parliamentary procedures with the same contempt. And last spring, on May Day, they walked side by side through the streets of Berlin, demanding "freedom, work and bread." Both those and others were united by a common hatred for the police commissioner - a Jew, Bernhard Weiss; both considered the police to be the mortal enemy of all revolutionaries.
Two months later, the conflict between Hitler and Otto Strasser became public. After his brother's departure for Munich, Otto became the leading columnist for the three newspapers founded by Gregor. Despite the Nazi symbolism, these newspapers became a mouthpiece for Otto's seditious views, often opposed to those of Hitler. In April, when Otto supported a metal workers' strike in Saxony, the industrialists demanded that Hitler publicly disassociate himself from Strasser if he wanted to continue receiving subsidies.
Threats from Munich had no effect, and then Hitler came to Berlin, hoping to personally influence Otto. They met twice. For almost seven hours Hitler flattered, promised and threatened the rebellious journalist, but the differences remained. Not a single one yielded, and Otto refused the tempting offer to head the party propaganda, although he did not immediately break with the party, hoping that Hitler would move away from the Rosenberg line.
In addition, a public quarrel could damage the parties in the upcoming state elections in Saxony.
Obviously, Hitler considered himself offended when the young Strasser spoke out against him so openly and harshly. However, at first he did not take any open measures against his opponent. But he acted in secret: at the end of June, Goebbels received a direct order from the Fuhrer to purge the party of people like Otto and his supporters. “As long as I lead the party,” he wrote, “it will not be a debating club for rootless writers and salon Bolsheviks. It will remain what it is today - a disciplined organization, created not for stupid doctrinaires or political migratory birds, but for the struggle for the future of Germany, in which class differences will be destroyed and the new German people will decide their own fate! Hitler's order was carried out within a few weeks. And only twenty-four people responded to Strasser's call to the socialists to leave the Nazi Party. Even Brother Gregor dissociated himself from him.
The split in the Nazi Party was sensationalized by the newspapers, but the party itself had little effect. Hitler in this factional struggle between "North" and "South" played the role of a generous arbiter who strove with all his might for a compromise. Gregor Strasser received a high post in the leadership of the party, and the Fuhrer presented the story of Otto as if the younger Strasser was to blame for his expulsion. Now, at last, the inner-party struggle was over, and Hitler could concentrate all his energy on the parliamentary elections in September 1930.
In the election campaign, Hitler brilliantly used a gift of fate - the global economic crisis. In Germany, by the end of the summer of 1930, there were almost three million unemployed, and the economic policy of Chancellor Brüning made the situation even worse. Hitler's appeals to the workers during these months could well compete with the communist ones. "Workers' Germany! Wake up! Break your chains!" - called "Angrif" Goebbels. The Bauers, who were in danger of being ruined by falling world agricultural prices, were offered tax breaks and import duties by Hitler; to the middle class, which did not have trade unions to protect their interests, hope and self-respect; young idealists - a just new order.
The last group was small in number, but it was from there that his most devoted and active associates came out. They listened with fascination to his promises to establish national harmony and social justice.
Intellectuals, representatives of the social elite, aristocrats went to the Fuhrer. In the spring, the younger son of the Kaiser, August Wilhelm, happily informed his dear comrade Hitler that he had been accepted into the National Socialist Party.
The Fuhrer in 1930 invited all Germans, regardless of their social affiliation, to participate in the crusade for the revival of Germany; the only thing that was required of them was to follow Hitler without hesitation in his struggle against the Jews and the Reds, for living space for the benefit and glory of Germany.
“This is what we thought and felt in our hearts,” wrote one old party member. Hitler, you are ours. You speak as a person who has gone through the front and comprehended all our troubles with his heart.
Being a born politician, Hitler was constantly in the midst of the masses - shaking hands with people, kissing children, bowing to women. He dined more often with workers and burghers than with high-ranking friends, and his simplicity in getting around made an impression on the clerk, and on the shopkeeper, and on the laborer.
Hitler never forgot the lessons of the Landsberg prison: the main thing is to win over the masses. Again and again he attacked the bigwigs, the Reds, the Marxists, and the "system" that brings unemployment, lowers the prices of agricultural products, and ruins the middle class. He did not set class against class, but united, forcing the Germans to experience a feeling unknown to them until now - a feeling of national unity.
Never before had Germany been subjected to such propaganda treatment. Goebbels organized six thousand meetings - in large halls, under awnings, in the open air. Grandiose processions with torches were arranged, cities and villages were pasted over with leaflets with large red letters. Nazi
Never before had Germany been subjected to such propaganda treatment. Goebbels organized six thousand meetings - in large halls, under awnings, in the open air. Grandiose processions with torches were arranged, cities and villages were pasted over with leaflets with large red letters. The Nazi propaganda machine printed millions of copies of newspapers, often given away for free.
On the morning of election day, Goebbels gave party activists cynical but practical campaign advice: “Do it jokingly, do it seriously! Your treatment of fellow citizens should be the way they are used to. Encourage their anger and rage, direct them to the right path." Long queues lined up in front of polling stations all over the country that day. A record 35 million ballots were dropped into the ballot boxes, four million more than in 1928.
Hitler showed up at the election headquarters just after midnight. He was met by an excited agitator Adolf Müller: “I think we won. We can get sixty-six seats!” Hitler replied that if the German people showed prudence, the figure would be higher: "I said to myself: if it were a hundred!" But this time the National Socialists won 107 seats.
Hitler's political rivals could not believe it. Before announcing the final result, the tellers counted and recounted the ballots looking for errors, but there were none: the Nazis collected 6,371,000 votes, more than 18 percent of the total. In two years, Hitler's party became the second largest party in the Reich after the Social Democrats. Hastening to declare Hitler political
Hitler's political rivals could not believe it. Before announcing the final result, the tellers counted and recounted the ballots looking for errors, but there were none: the Nazis collected 6,371,000 votes, more than 18 percent of the total. In two years, Hitler's party became the second largest party in the Reich after the Social Democrats. By rushing to declare Hitler a political corpse, the socialists made the colossal mistake of focusing their attacks on the communists.
