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dutifulempress:Hitler (wearing glasses) inspects an aquarel,...

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 01:31:57 -0400

dutifulempress:

Hitler (wearing glasses) inspects an aquarel, possibly one of his own hand.

tschapperl: Der Führer with Reichspressechef Dr. Otto Dietrich

Fri, 18 May 2018 16:19:35 -0400

tschapperl:

Der Führer with Reichspressechef Dr. Otto Dietrich

Interview with Hitler’s Pilot, Hans Baur

Tue, 08 May 2018 18:05:54 -0400

putschgirl:

Hans Baur (1897-1993) was Adolf Hitler’s pilot from 1932 until 1945. He was one of the last people to see Hitler alive before his suicide in 1945. Baur then spent spent ten years in a Soviet Gulag after being captured by the Russians in Berlin in 1945, after having lost a leg and having to watch it being amputated (without anesthetic!) with a pocket knife. Hans Baur was interviewed a number of times and wrote an interesting book about Hitler, but this interview with John Toland is arguably his most interesting chat.
This interview was conducted on September 7, 1972 at the Starnberger See in Bavaria. The interpreter is indicated as Thomas L Berndt. “JT” refers to John Toland and “HB” refers to Hans Baur.
JT: You first began working for Adolf Hitler in mid 1932. What can you tell me about this period?

HB: I had been reading and hearing about Hitler for years before I met him. I didn’t have a chance to talk to him face to face until 1932, when I received a telegram requesting me to come to Munich to meet him. But he was already very famous by the time I met him. He was probably the second or third most famous person in Germany at that time.
JT: Why did Hitler summon you?
HB: This was the period in German history when there were many elections between Hitler, President von Hindenburg, also the Communists and the Social Democrats were still viable political parties. Hitler was not yet the German leader, he was just one of several politicians vying for power. He wanted to fly from place to place and I was recommended to him as a pilot. He wanted to visit many towns in one day so he could reach more voters. The plane was quicker than a car, simple as that.
JT: When you met him in 1932, what can you recall about this?

HB: Oh, I can recall everything, this was the most important meeting of my life, excepting when I met my two wives. I went to the Braunes Haus in Munich, where Hitler had an office. I just walked in, un-escorted and told a secretary Hitler was expecting me. I walked up a flight of stairs with Brückner, who was one of his adjutants.
JT: And what were your first impressions of Hitler, what can you tell me about that?

HB: I remember being impressed with his office first of all. It had high ceilings, woodwork and it was very spacious. This was during the Depression when most Germans didn’t have such an opulent office or any office at all. Everything looked very expensive and he was the leader of a working class Party. I was a little amused at the contradiction. Hitler was well briefed on my career as a pilot and said that I had come highly recommended. He asked me many questions about flying, its dangers, the possibility of mishaps, flying in bad weather, those sorts of things.
Hitler with Hans Baur in 1933
JT: And Hitler as a person during this first meeting, what were your impressions?

HB: He was very impressive. That was evident to me from our first handshake. You know, of course, that he had these large, piercing blue eyes, like two blue stars almost. Sort of luminous, and arresting. I could see immediately why he had so many followers, why people were so enthusiastic about him. He was confident without being arrogant and he was quite friendly to me in a simple, unaffected way. I knew I wanted to get to know him better because he was so unusual and so intense. A memorable meeting for me. You know, and Hitler was very friendly too. Charming man in all respects.
JT: How did his friendliness manifest itself at this meeting?

HB: Well, he asked me personal questions about my flying qualifications, but he also asked me about my wife, my daughter, my military service in the Great war, and things like that. I remember he asked me if I would like tea or coffee and he treated his subordinates very well. I was really very pleased at meeting him and liked him straight away. He was oddly polite, almost in an old fashioned way. Well mannered, not the fanatic you see on TV in documentaries about the war. Not at all.
JT: How long was the conversation?
HB: About an hour, maybe less. I remember he told me in some detail that he hadn’t flown since 1920 and that experience had been very traumatic for him. He’d been physically sick the entire flight and he said the pilot had been incompetent and he had resolved not to fly again after that. I said to him, “Herr Hitler, you do not look like the sort of man to be airsick and I have flown thousands of people in all sorts of inclement weather. I think you are in safe hands with me.” We shook hands and that was the beginning of our association.
Hess, Hitler, Esser, Schwarz and Hans Baur in 1933
JT: So you will say you liked Hitler right away?

