Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris

Bessel,
Political Violence and the Rise of Nazism. The Storm Troopers in Eastern Germany 1925–1934,
New Haven/London, 1984. 152.
    219 . Longerich,
Die braunen Bataillone,
97–8; Broszat, ‘Struktur’, 61. And see Bessel,
Political Violence,
33–45, for the social structure in eastern regions.
    220 . Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
243; Wagener, 98.
    221 . Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
183–4; Toland, 204, 236.
    222 . Heiden,
Hitler,
347–9.
    223 . Hoffmann, 147–8.
    224 . Hoffmann, 161. For Hitler’s first meeting with her, see Gun,
Eva Braun-Hitler,
46. Gun suggests (55) that the relationship was a sexual one after the first months of 1932, but that Eva’s infatuation for Hitler was not reciprocated. According to Fritz Wiedemann, Hitler casually commented – though conceivably for effect – around this time that being a bachelor had its uses, ‘and as far as love goes, I keep a girl for myself in Munich’
(Und für die Liebe halte ich mir eben in München ein Mädchen)
(Gun, 57). On Eva Braun see also Henriette von Schirach,
Der Preis der Herrlichkeit. Erlebte Zeitgeschichte,
Munich/Berlin, 1975, 23–5.
    225 . Based on conversations with Anni Winter, housekeeper in Hitler’s apartment, his later secretary, Christa Schroeder, was convinced that he had had no sexual relations with Geli (Schroeder, 153). She was, however, guessing – like everyone else.
    226 . Heiden,
Führer,
304.
    227 . Strasser,
Hitler und ich,
74–5, hinted strongly at.perverted sexual practices inflicted by Hitler on his niece. In an interview for the American OSS on 13 May 1943 he was explicit (NA,
Hitler Source Book,
918–19). See also Toland, 252; Hayman, 145; Lewis,
The Secret Life of Adolf Hitler,
10, 136. This account (132–46) attributes sado-masochistic practices to Hitler, based on speculation and unreliable evidence, and concludes that the SS had Geli shot to prevent a scandal arising from her pregnancy by a Jewish student.
    228 . Heiden,
Hitler,
352; Heiden,
Der Führer,
304–6; Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
234–5. And see Hayman, 154.
    229 . Hoffmann, 148–9; B.v. Schirach, 106; Henriette von Schirach, 205. Hitler even took her in July 1930, along with Goebbels, to Oberammergau to see the Passion Play
(TBJG, I.1,
578 (20 July 1930)).
    230 . Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
236.
    231 . Hoffmann, 151–2.
    232 . Hanfstaengl,
15 Jahre,
232–3.
    233 .Hoffmann, 150; Β.v. Schirach, 107.
    234 . Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
233. Hayman, 139–48, interprets the phrase to mean that Hitler demanded sexually perverted acts of his niece.
    235 . Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
242; Hoffmann, 151. Bridget Hitler, the first wife of Hitler’s half-brother, Alois, related the story, allegedly told to her son, William Patrick, by Alois’ second wife, Maimee
(The Memoirs of Bridget Hitler,
London, 1979, 70–77). These ‘memoirs’ (which include the tall story of Hitler’s alleged stay in Liverpool in 1912) are notoriously unreliable. Lewis, 145, has a variant – based on an interview with a former SS officer in 1975 – of Geli discovering that she was bearing the child of a Jewish student in Munich and wanting to go to Vienna for an abortion. He takes this as the motive for the SS to kill Geli. According to Hans Frank’s version, the relationship was with a young officer (Frank, 97).
    236 . Schroeder, 154, 296 n.34, 364–6 nn.280–82.
    237 .
RSA,
IV/2, 109 n.1, cit. MP, 22 September 1931; Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
239, 242.
    238 . In the
Münchener Post
article of 22 September 1931
(RSA,
IV/2, 109 n.1).
    239 . Hayman, 164, 166.
    240 .
RSA,
IV/2, 109–10.
    241 . Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
238; Hoffmann, 152; B.v. Schirach, 108.
    242 . Hoffmann, 152–3, for a dramatized version; Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
238. See also, for Geli’s relationship with Hitler, and on her suicide, with some inaccuracies, Gun, 17–28. The conflicting evidence is closely assessed by Hayman, 160–201, who strongly hints at Hitler’s direct complicity in his niece’s death. He refers to the speeding offence on 174.
    243 . Frank, 97; Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
239.
    244 . Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
239. Heiden,
Der Führer,
307–8, speculated, on the basis of reported allegations by Geli’s mother, Angela Raubal, exonerating Hitler from blame and claiming even that he had intended to marry Geli, that Himmler had been responsible.
    245 . A point made by Toland, 255. The police doctor certified that the cause of death was suicide, and that she had died during the evening of 18 September 1931 (Hayman,