The Communists also received a significant increase of 1,326,000 votes, while the Social Democrats lost about 60,000. This meant that the social base of Nazism was made up of representatives of the middle class. Particularly striking was the growth of Hitler supporters among peasants and those with lower than average incomes in the rural and Protestant areas of the northern regions of the country, and there were many of them among Catholics. Starting with the "beer putsch", Hitler relied on people who were disappointed and desperate. Now he won over to his side those who expected him to improve their lives.
On October 13, the day of the first meeting of the new Reichstag, 107 Nazi deputies in brown shirts entered the hall in a solemn march. When introduced by name, they answered loudly: “Here. Heil Hitler! Tony Zender, a deputy from the Social Democratic Party, recalled: “And this is the elite of the Aryan race! Brazen, noisy gang in uniforms! I carefully peered into their faces and became more and more horrified: such a mass of people with the faces of criminals and degenerates. What a humiliation to be in the same hall with this gang!
The speech of the deputy Gregor Strasser in the Reichstag looked quite well-intentioned: “We will work in the old system, while democracy still exists. We support the democratic Weimar Republic as long as it suits us." But what happened outside the walls of the Reichstag cast an ominous shadow on the future. Hundreds of stormtroopers roamed the streets and smashed the windows of Jewish shops and cafes.
The victory in the September elections made Hitler a celebrity on an international scale. But, as usual, widespread fame brought the leader of the Nazis a lot of trouble. This was due to the Fuhrer's relatives living in England. Hitler's half-brother, Alois Jr., who had run away from home, settled in Dublin and married an Irish woman, Bridget Elizabeth Dowling. Their lives didn't work out. Alois constantly changed jobs, moving from city to city. He was a waiter, and the owner of a restaurant in Liverpool, and a seller of shaving supplies. Quarrels in the family became more frequent after the birth of their son William Patrick. When the child was three years old, Alois and Bridget separated, and Hitler's brother returned to Germany.
When Bridget and William Patrick became aware of the popularity of their German relative, they decided to earn extra money by giving a series of interviews to American newspapers. Moreover, Alois did not provide any help to his wife and son for many years. And in early October, conversations with William Patrick and his photographs began to appear in the American press. Explanatory text under one of the pictures read: “This is ... a young London office worker, William Patrick Hitler, the nephew of Adolf Hitler, the new political leader of Germany. He was born in Liverpool and has almost nothing to say about his uncle's life and work." Then William Patrick turned to his father with a request to tell him as many facts as possible from the biography of an eminent relative. The answer came not from Alois, but from Adolf Hitler. He demanded that his nephew and his mother immediately come to Munich. Tickets were enclosed with the letter. As William Patrick recalls, the uncle was beside himself with anger. At the family council, where Angela and Alois were also present, he declared that he would not allow any of his relatives to sit on his neck and, moreover, earn popularity and money using his fame. All this, according to Hitler, caused serious damage to his political reputation.
Nine years later, in an interview with France Soir, William Patrick quoted Hitler's angry, almost incoherent words at that Munich meeting. “These people,” shouted the Fuhrer, “must not know who I am. They shouldn't know where I'm from or what family I'm from. Even in my book, I didn't say a word about it, not a word. Some investigations are being carried out, spies are being sent to unearth our past.” The London Hitlers were asked, upon their return to England, to immediately inform the newspapermen that
Nine years later, in an interview with France Soir, William Patrick quoted Hitler's angry, almost incoherent words at that Munich meeting. “These people,” shouted the Fuhrer, “must not know who I am. They shouldn't know where I'm from or what family I'm from. Even in my book, I didn't say a word about it, not a word. Some investigations are being carried out, spies are being sent to unearth our past.” The London Hitlers were asked to immediately inform the newspapermen upon their return to England that a mistake had occurred and that the leader of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler, was not at all their relative.
After the departure of his nephew, Hitler instructed the lawyer Hans Frank to thoroughly investigate all the circumstances related to the origin of his father, Alois Hitler Sr., since the well-known hints of the "impudent blackmailer" William Patrick did their job: the press became interested in whether the Fuhrer himself was to some extent Jew. The investigation was conducted in the strictest secrecy, and its results did not contain anything comforting for Hitler. His father was "the illegitimate son of a cook named Schicklgruber", who then worked in the family of a Jew named Frankenberger. Moreover, the head of the family paid the cook parental allowance for the child for fourteen years, starting from the moment of his birth. Between the Frankenbergers and the cook (Hitler's grandmother) there was a lengthy correspondence, "the general trend of which, according to Frank, was the unexpressed general understanding of the parties concerned that the child of the Schicklgruber woman was conceived in circumstances imposing certain obligations on the Frankenbergers." Frank, in his conclusions, did not rule out the possibility that Alois Hitler was half Jewish, since his father could be Frankenberger's nineteen-year-old son.
Hitler was shocked by the information received from the lawyer and immediately tried to give them his explanation. He claimed that the grandmother simply blackmailed the Frankenbergers with a fabrication about paternity and that he learned about this from his grandmother and his own father. This was hardly true, since the “cook Schicklgruber” died forty years before the birth of her grandson Adolf. According to the memoirs of people close to Hitler who knew him since 1917, “all his life he suffered from painful doubts whether he had Jewish blood or not.”
Personal troubles did not particularly affect the Fuhrer's popularity. Unexpectedly, even for himself, Mein Kampf became a bestseller. Already in 1930, over 54 thousand copies of this book were sold, which gave the author a decent income. In addition, on January 1, the "Brown House" was opened - the new residence of the party. Hitler's office, decorated in red-brown tones, was located on the second floor. There was a bust of Mussolini in it, a portrait of Frederick the Great and a picture depicting the first battle of the regiment where Hitler served at the beginning of the war hung on the wall. However, as Frank recalled, Hitler was rarely there. More often he could be found downstairs in the buffet, where he sat in the corner at the "Fuhrer" table, under the portrait of Dietrich Eckart. But he didn't fit in there either. The quiet life of the Brown House was not for him. During the day, the Fuhrer could be met at a meeting, and at a rally, and at a meeting with major industrialists and financiers.
For some time now, the SA had become a subject of particular concern to Hitler. Stormtroopers were always proud of their decisiveness and the Fuhrer's instructions about the need to act only within the framework of the law were not taken seriously. In addition, among them were many idealists and socialists, whose revolutionary mood was almost no different from the communist one. From the very beginning, Hitler had friction with the leaders of the stormtroopers, who sought to make the SA a military branch of the party. According to Hitler and other senior party officials, the main task of the assault squads was to ensure order and discipline at rallies, meetings, meetings, and in addition, to take over the protection of the party from any violent actions by political opponents. Such demands forced the recognized leaders of the SA to resign - Captain Rem, and then Pfeffer von Zolomon.
