Eva Braun, the wife who was by Hitler's side during his final hours, wanted to remain beautiful, even in death.
On April 30, 1945, as World War II was coming to an end with the defeat of Nazi Germany, Hitler and Eva Braun woke up at 6:00 a.m. in their bunker in central Berlin. At noon, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels asked them both to leave the city, but Hitler refused.
After 3 p.m., Hitler and Braun said their final goodbyes to friends and family and went into the dining room. At 3:28 p.m., Braun died after taking poison. At 3:30 p.m., Hitler shot himself. That night, the Soviet Red Army raised the flag atop the Reichstag building.
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun at the Berghof villa, Bavaria, in 1942. Photo: Deutsches Bundesarchiv
Two days earlier, Eva Braun and Hitler had married in a simple ceremony in the bunker. At lunch on April 29 with his wife and several secretaries, the Nazi leader said: "I will never let myself fall into the hands of the enemy, dead or alive. I will order my body to be burned so that no one will ever find it."
Hitler then discussed how to commit suicide and asked his personal physician Werner Haase for suggestions. "The best way is to shoot yourself in the throat. The skull will shatter and you won't feel a thing. Death will be instantaneous," Hitler remarked.
Braun was horrified. She replied, "I want to be a beautiful corpse. I'll take poison," according to the books Eva Braun: Life with Hitler by German historian Heike B. Görtemaker and Hitler's Last Day: Minute by Minute by authors Emma Craigie and Jonathan Mayo.
Braun then showed the secretaries a small copper canister containing cyanide that she kept in her skirt pocket. "I don't know if it will hurt much. I'm afraid of suffering for too long. I'm willing to die heroically, but at least it won't be painful," she continued.
"Don't worry, the nervous and respiratory systems will be paralyzed in just a few seconds," Hitler assured his wife.
Before committing suicide, Braun skipped lunch. She was in her room with her maid, choosing her last outfit: a black dress with white roses around the neck - the dress Hitler had liked her to wear.
Death finally came as the couple wished. Hitler, 56, and his 33-year-old wife were cremated by their close associates in the garden of the Reich Chancellery . Dr. Haase and other Hitler aides were arrested by the Soviets on May 2, 1945. Haase died in prison in 1950 of tuberculosis.
Nazi leader Hitler and Eva Braun. Photo: Bettmann
Braun was born in 1912 into a poor family in Munich. In the turbulent years after World War I, her parents divorced but later reunited, possibly for financial reasons. The family's finances were very limited.
At the age of 17, Braun worked in the studio of Nazi photographer Heinrich Hoffmann in Munich, where she was occasionally photographed as a model. The studio was where she first met Hitler, then a radical politician.
Few people know when the two became close, but there are documents that the young Braun stuffed tissues into her bra in an attempt to attract Hitler.
During the early years of their relationship, Braun attempted suicide twice. In 1932, she shot herself in the chest. In 1935, she overdosed on sleeping pills. Braun wanted to prove to Hitler, who was 23 years her senior, what his lack of attention to her would mean.
Braun's efforts paid off. After her second suicide attempt, Hitler moved her and her sister Margarete into an apartment in Munich and then into a villa on Wasserburgerstr. By 1936, Braun was staying with Hitler at the Berghof villa in the Bavarian Alps whenever he was there.
Eva Braun in Munich in 1944. Photo: Heinrich Hoffmann
Braun's relationship with Hitler was complicated. After the war, staff at the Berghof said the two apparently did not spend the night together.
According to historian Heike Gortemaker, there is little evidence of this because Hitler ordered all private documents about him to be destroyed. But what is certain is that Hitler wanted their relationship to be kept away from the public eye.
The Nazi leader believed that a public relationship would be disastrous for his image. "Many women find me attractive because I am not married," Hitler once said. "It's the same with a film actor: When he gets married, he loses his appeal to the women who adore him. They no longer idolize him like crazy."
Therefore, Braun's identity was always kept secret, only a few of Hitler's confidants knew about the relationship between them.
Hitler's treatment of Braun was quite peculiar. When guests visited the Berghof, Braun had to stay away. According to an article in Die Welt , she was only allowed to appear in front of guests occasionally, but when she did, Hitler doted on her and gave her envelopes full of money.
Being Hitler's mistress brought Braun a life of luxury. She spent most of the war at the Berghof villa. According to some accounts, she had bad habits such as drinking and smoking, which Hitler hated.
Despite being safe in the Alps, Braun chose to travel to Berlin to be with Hitler during his final days.
"Braun's decision to go to Berlin when it was already in ruins and end her life with Hitler at the age of 33 shows a deep faith, determination and toughness. The depiction of Braun as a superficial girl only interested in material things is completely wrong. If she had stayed in Munich, she would have had a better life," commented historian Gortemaker.
But according to a relative of Braun's, her relationship with the Nazi boss was filled with suffering and suicide was the only way she could regain her lover's respect.
Years later, Braun's cousin, Gertraud Weisker, revealed that her relationship with Hitler caused a serious rift in their family. Braun only kept in touch with her sister Margarete, who was also married to a high-ranking Nazi official.
"Braun was deeply unhappy. That's why she tried to take her own life twice," Weisker said. "Braun fell into a relationship that could only be justified through marriage and death together."
Vu Hoang (According to Local, NPR )
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