Aspects of Hitler's personal life

[been-there]

I post this here for posterity (removed from Siberian Exile) as one example of the many misinformed negative attitudes many people have, which I now regard as largely based upon willful ignorance.

Here is a suggestion [of things to watch during the Covid-19 lockdown]: The greatest story never told.
Click the link... here
Or alternatively see it in parts here

It's a wonder that a large movie producer hasn't done a story about Hitler. He figures pretty bigly in the 20th century - as anyone would admit.

Er... well... there has been a big budget Canadian TV film: Hitler: the rise of Evil.
Many of the filmed dramatisations in the above documentary of Hitler's early life are taken from that film.

That film is a total travesty of the truth in most particulars and it's clear mission is to deceive the masses into thinking that the person featured was some kind of quasi-religious incarnation of cruelty and evil from his early beginnings.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler: ... se_of_Evil

It's a deceitful, misleading, emotionally manipulative misrepresentation designed to create the emotions of fear, abhorence AND hatred.
I.e. typical Hollywood-type nonsense.

Ian Kershaw was involved initially and it was supposedly to be based on his book, but even he found the distortions of the truth for dramatic effect so historically inaccurate and unjustifiable that he left the production and forbade them from attaching his name to it.

...I rarely find political crap interesting. And German politics is particularly uninteresting — and largely un-figurable to me.

Hitler was a rabble-rouser that somehow was able to rouse all Germans — un-figurably to me.

That does regretably seem to me to be a common human weakness, that despite acknowledging we have no knowledge nor interest in a subject, we still hold very fixed and dogmatic views about it.
In other words, if you admit you have no interest and can not figure out how Hitler managed to come to prominence in Germany then either do some research OR do not make dogmatic statements.

All of us have been fed a consistent barrage of lies and half-truths about Hitler for all of our lives. To dismiss him as a "rabble rouser" is not only historically naive, it is literally "stupid". (N.B. Intelligent people can behave stupidly)
Hitler was a uniquely gifted human being who had a clarity of understanding and vision that resonated with the vast majority of his countryman. He also was clearly motivated by a love of his people and his nation. I.e. not soley by self-interest or other agendas as most politicians.

Germany needed raw materials to be a first-class nation like the anglo-sphere nations and France. I figure all Germans knew and sympathized with that fact and went on the Hitler adventure for patriotic reasons such as that. The political details and personalities are too boring for an American like me. I've never found Hitler's nationalism to personally affect me. But I'm not a German national of course. Hitler was largely an insipid bore to my apolitical American mind.

If you find politics boring, it's understandable that you will find it boring trying to understand the political forces at work at that time. But maybe try to at least understand the human angle.
People were literally starving in Germany in the 1920's. In Berlin people were prostituting themselves to survive. Inflation meant that the elderly who had worked and saved their whole lives became paupers overnight. Their savings worthless. Their lives torment and suffering without forseeable end. The whole nation was in decline. Suicides sky-rocketed. Unemployment was massive. Winters were dreadful due to hunger and cold. All this was chiefly due to the unjust actions of the Entente — Britain, France and Russia, ALL under the control and influence of International Jewry. Thus the 'stab-in-the-back' concept. Have you heard of it? Jews had been given more rights and equality in Germany than any other European country in the 1800's. The perception was that despite that bestowal of equality they betrayed Germany and the German people during the war and profited from their misery and penury after it.
If all this human suffering caused by political manoevering to maintain a 'balance of power' beneficial to Britain and France and brokered by International Jews is boring to you, that is fair enough.
But best not to hold — nor express with certainty — ANY opinion on it OR on it's victims.

Why don't you tell me why saying Hitler was a rabble rouser is "stupid". ... He was lucky that the minority rabble of Germans that supported him became a plurality and were then able to finagle their way to dictatorial power over the extremely competent German people.

Your description paints all who were impressed by his ideas, thoughts, solutions, plans and analysis of the political situation as a "rabble". That not only is "stupid" it is in ignorance of not only the calibre of people who followed him initially, but also of how politicians outside of Germany viewed him intially upon his rose to greater prominence. Ex-Primeminister Lloyd-George of England was hugely impressed by him after visiting him and talking with him and seeing the reception he received from the German public. The abdicated King of England likewise held him in very high-regard. As did the PM of Canada. Etc., etc., etc. Even Churchill was impressed by him and spoke favourably of him in the British Parliament.
To describe all these people as a "rabble" is not only ignorant but your continued refusal to acknowledge that quite literally fits the dictionary definition of the word 'stupid' in that it shows "poor judgement".

stupid (adjective)
silly or unwise; showing poor judgment or little intelligence

I've not seen that Canadian TV series, have you?

Yes. It was an excruciating experience, due to the constant distortion to create a picture of an evil villain with absolutely zero redeeming qualities for an exaggerated dramatic effect.

I am so glad that someone had the courage and skill to make that documentary ( here) presenting a more historically accurate understanding of the man.

[been-there]

.
A continuation of part 1 here

Der Grosse Liebhaber Adolf Hitler

(‘The great lover Adolf Hitler’ by Hermann Esser)

Part II

Translated by an American female using the name Putschgirl

Lotte Bechstein

It was in the springtime of 1925 that I noticed Hitler courting a girl that was unlike any other female I had ever seen him with. This was Liselotte Bechstein, the wealthy daughter of Frau Helene Bechstein, a woman who had financed Hitler and our movement at a lavish rate. The Bechstein’s were one of the wealthiest families in Munich and everyone in town knew it. She had bought the Boss ['der Chef' was the term everyone in his inner circle came to refer to Hitler with] a Mercedes and also paid most of his hotel bills. Frau Bechstein herself was crazy about Hitler and many assumed they had been lovers. I cannot attest to this and I can’t imagine Hitler with such an older woman [note: she was 11 years older than Hitler]. He wouldn’t discuss the matter with me.
Frau Helene Bechstein and Hitler did meet often and alone, though I assumed they discussed funds for the Party or she was handing him large sums of money. Hitler has never expressed any interest in older women and nearly all his girlfriends had been younger than 20. Twenty five years after these incidents, I have a frame of reference. I did not believe then nor now that Hitler was intimately involved with Frau Bechstein.


Adolf Hitler in 1925 with Helene and Edwin Bechstein.
This photo and the one beneath, were taken by their daughter, Lotte, who was Hitler’s lover at the time



Her daughter Lotte, however, is another matter. Lotte was Hitler’s girlfriend in the first part of 1925 and he had known her as far back as 1923. She was the least attractive of any woman I had ever seen in his company, though her figure was delightful and she was full of fun. Her youth was also appealing since when she was dating Hitler she was no more than 17.

Hitler and Lotte lived openly together on the Obersalzberg in the summer of 1925 and her mother encouraged their affair. She definitely wanted Lotte to become “Frau Hitler.” But I could see Hitler’s attentions were elsewhere and whenever he was in Berlin, he cheated on Lotte. I know this because he, Maurice (chauffeur) and I used to rent rooms in the student lodging of the University to entertain girls there. Hitler generally paid them 20 marks each for the trolley-fare to and from the hotel. We had very good times then!



Two more photos of Hitler taken by Lotte Bechstein in 1925/26

Whenever we would go to Berlin, this pattern would usually be repeated. Sometimes Hitler was so busy making financial contacts in the city that he abstained from our outings. The only people who ever knew about these escapades were myself, Hitler and Emil Maurice. None of these girls ever became attached to Hitler since he was soon back in Munich. I don’t think many even knew who he was, since Hitler was really not that famous or notorious outside of Bavaria.

If Lotte was away from Munich, Hitler continued his errant ways. Curiously, he also never mentioned Lotte to me. In the past, he often effusively raved about his current girl, but not in this case. I saw him several times at the Café Heck with a beautiful blonde girl from Traunstein. Her name was Irene but she was a brief fling around this time. Hitler called her Ina and she was conspicuously beautiful.
Maurice [Emil Maurice, Hitler’s friend, confidante and chauffeur] told me he allowed Hitler to use his apartment to be alone with her.


Emil Maurice and Hitler in Landsberg prison

This affair ended when the girl demanded Hitler marry her or she would tell everyone about their relationship. She even threatened to tell the press, something which horrified Hitler. Party treasurer Schwarz was instructed to handle this girl with the big mouth.

This matter was also hushed up by me, with a bribe of a substantial amount of money. This saucy brunette was not seen again at Hitler’s side. But Lotte Bechstein heard of the existence of another girl, and that ended her romance with the budding Führer. Hitler and Lotte remained friends, however, until she started speaking spitefully of Hitler to some wealthy donors to the Party.



Ada Klein

In the summer of 1925 came a girl that Hitler cared about deeply, though he never loved her as much as he had loved Jenny Haug. This next conquest was named Adahelde Klein, though she was always called Ada in our circle.

At first, she was my secretary and I hired her because I fancied her. In fact, Ada and I dated for several weeks before she met Hitler, but it was not a serious romance for either of us. When Ada discovered I was married, she instantly distanced herself from me, for reasons I fully understood. She forgave me that I was a rascal and we remained friendly. I became something of a confidante to her when she wanted to pour out her feelings for Hitler.

Ada liked to drink Glüwein (a German type of wine) and could become very chatty when tipsy. Ada first met the Führer when he was coming in the door of the Eher publishing house in Munich. She was very tall and very noticeable.

He was, as he told me later, “completely smitten with her at first sight”. Ada, I knew, felt similarly. We were no longer dating, but she still confided in me and soon she and Hitler were a couple. Hitler demanded to know, however, whether my relationship with Ada had been an intimate one. I told him truthfully that it had never come to that. That was his green light to proceed with her.
I was much amused when he said, “Ada is far too young and innocent to be around a man like you!” Then he proceeded to seduce and corrupt her himself, which was typical of the Führer. What was good for him was apparently verboten to me. Hitler often had a double standard when he was personally involved.

From then on, Ada and Hitler were together much of the time. She called him Dolferl or Wolf and he called her mein Goldstück or mein Schätzchen (my golden treasure).

Since Hitler's release from Landsberg prison, he had consciously made it a habit of not bringing girls to his apartment. The danger was too high. Ada was only 18 and still living with her parents. She looked far younger than her years, however. So Hitler devised a plan so they could share private moments together. His chauffeur, Emil Maurice, would loan Hitler his apartment, which had an additional two bedrooms. Maurice provided this service to many in the party, but Hitler never knew that. He thought he was the only man permitted to enjoy Maurice’s spare bedroom. Had he only known!

The relationship with Ada Klein is the only instance I know of where the woman did not fall passionately and mightily in love with Hitler. Ada, no doubt, adored him, but it seemed a normal love, not possession or jealous, which women always exhibited around him.
I think Ada knew that when Hitler was in Berlin, he had other women. I myself might have even told her. When he was gone, she was not hysterical, but calmly waiting. She did not push him for marriage either. All oddities.


Ada Klein is claimed to be the girl with pigtails on the left. She is wearing an NSDAP lapel pin with swastika.

Ada Klein was quite tall, a brunette with long silky hair and almost violet coloured eyes. She was also a passionate Nazi. Her room was full of Nazi banners and swastikas. Ada seemed content with the afternoons she spent with her lover in Emil Maurice’s apartment. They met twice a week there, as the gossipy Julius Schaub later told me. Hitler talked about her with great enthusiasm and tenderness.

Prison had changed him where women were concerned. He had become even more private and even more circumspect. Much of his earlier womanising was now curtailed because he feared public exposure or scandal. He told me bitterly of how many opportunities he had to skip because of his “position”. In our intimate circle, it was often said that “prison had tamed Hitler”.
From the time of his release from Landsberg prison, if he was conducting an amorous affair, he was hysterically secretive about it. And this grew into an utter obsession with him by the time Eva Braun came into his life in the early 30’s.



I was one of the few men privy to the real details of his love life. The only others who knew the full story were Schaub, Brückner (his adjutants), Emil Maurice, Schreck (his chauffeurs) and Sepp Dietrich (his bodyguard). His photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, probably knew as much as anyone, but was such a liar and so untrustworthy that I wouldn’t credit anything he said. He was drowned in liquor much of the time, so I doubt his memory could have served him too well. We never got along.