But the dissatisfaction of their bosses was shared by many ordinary attack aircraft. For example, in Berlin, the Brownshirts refused to act as simple guards at party rallies, and after their demands, primarily material ones, were rejected by Goebbels, one of the stormtroopers lost control of himself and fired at the local party headquarters. It took the personal intervention of Hitler to stop the rebellion. The Fuhrer appeared before the stormtroopers, accompanied by armed SS men, and, like a condescending father, asked, promised and called for reconciliation, reducing the whole matter to personal relationships. Having reassured the storm troopers with the promise that from now on he himself would command the SA, Hitler returned to the election campaign.
Of course, the Fuhrer had neither the time nor the desire to seriously take on such a burden, and at the beginning of January 1931, Rem, who had returned from Bolivia shortly before, where he had gone into voluntary exile after a quarrel with Hitler, was reappointed as the new Chief of Staff of the SA. . The captain was promised relative freedom of action in restructuring the internal structure of this organization, which at that time numbered 60,000 people.
But the Berlin attack aircraft did not calm down. Firstly, their main claims were not satisfied, and secondly, their leader, Captain Walter Shtennes, was outraged by the actions of Hitler, who, in his opinion, changed his mind too often, which led to confusion and misunderstandings. The final straw was Hitler's order of February 20, 1931, in which the SA and SS were instructed to stop clashes with Reds and Jews in the streets, and the subsequent statement that the party would strictly comply with the government's decree on the need to obtain prior police consent for holding rallies and other public actions. Enraged, Stennes denounced the surrender to the authorities and called a secret meeting of SA leaders on March 31, at which it was decided to oppose Hitler. The Fuhrer, trying to solve the matter amicably, called Stennes to Munich, where he was offered a new post. He refused to come. Then Hitler ordered the SS to restore order, and in twenty-four hours the "mini-putsch" was crushed.
On April 4, Angrif and Völkischer Beobachter published Hitler's articles condemning Stennes' putsch. The Fuehrer confirmed that socialism had always been an important part of the program of the National Socialists, but he criticized the "clowns of salon Bolshevism and salon socialism" who had crept into it. He claimed that Stennes was one of these "clowns" and was trying to "smudge inherently communist views into the SA." The dismissal of Stennes and a handful of his followers caused no open protests. By the way, this story also showed the duplicity of Goebbels, who, while publicly approving the orders of the Fuhrer, secretly pushed the stormtroopers to take action on the streets. But the clever "propagandist" came out unscathed.
To avoid such excesses in the future, Hitler put Heinrich Himmler, the SS leader devoted to him, at the head of the Berlin SA.
In the summer of 1931, Hitler's personal life became seriously complicated. He became aware of the intimate relationship of his beloved niece Geli Raubal with his chauffeur Moritz and of their secret engagement. Upon learning of this, Hitler became furious and immediately fired Moritz.
People close to the Fuhrer interpreted his relationship with his pretty niece in different ways. Hitler's housekeeper, Annie Winter, believed that he treated Geli like a father. But the girl, in her opinion, "was frivolous, tried to seduce anyone, including Hitler, and he just wanted to protect her." Be that as it may, Geli, in a certain sense, became a prisoner in her uncle's spacious apartment. He did not allow her to go anywhere alone, and even for singing lessons someone always accompanied her. Geli often complained that such control by an eminent relative made it impossible for her to live her own life and meet young people her own age.
One evening Hanfstaengli met Hitler and Geli at the theater and went with them to a restaurant for dinner. Hanfstaengl noticed that Geli was bored, she looked around at the other tables, it was felt that she was tired of everything. Helen also believed that the girl was weighed down by her relationship with her uncle. But, according to Frau Winter, the initiative did not come from Hitler, but from Geli herself. “She naturally wanted to become Frau Hitler, he was free, but Geli flirted with everyone and was a frivolous girl.”
Undoubtedly, the uncle's popularity made an impression on Geli. Every time they appeared in a restaurant, their table was immediately surrounded by enthusiastic fans and especially admirers who kissed the Fuhrer's hands and asked for an autograph. At the same time, it was obvious that Hitler's feelings for his niece were by no means related. As Moritz stated, "he loved her, but it was a strange love that did not dare to fully express itself."
There were those who claimed that Hitler and Geli were real lovers. Otto Strasser, in his sensational revelation, even claimed that they had sexual intercourse in a perverted form. But few people believed this even among Hitler's enemies. He certainly loved his niece deeply, but it is unlikely that there was sexual intimacy between them. The Führer was too reserved to allow himself to court a woman openly, and too careful to ruin his political career by putting a mistress in his apartment, especially since she was the daughter of his half-sister.
In the autumn of 1931 Geli became interested in a young artist from Vienna. Of course, Hitler soon found out about their connection and made another scandal for his niece, forcing her to break up with her lover. Angry, Geli left a few days later for Berchtesgaden to live with her mother. Hitler demanded her immediate return to Munich. Geli was forced to obey. On September 17, a major quarrel took place between them - the girl was outraged that her uncle forbade her to go to Vienna, while he himself was leaving for Nuremberg for some regular meeting.
Passions reached their peak at dinner, when Geli jumped out from behind the table and locked herself in her room. But when she heard that her uncle was coming downstairs to meet Hoffmann, who had come for him, she went out to say goodbye.
Hitler approached her, stroked her cheek and whispered something softly. Later, Geli, going back to her room, said to the housekeeper: “Honestly, my uncle and I don’t have anything and never had.”
Hitler's Mercedes raced through the streets of Munich, the Fuhrer sat in silence. But suddenly he turned to Hoffman and said: “I don’t know why, but I have some strange forebodings.” Hoffmann, wanting to distract him from his gloomy thoughts, began to explain this by the influence of seasonal alpine winds. Hitler was silent.
Meanwhile, the following was happening in Hitler's apartment. Geli, rummaging through the pockets of her uncle's jacket, found a letter written on a piece of blue paper. Later, Annie Winter noticed that the girl angrily tore it up and threw it into the trash. The curious housekeeper folded the scraps and read: “Dear Herr Hitler. Thank you again for the wonderful invitation to the theatre. It was a memorable evening. I am very grateful to you for your kindness and I am counting the hours until our next meeting. Your Eva. The letter was from Eva Braun, with whom Hitler had renewed a secret connection a few months earlier.
