Eva Braun facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eva Braun
|
|
|---|---|
Braun in 1942
|
|
| Born |
Eva Anna Paula Braun
6 February 1912 Munich, Bavaria, German Empire
|
| Died | 30 April 1945 (aged 33) |
| Other names | Eva Hitler |
| Occupation | Photographer; office and lab assistant at photography studio of Heinrich Hoffmann |
| Known for | Partner and wife of Adolf Hitler |
| Spouse(s) |
Adolf Hitler
(m. 1945; died 1945) |
| Relatives |
|
| Signature | |
 |
|
Eva Anna Paula Hitler (née Braun; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer. She was the longtime partner and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Eva Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was 17 years old. She worked as an assistant and model for his personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann. She started seeing Hitler often about two years later.
Braun took many of the color photos and films of Hitler that we still have today. By 1936, Braun was living in Hitler's home, the Berghof, near Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany. She lived a private life during World War II. She became an important person within Hitler's close group of friends. However, she did not go to public events with him until mid-1944. This was when her sister Gretl married Hermann Fegelein, an officer on Hitler's staff.
As Nazi Germany was losing the war, Braun stayed loyal to Hitler. She went to Berlin to be with him in the Führerbunker. This was a strong underground shelter beneath the Reich Chancellery garden. As Red Army troops fought their way into the city, Braun married Hitler on 29 April 1945. It was a short ceremony. She was 33 and he was 56. Less than two days later, they ended their lives in a room in the bunker. The German public did not know about Braun's relationship with Hitler until after they died.
Contents
Eva Braun's Early Life
Eva Braun was born in Munich. She was the second daughter of Friedrich "Fritz" Braun, a school teacher, and Franziska "Fanny" Kronberger. Her mother worked as a seamstress before she got married. Eva had an older sister named Ilse and a younger sister named Margarete (Gretl). Her father was Lutheran and her mother was Catholic.
Braun's parents divorced in April 1921. But they remarried in November 1922. This was likely for money reasons. Germany was facing very high inflation at that time. Braun went to a Catholic high school in Munich. Then she studied for one year at a business school. This school was in the Convent of the English Sisters in Simbach am Inn. She had average grades there. She was also good at sports.
When she was 17, Braun started working for Heinrich Hoffmann. He was the official photographer for the Nazi Party. At first, she was a shop assistant. Soon, she learned how to use a camera and develop photos. She met Adolf Hitler at Hoffmann's studio in Munich in October 1929. He was 23 years older than her. He was introduced to her as "Herr Wolff." Eva's younger sister, Gretl, also worked for Hoffmann starting in 1932. The sisters shared an apartment for a while. Gretl often went with Eva on her trips with Hitler to Obersalzberg.
Eva Braun's Relationship with Hitler
Hitler lived with his half-niece, Geli Raubal, in an apartment in Munich from 1929 until her death in 1931. Hitler was in Nuremberg at the time. His relationship with Raubal was very important to him. Hitler started seeing Braun more often after Raubal's death.
In 1933, Braun worked as a photographer for Hoffmann. This job allowed her to travel with Hitler's group. She went as a photographer for the Nazi Party. Later, she worked for Hoffmann's art publishing company.
Hitler gave Braun and her sister a three-bedroom apartment in Munich in August 1933. The next year, the sisters received a villa in Bogenhausen. By 1936, Braun was often at Hitler's home, the Berghof, near Berchtesgaden. She stayed there whenever he was present. But she mostly lived in Munich. Braun also had her own apartment in the new Reich Chancellery in Berlin. This building was designed by Albert Speer.
Braun was part of Hoffmann's team when she first attended the Nuremberg Rally in 1935. Hitler's half-sister, Angela Raubal, did not like her being there. Angela was later fired from her job as housekeeper at the Berghof. It is not clear if her dislike for Braun was the only reason she left. But other people close to Hitler saw Braun as someone not to be bothered after that.
Hitler wanted to seem like a single hero. In the Nazi way of thinking, men were leaders and warriors. Women were supposed to be homemakers. Hitler believed that women liked him. He wanted to use this for political gain by staying single. He felt that marriage would make him less appealing. He and Braun never appeared as a couple in public. The only time they were seen together in a published news photo was at the 1936 Winter Olympics. She sat near him there. The German people did not know about Braun's relationship with Hitler until after the war. Braun had her own room next to Hitler's at both the Berghof and the Führerbunker in Berlin.
Historian Heike Görtemaker wrote that women did not play a big role in the politics of Nazi Germany. Braun had very little political influence on Hitler. She was never allowed to stay in the room when important business or political talks happened. She was sent out when government ministers or other important people were there. She was not a member of the Nazi Party. After the war, Hoffmann said Braun's views were "unimportant and silly." Her main interests were sports, clothes, and movies. She lived a private and comfortable life. She seemed not interested in politics. One time she did show interest was in 1943. Germany had fully moved to a total war economy. This meant there might be a ban on women's makeup and luxury items. According to Speer's memories, Braun went to Hitler "very angrily." Hitler quietly told Speer, who was the armaments minister, to stop making women's makeup and luxuries instead of banning them completely. Speer later said, "Eva Braun will be a big disappointment to historians."
Braun kept working for Hoffmann after she started her relationship with Hitler. She took many photos and films of people in Hitler's inner circle. Some of these were sold to Hoffmann for very high prices. She received money from Hoffmann's company until 1943. Braun also worked as Hitler's private secretary. This allowed her to enter and leave the Chancellery without being noticed. She used a side entrance and a back staircase.
On 3 June 1944, Braun's sister Gretl married SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein. He was an officer who connected Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler with Hitler's staff. Hitler used this marriage as a reason to let Braun appear at official events. She could then be introduced as Fegelein's sister-in-law. In the last days of the war, Fegelein was caught trying to escape. Hitler ordered him to be executed. He was shot for leaving his post in the garden of the Reich Chancellery on 28 April 1945.
Eva Braun's Daily Life
When Hitler bought the Berghof in 1933, it was a small vacation home. It was on a mountain at Obersalzberg. Renovations started in 1934 and finished by 1936. A large part was added to the house. Several other buildings were built. The whole area was fenced off. Other houses on the mountain were bought by the Nazi Party and torn down. Braun and others in Hitler's group were cut off from the outside world when they were there. Speer, Hermann Göring, and Martin Bormann also had houses built inside the area.
Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, wrote in his memories that Hitler and Braun had two bedrooms and two bathrooms at the Berghof. These rooms had connecting doors. Hitler would end most evenings alone with her in his study. Then they would go to bed. She would wear a "dressing gown or house-coat" and drink wine. Hitler would have tea. They did not show public signs of affection or physical contact. This was true even in the private world of the Berghof. Braun acted as the hostess for regular visitors. But she was not involved in running the household. She often invited friends and family to stay with her. She was the only guest who did this.
When Henriette von Schirach suggested that Braun should hide after the war, Braun said, "Do you think I would let him die alone? I will stay with him until the very last moment." Hitler named Braun in his will. She was to receive 12,000 Reichsmarks each year after his death. He cared for her very much. He worried when she played sports or was late returning for tea.
Braun loved her two Scottish Terrier dogs, Negus and Stasi. They appear in her home movies. She usually kept them away from Hitler's German Shepherd, Blondi.
See also
In Spanish: Eva Braun para niños