Hitler and Ada lasted together about one year and it seemed a placid interlude. My relationship with the Boss was up and down, due to the scandals he (and others) claimed I was involved in. Hitler was agitated also that my marriage was unhappy and I wanted a divorce, which he forbade because it might harm the Party’s image.

In the period of June, 1925 until March, 1926 I cannot describe events in Hitler’s life since I was not in his presence due to a disagreement we had. [Note: the disagreement was because Esser had impregnated a 16 year old girl in Munich]. Eventually he thawed out and we renewed our former closeness.

When I again entered Hitler’s circle, it was in the summer of 1926 in Berchtesgaden. The Bechsteins were allowing to him to use their home on the Obersalzberg, though Hitler spent much of his time in Berchtesgaden writing a supplement to Mein Kampf. I joined him there and within a few days, we had worked out our disagreements and were firm friends once more.


Herman Esser at Berchtesgaden on the Obersalzberg

For weeks in this idyllic setting, I saw very little of Hitler during the day, and I wondered if he was avoiding me. I was getting anxious that people were spreading gossip about me again. I was relieved when Maurice told me that the Boss had another reasons for not seeing much of me: he had lost his heart to a young Berchtesgaden girl. Maurice said, "I have never before seen him like this. He’s over the moon with this girl".




Maria (Mimi) Reiter

Mimi was a radiant, young beauty with large blue eyes, lovely hair and a pleasing, gentle way about her. She was, however, impossibly young, being only 16, whereas Hitler was 37. This began one of the great and unknown love affairs of Hitler’s life. I was witness to much of it and today, hardly anyone in Berchtesgaden knows the details of this relationship or never suspected anything to begin with. I can now reveal all that I know.

Hitler, as he told me one evening, had fallen in love with Mimi at first sight. I had never before seen him so ecstatically happy, or so completely taken with any girl. He even said he could marry Mimi in the future because she was “the perfect German girl”. During the period I saw him with her, he was a completely changed man. He didn’t monopolise the conversation at the dining table. He didn’t chase other women. In short, he behaved like a man in love, which he undoubtedly was.


Mimi Reiter on the right, with her sister, Annie

Emil Maurice was staying at the same boarding house as I was, and said to me one evening, “I think the Boss has finally found his true love. He’s on fire for her”.
But one thing hadn’t changed: Hitler’s demand for secrecy. Mimi Reiter was very young and the possibility of scandal was enormous. Berchtesgaden townspeople loved and protected Hitler from scrutiny, but he was still 20 years older than this innocent girl. Her family were prominent in the church and financial sectors. Hitler knew it would be imprudent to openly court her in the town.

Hitler and Mimi busied themselves with long walks in the mountains, meals in cafes and drives in the countryside. Sometimes I accompanied them, along with Emil Maurice. I knew Hitler had utterly lost his heart when one morning while he and I were walking together, he stopped short. He looked at me for a long time before speaking and then said, "Esser, I want to be clear. Mimilein (little Mimi) belongs to me. Do I make myself clear?"



Hitler and Herman Esser walking

I must confess it was at this time I was involved in another scandal in Munich, living openly with another women while still legally bound to my first wife. Hitler knew of the unending unhappiness of my marriage, but stubbornly told me I could not divorce. Hitler knew better than anyone my weakness for women and this was his way of keeping me away from his treasure.
Naturally I gave him my word I would not engage Mimi in anything but trivial conversation. He watched me carefully whenever the three of us were together. I’d never seen him so possessive or so jealous. Watching Hitler with Mimi Reiter was a revelation for us all.


Hitler and Herman Esser together on a walk on the Obersalzberg

We fell into the habit of having catered meals from a Pension sent to Mimi’s sister’s home. This was because Hitler didn’t want the townspeople to know of his relationship with her. Many an afternoon were spent there in their company.
He treated her like a precious possession. He was openly affectionate to her, something I had scarcely ever seen. He also spoke about her to me often, asking, “have you ever seen a more beautiful girl? Oh my, she is so beautiful!” When Mimi walked into the room, Hitler openly melted. For a man who scarcely ever revealed his feelings, none of us around him could believe what we were seeing.


Maria 'Mimi' Reiter

I will give an example of Hitler’s jealousy regarding Mimi.
Joseph Goebbels was present on some of these occasions. It was his first-ever trip to the Bavarian mountains and he was overwhelmed with the beauty of the landscape. He was not yet close to Hitler, but he tagged along on some of our excursions.
I mention this because one afternoon, Goebbels quite innocently gave Mimi a hand picked bouquet which he had gathered on one of his strolls. It was simply a nice gesture, but Hitler was very heated. He knew that Goebbels was completely obsessed with women: short, tall, young, old, to Goebbels, it didn’t matter. In these things, Dr. Goebbels was very much like me.

When Hitler heard that Goebbels had given his new girlfriend some flowers, he went into a frenzy. With his whip he started striking himself about the thighs in a high panic. He was in a complete state. I had to restrain him from making a remark to Goebbels, who quite openly worshiped him and who was merely being polite.

Hitler’s possessiveness around Mimi was extreme. This was another sign that he had fallen in love. But once again, his lifestyle and travelling schedule interfered with his love life. He had to leave his Mimi behind as we once again took to the cars to crisscross Germany for the betterment of the Party. This was a period when I did not observe any womanizing propensity in him at all. When ladies approached him with an invitation, he brusquely declined. We in his entourage believed that his love for Mimi made him disdainful of all other women.
He kept in touch with Mimi through cards, letters and furtive telephone calls. This was difficult, since at that time, no homes in Berchtesgaden had a long distance telephone line. Mimi had to wait at a hotel at an arranged time to wait for his calls.

During our drives and electioneering stops, Hitler sometimes talked to me about Mimi. He was worried about scandal and told me he thought he must bring her to Munich, where it was much easier to hide her from prying eyes. Berchtesgaden was a small village where his every move was scrutinised.



During the first months of 1927, Hitler resumed his relationship with Mimi. He had moved very slowly with her because she was, after all, still only 16 or 17 years old. Finally he summoned her to Munich and for much of that year, they were together in the city.
I never saw Mimi in Hitler’s Thierschstrasse apartment, but I knew she had visited him there, since he had mentioned it to me. He had a small photo of her which he set up on the rickety table next to his bed. He spoke about her with near reverence and constantly would say to me, “I can’t believe her beauty!” He was so proud to possess the love of a girl that pretty.


This is 17 Kanalstrasse in Munich, where Hitler set Mimi Reiter up in a love nest in 1927.

Their affair in Munich was kept extremely quiet. Maurice found an apartment for Mimi on Kanalstrasse, which was a short walk to Hitler’s apartment. Hitler paid the rent through Schwarz (the Nazi party treasurer) and it was furnished with money from Frau Bechstein, though she had no idea how her money was being used. I saw this place with Hitler and Maurice the late spring of 1927, before Mimi had moved in.

Now began a trying period for this lovely and sweet girl. She undoubtedly believed Hitler would marry her, have children and they would have a normal life together. But Hitler didn’t see things this way. He was the leader of a revolutionary party and marriage held no interest for him. Mimi had to make do with clandestine visits from Hitler, who always arrived in the daytime and always left before the sun set. He never spent his evenings with her, that was too dangerous.

When neighbours started asking Mimi about Hitler’s visits, she made the mistake of telling him about their gossip. Hitler's visits then became more seldom and he was annoyed that people were nosing into his private life. They were still seen at the cafes in Munich and he was very proud of her beauty and youth. There could be but little doubt they were a perfect couple and well suited, despite the difference in their ages. But Hitler’s long absences and her loneliness contributed to her giving Hitler an ultimatum: either marry her and make an honest woman of her, or she would have to return alone to Berchtesgaden.



No woman was ever allowed to give Hitler ultimatums and this was a factor in the ending of their love affair. In addition, one of Maurice’s old lovers [it was Ida Arnold] had been spreading damaging gossip in Munich that Hitler was up to his old tricks again, seducing young girls. There was a long legal battle about this and Hitler as well as Mimi had to sign sworn statements that no sexual intercourse had ever taken place. Since Mimi had been put up in an apartment at the Party’s expense for six months, these sworn statements were riddled with lies.

All of this plunged Mimi into a deep depression. Hitler himself couldn’t bring himself to personally break things off with her, and he sent Maurice to tell her. As Maurice later told me, she was distraught. Hitler handled their break-up very poorly and I told him so. He had seduced a 17 year old girl, set her up in a Munich love nest and then had abandoned her. I told him frankly, “this is how I behave and you reproach me. But look at you!”

When Mimi returned to Berchtesgaden, she attempted to hang herself after writing Hitler a letter which made him morose for weeks. He was deeply affected by Mimi’s suicide-attempt, but could not go to her side because, as he told me, "the movement (die Bewegung) must come first. Mimilein must accept this, I have a great mission in life. I have no time to tie myself to any woman in marriage!"

We saw no more of Mimi for the next few years, but Hitler would not forget her. She re-entered his life in 1931. I will explain this part of their relationship in the next segment. The termination of his affair with Mimi Reiter might also have been connected to something else. What was this something else?

[to be continued]

[been-there]

I interrupt part 2 of the account by Herman Esser to include a first-hand personal recollection by one of Hitler's lovers: the one with whom he had his most passionate attachment in the 1920's. The one Esser's account just narrated. It is the account of Mimi Reiter.

Maria 'Mimi' Reiter herself gave an account of her experience and love affair with Hitler in interviews to journalists. Her account first appeared in the German journal Stern in 1959. She gave two more interviews in 1960, one to Bunte magazine in January and another to an American journalist. She gave her last known interview in 1989.

Her account is one that you would think would be extremely well-known. But instead — just like Herman Esser's — it has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Which itself is a revealing fact. Why is a first-hand insight like this today given no notice at all? Presumably it is because it refutes the lies that have been publicised instead; the one's presenting Hitler as some kind of sexual deviant who was incapable of either love or of normal sexual intimacy. An account by someone who could refute the lies from her own personal experience is therefore presumably not desired by those who wish to control the public understanding of Hitler and present him in as negative a light as possible.

If anyone themselves does a search, you will find that many histories doubt the authenticity of her account. This despite the fact that it is corroborated by so many other accounts and despite the fact that she has numerous love letters that prove and confirm her story. This again is evidence of how those who seek to control the public perception are neither honest themselves nor interested in historical accuracy.

When I myself first started discovering these concealed details of Hitler's secret love life I came across numerous versions of her account on line. I thought I had posted the one that seemed most authentic and unedited here at RODOH. But the search engine didn't locate it. And now I could find only one site with this personal perspective. It would appear that the internet is being 'cleansed'/censored.

So here below is the only account which I could find online today. I have adjusted it slightly to remove the obvious 'journalese' and to make it read in the first person,

≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈≈ ≈≈≈≈≈

Maria Reiter was born in Berchtesgaden on December 23, 1909. In the summer of 1926, Fräulein Reiter was 16 years old and working at her sister’s clothing shop in downtown Berchtesgaden. Her older sister, Anni, was 21 years old and her legal guardian. Mimi lived with Anni and her husband, Gottfried Hehl.

In 1926, neither Anni nor Mimi Reiter had ever heard of the politician Adolf Hitler, even though he was then living on the Obersalzberg, a few miles north of Berchtesgaden. Mimi’s mother had died on September 11, 1926. Her narrative picks up shortly after the death of her mother.

Maria Reiter begins her story:

About fourteen days after the death of my mother, my brother Richard came into our clothing shop. He told us that the radical politician, Adolf Hitler, was staying in the area and riding around town in a huge super-charged Mercedes car. Richard seemed to evince a great fascination with this Hitler person, though I had never heard of him at that time.
As Richard was telling us about Hitler, suddenly a man stopped outside our clothing shop and seemed to be window shopping. It just so happened that it was Adolf Hitler himself, that was just then outside our little shop. Richard immediately said, ‘Look there, there is Hitler. What a coincidence! That’s him. That’s the man I was just talking to you about, Adolf Hitler.’
With these words my brother sealed my future fate. My sister Anni and I ran to the front door of the shop and stared at this supposedly famous man.

I will never forget my first site of Adolf Hitler. He was wearing white knee socks, a blue windbreaker and some Lederhosen. He was walking an absolutely gorgeous German shepherd dog with him. At that first moment, the dog impressed me more than Hitler. I later discovered the dog’s name was Prinz.