Geli locked herself in the room, ordered not to disturb her. But the depressed mood of the girl did not alert Frau Winter, who, as usual, went home in the evening. Frau Reichert and her mother went to bed. At night, they heard some dull pop, but did not attach any importance to this: they, too, were used to the antics of a capricious girl.
But in the morning the cook was alarmed when Geli did not leave the room, and her door was locked. She called Amann and Schwartz, who called a locksmith. Geli was lying on the floor, a pistol was lying next to her. She shot herself in the heart.
That morning Hitler and Hoffmann left Nuremberg for Hamburg. When the Mercedes was already on the outskirts of the city, Hitler noticed that some kind of car was following them. Fearing an assassination attempt, he already wanted to order the driver to increase speed, but he saw that in a taxi that had caught up with them, a messenger from the hotel was sitting next to the driver and gesturing to stop. The messenger said that Hess was calling from Munich and demanded an immediate conversation with the Fuhrer. Hitler ordered to turn back. Running into the lobby, he rushed to the phone. The cockpit door was left open, and Hoffman heard the conversation. After a short pause, Hitler exclaimed: "Oh God, this is terrible!" But Hess had probably already hung up.
“Hitler's grief was unimaginable,” Hofmann recalled. – At top speed we raced to Munich. In the mirror, I could observe the Fuhrer's face. He was sitting; gritting his teeth, looking ahead with unseeing eyes. When they arrived, Geli's body had already been taken out. Since it was a Saturday, reports of her death did not appear in the papers until Monday. And rumors spread around the city that the Fuhrer himself had finished with his niece. Heartbroken, Hitler told his lawyer Frank that this smear campaign would kill him, that he would retire from politics and never appear in public again. Hoffman took him to the country house of one of his acquaintances, where no one lived at that time. The new driver, Julius Schreck, hid the Fuhrer's pistol, fearing that he might shoot himself.
As soon as Hitler was in the room allotted to him, he began to pace back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back. This went on all night. At dawn, Hoffman knocked on the door. There was no answer. He entered. Hitler continued to walk, staring at one point.
From food, despite persuasion, Hitler refused for two days. During this time, he only answered the phone once to find out what measures Frank had taken to stop the smear campaign in the press.
Finally the message came that Geli was buried in Vienna. Although Hitler was banned from entering Austria because of his Nazi views, in the evening of the same day the Fuhrer's Mercedes crossed the border. Everything worked out. Before reaching Vienna, Hitler and Hoffmann changed into another car so as not to attract attention, and drove straight to the cemetery. The words were carved on the marble slab: “Here lies our beloved child Geli. She was a ray of sunshine for us. Born June 4, 1908, died September 18, 1931 Raubal family.” Flowers lay on the grave.
At the cemetery, Hitler was met by the leader of the Austrian Nazis, Alfred Frauenfeld. Visitors ate breakfast with him. And here Hitler spoke for the first time, but not about the tragedy that had happened, but about the future of Germany. In the words that he would come to power no later than 1933, there was a strong certainty. Sitting in the car, he peered into the distance for a long time and, finally, as if thinking aloud, said: “So, the struggle begins, and we will win.”
A few days later, the Fuhrer went on his usual trip to the next meeting. At breakfast at the hotel, he suddenly refused to eat ham. "It's the same as eating a corpse!" he said to Goering. Now nothing in the world will make him eat meat again. According to Frau Hess, from now on, Hitler really stopped eating meat, except for the liver baked in dough.
Anyone who came to his speech saw the former Fuhrer in front of him - a brilliant orator, a skilled psychologist, who perfectly masters the audience. He experienced severe depression twice - in the hospital, being blind, and in the Landsberg prison. But it seems that this kind of state was for Hitler a kind of spiritual rebirth, because each time he emerged from the depths of despair with new energy and purposefulness. This was his third resurrection.
)At different times, different people asked the Fuhrer why he did not want to get married. Usually he answered that at any moment he could go to jail. Comrades in the struggle, probably, did not really believe such an explanation of the hardened demagogue and cynic, and a version was born that Adolf Hitler was impotent, since he had one testicle. The latter became clear only after SMERSH fighters found the charred corpse of Hitler and his young wife in 1945. With close friends, being in an exclusively male society, Hitler often spoke disparagingly of marriage.
In January 1942, he said: “What is the worst thing about marriage: it creates legal claims! Then it is much more correct to be able to put a stamp on every woman. The woman... doesn't want anything else." The Führer repeatedly ranted in a similar pseudo-Nietzschean spirit: “The world of a man is great in comparison with the world of a woman ... The world of a woman is a man. She thinks about something else only from time to time ... A woman can love deeper than a man. In a woman, this does not depend on intelligence at all.
Despite the dismissive opinion about female intelligence and character, Hitler, according to eyewitnesses, made everyone believe that he considered her beautiful, admired her and idolized her. According to the Austrian habit, he kisses the hand of every lady, even married secretaries.
Hitler never yelled at his typists, even when they made significant mistakes. He passes his subordinate ladies in front of him, respectfully greets them and addresses them only as "my beauty" or "beautiful child." In their presence, he never sits down first, although on occasion he does so even when receiving foreign statesmen, for example, when meeting with Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier in 1938.
Geli was young and fresh...
Many women, according to the Fuhrer's German biographer Werner Maser, who before their meeting with Hitler expected to see a ferocious brute, left him, admiring and admiring him. In the presence of women, his guttural voice became soft and insinuating. In general, Hitler could well be called a ladies' man, who knew perfectly well the true price of the fair sex.
All major researchers of Hitler's biography believe that the Fuhrer in his life, no doubt, met and cohabited with many women. Among them are Helena Bechstein, the wife of a piano manufacturer; Victoria von Dirksen, whom the National Socialists called "the mother of revolutions"; Elsa Bruckman - the wife of a well-known Munich publisher; Stephanie - Princess von Hohenlohe, divorced from Prince von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schilling; Zhenya Gaug - Hitler's chauffeur's sister; Susie Liptauer - Hitler's countrywoman, former nun "Pia" (in the world Eleanor Bauer); Martha Dodd is the daughter of the US Ambassador to Berlin, William Dodd; Lady Unity Valkyrie Mitford - daughter of Lord Ridsdale and sister-in-law of the leader of the English fascists, Sir Oswald Mosley; Inga Ley is the former actress and last wife of Robert Ley, as well as pretty actresses and dancers.