HB: Oh yes, I certainly did. I make no apologies for saying that. None whatsoever. I should probably add that I was already a National Socialist party member then, ever since 1926. But I wasn’t a political person, I never was, really. But the Führer’s personal magnetism was so extraordinary that I resolved then and there to be on his side no matter what. I am proud to say I never wavered in that conviction, even at the very end. You can put that in your book if you want. I am not ashamed at having loyally served the Führer.
JT: Now I must ask about your first flights with Hitler, did he become airsick after all?

HB: No, he was perfectly fine. From 1932 until 1944 I flew the Fuehrer hundreds of times and the only time I am aware he was sick onboard was flying to Russia in 1942. The weather was perfectly calm but for some reason he became ill. Otherwise he was a good flyer. He would complain to me about the cold in the cabin, he was very susceptible to cold. His hands and feet would feel like ice, as he said. He wore sometimes several layers of clothes while flying, especially in the winter months. That’s something most people don’t know about Hitler nowadays, that he wore clothes that other people would have thought were too warm. Even in the summer, he would wear a trench coat.
JT: What would he do in the hours he was in the air?
HB: Mostly he would read. He read the Party newspapers, pamphlets, sometimes books. In his apartment he had a large library and an even larger one at the Berghof. He was a great reader, a bibliophile as we’d say. He didn’t socialize much with the other passengers, who were always close Party associates. I would say he tended to keep to himself.
JT: Did he ever show fear while flying, such as in stormy weather, or turbulence?
HB: I can say straight away the answer is no. People write to me a lot from all over the world, and often in their letters they will ask if he was afraid. No, he was not. He was fearless about such things. He believed, as he told me, that he had been chosen for a great mission in life and assassination or being killed in an air crash just wasn’t something he believed would happen to him. He said to me more than once, “I don’t know how my life will end, but I have no fear it will be ended in the air.”
JT: Did he ever come to visit you in the cockpit?

HB: Oh yes, many times. Not so much early on because our flights were short, just hopping from one town to the next. But after he became Führer in 1933, he would come up and talk to me frequently. He liked to see the landscape below and identify where we were. He really enjoyed that and he was relaxed in the cockpit with me. He was not so much inclined to come forward when flying through clouds, when you couldn’t see below.
JT: What kinds of things did you talk about?

HB: While I was in the cockpit, you mean? Well, the Führer loved to discuss cars, engines, plane engines, fuel, diesel fuel, technical things like that. He had an artist’s mind, but a technical bent to him too. His knowledge of car engines, for instance, that was absolutely like an encyclopedia. He knew as much or more about a Mercedes engine than their own engineers. No exaggeration. He liked too, to tell me stories of his days in the trenches in the war. He was very proud, as he told me, to have been a “simple soldier” in the war.
JT: What about temper? Did you see Hitler yell at his underlings, scream, throw things?

HB: (laughs) No, Mr. Toland, I never witnessed such things. These are the inventions of Hollywood propaganda people. He could get impatient if luggage was lost or someone made a mistake in itinerary. Once I landed outside Nürnberg because he was scheduled to deliver a speech there, but nobody was there. No crowd at all, so we knew someone had made a mistake. It turns out we were supposed to be in another town, but I can’t remember any more which town that was. Hitler was mad about that, but not screaming. Just quietly fuming, shall we say.
Hitler actually was fairly even-tempered, though people now who never knew him like to claim otherwise. He was a volatile personality in some respects, he could be excitable or very impatient, but yelling or screaming? I personally never saw such things from him. He could get morose or quiet sometimes, then you need to leave him alone and let him get over this funk on his own. He could be quite moody, I can’t deny that.
(The next three pages of the interview are omitted, as it deals with Baur’s relationships with Goering, Hess and Martin Bormann).
JT: Can you tell me what you know about Hitler and his relationship with women?