A few days later, I got to meet Adolf Hitler. Our first conversation took place in the Berchtesgaden Kurpark. The park had many benches where people could rest and talk. One afternoon I took our German shepherd, Marko, to the Park during my lunch break. Anni, my older sister, was with me during our lunch break. Suddenly I saw Hitler coming out of his Hotel and walking in our direction. My heart raced because our brother Richard had told us he was an important man. Suddenly this political celebrity was standing right in front of Anni and he made a gallant bow.

Hitler was extremely polite and formal. He bowed twice to us in turn and then said very correctly to Anni, “Excuse me, gracious miss, would you please tell me who the beautiful, blonde girl is there, on the bench next to you?”
Hitler nodded his head in my direction. My knees were trembling.
Hitler continued talking to my sister: “I saw this young lady yesterday when she was walking a nice dog here in the park. May I please ask who she is?”
Anni looked up at the intense man and said, “that is my younger sister”.
Hitler smiled and said “You would make me so happy if you would introduce me to her”.

Mimi Reiter looked back on this scene and smiled knowingly. She describes her impressions:

“Of course I was noticing Hitler and heard everything he said to my sister. But I had to admit that my first impressions were not very favourable. I didn’t like his moustache, I thought it looked a little funny. But I did think he was fashionably dressed.”

Mimi was very shy at the age of 16 and had never had a male acquaintance, especially one who was 37 years old, and quite an old man for her tastes. She pretended to be engrossed with her German shepherd and pretended also not to be overhearing Hitler’s chat with Anni.

Mimi describes her first words with Hitler:

He seemed very nervous before speaking to me. I noticed how he took his whip and kept moving it from his left hand to his right hand, awkwardly. Then he bowed slightly to me, took my right hand very tenderly into his right hand and then stared at me for an inordinately long time. It was a very penetrating stare (“er schaute mich mit durchdringenden Blicken an”).

Hitler then said to me, “Your dog is very beautiful and well behaved”, all the while giving me a penetrating and intense look. “I know how to train dogs, it’s a complicated business” he said.

Mimi was uncomfortable with Hitler’s intensive staring.

I had never been with a man before. I had never been on a date alone. I had never been kissed by a man. And this man was far older than me. I was rather afraid.
I answered Hitler, “I didn’t train my dog, Herr Hitler. My brother-in-law did so”.

My answers were clipped and short. I was only 16 years old and this ‘old man’ Hitler had sat down right next to me on the bench and was staring at me in a provocative way.

Hitler kept the chat to the subject of German shepherds. “I can’t imagine my life without Prinz” he told me, while studying my face and my legs. He wasn’t paying any attention to Prinz, but staring with unblinking eyes at me.
The conversation lasted slightly more than one hour and consisted mostly of chatting about dogs.
I got up the courage to ask him if it was true that he had been in prison. Hitler laughed and admitted he had indeed been incarcerated. During this time, his eyes consistently hung on me, making me rather uncomfortable.

Finally it was time for us to return to our shop to re-open our business for the afternoon. Hitler stood up and very formally bowed in front of Anni.
“May I ask your permission, dear lady, to take a walk with your younger sister some time?”

I heard this, stood up and went back to the shop without a word. After seeing this, Anni refused Hitler’s permission. She later told me that she told Hitler, “please leave this matter alone. My sister is very young. Please respect that”.

Anni also told Hitler that I was just 16 years old and that he was “far too old” for me. In any case, it had only been 2 weeks since our mother had died and I was in mourning.

Hitler said nothing, bowed again and turned back to walk into his hotel. Anni thought the matter was concluded, but she was quite mistaken.
Though Maria Reiter had spontaneously hurried away from the 37 year old politician, he had made an impression on Mimi at this their first interaction.

I have to admit that he was very dashing. He dressed very well and memorably. His blue eyes were amazing to gaze into. There’s nothing to compare them to. He was really very imposing and special to meet. The only think I didn’t like at first glance was his moustache, I thought to myself that if any woman kissed him, his moustache would tickle them.”

During the next two days, the Reiter sisters neither saw or heard from Hitler. But on the third day, he suddenly showed up at their clothing shop, walking into the door all by himself. Within seconds, his friend, Max Amann, followed him into the shop.

Max Amann engaged Anni in conversation while Hitler tried to monopolise Mimi. He asked her to take a walk with him. His specific destination was the Hochlenzer, a restaurant on the Obersalzberg that Hitler frequented.

I told him that the area was my homeland and that I knew the Hochlenzer very well. I said “I am at the Hochlenzer every Saturday and Sunday, you could find me there then”.

A little bit sarcastically, I then said to Hitler, “naturally I only go there with my close girlfriends or my relatives. Of course I’ve never been there with some strange, older man”.
Hitler looked at me searchingly with a penetrating gaze but was silent. He then bowed, left the shop and said nothing to Anni.

Two hours later, Hitler’s friend and associate, Max Amann, suddenly re-appeared in the Reiter clothing shop. It was very obvious that Hitler had personally asked to come on this mission. Amann tersely greeted Anni and then took me aside to talk to me privately.
Amann said, “Tonight at the Hotel Deutsches Haus (in Berchtesgaden), Hitler is going to give a speech. And he asked me to ask you, Miss Mimi, if you would like to see him give his speech this evening?” Mimi noticed the invitation was only for her, not for Anni. Happily, Anni then interjected that she cared nothing for politics and that I had her permission to go and see Hitler that evening.

I was afraid, especially when Herr Amann said to me, “Naturally Hitler has to give a speech first, but he wants you to know that he wants to spend time with you. Of course you understand that afterwards he’d like very much to sit with you alone”.
I agreed to attend but demanded that my older sister attend as well, as a “chaperone”. Amann tried to convince me otherwise, but I insisted, so he relented and Anni came with us.

That evening, the two Reiter sisters attended the Nazi rally at the Hotel Deutsches Haus. Everyone in the audience turned to look at them as they walked in and were seated in the front row at Hitler’s private table. Their presence created quite a stir in the hall, as most locals knew the sisters from their clothing shop.

After we were seated, I looked up to see Hitler sitting on the podium, waiting to give his speech. He saw me and smiled, jumping down from the stage to greet me. He said “Mimi, you have no idea how happy I am that you made the time to come and hear me.”
He pulled up my chair for me and gently pushed it back in. I’d never had a man pay attention to me, my father had been rather brutal towards me. But Hitler was kind and so gentle. I started to like him a little bit more after he began to show me such affection.
He called over a waitress and had her bring me some Sprudel [a non-alcoholic German sparking drink, like a Seven Up], and also some mineral water for Anni. Hitler asked if I was happy with my seat and my drink, then mounted the podium again, waiting to take centre stage.
I felt intensely embarrassed by his attentitiveness and became very red in the face. I had the impression that he had arranged this entire speech just for me. He later told me, years later, that this was his way of conquering me. He knew he was a very gifted speaker, and that if I saw him orate, I would fall for him.

When Hitler began his speech, I became enthralled very quickly. But he continued to embarrass me by how he behaved on the stage. He just kept fixing his eyes on me. His stare was always very intense. He kept looking at me, directly in my eyes, over and over. It was so obvious that even my sister Anni was embarrassed for me. Hitler was anything but discreet. He was just speaking to me and me alone. I will never forget how uncomfortable and exposed I felt, though also I admit I was very flattered.

I noticed that many other women in the audience seemed to desire Hitler and they appeared very jealous of mesitting at his table. Several of the women openly sneered or taunted me during and after the speech.

When the talk ended, Hitler went to Anni and told her the meeting had been illegal because he was banned from speaking in Germany. Anni was so shaken by this news, she asked to take me home. Hitler hesitated and asked if he might accompany me home for a short while. Anni agreed and left the hall.

Hitler then took me to a private room, adjacent to where he had just delivered his speech. Hitler had arranged it so he and I could sit closely together, though there were several other people at the same table, including two young girls who knew Hitler and who were attached to his party. I do not remember their names but they knew Hitler much better than I and they were staring daggers at me because he was paying attention only to me.

Hitler told me in Munich, months later, that women were always chasing after him, that he could pick and choose whoever he wanted, but that he wanted me alone.

Hitler’s chauffeur, Emil Maurice, then rejoined the group and took the two other young girls to another table, leaving Hitler and me alone. Hitler became so intensively tactile with me that it made me very uncomfortable. I was only 16. He was a grown man and becoming very familiar with me. I liked him, but he was still just a strange elder man to me!
He took both of my hands tenderly in his. Then held my hand tightly underneath the table and asked if I had understood his speech. I replied that I had liked the speech but then became afraid he would ask me to repeat some detail that I had liked. I was relieved when we were interrupted by a waitress and thus I did not have to recall anything about his oration.

He then began to speak to me using “Du,” [the intimate form of saying “you” in German, reserved for close friends, family and lovers]. And he started slowly to take little liberties with me. He cut up some cake with a knife and started gently feeding me the cake with his fingers. He fed me like I was a little child, patting my hair and putting his hands on my brow.

The charm of the Führer knew no bounds and he was pulling out all the stops. He treated her one moment like a tender child, and the next moment, flirted with her as if she were a 30 year old woman. It was a sophisticated way to make inroads with a teenage girl and he made a huge impression on her. After sometime Hitler asked Mimi about her recently deceased mother. He spoke about how he had loved his own mother, who he said had died right before Christmas.
He told Mimi, “you have the same lovely blue eyes that my dear mother had”.
All the while, Mimi noticed Emil Maurice and the two other Berchtesgaden girls, moving to a slightly more distant table. She was increasingly isolated and more alone with Hitler. It occurred to her that Hitler had planned this beforehand with Emil Maurice. He later admitted to her that he had indeed pre-planned this first step in his seduction of her.

Hitler then laid his hands on her shoulders, pulling her towards him.
Mimi recalled, “I could feel the warmth of his hands on me and he whispered, ‘I want to accompany you to the grave of your mother, would you allow that?’

In the middle of this flirtation, one of the girls from the other table, Ernestine Metke, said, “Herr Hitler, tell us why you have never married?”
Then Hitler became even more cozy with Mimi, as she recalls today: “When Miss Metke asked her curious question, Hitler suddenly pressed his knee very firmly against my thigh and then he pressed on my shoe with his shoe, and applied some pressure. I knew he was sending me a signal, especially when he answered the girl. Hitler said, ‘I will only marry a girl that I truly and deeply love. Who knows when and if that will ever happen?’”

Hitler then looked at Mimi with a “blazing look” and continued to press his knee against her thigh. Then he suggested that he accompany her to her home.

When they arrived at Anni and Gottfried’s home, both were asleep. Max Amann waited patiently in the anteroom by the back door. Mimi prepared both herself and Hitler some tea and then realised it was past midnight. Hitler said he was tired and wanted to go back to his hotel. It was then she noticed that Max Amann was no longer in the house but had left. She was completely alone with this mysterious older man.

Hitler was looking at me again with that uncomfortably intense look. He came closer to me, so close that I could feel his breath on my cheek. He then took me tenderly by the shoulders and caressed my cheek with his index finger. “Won’t you give me a goodbye kiss?” he said.

Though I was beginning to like Hitler, I was still a very young girl of 16 and was afraid. I said, “No, Herr Hitler, I’ve never been kissed before and I cannot kiss you.”

Hitler looked at me searchingly for a while, then said, “If you really can’t do this, if you are too afraid to move forward, then we must not see each other again. Really. We can’t meet each other again, it would cause us both too much pain”. Then he asked “Don’t you want the same thing I want?”

Hitler’s forehead knitted together and he frowned. His mouth suddenly became very narrow and pinched, the pain was evident in his eyes. Everything that had been warm and inviting in his face had turned cold. Hitler then pulled the blue curtain to one side, and abruptly called for Amann outside, who came scurrying up to meet his friend, and the two left.

After being woken by Hitler's call for Amann, Anni came into the parlour and asked what had happened. I remained silent and just retired to my bedroom and cried for some time. I was attracted to Hitler, but scared of him at the same time due to my youth and inexperience.

However, the romance had not ended, in fact it was just beginning. The next morning, at 10:00 a.m. Max Amann came into the dress shop of the Reiter sisters. He immediately approached Mimi and motioned her to the back room.