However, the Fuhrer's greatest love is usually called his cousin (daughter of Hitler's half-sister) Angela (Geli) Raubal. The young girl was 19 years younger than her "Uncle Adolf" and immediately charmed him with her face and melodic voice. In 1925, Hitler first saw Gels in the Bavarian Berchtesgaden, but then their relationship did not get the proper development. In the summer of 1928, Hitler rented the Wachenfeld villa from the widow of a Hamburg industrialist, which he later, after becoming Chancellor of Germany, rebuilt, turning it into a huge luxurious Berghof mansion. But in 1925, he needed a faithful housekeeper to manage his bachelor household, and he decided to invite his half-sister Angela Raubal from Vienna, whom he trusted very much. Both of her daughters came with the woman: Friedl and 20-year-old Geli.
A charming young creature, the owner of beautiful blond curls, a cheerful character and a pleasant voice, dreamed of becoming an opera singer and took vocal lessons, hoping that her uncle would help her make a career on the stage of the opera house in Vienna. For the sake of the beautiful eyes of his niece, Hitler abandoned all his former hobbies. Geli accompanied the Fuhrer everywhere, attending party meetings and conferences, rallies and processions, visited restaurants, cafes, theaters, vernissages and museums with him. Probably, the presence of the sister embarrassed the couple - and they quite often retired during long walks in the mountains.
Uncle and niece turned out to be terribly jealous. One day, Geli threw a wild scene and a tantrum when rumors reached her that Adolf wanted to marry Winifred Wagner. Nazi number one, in turn, was jealous of Geli for his longtime bodyguard Emil Maurice, regarding the young man as his rival.
Munich, 1929 Hitler, by that time a fairly wealthy person, decides to rent an apartment in the Bavarian capital on one of the most fashionable streets of Prinzregentstrasse, 16. Hitler provided Geli with one of the nine luxurious rooms. Many old "comrades in the struggle" did not approve of such a connection of their leader and later, already at the head of state, Hitler would publicly declare that he was "betrothed to Germany", and with his new passion, Eva Braun, he would practically not appear in public.
With Geli, Hitler really relaxed
But while half a step remained before the undisputed leadership, the leader was "run over" by the Gauleiter of Württemberg, Eugen Munder, who demanded that the Fuhrer stop cohabitation and legitimize his relationship in order to show everyone an example of a healthy German family, and not a Jewish concubinage. Adolf parted with his true Aryan without regret, dismissing the implacable Gauleiter with a stroke of the pen. Officials come and go, but the Fuhrer remains. Stays with Geli. His feelings are so strong that he certainly wants to not just get married, but get married, and even decides to secure the permission of the church for marriage. After all, the mother of his beloved is his sister, though half-hearted!
The denouement came on September 18, 1931. Geli Raubal's body was found in her room. The girl was shot in the chest. The bullet entered below the left collarbone and directly into the heart. The police report dryly stated suicide. The crowd was gossiping about the destruction of the ex-cohabitant by the hands of the killers of Heinrich Himmler. And for such a version, it seemed, there were grounds! The day before, Adolf and Gels had a big quarrel. The niece suddenly wanted to return to Vienna and continue her musical studies. Saying a categorical "no", Hitler drove off to the next election event. The next morning, Geli Raubal, allegedly pregnant by Hitler, shot herself.
Such a serious connoisseur as the historian Werner Maser argues that there is no reason to doubt Geli Raubal's suicide. Let's trust him. Hitler will not forget his Geli until the end of his days. Immediately after her death, he wants to shoot himself, moves away from his environment, is in severe depression, suffers from remorse, and since then he will never touch meat dishes and food cooked in animal fat.
Geli was also a model for her uncle, a failed artist...
The vegetarian Hitler commissions the sculptor Josef Thorak to create a bust of Geli, which will later decorate the new Reich Chancellery. The artist Adolf Ziegler will paint her portrait, located in a place of honor and always decorated with flowers in a large room at the Berghof. Even in his will, handwritten on May 2, 1938, Hitler does not forget his late mistress.
Contrary to the later widespread opinion about serious problems and even perversions in the sexual sphere, Adolf Hitler always really liked the society of beautiful women. Many facts of Adolf Hitler's connections with various women are confirmed by documents and testimonies of witnesses who had no interest in distorting the truth.
During the Vienna period of his life, Hitler met and cohabited with various women whose names history has not preserved. It is better known about another, later period in the life of the Fuhrer, when the authorities released him from prison and he could not participate in political life and even make public speeches. It was then that Adolf Hitler, with the help of Hess and other people, worked on the book Mein Kampf.
Most of his time, the future Fuhrer spent those years in the Bavarian Alps, in the small picturesque resort town of Obersalzberg, located higher in the mountains above Berchtesgaden. Most likely, it was then that Hitler had plans to build his residence there. He lived in various hotels, and later referred to the resort place as "a paradise for recreation and entertainment."
The future Fuhrer was very fond of having fun, and in the company of "party comrades", he often visited the Dreimederlhaus. There they met and had affairs with pretty girls.
One of them was a real beauty, Hitler later recalled with great pleasure. - I then had plenty of free time and I knew a lot of women.
The Fuhrer was repeatedly asked by his associates at different periods the same question: why does he not want to get married? Hitler usually explained his refusal to create a family by the fear of leaving his wife and possible children alone and without a livelihood.
Now, for the slightest offense, I can go to jail again at any moment,” he said.
Geli Raubal
Hitler
In this case, Hitler did not pose and did not prevaricate. The hardened cynic and demagogue this time spoke the truth: he really could end up in prison again or be expelled from Germany. The Bavarian government closely followed his behavior and, in all likelihood, had reason to fear the leader of the National Socialists, and he, in turn, was afraid to again fall into the cell. For these reasons, Hitler chose Obersalzberg as his place of residence - from there it was just a stone's throw from the Austrian border.
On the other hand, breaking the ban and going on the run meant saying goodbye to grandiose plans for the future forever. And Hitler took an adventurous and risky political step: on April 7, 1925, he officially renounced his Austrian citizenship.