HB: His earlier associates would know a lot more about that than I. Some of them are still alive and have many stories about Hitler in the early times with women. I came along fairly late, 1932. I would suggest you seek out people like (Hermann) Esser, Albert Bormann, Anni Winter, people like that. They would have plenty of stories about that subject. I’m afraid my personal knowledge of his love affairs is scanty compared to men who were his friends early on.
JT: So you are saying you can’t or won’t discuss the topic of Hitler and women?
HB: Not at all. I can talk about it, but not with as much authority as others. I can say that the Führer was very fond of pretty women and they were fanatical about him. I never saw a man more run after by women in my life. Never. It was comical at the time, and looking back now, it’s even more so. Some of the scenes I witnessed were just beyond my power to describe them. The hysteria he caused would be like some movie star now, but 100 times the hysteria of any movie idol.
JT: Can you give me some examples?

HB: Well, Hitler had that certain something about him. Some might call it charisma, but that word didn’t exist back then. I would say that he was so unusual, so riveting, so extraordinary that everyone fell under his spell, but especially women. They were hysterical around him and would lose their heads. I have seen women literally throw themselves at his feet. I saw this frequently. I have also seen women swallow the pebbles from the ground where he had just walked.
JT: You mean literally?
HB: Yes! Literally. Women were just crazy about him. Sepp Dietrich, as you probably know, was head of his bodyguard and he himself was a quite notorious womanizer. He threw parties which often turned into something else entirely. You know what I mean? Ladies liked Dietrich a lot, but if Hitler was around, all eyes were not on Sepp Dietrich, but on the Führer.
JT: How did Hitler react to this hysteria from ladies?

HB: Oh, he was used to it by the time I met him in 1932. It was generally understood among those close to him that he’d had a number of adventures with women before I came into his service. That’s why you should seek out Esser. I did not experience this, but I heard many things from his adjutants and also, especially from Brückner. He was not a barren hero, a celibate or disinterested. He was just quite secretive about what he did. Very secretive. I’m sure the only two men who really knew everything about his private life were Schaub and Brückner. Both of them have passed away, though.
JT: May I ask what things the old guard told you about?
HB: Basically I was told by people close to the Führer that he had experienced a number of love affairs. Some were short, some more involved. But he would never marry and he never hid this from his female friends. Hitler didn’t string along any girlfriend, he told them up front and straight away, “I will never marry.” Any girl that forced the issue would be shown the door. In later years, Hitler always reiterated to me, “I will never marry.”

JT: Because he was “married to Germany?”

HB: Exactly. Yes, that was the line he repeated many times. He would often add, “I am away too often and cannot behave to a wife as a husband should. A woman would get nothing from me with my schedule.”
JT: When you flew for him, did you see him having any love affairs?

HB: Not at all. By the time I was flying the Führer, he had Eva Braun in Munich. Perhaps there was someone in Berlin, one or two. But remember, I was not part of his inner circle yet. I flew him, we had a meal in the evening together with his entourage and that was it. I was not around him in any informal way, that happened later on. But he had some women in Berlin whom it was said, he visited.
JT: Would you be referring to Leni Riefenstahl?

HB: Not her, someone else, who I would prefer not to name, though this woman is long since deceased (note: Baur almost certainly is referring to Magda Goebbels, as Toland noted in the margin). Leni Riefenstahl tried hard to get close or to become intimate with the Führer, but this was unsuccessful.
JT: How did you find this out? Did Hitler tell you this personally?