Amann said to her, “Look here, what has happened? I’ve known Hitler for many years and I’ve never seen him in such a state. He poured out his heart to me. You must believe me: this man has completely fallen for you! ("Hitler hat mir sein Herz ausgeschuettet. Glauben Sie mir: Der Mann hat Feuer gefangen.”)

Amann made a deal with Mimi: she should write Hitler a little note, telling him she would be happy for another meeting. At first Mimi hesitated, until her older sister took her aside and suggested she should write him. “He’s a very special man,” she instructed her younger sister. Then Mimi reneged and wrote Hitler a few affectionate lines.

A half an hour later, Hitler himself came into the shop, wearing once more his Lederhosen and white shirt. Mimi recalls that he was in a wonderful mood, smiling, flirting and laughing. He immediately suggested they all make an excursion to the Starnberger See, a lake near Munich. Hitler added that Emil Maurice would drive and that Anni was also invited. Mimi agreed to go.

The next day, a Sunday, at 3:00 in the afternoon, Hitler’s black Mercedes drove up and the two sisters got into the car. Hitler cleverly arranged that Anni sit in the front with Maurice and that Mimi would sit by him in the rear seat. But Hitler and Maurice picked up the sisters not in front of their shop, but eight blocks away. Hitler told Mimi later, “Berchtesgaden is a small town and people gossip. I want no one gossiping about such a young girl as yourself. Also in my position I can’t afford any idle chatter.”

When Hitler and Maurice picked up the sisters, Hitler hand sprung out of the car and helped Mimi into the back seat. He had a leather helmet and some gloves in the backseat, but he didn’t put them on.

My sister Anni had to do an errand for the church and Maurice let her out. Then Hitler told his driver to take us up to Bischofswiesen [a small town near Berchtesgaden]. After my sister left the car, Hitler immediately began to become more intimate with me. Maurice was driving and not paying us any attention in the backseat. Hitler took my hand in his and gently ran his hands over my face and neck. It was thrilling but also a little unsettling.

After several minutes, Hitler instructed Maurice to stop the car, he wanted to walk around the forest for a little while. He assisted me out of the car, held my hand, and we walked towards the forest. Hitler and I walked a little ways until we reached a beautiful clearing, with the sun coming through the trees. He made me stand quite still in front of a tree. He turned me left and right, studying my face. He was smiling and looking at me. I wondered what he was doing, and I asked him. Hitler replied “just stand there exactly as you are”.
He stood about five paces away from me and was gazing at my face, my chest and my legs. Then he stretched his arms out to me and beckoned me to him. “Do you know what you are now, Mimilein? Now you are my woodland sprite!”
Mimi laughed and asked what he exactly meant, but Hitler silenced her.
“When you’re older, Mimi, you’ll understand me better.”

Then Hitler then came up to me, held me by the shoulders and passionately kissed me. He kissed me for the first time wildly, stormily and completely unrestrained. He pressed me too him very tightly and whispered, [/i]“Mimilein, my beautiful girl, I can’t stop myself anymore. I can’t restrain myself”.[/i]

Then he completely enveloped my upper body with his, pressing me to him. He wrapped his arms around my body and kissed me passionately for a long time, over and over. He appeared to not know what he should do, he was clearly struggling with containing his feelings. He said several times between kisses, “Mimilein, I want you just way too much. What I feel for you is quite simply everything, kiss me, Mimi”.

Hitler’s romantic overtures were successful. Mimi found she enjoyed kissing this older man who had so much repressed passion for her. For twenty minutes they stood in the forest, kissing.

I was so happy, I wanted to die in the forest. Hitler kept looking at me with this wild intensity, almost like an animal let loose from a cage. His kisses were bruising and searching, he kissed me on the mouth, the forehead, the neck. I saw how excited he was, I saw how he was struggling with himself and trying to contain his passion, how he balled up his fists and kept trying to hold back.

Finally after more than a half an hour of fervent kissing and petting, he led me back to the car, where Maurice was patiently waiting. As we walked back to the Mercedes, Hitler would stop a few times and kiss me again, or press me to his chest. He told me I was his ideal woman and under normal circumstances, he could marry me and have children, but first his great mission had to be fulfilled. He didn’t elaborate on what this “mission” (Sendung) was.

When we both reached the car, Hitler was in a glorious mood.
He said to the driver “So, Moritzl, let’s turn around and go back to the town!” Hitler then took both of my hands and placed them in his lap. In the car, he gently took his fingers and closed my eyes, telling me to “sleep and dream.” He kissed my forehead and neck and held my hands.

The next day, Hitler visited our shop and took me for a walk in the Kurpark. He asked if he could finally accompany me to the grave of my mother. I agreed. So later that evening he came around to visit me at Anni’s home at 8:00. It was a chilly night, but he was dressed as he was the first day I saw him, with Lederhosen, a blue tie and a white shirt. As always, he was carrying his riding whip with him. We walked hand in hand to the cemetery in town and we stood looking down at the grave of my mother. Hitler bent down and lit two candles and was very solemn. I noticed the muscles in his neck knot together as he was staring down at the grave.
I began to cry, because I had only lost my dear mother so recently. I cried for several minutes. Hitler then took both my hands in his hands and pressed my head against his chest, cradling me. Then he pressed his forehead against my cheek and whispered to me, “I am not like that yet”.

What Hitler meant with that sentence was not entirely clear to me. Hitler then gently kissed me at my mother’s grave and said, “Listen to me, my sweet girl. From now on, I want you to call me ‘Wolf,’ nothing else.” As we walked away from the cemetery, Hitler took the long way back to my sister’s home and took the time to again kiss me passionately and tell me how attracted he was to me.
Hitler also for the first time told me that he loved me, that evening on the walk. His kisses had broken up my reserve. He was very passionate and very forceful, yet also gentle. I found myself not wanting to be away from his embrace, I believe I was also beginning to fall in love with this man.”

Hitler did not attempt to go into the house with her, instead, he formally kissed her hand, clicked his heels and told her he would see her in the morning. Sadly, the next day brought Mimi some bad news. Hitler told her that he was leaving Berchtesgaden for a few weeks, but he wanted her to write to him care of his landlady in Munich, Frau Dachs. Then Maurice turned up in the huge Mercedes and they took another drive to a secluded spot in the forest.
Once more Hitler and Mimi walked through the trees until Hitler stooped and began kissing her wildly again. He said, “Mimi, you’re everything to me, you are so beautiful, I want you so badly”.

Mimi admitted, “it was then that I started to fall completely in love with this man. He was so passionate, so full of energy and some strange spark, that I felt myself yearning to be with him. I was devastated that he was leaving me and travelling away. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to be with him in any way he wanted.”

Before Hitler left Berchtesgaden for his political trip, he gave Mimi a huge box of chocolate. He told her to eat it in bed every night at 10:00 and he would do the same, and they could think of each other.
During the next month, the couple exchanged many love letters. Hitler sent her sweets, some jewelry and even a lock of his hair. He returned to Berchtesgaden in November. The couple resumed their relationship, though Hitler did not attempt to have sexual intercourse with her.
Mimi said, “it was difficult for us to be alone. We would steal moments together when we could, but it was next to impossible to be alone together for extended periods of time. Hitler was very tender and affectionate to me, but we were not yet lovers.”

Once more Hitler disappeared for a month, once more the couple exchanged letters and cards. Here is one of Hitler’s letters to her, dated December 16th, 1926:

December 16th, 1926

My dear little Mimi:

You don’t know how much you have come to mean to me. I would so love to have your beautiful and sweet face in front of me so I could personally tell you what you mean to me. December 23rd is your birthday. Now I beg of you to accepy my greeting, which comes from the depth of my heart.

From my present, you should see how pleased I am that my sweet love is writing so often to me. You have no idea how happy a sweet little letter from you will make me. Out of it your lovely voice speaks to me. And then I am always taken by a desire for you as if it was the first time. Are you also sometimes thinking of me? Tell me so and write to me.

You know Mimi, whenever I have trouble or concerns, I would so much like to be with you, to be able to look into your eyes in order to forget all of life’s cares. Yes, Mizzerl, you recall how much you mean to me and how deeply I love you. But read the books! [the two volumes of Mein Kampf he had also sent her] Then you will be able to understand me.

Now again my sincerest best wishes for your birthday and for Christmas with my whole heart.

From your own

Wolf

———

On December 23, 1926, Mimi Reiter turned 17. To her surprise and happiness, Hitler turned up in their clothing shop, totally unexpectedly.

Wolf was in a wonderful mood, so happy and like a boy. I was thrilled to see him again. He wished me a happy birthday and gave me a beautiful, gold wristwatch. The next day we celebrated Christmas together, while my sister and my brother-in-law were absent from the house. I was more than ready to offer myself to Hitler, but he was cautious about this and had a mania for privacy. He told me that as hard as it was for him to wait, we simply had to wait for ‘the right time.’

The ‘right time’ occurred in early March, 1927. Mimi was an excellent ice skater and at that time, took part in many competitions. She travelled by herself by rail to Munich to take place in an ice skating event.

I was taking my practice laps when I looked up and saw Hitler and Emil Maurice sitting on one of the benches in the ice skating hall. I was so thrilled at seeing Wolf, I wanted to break off the competition just to see him. We chatted a little while and he insisted I compete. But I was so distracted by Wolf’s presence, I fell and didn’t even get a medal.

After the event, Maurice drove Hitler and myself to his local restaurant, the Café Heck, by the Odeonsplatz in Munich. Maurice discreetly left us alone in a back table. Hitler immediately began talking to me of his future plans for us.
We sat there for over two hours. The only gloomy moment was when I ordered Schnitzel. Wolf frowned and said, ‘Mimilein, how can you eat the flesh of animals? That is made from veal, how can you eat that?”

The table where we were seated was completely screened off from the other patrons. He pressed his forehead against my neck, over and over, whispering to me how much he loved me, how much he wanted to spend his life with me and how beautiful I was. He kept saying, “Mimi, you have no idea how much I love you, do you love me too?”

After the meal, Maurice picked us up. In the back seat, Hitler kissed me repeatedly and said, “You’re never going to be separated from me again, Mimchen. Do you hear me? When I get a bigger apartment, you have to stay with me, always. We’ll pick out everything together: the pictures, the chairs, the furniture. I can see everything already: a beautiful long sofa in violet plush.”

Hitler spent the car drive talking about living with Mimi in Munich. Of course she was thinking about marriage, but he was not thinking of marriage at all, but only of living together. Only she didn’t know that yet.

Maurice drove Hitler and Mimi to a street near the Isar. When they got out of the car, Hitler told Mimi this was his apartment in Munich [41 Thierschstrasse]. He said, “I know you’d like to change out of your skating dress, you can do so here.” Mimi agreed and noticed that Maurice drove away. It was midday and Hitler escorted her up the stairs one flight, to his modest apartment on the right side of the hallway.

Though by then I was very deeply in love with Wolf, I was still unsure and afraid. I knew what was going to happen, and it was what we both wanted, but I was a young girl. I naively asked Hitler to turn his back while I changed. Obediently, he took a chair and sat on it, pretending to look through a book. I struggled out of my skating dress, but a button got stuck on my blue evening gown and I had to ask him to unfasten it. Hitler helped me with the button and then he turned me around to face him. He pressed me to him and kissed me passionately. He gently rocked me back on my heels and lifted me into his arms, placing me on his simple iron bed. We made love there. And he was a total man. These rumours that he could not make love to a woman are utterly false. He was 100% capable of it and was very patient and gentle with me, knowing that I was inexperienced in the ways of intimacy.
For the next several hours, we spent in each others arms in his dingy flat in Munich. When he finally got up from the bed, he turned and said, “My dear darling, I have another surprise for you. Tonight I have tickets at the Gaertnerplatz Theater for Zirkusprinzessin. We can sit together and spend the evening this way.”

Maurice and a certain woman named Dr. Ida Arnold accompanied us. I had the impression that Dr. Arnold and Maurice were a romantic couple. During the intermission, Hitler explained to me that it was too dangerous for me to spend the evening in his apartment, and that I would have to spend the night in Dr. Arnold’s guest bedroom at her apartment.

That evening, Dr. Arnold asked me many intrusive questions about Hitler. She saw that we loved each other. That night had been very special for us both. We were both glowing with love. She noticed it and asked me if I thought Hitler would ever marry me. I remember her being very irate when she found out I was just 17 years old. I looked older and so she was upset by that.