Hitler's calculation that he, as a veteran of the First World War, who fought at the front on the side of Germany and received military awards, would practically “automatically” become a German citizen, did not come true at all. The government of Bavaria deliberately pretended to be a deaf-and-dumb slow-witted person. Hitler was offended and publicly declared: he does not intend to beg on his knees for handouts! Of course, for a person who does not have any citizenship at all, marriage would indeed become sheer madness and complete irresponsibility.
Nevertheless, Adolf Hitler never denied himself the company of pretty women and willingly started long enough love affairs. The well-known American historian and journalist William Shearer indicates the names of some of the passions of the leader of the National Socialists of Germany. The first of these is usually called Gennie Gauth, who became Hitler's mistress even before 1923. Her brother served as the Führer's personal chauffeur. It was said that Genny was very pretty, but she still failed to win Hitler's heart. Although he treated her very well.
Another mistress of the Fuhrer was Erna Hanfstaengl, who came from a respectable and well-to-do family. She was a tall, stately, attractive woman, from whom Adolf Hitler literally went crazy for some time. But then he cooled down a bit - apparently, he was constantly nervous and fettered by the difference in height. As it turned out later, in intimate relationships with women, Hitler never acted as a cruel tyrant, but on the contrary, he loved to completely obey his beloved woman in her most bizarre sexual desires, becoming almost her slave. This, as sexopathologists note, is a fairly common feature of those men who, in their professional activities, are able to subjugate others, literally crushing them like a skating rink, with their will and temperament, cruelty and cynicism.
In this regard, Erna could have been the best fit for the Fuhrer in a love affair: however, as a number of Western studies note, Winifred Wagner, the daughter-in-law of the famous German composer Richard Wagner, unexpectedly crossed her path. She was the widow of his late son Siegfried.
Music by Wagner
Hitler was always in awe of Wagner's music and was thrilled only at the mere mention of his name. And then a real opportunity presented itself to make Winifred Wagner his mistress. Adolf could not resist such a great temptation. Perhaps he really liked her as a woman, since their relationship lasted for quite a long time. Jealousy for Winifred even caused many quarrels with Adolf Hitler's greatest love - his cousin Geli Raubal (1908-1931).
For the first time, Hitler and Geli Raubal met in Bavaria, in Berchtesgaden, in 1925, and the Fuhrer was immediately fascinated by the young girl and especially her melodious voice. But then their relationship did not receive any development. However, "Uncle Adolf" did not forget about his niece, who charmed him.
In the summer of 1928, Hitler decided to settle in Obersalzberg for quite a long time. He already had some funds, the National Socialist Party had its own treasury, and the Fuhrer rented the Wachenfeld villa from the widow of one of the Hamburg industrialists. Subsequently, when he became Chancellor of Germany, he bought this villa, rebuilt and reconstructed it, turning it into a huge luxurious mansion called the Berghof.
I now have a house that for the first time in my life I can call my own, ”Hitler said with a touch of pride.
As a reliable housekeeper, Hitler decided to invite his half-sister Angela Raubal from Vienna, whom he trusted very much, to run his bachelor economy. In principle, with this, he deftly killed two birds with one stone: he got “his man” as a housekeeper and knew that Angela would not come alone - her two daughters came with her: young Friedl and twenty-year-old Geli Raubal.
Geli Raubal invariably attracted the attention of men with her youthful beauty. She was distinguished by prettiness, had magnificent beautiful blond hair, a cheerful character and a voice of a very pleasant timbre. She passionately dreamed of becoming a famous opera singer, took vocal lessons and hoped that "Uncle Adolf" would help her make a dizzying career on the stage of the opera house in Vienna.
Soon, Hitler abandoned all his other mistresses and was seriously carried away by the young charmer Geli Raubal. Surrounded by the Fuhrer, with good reason, they believed that this was a very serious feeling. Hitler took his niece with him everywhere, not wanting to part with her literally for a minute: she attended party meetings and conferences, rallies and meetings, and there’s not even anything to say about visiting restaurants, cafes, theaters and vernissages. Apparently, the presence of a half-sister in the house interfered with their intimate relationship, so Hitler often took long walks in the mountains with Geli Raubal.
It is difficult to say whether Geli Raubal responded with sincere love to Adolf Hitler or was there more calculation in her relationship to him? At the very least, it is known that they were mutually jealous of each other. Geli Raubal was simply in despair and threw a terrible tantrum when rumors reached her that Adolf wanted to marry Winifred Wagner.
In turn, Hitler was jealous of Geli Raubal for his permanent and longtime bodyguard Emil Maurice, considering him a rival. However, there is no evidence of the connection between Geli and Emil, except for various speculations and rumors.
In 1929, Hitler rented a luxurious nine-room apartment in Munich, on one of the most fashionable streets of Prinzregentstrasse, and one of them was immediately placed at the disposal of Geli Raubal. Everyone already talked about their connection completely openly, and the Fuhrer himself no longer hid it. This caused dissatisfaction with many old "party comrades" - in their opinion, the leader of the National Socialists should have stricter moral principles. Later, Adolf will take this into account and loudly declare that he is “engaged to Germany”, and he will practically not show his mistress Eva Braun to people.
Now the Gauleiter of Württemberg plucked up courage and, on behalf of the party, demanded that Hitler stop behaving like that: either let him stop dragging his mistress everywhere, or let him legitimize their relationship and create a healthy German family! Adolf flew into an indescribable rage and dismissed the Gauleiter. However, it seems that his words were still not in vain, and the Fuhrer seriously thought about marriage: he even secured the permission of the church to marry Geli, although her mother was only Adolf's half-sister.
Nevertheless, he did not cease to pay attention to other women and at the same time demanded that Geli Raubal belong only to him and devote her life only to him too - Hitler forbade her to go to Vienna to take singing lessons, constantly arranged ugly scenes of jealousy and behaved like a true despot. Relations between him and Geli began to deteriorate.
In 1929
In 1929, the Fuhrer wrote to Geli a very frank letter about their intimate relationship, where he directly admitted to certain sexual addictions in sexual intercourse with his niece - it was about some masochistic inclinations that significantly increased his sexual arousal. By an absurd chance, this dangerous letter fell into the hands of the son of the mistress of the house, which subsequently led to tragic events: Hitler ruthlessly destroyed everyone who could read these lines, and returned the letter to himself.