HB: Heavens no, he was the most secretive man I ever met or knew. No, Hitler would never discuss his personal life to me like that. It was Sepp Dietrich and another party comrade of Hitler who told me many of these stories. Hitler never to my knowledge ever discussed his personal life with anyone. As I said, he was without doubt the most private and secretive man I ever knew. Most men will boast about their conquests or their love life, but Hitler? You couldn’t get one word out of his mouth about these subjects.
Hitler and Baur shaking hands in Munich, 1933
JT: And what Sepp Dietrich say to you about Hitler?

HB: He simply made it obvious to me that Hitler enjoyed women and women always flocked to him and he had indulged in that. But he was very discrete and he was protected by the old guard of men around him. For them it was a case of “didn’t see, won’t tell.” By the time I came into his service, much of that had gone away. As I said, he had Eva Braun in Munich and one or two others in Berlin in 1932. As for any other potential love affairs then? I wasn’t aware of them, if they existed. Really that is all I can add to this topic.
JT: You mentioned Eva Braun. In your book you describe how you met her in Munich. Can you tell me all about that?
HB: I walked into Heinrich Hoffmann’s studio in Munich. Hoffmann was Hitler’s photographer and sort of the court jester around Hitler. I walked into his shop to get some of my photographs developed,and there was Eva behind the counter wearing a white blouse and skirt. All white, what a vision. My wife was with me and I coudn’t take my eyes off Eva Braun. I thought she was strikingly beautiful. I always felt that way about Eva, incidentally. She didn’t photograph well, I never saw a photo of her that did her justice. I would say the same thing about the Führer .
JT: That he didn’t photograph well?

HB: Precisely. The only two photos I ever saw that looked as he looked and did him justice were two portraits Hoffmann made. One in profile, the other standing. These were the two photographs of himself that he happily autographed because they were really authentic representations (see these two photos below).
JT: And you’re saying Eva Braun photographed badly as well?

HB: Not “badly,” but she was far prettier in person than in any photos I have seen of her through the years, or the ones they show of her now on TV or in magazines. When I met her she was very young, I think probably a teenager but she had a woman’s body and a very appealing way about her. I didn’t know many men around Hitler who didn’t covet Eva, though this went unspoken. Of course they wouldn’t have dared gone after her.
JT: I can imagine nobody would have had the nerve. You liked her then?
HB: Oh, I liked her. I liked Eva Braun very much and I feel she has been maligned a little bit in history. Some of the fanciful things I have read are ridiculous and some is written by people who actually knew the Fuehrer and Eva. She was not a Madame Pompadour or a woman who put on airs. She was just a simple girl who fell in love with the Führer and was always there for him. That’s really all there was to it. I have to add that I never got to know Eva until later on, after Hitler had turned his home into the Berghof. Then I got to know her well.
JT: She did try to kill herself twice, did you know about that then?

HB: I heard about the first attempt. I heard it from Sepp Dietrich and from Schaub, who always loved to gossip. The second attempt I never heard about until after I was released from prison and returned to Germany. I can’t tell you anything about that or whether she was serious or not.
JT: Did Eva Braun seem happy to you? Some of the old guard around him have told me that she seemed unhappy, especially late in the war.

HB: She was happy when she was with the Führer, that’s how I saw it. Her life wasn’t easy, I can tell you that. His first priority was Germany. In the early years, she didn’t see him in Berlin, only in Munich and on the Obersalzberg. They grew together gradually. Early on, she was kept very much in the background and few knew of her existence. She was introduced to people as “Hitler’s secretary.” That probably fooled most outsiders, nobody was going to stick their nose into Hitler’s business anyway.
HB: Did Hitler discuss Eva Braun with you?

JT: Not in the early days. I knew she was his girlfriend, we all knew that. She was an official state secret, but nobody in the close inner circle was kept in the dark. We knew about her, all of us did. People in Munich knew too, I was asked by various people there, so was my wife. I just shrugged my shoulders. I knew better than to discuss something the Führer wished kept secret.
JT: But he did discuss her with you?