The next day Hitler and Maurice drove me back to the Munich train station, but he joined me in Berchtesgaden a few days later. For three weeks in April 1927, we were a couple together in Berchtesgaden.

Wolf and I were able to steal many afternoons together at my sister and brother-in-law’s house. The mother of Gottfried was ill and both my sister and he were in Augsburg. Wolf and I spent many blissful hours there, it was by far the happiest time of my life. Wolf was very happy and told me every day how desperately he loved me. And I confess that I was terribly in love with him. Every moment with him was absolutely blissful. I dreamt of marrying him and having his children.

But inevitably, Hitler’s political mission interrupted this idyll. Again he left Berchtesgaden, again he was gone for weeks or months at a time.

In July, he finally returned to Berchtesgaden. But curiously, he didn’t stop to see me. In fact, I saw him walk by the clothing shop and he didn’t even come inside. I was devastated. I was never so desolate in my life. I watched the man I love walk by the shop and ignore my existence. He was my first and my only lover, he was the man I knew I would some day marry. He never gave an explanation then. After a few hours, I began to cry. I began to cry hysterically. I imagined Wolf with other women, there were always women chasing him. I felt as if he didn’t love me anymore. I wanted to die. A life without him was a life I did not want to live.”

The next day, Mimi took a clothes-line and tied it around her neck. She tied the other end around a doorknob and slammed the door shut, attempting to commit suicide. She fell to the floor unconscious. Several hours later, her brother in law, Gottfried, discovered her and rushed to fetch a doctor. Mimi recovered and Gottfried Hehl sought out Hitler immediately to demand why he had stopped seeing Mimi.

(At this point, the article explains how Dr. Ida Arnold had been writing anonymous letters to the Nazi Party HQ, claiming she had personal knowledge that Hitler was “seducing young girls in Berchtesgaden.” Hitler told Helh that over eight such letters had been received and he could not afford any political scandal.
He told Hehl, “I love Mimi with my whole heart, please tell her this, but I have to remain distant from her for awhile.”
Mimi had to sign a sworn statement that she and Hitler were merely “friends”. [Their relationship was put on hold]
On May 10th, 1930, Mimi Reiter married an Austrian hotel owner in Innsbruck. She admitted she “did not love him, but I was lonely”.)

In 1928 and 1929 Wolf wrote me some more letters and cards, all of which still exist. He sent me a beautiful wedding present and a silver goblet with his engraved name on it. I still loved him passionately and my marriage was unhappy from the start.

Then the death of Hitler’s niece, Geli Raubal, changed everything for both Hitler and for Mimi Reiter. Geli Raubal died on September 19th, 1931. In early October of 1931, a man that Mimi recognized was standing in front of her at the hotel she ran in Innsbruck. The man with the prominent eyebrows told her. “My name is Hess. Herr Hitler has sent me. He wants to know if you are happy.”
Mimi said immediately, “No!”
Hess asked her what message he should convey to Hitler.
Mimi said, “Tell him that I am extremely happy that he sent you to ask me this question. Tell him that I would love to see him again.”

My heart was in my throat when Hess drove away. He had handed me Hitler’s private telephone number to his apartment. Naturally this stirred up all my old memories of Wolf. My husband and I were already separated and our marriage had been very short and miserably unhappy. All I wanted at that moment was to see Wolf again.

I wasted little time. I left Seefeld two days later and took the train to Munich. At the railway station I called Hitler. At first a woman answered [probably Frau Anni Winter, Hitler’s housekeeper]. I waited a few moments and called again. This time Hitler himself answered the phone.

“When he heard my voice, he was very happy and touched. He said to me, “Mizzerl, where are you? I want you to come to me, do you hear me? I want you this very minute”. He asked me if I still loved him. I started to cry and said, “I can’t tell you that over the telephone”.

Hitler instructed me to get a taxi and drive to the apartment of Julius Schaub, his adjutant. When I arrived there, Schaub then accompanied me in a taxi to Hitler’s apartment on the Prinzregentenplatz. It was around noon when Schaub escorted me to Hitler’s flat. Schaub walked me into the large living room. I had never been to this apartment, I had only seen Wolf’s previous dwelling. This was far more luxurious, in a nicer part of town and it was so nice and almost ‘swanky.’ There didn’t seem to be anyone stirring in the apartment at all, it was silent. Schaub left. About five minutes later, Hitler moved a curtain aside and suddenly was standing there in a dark blue suit. He looked somehow imposing, he looked more mature and worldy-wise than my dear Wolf from the 1920’s.

Hitler walked up to me and took me into his arms. He was very tender and correct with me. I was trembling to be with him again, but at first, he wanted only to talk. Whenever I could want to caress him or hold him, he gently said, “later, there is plenty of time for that, later...” and he asked me extensively about my husband. I confessed to him that I had run away and abandoned my husband and that I wanted to divorce him. Hitler was agitated, not out of any moral reason, but because he was concerned my husband might gain an advantage in the divorce proceedings.

We talked for two hours. Then he suggested we go on an excursion to the Tegernsee. Schaub went with us with his new driver, Schreck. We had a picnic and Wolf and I were able to spend some private time alone together, where finally he showed me physical affection and told me he still loved me deeply and truly.

Schreck later drove us back to Hitler’s apartment. We had already eaten a hearty snack at the Tegernsee. We arrived back to Hitlers deserted apartment around 8:00 in the evening. Schreck and Schaub disappeared. For two hours we talked about the past and he mentioned the death of his beloved niece, an event which Schaub had mentioned to me.

I asked Hitler if I could move to Munich and if he could arrange for me to get some kind of job. He laughed and said “you’re never going to work. You’re going to stay with me, From this moment on, you belong to me and I am going to take your life into my hands”.

Hitler then got up from the sofa, dimmed the lights and returned to me, taking my hands and caressing my face and hair.
Wolf pressed me to him and kissed me. We kissed each other for a long time and it felt as if no time had elapsed since our old love affair from 1927. It was a little past midnight and he leaned me further and further back on his couch. He held me more and more tightly. I let everything happen to me. It was what we both had always wanted and we had been denied it for 4 years. I was never so happy in my life as that night when we were alone in his apartment.

Around 2:30 at night, Wolf finally straightened up from the sofa and stood up. He brought me a silk robe and wrapped me up in it and then snuggled with me.

He whispered to me, “Mimilein, you know that now I’m rich. I can offer you everything and anything you want. I can create a paradise for you. Just stay with me. My darling angel, I love you very, very much. Tell me you love me and that you will always stay with me”.
I told Hitler with great tenderness that I loved him as much as he loved me. But then I said something he didn’t like.
I said to him “Wolf, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone, but I’m not suited to be a mistress, hidden away from the world. I want to be with you, but I can’t be happy just seeing you at your convenience and waiting for you to visit me. Surely you can understand that?”

We were snuggled together on his sofa and suddenly he became irate. He stood up and turned away from me.
“What are you demanding of me? What am I supposed to give up for a woman? he said in an angry voice.
“I love you. I have always loved you and I have always wanted you. And I want to have you here, right here, in my apartment. And I want you to understand something: I’ve never had a relationship with a woman like I have had with you. Do you know that?”

They spent the rest of the night, arguing and making love. The next morning, Mimi returned to Austria, but Hitler repeatedly phoned her when he was on the road busy with politics.
Throughout 1932, he arranged four or five clandestine meetings with Mimi.

Twice we met at the apartment of Max Amann. He was from Munich and had maintained a dwelling there for many years. Max Amann knew Wolf very well and he knew me from the old days. Wolf and I would spend two or three hours together, and they were the most blissful hours of my life. I never could get enough of him, nor he of me. He always told me how much he loved me and consistently tried to persuade me to remain with him as his mistress in his apartment.

Twice more we met in Hitler’s Munich apartment, after a night at the opera.
Wolf continually told me he wanted me to be his lover in Munich. I was perfectly willing to accept that role because of my great love for him, but I also insisted that eventually we must marry. I also wanted to have children. This would enrage Wolf, who would throw up his hands and say, “I love you! But I can never marry, what about that can’t you understand!?”

In 1932, Hitler arranged for his attorney, Hans Frank, to handle the divorce between Mimi and her Austrian husband. He was constantly gone from Munich and his trysts with Mimi in the Bavarian capital became less frequent and Hitler was sometimes now distracted and rushed.

Their last intimate episode occurred in Munich, a few weeks before he was named Chancellor (let it be noted that Hitler was also sleeping with Eva Braun at this same time, and using the same sofa for “intimate purposes.”)

It was right after the New Year, 1933, a snowy night. Hitler summoned me to his apartment. We had a light meal of Semmeln and some chocolates and then we made love. I was always gloriously happy to be in his arms and to assure him how deeply loved he was. For several hours we were together, and then Hitler said to me very softly, “I love you and this is the last time I am going to ask you this. I want you to be here, with me. Here in the apartment. The fact I would even offer a divorced woman this opportunity is amazing to me.”

I told him that under no circumstances could I live this way forever. I wanted to marry him, he was my lover and my life. I wanted to have children with him, be a normal person.
I will never forget Hitler’s reaction. He was buttoning up his shirt and suddenly sprang up and had a rage, the only true rage I ever saw him have.

He shouted, “all you women just think about having children! I have a great mission to fulfill, you know I can never get married to anyone!”

I was shocked. It was a terrible scene. I was afraid someone would hear. It was three o’clock in the morning and even though we were alone, Hitler was very loud. He kept shouting he had his mission to fulfill and he didn’t have the time to devote to a wife and children. Finally he calmed down, we kissed each other and said goodbye.

Mimi Reiter saw Hitler again in 1934, 1936 and 1938.
They never had intimate relations again, and met merely as “friends.”
She married Georg Kubisch in 1936 and Hitler personally congratulated Kubisch. He said to him, “So you’re the lucky man. Always treat this woman well, you are very fortunate to be having her.” *

When Kubisch was killed in action in France in 1940, Hitler sent Mimi 100 red roses.
They exchanged several additional letters, but never met again.

[* SS-Hauptsturmführer Georg Kubisch was congratulated by Hitler at an assembly of the SS in Munich. He was killed four years after his marriage to Mimi, during the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940.]

[been-there]

...[continuation of Part 2 of Herman Esser's account... recently posted here]

We saw no more of Mimi for the next few years, but Hitler would not forget her. She re-entered his life in 1931. I will explain this part of their relationship in the next segment. The termination of his affair with Mimi Reiter might also have been connected to something else.
What was this something else? It was that for some time, his half niece, Geli Raubal, had been increasingly seen in our circle. She was the daughter of his half sister, Angela. Geli was to have the most profound effect upon Hitler’s life of anyone he ever knew.



Angela ‘Geli’ Raubal*

Geli was 17 or 18 years old when she entered Hitler’s circle. She was an infectious brunette with great charm and a way about her that enchanted everyone. I knew Hitler was falling in love with her when Geli was set up in an apartment just a few doors down from his own Thierschstrasse flat.



By this time, 1928, Hitler was becoming famous all over Germany, not just Bavaria. The Party was finally making inroads and his speeches became mass rallies, populated by frenzied crowds. He was also becoming a wealthy man. I personally saw Frau Bruckmann hand him a satchel of cash. When we all left her stately home and piled into the Mercedes, Hitler tossed the satchel to me in the back seat and instructed me to count it. There was no way I could! There were tens of thousands of Reichsmarks in this bag. What Hitler did with this cash, I never knew and never asked.

Incidentally, this scene was repeated often. Hitler and the Party were rich by the late 1920’s and he used some of this money to make life very easy for Geli. He began to squire her about Munich, buying her mink coats, expensive clothes and anything that her heart desired.



Geli’s mother was sent to run Hitler’s house for him above Berchtesgaden and Geli was left in Munich alone with Hitler. The predictable thing occurred.


Everyone looks very happy: Emil Maurice, unknown, Julius Schaub, Adolf Hitler, his half-niece Geli. But far right is Geli's mother, Hitler's half-sister Angela looking decidely unamused



Thus began Hitler’s long involvement with Geli Raubal. She was the only woman that he was openly seen with all over Munich and all over the Obersalzberg. With all of his previous girlfriends, he was always a little nervous with them in public, afraid that someone might gossip about him. With Geli, he had no reserve. He could simply pass her off legitimately as his "half niece.” He took her everywhere and soon he was almost never seen without her by his side.