On September 17, 1931, Geli unexpectedly told Hitler that she wanted to return to Vienna and continue her vocal studies. Adolf was categorically against it, and a terrible scandal erupted with scenes of jealousy on both sides. On the same day, Hitler was leaving for Hamburg to conduct campaign events. Many heard Geli shout from the window to Adolf, who was getting into the car:
So you forbid me to go to Vienna?
Yes! he answered firmly.
On the morning of September 18, Geli Raubal was found shot through the chest in her room. She was dead: the bullet entered below the left collarbone and pierced the heart. The police considered it a suicide. But for many years there were persistent rumors that the girl was killed either by Hitler himself in a fit of jealousy, or by Heinrich Himmler - by himself or by proxy.
After the death of Geli Raubal, Hitler became a vegetarian and refused to eat meat. Adolf repeated many times in various ways that Geli was his only great true love. He unfeignedly revered her memory and often thought of the girl with tears in his eyes. The rooms of Geli Raubal in the villa were constantly preserved in the same form as during her lifetime, even after a major renovation of the building. The Fuhrer's favorite artist, Adolf Ziegler, painted portraits of Geli, which were certainly decorated with flowers on the day of her birth and death.
Hitler's literally frenzied passion for the young beauty Geli Raubal is one of the unsolved mysteries of his mysterious life. The mystery of her death has become one of the secrets of the Third Reich, which has not been solved to this day.
Adolf took the secret of sexual orientation with him to the grave. Various biographers have not come to a consensus and attribute to him an attraction to women, men, a passion for sexual perversion and even asexuality, although the dictator's numerous novels cast doubt on such a statement.
In 1908, a rather stormy love affair began between Geli and her uncle Adolf. Hitler did not try to hide his sinful relationship with his young niece. The couple often appeared together in public places and were inseparable for some time.
One of the associates and close friends of Hitler, the historian Ernst Hanfstaengl in his book “Hitler. Lost Years" wrote that Geli was a stupid and spineless wiggle-tail, a talkative slut. She told one of her friends about Hitler's passion for sexual perversions and said that her uncle was just a monster. However, this did not bother Gels at all and did not interfere with their romance. Although there are other data, according to which Geli maintained relations with the Fuhrer only in order to be his kept woman and not need anything.
Geli did not want to study further, she suddenly woke up a passion for singing. In 1930, the Fuhrer sent her to vocal lessons, believing that the allegedly talented niece could well become a famous opera singer. But her first teacher, Adolf Vogel, strongly disagreed with such illusions. Geli did not have a voice, or even acting data, so the chances were melting before our eyes. Then the lazy and windy talker Geli had another teacher, who also could not reveal the missing talent.
Geli loved men, and Hitler was terribly jealous of her and pestered her with his despotism. But Adolf did not differ in exemplary moral principles. Soon he began an affair with Wagner's widow, which Geli became aware of. She was very worried about this.
Contrary to the later widespread opinion about serious problems and even perversions in the sexual sphere, Hitler always had a great interest in the society of beautiful women. The many connections of Adolf Hitler with different women are documented and confirmed by the testimony of witnesses who have no interest in distorting the truth.
During the Vienna period of his life, Adolf Hitler met and cohabited with various women whose names have not been preserved in history. A different, later period in the life of the Fuhrer is better known, when he was released from prison by the authorities and he could not take part in political life and even make public speeches. It was at that time that Hitler, with the help of Hess and others, was working on the book Mein Kampf.
Hitler spent most of his time in those years in the Bavarian Alps, in the small picturesque resort town of Obersalzberg, which is located higher in the mountains above Berchtesgaden. Probably, at that time, the future Fuhrer had plans to build his residence there. He lived in various hotels, and later referred to the resort place as "a paradise for recreation and entertainment." Hitler was very fond of having fun, and in the company of "party comrades", he often visited the Dreimederlhaus. There they met and had affairs with pretty girls.
One of them was a real beauty, Hitler later recalled with great pleasure. - I then had plenty of free time, and I knew a lot of women.
Adolf Hitler, his associates at different times repeatedly asked the same question: why did he not marry? Usually, Hitler explained his refusal to marry by the fear of leaving his wife and possible children alone and without a livelihood.
Now, for the slightest offense, I can go to jail again at any time,” he said.
In this case, Hitler did not pose and did not prevaricate. The burnt-out cynic and demagogue this time spoke the pure truth: in fact, he could again end up in prison or be expelled from Germany. The Bavarian government watched his behavior with attention and, apparently, had reason to fear the leader of the National Socialists, and he, in turn, was afraid to go back to prison. For these reasons, Hitler chose Obersalzberg as his place of residence - from there it was just a stone's throw from the border with Austria.
On the other hand, breaking the ban and going on the run meant saying goodbye to grandiose plans for the future forever. And the future Fuhrer took an adventurous and risky political step: on April 7, 1925, he officially renounced Austrian citizenship.
Hitler's calculation that he, as a veteran of the First World War, who fought at the front on the side of Germany and received military awards, would almost “automatically” be given German citizenship, did not materialize at all. The government of Bavaria deliberately pretended to be a deaf-and-dumb slow-witted person. Hitler was offended and publicly declared: he does not at all intend to beg for handouts on his knees! Of course, for a person without citizenship at all, marriage would indeed become sheer madness and complete irresponsibility.
Nevertheless, the future Fuhrer never denied himself communication with pretty women and willingly started quite long love relationships. The well-known American historian and journalist William Shearer indicates the names of some of the passions of the leader of the National Socialists of Germany. The first of these is usually called Gennie Gauth, who was Hitler's mistress even before 1923. Her brother served as Hitler's personal chauffeur. It was said that Genny was very pretty, but she still failed to win Hitler's heart. Although he treated her quite well.
Another mistress of Adolf Hitler was Erna Hanfstaengl, who came from a respectable and well-to-do family. She was a tall, stately, attractive woman, from whom the future Fuhrer literally went crazy for some time. But after that he cooled down a bit - apparently, he was constantly nervous and fettered by the difference in height.