HB: Not in any deep or meaningful way, he wasn’t that type of man. Like I told you, the Führer was very private, he never talked about his personal life, I don’t think, to anyone. You know, for instance, he would ask me to make sure Eva took the service car to the Chancellery when I would fly her from Munich to Berlin, which I did often in later years. I started flying her to Berlin in late 1935. She would also occasionally take the train. Her sister or her friend accompanied her sometimes. He would instruct me to make sure she and her sister or parents were comfortable on the flight, to have snacks and blankets on board, which were available anyway to all who flew with me.
JT: Did Eva ever discuss Hitler with you?
HB: She wouldn’t discuss their personal life to me, that never came up. But she was very concerned about his safety. That’s another thing people don’t seem to know about these days. She was worried he would be killed by someone in a crowd, assassinated. I remember her telling me she didn’t like it that he always stood up in his car when driving through towns. She said he told her he would never change that because ‘people wait for hours to see their Führer, and they can’t get a look at me if I am seated.’ I think they had that discussion more than once.
JT: How often did you fly Eva Braun?

HB: Oh, many, many times. I piloted her to Scandanavia and Italy as well, along with her family. The Fuehrer allowed her vacations on her own when he was preoccupied with state matters or military issues. He insisted I fly her since he trusted no other pilot.
Eva Braun with Hans Baur at Hitler’s home in 1935
JT: You mentioned that you would have meals with Hitler. What were those like?
HB: If you mean what happened during the meals, I can tell you straight away. Hitler did most of the talking. We mostly listened. He could be very funny and was an excellent mimic. He could imitate anything, whether it was a person’s voice, birds, artillery, opera singers, anybody! It was uncanny. He was also the best whistler I ever heard. He could whistle in an odd vibrato, almost all of Lohengrin or The Merry Widow.
JT: People in Hitler’s circle tell me that dinner was a different type of meal in Berlin than when Hitler was at the Berghof.
HB: Oh yes, I agree there. I dined with him often enough in both places. In Berlin, Dr. Goebbels reigned supreme. He came for meals a lot, sometimes with Frau Goebbels. Hitler and Frau Goebbels were very fond of one another. Goering came very rarely. Hess almost never. Speer would be there, Werlin, and the adjutants and chauffeur. Hitler was never as relaxed in Berlin as he was in other places because he was officially the Führer there. He was constrained a lot with work, he didn’t seem at home in Berlin.
JT: And at the Berghof?

HB: That was much more relaxed! He was at home there, and the fact Eva Braun was there, made it more homelike for him. She had a stabilizing and I believe a good influence on him. Her friends would be there, our wives would be up there. We’d watch two films a night, go to bed around 3:00 in the morning and just enjoy ourselves. Especially in the summer. The Berghof in the winter, however, was not as nice. It was cold and dark much of the time.
JT: How often did you and Hitler have private conversations?
HB: Oh, quite regularly. Not just about flying or an upcoming trip we would have to take, but about normal, everyday things. How was my wife, was my daughter doing well in school? He remembered birthdays, anniversaries, things like that. Maybe Bormann reminded him about those things, I don’t know. He was actually very thoughtful in such things. He once handed me a check for 5,000 Reichsmarks and said, “this is a personal gift from me and I would be offended if you try to decline it. Accept it and please use this reward to make your wife and daughter happy in some way.” I used the money to refurnish our home. When Hitler visited, I told him this and he was so pleased.
Two photos of the interior of Hitler’s Junkers airplane
JT: Did Hitler ever mention Jews to you or make anti-Semitic remarks?
HB: Well, let’s be clear. Everyone knew Hitler was not a fan of the Jews. He made that plain in his book and in his many speeches. I don’t remember him talking about Jews to me at any time. Maybe he would mention a Jewish singer and then imitate her shrieking. Things like that on occasion, but he never made any political remark to me about them.
JT: What would he talk about in general?
HB: He railed against smokers. He absolutely hated them and hated cigarettes. He told me that as a youth in Vienna, he had smoked for a period of a year or so. Then one day when he was hungry and hadn’t eaten for a day or so, he realized he was spending precious money on cigarettes. He told me he tossed his cigarettes into the river and never smoked again. He also railed against hunters, killing animals or harming animals in any way. Goering’s hunting made Hitler sick. He positively hated hunting or hurting animals.
JT: Did you know Blondi, Hitler’s dog?
HB: Definitely I knew Blondi. She flew in my airplane many times. Blondi was, I have to say, a one man dog. She was completely Hitler’s dog and nobody else really got close to her. She was not mean, but she was aloof to anyone but Hitler. I know Eva Braun didn’t like Blondi and made no secret of that. The secretaries, especially the oldest one, actively disliked Blondi. The dog became ‘nicer,’ after she became pregnant. When Blondi was pregnant and after giving birth to her puppies, she was more approachable and friendly.
Part II of this interview with Hans Baur will be posted in the near future. The next installment will cover the war years and Baur’s last meeting with Hitler in the Bunker in April, 1945.
This interview is contained the John Toland papers in the Library of Congress, box 38/39.