We old fighters in the Party were dumbstruck. Hitler allowed Geli to monopolize the conversations at meals. Previously Hitler had done all the talking. He took her everywhere with him: the opera, restaurants, museums and picnics.
Adolf Wagner, later the Gauleiter of Munich, once incurred Hitler’s wrath when he said one day, “why don’t you take Geli with you to the men’s room? You take her everywhere else”. Wagner was not seen around for a few weeks after this somewhat impertinent remark.




When he moved into his opulent apartment on the Prinzregentenplatz in Munich, Geli naturally came along. Her bedroom was adjacent to Hitler’s, though outsiders were told that she “lived in another wing of the building”. Such an arrangement was bound to set tongues wagging and that is exactly what happened.

There has been endless speculation about the nature of Hitler’s relationship with Geli. I knew her very well and enjoyed her company.


Geli Raubal: with Heinrich Hoffman junior to her left, Herman Esser the author of this reminiscence to her right, and beside him Marlene Weinrich.

Hitler’s jealousy over anything to do with his niece was extreme, even more acute than how he behaved over Mimi Reiter. If any man so much as looked at Geli, Hitler would be thrown into an emotional upheaval. I really thought he had lost his mind sometimes, since he was very controlling of her. All of the violent aspects of Hitler’s personality came out with Geli: not just his passion, but his suffocating need to control her every move. I noticed as the months passed, Geli becoming more unhappy.





Hitler was away on electioneering trips and was becoming increasingly popular and famous. He took her along with him, but it was a terrible life for a young girl. Geli would have to wait in her hotel room all night while Hitler delivered his speeches. Then he would insist on spending hours at a cafe after his events, because he was so wound up he couldn’t sleep. I noticed that all of this weighed heavily on Geli. She was only 20, carefree and bubbly. Hitler was clearly oppressing her.


Geli with her sleeping half-Uncle and probable lover Adolf

What were her feelings for him? From everything that I observed, she was thrilled to have someone that wealthy and that famous in her life. She was affectionate towards him and overwhelmed at his attentions. What went on between them in private we can guess.


Geli Raubal, Marlene Weinrich and an unidentified friend

During this period there was much gossip in the Party that Geli was “two timing” Hitler with Emil Maurice, a close friend of mine and of Hitler’s. However, as an eyewitness to this period, I can say there was never any affair between Emil and Geli. They had some brief physical contact, but did not have an affair. Maurice flirted with her, she flirted back. I know from Maurice that he and Geli were never lovers, though Hitler might have thought they were.
He was so furious at Maurice that he sacked him and flew into an uncontrollable rage. Maurice wouldn’t take this lying down and he sued Hitler for back wages and won in the Munich courts. This is little known today.


Adolf Hitler with Emil Maurice, his friend, chauffeur and perceived rival for Geli's affections

Hitler’s obsession with Geli seemed to grow after the incident between Geli and Maurice. His ego was also expanding since he was now the coming man in Germany. Industrialists and investors were eager to line the coffers of the party. Hitler’s hotel bills during these years were astronomical but the money kept on flowing. Geli benefited from this, as did her mother. Yet she was being completely stifled and controlled by her Uncle and it was obvious she began to bitterly resent this.



Once or twice I tried to give Hitler my opinion on this matter. He was a very poor listener and had little practice with listening, since he talked most of the time. I said to him once while we were driving up north, “you really should let Geli see other people. She lives quite isolated”. Well, the moment I said it, I regretted it.
Hitler almost threw me out of the car and Schreck (his chauffeur) had to physically restrain him. In those years Hitler was never without a rhino hide whip and he used that on political opponents sometimes, so I was worried. Hitler was agitated for hours and finally told me not to stick my nose into his business. I’d never seen him so heated. When we got out of the car, he shot me a look which was full of venom. He also slapped his whip against his boots in a high fury.

Schreck told me at breakfast the next morning, “the Boss wants you gone by the time he comes downstairs”. I had no choice but to walk to the train station and take a train back to Munich. Another banishment!



After this incident, I stayed away from him for several months. In fact, I was on the outs on the sad day of September 18th, 1931, when Geli Raubal committed suicide in Hitler’s flat. She shot herself in the heart and his housekeeper found her dead on the floor. I found out about this tragedy when Amann called me and gave me the tragic news. Geli had been only 22yrs old.

Now began a time of immense gossip and chatter in Munich. Why did Geli kill herself? Did Hitler do it? Did Himmler? Was she pregnant, either by Hitler or by someone else? No one wanted to believe the truth, which was that Hitler’s possessiveness drove Geli to this act. Hitler could not have shot her because he was 300 kilometers away. Himmler was so weak he couldn’t have shot anyone, even in self defence.

No, Geli pulled the trigger. I think she did so to hurt Hitler and shock him into seeing the error of his ways. Jealousy could also have been an issue, since I don’t believe Hitler was faithful to her.

People in the party also gossiped that Geli had cheated on Hitler with a man in Vienna. Whatever the truth, we will probably never know. The one thing I can say is that after Geli’s death, he was never the same. A lot of his humanity vanished.
The only good thing about it was that Hitler took me back into his circle. Schreck had told him I wished to see him and Hitler himself let me into his apartment. This was about three weeks after the tragedy. I had never seen him so broken. He had tears in his eyes when he spoke of “my dear Geli”.
When I took my leave of him, he took both of my hands, clasped them and, to my surprise, he embraced me. He never did this except this one time. He said, “Hermann, how can I ever heal from this?”
I was deeply moved by this moment and have never spoken of it until today.

As I was leaving and going down the stairs, I happened to run into a girl I knew well, and a girl that also had known Geli. Her name was Marlene Weinrich, an adorable and vivacious blonde girl who was twenty years old. Hitler had known her for over a year and I suspected she might have been one of the reasons Geli killed herself.


Marlene Weinrich is second from right. Geli is second from left. Herman Esser is the man in the middle.