As it turned out later, in intimate relationships with women, Hitler never acted as a cruel tyrant, but on the contrary, he loved to completely obey his beloved woman in her most bizarre sexual fantasies, becoming almost her slave. This, as sexopathologists note, is a fairly common feature of those men who, in their professional activities, are able to subjugate others, literally crushing them like a skating rink, with their will and temperament, cruelty and cynicism.
In this capacity, in a love affair, Erna could suit Hitler perfectly: however, as a number of Western researchers note, Winifred Wagner, the daughter-in-law of the famous German composer Richard Wagner, unexpectedly crossed her path. She was the widow of his late son Siegfried.
The Fuhrer was always in awe of Wagner's music and was thrilled only at the mere mention of his name. And then there was a real opportunity to make Winifred Wagner his mistress. And he could not resist such a great temptation. Maybe he liked her as a woman, too, because their relationship lasted a very long time, and jealousy of Winifred even caused many quarrels with Adolf Hitler's greatest love - his cousin Geli Raubal (1908-1931).
For the first time, Adolf and Geli met in Bavaria, in Berchtesgaden, in 1925, and Hitler was immediately fascinated by the young girl and especially by her melodious voice. But then their relationship did not receive any development. However, "Uncle Adolf" did not forget about his niece, who charmed him.
In the summer of 1928, the future Fuhrer decided to settle in Obersalzberg for quite a long time. He already had some funds, the National Socialist Party had its own treasury, and Hitler rented the Wachenfeld villa from the widow of one of the Hamburg industrialists. Subsequently, when he became Chancellor of Germany, he bought this villa, rebuilt and reconstructed it, turning it into a huge luxurious mansion called the Berghof.
I now have a house that for the first time in my life I can call my own, ”the Fuhrer said with a hint of pride.
As a reliable housekeeper, Hitler decided to invite his half-sister Angela Raubal from Vienna, whom he trusted very much, to run his bachelor economy. In principle, with this, he deftly killed two birds with one stone: he got “his man” as a housekeeper and knew that Angela would not come alone - her two daughters came with her: 18-year-old Fridl (Elfrida) and 20-year-old Geli (Angelika ).
Geli invariably attracted the attention of men with her youthful beauty. Geli was distinguished by prettiness, had magnificent beautiful blond hair, a cheerful character and a voice of a very pleasant timbre. She passionately dreamed of becoming a famous opera singer, took vocal lessons and hoped that "Uncle Adolf" would help her make a dizzying career on the stage of the opera house in Vienna.
Soon, Adolf abandoned all his other mistresses and was seriously carried away by the young beauty Geli. Surrounded by Adolf Hitler, with good reason, they believed that this was a very serious feeling. The Fuhrer took his niece with him everywhere, not wanting to part with her literally for a minute: she attended party meetings and conferences, rallies and meetings, and even visiting restaurants, cafes, theaters and vernissages is not even worth talking about. Apparently, the presence of a half-sister in the house interfered with their intimate relationship, so Hitler often took long walks in the mountains with Geli.
It is difficult to say whether Geli Raubal responded with sincere love to Hitler or whether there was more calculation in her relationship with him. At the very least, it is known that they were mutually jealous of each other. Geli was simply in despair and threw a terrible tantrum when rumors reached her that Hitler wanted to marry Winifred Wagner. For his part, the Fuhrer was jealous of Geli to his permanent and longtime bodyguard Emil Maurice, considering him a rival. However, there is no evidence of the connection between Geli and Emil, except for various speculations and rumors.
In 1929, Adolf Hitler rented a luxurious apartment of 9 rooms in Munich, on one of the most fashionable streets of Prinzregentstrasse, and immediately provided one of them at the full disposal of Geli. Everyone already talked about their connection completely openly, and Hitler himself no longer hid it. This caused dissatisfaction with many old "party comrades" - in their opinion, the leader of the National Socialists should have stricter moral principles. Later, the Fuhrer will take this into account and loudly declare that he is “engaged to Germany”, and he will practically not show his mistress Eva Braun to people.
Now the Gauleiter of Württemberg plucked up courage and, on behalf of the party, demanded that Hitler stop behaving like that: either let him stop dragging his mistress everywhere, or let him legitimize their relationship and create a healthy German family! Hitler flew into an indescribable rage and fired the Gauleiter.
But it seems that his words were not in vain, and Adolf Hitler seriously thought about marriage: he even secured the permission of the church to marry Geli, although her mother was only Adolf's half-sister. Nevertheless, he did not cease to pay attention to other women and at the same time demanded that Geli belong only to him and devote her life only to him - the Fuhrer forbade her to go to Vienna to take singing lessons, constantly staged ugly scenes of jealousy and behaved like true despot. Their relationship began to deteriorate.
In 1929, the Fuhrer wrote to Geli a very frank letter about their intimate relationship, where he directly admitted to certain sexual addictions in sexual intercourse with his niece - it was about some masochistic inclinations that significantly increased his sexual arousal. By an absurd chance, this dangerous letter fell into the hands of the son of the mistress of the house, which later led to tragic consequences: the Fuhrer ruthlessly destroyed everyone who could read these lines, and returned the letter to himself.
On September 17, 1931, Geli suddenly told Hitler that she wanted to return to Vienna and continue her vocal studies. Adolf was categorically against it, and a terrible scandal broke out with mutual scenes of jealousy. On the same day, Adolf was leaving for Hamburg for election campaigns. Many heard Geli shout from the window to Hitler, who was getting into the car:
So you forbid me to go to Vienna?
Yes! he answered firmly.
On the morning of September 18, Geli Raubal was found shot through the chest in her room. She was dead: the bullet entered below the left collarbone and pierced the heart. The police took it for suicide. But over the years there have been persistent rumors that the girl was killed either by Hitler himself in a fit of jealousy, or by Heinrich Himmler - by himself or by proxy.
After Geli's death, Adolf Hitler became a vegetarian and refused to eat meat. The Fuhrer repeated many times in various ways that Geli was his only great true love. He unfeignedly revered her memory and often thought of the girl with tears in his eyes. Geli's rooms in the villa were constantly preserved in the same form as during her lifetime, even after a major renovation of the building. The Fuhrer's favorite artist, Adolf Ziegler, painted portraits of Geli, which were certainly decorated with flowers on the day of her birth and death.
A truly mad passion for the young beauty Geli Raubal is Hitler's unsolved mystery. The mystery of her death became one of the secrets of the Third Reich, which has not been solved to this day.
