# Eva Braun was no dumb blonde, says new biography



## BikerBabe (Mar 22, 2010)

Hitler's Eva Braun no dumb blonde, says new biography | Entertainment | Reuters







BERLIN (Reuters) - Adolf Hitler's companion Eva Braun has been treated as an inconsequential figure in the Third Reich by historians but the author of a new biography said Friday she was anything but "a dumb blonde." Heike Goertemaker said Braun, who was 17 when she met the Nazi ruler in Munich in 1929 and married him two days before their joint suicide, was not the meek and deferential woman often depicted in documentary films and books.







Goertemaker's book "Eva Braun: Life with Hitler" has sparked a new interest in Braun, who committed suicide at the age of 33 with Hitler in his bunker in April 1945. German networks have aired documentaries taking a new look at Braun and a feature film based on the book is planned.

"People have always seen her as just the pleasant woman who fell in love with a monster, but she actually played an important role in Hitler's inner circle," said Goertemaker, 45. "I can't say she influenced political decisions, but she was not a passive wallflower," she added. "She was no dumb blonde."

Goertemaker describes how Braun worked for Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's photographer, and how he trained her. During this period, Braun met the Nazi leader, then aged 40. Hoffmann used Braun's relationship to get private snapshots of the dictator because the Austrian-born Hitler allowed her to take pictures and even make films of him. 
"She sold her photos to Heinrich Hoffmann," Goertemaker told a group of foreign journalists in Berlin. "She created her own little business in the inner circle."

Goertemaker, who spent years working on the first academic biography of Braun, was asked if she had found any evidence that Hitler and Braun had any sort of sexual relationship because there have been doubts about that in films and books.
"That's always the big question," Goertemaker said. "Hitler left us no evidence."

In April 1945, as Soviet forces invaded Berlin, Hitler and Braun were married. Less than two days later, they committed suicide. Goertemaker said Braun supported Hitler in his decision to kill himself, as evidenced by letters she wrote.
In a final letter to her sister, Braun asked her to save all the letters and other correspondence between her and Hitler so that people would know of their relationship. "She wanted to live on in history," Goertemaker said. The Nazi control of the media meant that many Germans were unaware Braun existed until after the war, Goertemaker said.

A Berlin historian, Goertemaker said her work was part of a new body of research that shows women in the Third Reich were not only victims, as long believed, but also perpetrators.

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Cheers,

Maria.


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## Aaron Brooks Wolters (Mar 22, 2010)

Interesting material Maria. Thank you for sharing.


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## Vassili Zaitzev (Mar 22, 2010)

Pretty cool, thanks for sharing BB!


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## CharlesBronson (Mar 22, 2010)

She first mistressed and later married Hitler...then...was dumb enough form me or worst.

Would you do that ? dont think so.


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## proton45 (Mar 22, 2010)

interesting...thnxs


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## Maximowitz (Mar 23, 2010)

CharlesBronson said:


> She first mistressed and later married Hitler...then...was dumb enough form me or worst.
> 
> Would you do that ? dont think so.




On the contrary, thousands of German women were standing in line to do exactly the same given half the chance. The cult of personality and power redux.


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## diddyriddick (Mar 23, 2010)

Very interesting stuff! Thanks, Maria!


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## wheelsup_cavu (Mar 24, 2010)

Interesting read Maria. 


Wheels


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## timshatz (Mar 25, 2010)

While interesting, I kinda think it's revisionist history trying to make her more important than she was. Nazi Germany was definitely a parochial society. While I agree any number of women would've given their lives (and probably did in some way) to dedicate their worlds to Hitler (Goebbel's Wife comes to mind right away), I've never heard anything that gave Eva more than a peripheral impact on Hitler. Maybe behind closed doors, she was different. 

But the woman tried to commit a couple of times, almost succeeded once. And, to my understanding, she did so due to neglect by Hitler. And her wedding present was a cyanide capsul. Thanks Adolf, thanks a lot.


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## ToughOmbre (Mar 25, 2010)

I agree with tim. Revisionist history is alive and well, unfortunately.

20 years from now it will be Eva Braun, not Wernher von Braun, who developed the V2!  

TO


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## Maximowitz (Mar 28, 2010)

timshatz said:


> And her wedding present was a cyanide capsul. Thanks Adolf, thanks a lot.




Yeah, most brides get a set of cushion covers.


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## Maximowitz (Mar 28, 2010)

Double Post.


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## timshatz (Mar 28, 2010)

Maximowitz said:


> Yeah, most brides get a set of cushion covers.



Absolutley! Where was she registered? "Um, Adolf, it's not that I don't treasure everything you give me and know you've been thinking long and hard about it, but I was hoping for something more along the lines of Candlesticks? Can um....we ahhhh, return the cynanide and get the sticks?"


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## Maximowitz (Mar 28, 2010)

timshatz said:


> Absolutley! Where was she registered? "Um, Adolf, it's not that I don't treasure everything you give me and know you've been thinking long and hard about it, but I was hoping for something more along the lines of Candlesticks? Can um....we ahhhh, return the cynanide and get the sticks?"




No time for a reception or honeymoon either. Just imagine the party the Soviets would have created for them.


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## vikingBerserker (Mar 28, 2010)

Very cool, thanks for posting Maria.


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## timshatz (Mar 29, 2010)

Maximowitz said:


> No time for a reception or honeymoon either. Just imagine the party the Soviets would have created for them.



Talk about crashing a party!


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