Another reason was a beautiful blonde girl working behind the counter of Heinrich Hoffmann’s photography shop. Her name was Eva Braun. Of all the women in Hitler’s life, I knew Eva better than any of them, and I knew her for the longest time. Her story is next.

~~~ ~~~ . ~~~ ~~~ . ~~~ ~~~ . ~~~ ~~~ . ~~~ ~~~

*That concludes Esser's account of Geli.
Here is some extra detail to add context.
Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal was born 4th June 1908 Linz, Austria-Hungary. She was the second child and eldest daughter of Leo Raubal Sr. and Hitler's half-sister, Angela Raubal. She had an elder brother named Leo, and a younger sister named Elfriede, but they never get mentioned. Her father died at the age of 31 yrs when Geli was just two years old.
Geli lived in close contact with her half-uncle for six years from 1925 until her suicide 18th September 1931. Her mother had become Hitler's housekeeper in 1925. Raubal was 17 years old at the time. So Hitler was 19 years older than her. Geli first had her own flat but she moved into Hitler's Munich apartment in 1929 when she enrolled in medicine at Ludwig Maximilian University. She is discussed in detail by other members of Hitler's inner circle who were interviewed after the war. Such as this one with Wilma Schaub.

Just to clarify where the above info on Hitler's love life is coming from: the above English translation is of the second third of Part 2 of a German article that appeared in the October 16th and October 23rd, 1949 issues of Revue magazine, entitled Adolf Hitler, der Grosse Liebhaber written by Hermann Esser. The concluding part concerning Eva Braun I can no longer access. I explain why below.

This information presented by Esser was until that moment completely unknown to everyone except the women themselves and a handful of Hitler's closest confidants. Most people had been shocked to discover that Hitler had had a secret mistress, the beautiful Eva Braun. Few knew about her until the war was over. So this revelation of Hitler having had multiple, beautiful girlfriends with whom he had normal sexually intimate love relationships in the 1920's and 1930's prior to becoming Chancellor, must have been explosive. Most people had been led to believe that he was sexually impotent, had only one testicle, was a pervert, etc. (The same lies and myths are still repeated stupidly and/or deceitfully today, together with the homophobic accusation that he was homosexual or asexual). So presumably Esser's insider account would have been shockingly revelatory.

Also worth bearing in mind is that in 1949 when Esser wrote and published this, Germany was still undergoing what the Allied conquerors and occupiers called 'de-Nazification. So the reaction to his previously unknown account was one of collective fascination that caused a sensation amongst the German public and caused great alarm to the authorities. Consequently an order was issued to confiscate copies as the occupier-approved West Germany authorities were afraid it was too “sympathetic to Hitler’s image.” Esser himself was even arrested because of the article. His ‘crime’ was that he had “stirred up more Nazi trouble.”



As proof that the authorities and those in positions of influence are still today afraid of the historical truth of Hitler and his associates, and what they achieved together, check this out. The above account of Esser's was translated by an American female using the pseudonym of Putschgirl.
She published other fascinating items such as the interviews with Hitler's inner circle conducted by post-war American investigators such as American judge Michael Musmanno and historian/journalist John Toland. She also had collected and digitalised 12,000 rare photographs and films of Hitler. It had all been made available to the world on the internet through a tumblr account.

In 2018 tumblr terminated her account, thereby eliminating much rare and previously inaccessible historical material she had accumulated and made available. Fortunately some of them I copied and posted here in this topic-thread. Others are now unavailable.

So this removal of translation of the article by Esser and the other historically valuable material collected and presented by putschgirl is yet another example of the censorship and mind-control that went on not only after WW2, but also of the thought-policing manipulation and censorship that we are ALL still constantly subjected to now.

[been-there]

Here is a filmed example of Hitler showing his appreciation of beautiful young women.

He is captured ogling a beautiful girl coming down some steps to his left. He openly stares at her from the moment he sets eyes on her coming down the steps until she comes level and gives him a shy but amused look back, upon which he finally looks down.






View the animated gif here.
It's another one from the censored/forbidden archive of Putschgirl, so I can't copy it.

[been-there]

I add two observations here that seem pertinent to the fascinating and informative but still 'verboten' information provided by Esser, posted previously.

The first is that if you read all the other accounts of Geli Raubal from those who knew her, a great many say that she was prone to mood swings to the point of being bi-polar. Herman Esser doesn't mention that. So this adds another crucial aspect that Esser didn't supply his readers with. The suicide of someone who was possibly a manic depressive can not fairly be blamed totally upon those closest to them.

The second observation is one that I regard as extremely relevant to our own times. It is something that again demonstrates the unreliability verging on deliberate deceit that journalists have always employed to demonise anyone involved with the NSDAP.
The 1949 newspaper account below, wanted its readers to believe that Esser was an escaped Nazi criminal who was re-captured in 1949 after his publication of pro-Nazi misinformation.



Which is the exact opposite of the truth. The EXACT OPPOSITE!!

I.e. this again seems symptomatic of the whole history regarding WW2. We are not told the truth in the news and media. And those that seek it or publish it are demonised, criminalised and punished with imprisonment, etc.

The reality is that Esser had been arrested in 1945 and then released by the Americans in 1947.
He was re-arrested in September 1949, as this news item noted. So, that much at least, is accurate. But he wasn't writing a book. And he had NOT escaped from imprisonment in '47. So that is a deceit.

After this 1949 arrest he was imprisoned for five years.
What was his crime?
It was the writing and public publication in a newspaper of hitherto largely unknown historical facts that the victors and their 'quisling' German authorities did not like ordinary people knowing.

According to Charles Hamilton's 1984 book ‘Leaders and personalities of the Third Reich, Vol. One, p.266, Esser had been arrested in 1945 due to his position in the NSDAP party, but was eventually released in 1947 after being considered not guilty of any 'crimes'. Esser was only arrested again in 1949 by the West German Police after the publication detailing Hitler's love life prior to 1933. He was charged under the ‘thought crime’ West German anti-Nazification laws. He was then criminalised as being a "major offender" and sentenced to five years hard labour with a loss of civil rights for life. He was released in 1952. He died in 1981.

The treatment of Esser I regard as symptomatic of 'freedom' in Europe under the 'winners' of WW2: writing accurate, irrefuted history was then — as now — considered proof of being a “major offender” of 'Nazi' criminality.

...I noticed as the months passed, Geli becoming more unhappy.
...Why did Geli kill herself? ...I think she did so to hurt Hitler and shock him into seeing the error of his ways. Jealousy could also have been an issue, since I don’t believe Hitler was faithful to her.

...Schreck had told Hitler I wished to see him and Hitler himself let me into his apartment. This was about three weeks after the tragedy [of Geli's suicide].
I had never seen him so broken. He had tears in his eyes when he spoke of “my dear Geli”.
When I took my leave of him, he took both of my hands, clasped them and, to my surprise, he embraced me. He never did this except this one time. He said, “Hermann, how can I ever heal from this?”
I was deeply moved by this moment and have never spoken of it until today.

That concludes Esser's account of Geli.

Just to clarify where the above info on Hitler's love life is coming from: the above English translation is of the second third of Part 2 of a German article that appeared in the October 16th and October 23rd, 1949 issues of Revue magazine, entitled Adolf Hitler, der Grosse Liebhaber written by Hermann Esser. The concluding part concerning Eva Braun I can no longer access. I explain why below.

This information presented by Esser was until that moment completely unknown to everyone except the women themselves and a handful of Hitler's closest confidants. Most people had been shocked to discover that Hitler had had a secret mistress, the beautiful Eva Braun. Few knew about her until the war was over. So this revelation of Hitler having had multiple, beautiful girlfriends with whom he had normal sexually intimate love relationships in the 1920's and 1930's prior to becoming Chancellor, must have been explosive. Most people had been led to believe that he was sexually impotent, had only one testicle, was a pervert, etc. (The same lies and myths are still repeated stupidly and/or deceitfully today, together with the homophobic accusation that he was homosexual or asexual). So presumably Esser's insider account would have been shockingly revelatory.

Also worth bearing in mind is that in 1949 when Esser wrote and published this, Germany was still undergoing what the Allied conquerors and occupiers called 'de-Nazification. So the reaction to his previously unknown account was one of collective fascination that caused a sensation amongst the German public and caused great alarm to the authorities. Consequently an order was issued to confiscate copies as the occupier-approved West Germany authorities were afraid it was too “sympathetic to Hitler’s image.” Esser himself was even arrested because of the article. His ‘crime’ was that he had “stirred up more Nazi trouble.”

As proof that the authorities and those in positions of influence are still today afraid of the historical truth of Hitler and his associates, and what they achieved together, check this out. The above account of Esser's was translated by an American female using the pseudonym of Putschgirl.
She published other fascinating items such as the interviews with Hitler's inner circle conducted by post-war American investigators such as American judge Michael Musmanno and historian/journalist John Toland. She also had collected and digitalised 12,000 rare photographs and films of Hitler. It had all been made available to the world on the internet through a tumblr account.

In 2018 tumblr terminated her account, thereby eliminating much rare and previously inaccessible historical material she had accumulated and made available. Fortunately some of them I copied and posted here in this topic-thread. Others are now unavailable.

So this removal of translation of the article by Esser and the other historically valuable material collected and presented by putschgirl is yet another example of the censorship and mind-control that went on not only after WW2, but also of the thought-policing manipulation and censorship that we are ALL still constantly subjected to now.

[been-there]

It would seem that someone — some interested party — does not want this information gathered by Toland and Musmanno to reach a wider audience...

[been-there]

Bruno Gesche standing to the right of his 'boss' at the ‘Wolfsschanze’, near the East Prussian town of Rastenburg, in present-day Poland

An interview with Hitler’s bodyguard Bruno Gesche


Bruno Gesche with his 'boss'

SS-Obersturmbannführer Bruno Gesche (1905-1980) was one of Adolf Hitler’s primary bodyguard for many years.
He had joined the NSDAP in 1922 when he was only 17 yrs old. He first met Hitler in Berlin soon after joining the political party. Hitler therefore knew him from the beginning of his own rise to prominence and loyally kept him close despite the fact that Gesche had a heavy drinking problem.

Bruno Gesche was one of those early supporters who protected the fledgling party in the fights that occurred when rallies and talks came under attack from communist opponents. He lost his job at a bank in 1923 as a result of involvement in street brawls as a member of the SA. Nine years later — after having transferred to the SS — on 29th February 1932 Sepp Dietrich picked and presented twelve men from the SS for Hitler's personal bodyguard. Hitler selected eight of them, one of whom was Gesche.


Adolf Hitler and Bruno Gesche shaking hands

Gesche was not well-regarded by Himmler who sought to punish him on numerous occassions. He first tried to have him demoted, another time forced to become teetotal, and once attempted to reduce his salary for his misdemeanours. But on each occassion Hitler personally intervened and protected him.

On one occasion after a drinking session Gesche pulled his pistol and threatened a fellow SS officer. When Himmler heard about it he convinced Hitler this was a step too far. Consequently Gesche was sent to the Eastern front in the Summer of 1942 where his unit was involved in frequent fierce fighting. In October of that year he was wounded in combat and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for his meritorious actions. Hitler then intervened again and by December 1942, he was back at his side as commander of the Führerbegleitkommando. Hitler also changed the rules ensuring that none of his personal staff could ever be sent to the Eastern Front again, as if captured they could be forced to divulge sensitive information. I.e. again Hitler intervened and got Gesche back by his side. This again shows Hitler's loyalty to his old comrades.



Gesche's alcohol problem became an issue yet again though when after after a drunken altercation he not only pulled his pistol but actually fired the weapon. This was in December 1944. And thus, Himmler finally succeeded in having him demoted with Hitler's permission, and Gesche was transferred to a regiment serving in Italy where he surrendered to the Americans in 1945. He was then interred for almost four years.

In the 1960's American author John Toland tried for years to interview Gesche but he repeatedly refused. After seven years of nagging, Gesche finally sat down with Toland in 1973, but he laid down some firm parameters prior to the chat: he was not to be asked about Himmler, Bormann, the Night of the Long Knives or anything about his military service. He agreed only to discuss Hitler as a private man and incidents relating to Hitler personally.
Toland agreed to this and kept his questions to just those topics.

This interview is another shared online by Putschgirl who stated when she accessed it, it was in box 39 of the Toland Papers in the Library of Congress.

The interview was conducted in August, 1973 in West Berlin, West Germany. The interpreter was Thomas Berndt.
JT refers to John Toland and BG refers to Bruno Gesche.

This interview is probably the only one Gesche ever gave.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Bruno Gesche (bottom of photograph) and Hitler amongst thronging admirers

JT: Let’s talk about Hitler in the 1920’s. What was he like? What kinds of things did he like to do, for instance.
BG: The boss liked music and art. I never cared about either of those things so we didn’t talk about it. What he and I talked about were engines, car engines. He knew everything about cars, engines, performance. He was a car nut like me so we talked a about that mostly.

JT: In those early days, did you drive with him in his car?
BG: I practically never did that, the main car had the driver, Hitler in the companion seat, with Schaub and another adjutant in the passaenger seats. Brückner was sometimes there and (Sepp) Dietrich was a regular too. Hoffmann, myself and a few others drove in the second vehicle. That was better for security.
Security was the issue in the Kampfzeit (period of struggle). Communists were always threatening us, issuing death threats to Hitler, so it wasn’t sunshine and roses. We were always on guard for attacks.

JT: When you would travel, did you stay in the same hotel as Hitler?
BG: I always did, the entire staff did. We always had the party hotel reserved in all the big cities. Plus the Boss stayed loyal to all these places after 1933.



JT: Who paid for the hotel bills, they must have been enormous?
BG: Well, it was understood that one or some of Hitler’s motherly friends picked up the tab. Hitler had some old women in Munich who supported him and gave him lavish presents. One of them bought Hitler’s first Supercharger. He had some rich friends and these ladies were generous with him. They were all loaded and more than glad to pass money to Hitler.

JT: You’re saying someone like Frau Bechstein of the piano family would have paid for Hitler’s hotel tabs in the early days?
BG: I’m not saying she personally paid them, I meant these old ladies passed a lot of cash to Hitler when he visited them. How much I don’t know but it was a lot. Hitler had no income except for Mein Kampf and that sold poorly until he became Chancellor. Nobody bought it and nobody read it.

JT: Were these older women fond of Hitler? They must have been.
BG: Fond? No, they were all in love with him and they didn’t look upon him as a son. They were all nuts over the boss and he wasn’t stupid enough to turn his back on serious, serious money. It was meant for him personally not the Party. These women didn’t give a damn about the party, it was Hitler they were after. None of them were National Socialists even if they were members of the Party.



JT: How was Hitler behaving towards these older women?
BG: The Boss was charming, I don’t care what’s said now, I knew him and saw the charm. He was even charming with men, but with women he poured it on thick like glue. Real thick and these old rich ladies ate that all up like a cow herd coming to a salt lick. I got so sick of seeing this I would just leave when he visited these women.

JT: Why? What was it that annoyed you?
BG: The way the Boss would bow down to these old women and carry on with them, just for the moment when they’d hand over cars, apartments, furniture, paintings and envelopes full of money. I didn’t like a man acting that way in front of a bunch of old hens.

JT: The thought of Hitler as a gigolo is a hard one for me to grasp.
BG: I don’t think he slept with them, except maybe Frau Bechstein. I think she was about 10 years older than he (note: actually 13 years older), she wasn’t doddering and her husband was away a lot. Just check the records of Landsberg, she visited Hitler constantly. Before then, I personally know he spent time alone with her in her house. I waited outside for him. He was doing more than just begging for money.

JT: You believe Hitler actually had a sexual relationship with Frau Bechstein?
BG: You asked me, I answered. She was in love with him and was just loaded. Have you ever seen how much a Bechstein piano costs? They cost a fortune. If Hitler had to service her once in awhile to keep the cash flowing, why not? He wasn’t above that in the early times.

JT: That’s an interesting piece of information.


Geli Raubal with Frau Helene Bechstein at Bayreuth in 1930

JT: How much time did you spend around Hitler before he went to prison?
BG: Not as much as later, but I joined the party in 1922 and knew him right after that. We’d get into fights in beerhalls where the mugs would go crashing. I’ll give the Boss credit, he had presence. He was no shrinking violet, in the early days he gave as good as he got. He wasn’t tall, he was wiry then but strong. He kept his nerve in the brawls.



JT: Did you like him?
BG: That isn’t it, you see. Like him? Yes, but he was my leader, my boss, he was the light for the future. I make no apologies then or now and never will. I revered him, I would have given my life for him in a moment. Everyone around him felt the same. He inspired devotion.
As a man, we had little in common but I admired his intelligence, strength of character and of course, the way he spoke. No public speaker who ever lived could best him. He was spellbinding. He was like a Messiah.


Adolf and Bruno amongst adoring crowds

JT: You mentioned older women and Hitler. Were you aware of other relationships with women?
BG: Sure, he wasn’t how propaganda portrayed him. That was all throwing a shadow over the truth.
He was like every other man but a lot more careful and never talked about his relationships. But he wouldn’t tell us to shut up if we bragged like roosters. And we did. He’d listen with a quiet smile. He never contributed to the stories, his mouth was clamped shut. If he had a girlfriend, we’d know about it, but he would never share anything about it to us.

JT: Some of the other Hitler intimates I’ve interviewed mention the name of Maria Reiter.
BG: We all called her Mimi, I don’t think anyone called her ‘Maria.’ Hitler never did. I don’t know a lot about that relationship except she was beautiful. She was a real looker. Hitler’s taste in women was usually very good. If he found a girl pretty, I would almost always agree.


Maria 'Mimi' Reiter

JT: Did you know Maria Reiter?
BG: I wouldn’t say I knew her. I spoke to her a few times. I saw her in Munich with Hitler in a few places. He’d take her to out of the way places, not his usual haunts, but he never spoke about her except in later years. If we were at a Gasthof or Inn and a beauty walked by, Hitler would say, “she looks like my Mimi.” Or he called her Mizzerl in his Austrian way.
Oh God, she was a beauty. I never saw her again after the Boss got control of things, after he was Führer. But even in the late 30’s, he would call her “my Mimi,” even though I doubt he’d seen her in years by that time.

JT: What can you tell me about Geli Raubal, the much-loved niece? Did you know her?
BG: Sure, she was always around Hitler for several years before she killed herself. He even let her travel with us when we were on the road, though not in the main colonnade.



Angela Raubal, who was Hitler's half-sister and Geli Raubal's mother.

JT: Did her mother accompany her?
BG: Are you kidding? No. She went once to Bayreuth and once up north but she wasn’t a pleasant lady. I don’t even think Geli was that fond of her. She was grouchy. I don’t know why the Boss had her around for as long as he did even if they were related. As for Geli, she was not blonde like books say now. It’s so ridiculous, she had very dark hair, almost black. She was not the ideal Aryan type that Hitler usually ran after.


Adolf, Geli, Frau Schreck(?), Julius Schreck, Julius Schaub, Wilma Schaub, Erna Hoffman

JT: Did she return Hitler’s twisted affection?
BG: Now why would you use that word to describe it?

JT: Because she was related to him, she was the daughter of his half sister.
BG: I don’t know, that wasn’t a problem for him or for us. The Communist papers went after that aspect, but nobody then cared a damn about that. Geli was just around all the time, so what if they’re related?

JT: She was in love with Emil Maurice, the driver of Hitler then, but he refused to discuss that with me when I interviewed him.
BG: Geli was what I’d call, what’s the words? I think manic depressive; up and down. Hitler had that tendency too but Geli didn’t have his explosive temper. She would stew. But she wanted what she wanted, and was spoiled rotten by the boss.
She and Maurice were close, how close, I don’t know. I knew him well, he had the tendency to exaggerate his affairs. He had plenty, but whether he had Geli, I don’t know.




JT: Was Geli in love with Hitler or was it unreciprocated?
BG: I don’t know where that story arose from either, just more shit from people who weren’t alive then. It’s in all the books now and it’s lies. Whatever went on between them was reciprocal. This newspaper shit that Hitler forced himself on her is just not true. She happily accompanied him everywhere. It wasn’t just because he had money either. He was a big thing. Bigger than anything else going on then.

JT: Ernst Hanfstängl told me he thought Geli was oppressed by Hitler and didn’t return his love.
BG: I don’t give a hang what he says. He has no business talking about anything. He cheated on his wife all the time and was a nasty type of man. Hitler was furious that he was cheating on his wife because he adored her, he really liked that woman. She was a woman he would gladly have taken to bed but she turned him down.

JT: What are your memories, if any, about Hitler after Geli killed herself? The inner circle all say he was never the same.
BG: I don’t know about that. He was a grown man when she did herself in, he was over 40 and had been through the Great War, the inflation, our country raped and degraded. He loved Geli but he’d been through death many times before.
He was very, very distraught for awhile but he had business and nothing was going to stand in his way.

JT: What do you mean ‘he had business?’
BG: That he was striving to take over our country, which happened about a year and a half after her death.
Her death was a speed bump on the road, but it didn’t do him in. He continued living after a period of grief.
He told me towards the end of that year (1931) that he wanted to die without Geli, but that he had to save Germany. Providence wanted her to die for some reason that he had yet to figure out. I don’t think he ever figured that one out.


Adolf and Bruno amongst adoring crowds

JT: After Geli died, Hitler takes up with Eva Braun. What can you tell me about that?
BG: He knew Eva Braun long before Geli died, I can tell you that. He was very friendly with her for a couple of years. He didn’t see that much of her, but when we were in Munich, he sought her out. Eva was a completely opposite character to Geli in looks, temperament, in practically everything. All of us noticed that and made remarks. Two different creatures.



JT: Explain the differences?
BG: I don’t know if I can, maybe you would have had to have been around both women as I was. Geli was high strung, temperamental, she could be demanding, have fits. Just damn spoiled. She put herself ahead of the Boss in some things, in many things in fact. Eva Braun would never have put anyone ahead of Hitler. Eva was devoted and put her needs and dreams in a secondary spot. Her world was him. That’s about how I’d put it.

JT: It sounds you liked Eva Braun more than Geli?
BG: I’ll say I did. I spent more time with Geli than with Eva, I knew Geli better, but Eva was much better for Hitler. She was the perfect woman for a man away all the time and devoted solely to his nation. She tolerated his whims, his personality too, which could be very, very difficult. She played one hell of a hand in gaining his affection and devotion. She may not have been brainy but she was clever, you know what I mean?

JT: Do you recall when you first met Eva, what year?
BG: I’m forgetful with dates, but I remember seeing her at Hoffmann’s place, his Atelier in Munich. She was very pretty, I noticed her, I can tell you that.

JT: Hitler met her in October, 1929.
BG: Yes, that sounds right, I do know Geli died in the summer of 1931, some big dates like that stick in my brain. Hitler noticed Eva early on, he liked to drop in to see her. He called her mein Schatzerl, which indicated he was attracted, he liked what he saw. Who wouldn’t? All of us liked looking at her, she had two legs which I really liked looking at. Her legs were dynamite. Even an old man has his memories.



JT: But Hitler was living with Geli in Munich then.
BG: Sure, so he was just friends with Eva because of that. Geli would have raised hell, no doubt about that. The Boss still took Eva out now and then, when Geli was absent from Munich. Geli was gone sometimes to Austria in that time.

JT: He took her to the opera, for instance? Hanfstaengl mentions this.
BG: That, as well as lunch, picnics, those things. I never once sat through an opera with the Boss, I always sat outside in the colonnade or killed time for the hours that went on. But Eva went to the theater with him. He liked her, but it wasn’t any great passion then. Eva was a looker and she was clever in nabbing him.

JT: Do you know the details of that?
BG: No, I just know that after Geli died, Eva entrenched herself into his life, at least in Munich. I never saw her in Berlin until long years later. And she ran the Berghof, at least I thought so.

JT: Everyone with whom I have talked always confirms Eva Braun truly loved him.
BG: Add me to that list because that’s the truth, that’s just all there is about it. That woman loved him from the first to the last. I think Hitler was extremely fond of her and devoted to her. Love? I’m not sure, maybe later on. At first she was just his girl in Munich. He was still quite the man with women away from Munich until 1933. Then Eva was the only one.


Eva Braun (right) with her younger sister Gretl

JT: Did you ever have private chats with Eva Braun?
BG: Sure, especially on the mountain. She lived up there more or less openly with the Boss after Geli’s death. Nobody in Germany knew about her, but all of us knew. He didn’t try to hide her from us. She was there, we accepted it and Hitler was entitled to a private life. He deserved it. Eva was nice, no arrogance despite her position.

JT: Did Hitler ever talk about Eva to you?
BG: Early on, sure. I already said he called her his Schatzerl (little treasure, Sweetheart), when he’d drop in on her at Hoffmann’s. When they were together in front of other people, they acted like just friends. I never saw them hug, for instance. I can’t imagine Hitler doing that in front of others. He was very shy in showing affection like that. Even with Geli, that was behind closed doors stuff. He was private, really, really private.

JT: Do you think Eva was happy with Hitler?
BG: When she was with him, sure she was. He provided for her well, she lacked for nothing as years went on. But most of all, she just wanted to be by his side. She must have been lonely because he was away all the time.

JT: Kempka told me she was the “loneliest woman in Germany.”
BG: She saw Hitler often enough, though maybe not in the war years. He spent a lot of time away from Berlin and he was with her then. Little Eva had to accept he was not an ordinary man, she knew this. Hell, she had an enviable life to most women. He was the big prize and she had him. You don’t think that was some consolation and he married her. That says plenty right there.

JT: Did Hitler still see other women after he took up with Eva Braun?
BG: He saw women all the time. He still heavily flirted, that was just him. He went nuts over a couple of girls in Berlin and would take it right up to the line, then back down. Hitler loved women, loved pretty girls and loved talking about women. I seriously doubt he ever stepped out on Eva. You have to remember that Hitler’s big phrase was “women can’t keep their mouths shut.” He was right. Plenty of women like Riefenstahl or that British girl Mitford crowed that they had taken Hitler to bed. I know nothing like that happened with either of them. Or Frau Goebbels, who would have paid a King’s ransom to be with the Boss.

JT: That’s a common refrain I hear from the old group. Was there a romance between them, either before or after her marriage to Dr. Goebbels?
BG: After they got married? No, Hitler wouldn’t have taken that risk, even if he was attracted to that lady, and he was. I wasn’t. This was one of the few times, also with Geli, where he lost his heart to a woman I didn’t find pretty.

JT: But from the photos Magda Goebbels was quite beautiful.
BG: Not to me. She was ambitious and calculating. What more can be said except she married a man she didn’t love just to get close and stay close to the Boss? She never loved Goebbels though I heard from Dietrich that she really did love her first husband. The Boss liked her a lot. He talked about her a lot and sought her out. But she wasn’t his type. He wouldn’t have had a long term relationship with a married woman or a divorced woman. In the early days, sure, but by the time Frau Goebbels showed up, those adventures had stopped for him.

JT: Was Magda Goebbels jealous of Eva Braun?
BG: I assume so, sure. They weren’t together much until long years later, Hitler kept them apart, just as Emmy Goering was kept away. I don’t think she ever laid eyes on Eva Braun. The Boss chose right with Eva. She was younger, prettier and more modern than Frau Goebbels. Frau Goebbels was smart though, I remember she could speak French and had a large library. Her apartment in Berlin was quite something.


Bruno Gesche seen far right

[been-there]

https://youtu.be/AYje2YyhVPE

Film of Adolf openly and genuinely affectionately interacting with his people.

[been-there]

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Here is a personal account, written in his prison cell at Nuremberg by Wilhelm Keitl, of accompanying Hitler during the reunification of the German people of Austria and Germany.

At six o’clock on the morning of the 12th, [March 1938] the Führer and I flew out of Berlin. He wanted to take part in the triumphal entry into his Fatherland [Austria] and personally accompany the troops.

We put in our first appearance at the command post of the commander-in-chief of the divisions marching into Austria, General von Bock, and he briefed us on the troops’ movements and on their entry routes — the Führer naturally wanted to be there to welcome his troops. It was from here that the memorable telephone conversation with Mussolini took place, the Führer having flown a hand-written letter out to him by an emissary, justifying his actions to him. Mussolini personally telephoned to confirm that he had received it, and congratulated Hitler. There followed then Hitler’s memorable phrase — “Duce, I will never forget you for this” — an exclamation which he repeated several times.

At midday we drove through Adolf Hitler’s birthplace, Braunau, acclaimed by the townsfolk with an unending roar of welcome. He showed us his school and his parents’ home, and he was visibly deeply moved by it all.

We rounded off the evening in Hitler’s second native city, Linz, on the Danube, having been delayed in every town and village along the way by the advancing troops and the wildly celebrating crowds that crowded in around us.

It was long after dark when we drove into the city together with the Austrian Minister Seyss-Inquart [federal chancellor since the 11th] who had joined our party on the outskirts. Here, from a balcony of the city hall, Hitler addressed a vast crowd of people tightly packed into the market square below. The atmosphere of the entire demonstration was electric and excited beyond belief; I had never seen anything like it before and I was deeply impressed.

I had thought it unlikely that there would be any shooting or anything like that when our troops entered the country, but a reception like this was something I had never dreamed of.

We stayed there all next day — Sunday. [Hitler] was greatly preoccupied with the administrative details of the union, and during the afternoon there was a brief march-past by German and Austrian troops in front of the hotel [the Weinzinger Hotel at Linz].

The next day came our grand entry into Vienna, after a midday break at Saint-Pˆlten. It was not until far into the night that I could get to sleep in our hotel [the Imperial Hotel], where again I had a room giving out onto the street. The dense and thronging crowd below seemed never to tire of roaring and chanting: “We want to see our Führer! We want to see our Führer!”

A military parade by German and Austrian troops followed that afternoon, after the Führer’s historic speech to the vast crowd gathered in Castle Square, with its closing sentence, “I announce to the German people that my Austrian Fatherland has now returned to the Greater German Reich”.

That same evening we flew from Vienna back to Munich. This flight before dusk was the most breathtaking and extraordinary spectacle I have ever witnessed. Hitler saw my enchantment and, with tears of joy in his eyes, he stammered out to me the bare words: “All that... all that is now German again”.

After a hasty meal in the airport restaurant I flew back to Berlin while it was still dark. That same night I was back at my home. The last few days had been like some vast and incomprehensive dream to me. For the first time I had been an eyewitness to history in the making.

https://youtu.be/hRSwWuVtHF4