putschgirl: Magnificent photo of Adolf Hitler. Roehm and...

Sun, 29 Apr 2018 16:28:07 -0400

putschgirl:

Magnificent photo of Adolf Hitler. Roehm and Himmler are also visible.

hitlerizm: Berlin - Hitler’s 48th Birthday (1937)

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 01:29:58 -0400

hitlerizm:

Berlin - Hitler’s 48th Birthday (1937)

die-partei-ist-hitler: Hitlers Geburtstag 20. April 1943 Adolf...

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 01:29:21 -0400

die-partei-ist-hitler:

Hitlers Geburtstag 20. April 1943

Adolf Hitler with guests at his birthday party at his residence, the Berghof.
Also present: Eva Braun, Heinrich Hoffmann, Gretl Braun, Martin Bormann, die Frau Martin Bormanns, Eva Brauns Freundin Marion Schönemann, Walther Hewel, Karl Brandt.

tschapperl: Hitler entertaining some of Dr. Ley’s crew. ...

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 01:41:59 -0400

tschapperl:

Hitler entertaining some of Dr. Ley’s crew. Hoffmann captioned the photo: “Der schönste Augenblick”.

putschgirl: Young Adolf Hitler at the age of 32 in Munich. He...

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 13:12:07 -0400

putschgirl:

Young Adolf Hitler at the age of 32 in Munich. He wears a vest, a wool tie with a collar pin.

gentleman-blackbird:Eva Braun. These images were included in...

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:29:03 -0400

gentleman-blackbird:

Eva Braun. These images were included in pages of Eva Braun’s photo albums and cataloged as such when I viewed and photographed them in the National Archives.

putschgirl: Hitler in Bavaria in the summer of 1932.

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:28:47 -0400

putschgirl:

Hitler in Bavaria in the summer of 1932.

putschgirl: Hitler in 1934 in Munich.

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 14:28:21 -0500

putschgirl:

Hitler in 1934 in Munich.

putschgirl: Hitler in September, 1939, greeting wounded...

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 13:09:37 -0500

putschgirl:

Hitler in September, 1939, greeting wounded soldiers on a train.

putschgirl: Hitler in 1943, showing the epic strain of the war.

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 16:32:36 -0500

putschgirl:

Hitler in 1943, showing the epic strain of the war.

Interview with Heinz Linge, Hitler’s Valet

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 16:32:16 -0500

putschgirl:

Heinz Linge (1913-1980) was Adolf Hitler’s valet from 1935 until 1945. He was one of the last people to see Hitler alive and was one of the first to see him dead. He spent ten years in a Soviet Gulag after being captured by the Russians in Berlin in 1945. Linge was interviewed a number of times and wrote an excellent book about Hitler, but this interview with John Toland remains his most interesting chat. It also reveals a great deal about Hitler as a human being.
This interview was was conducted on March 2, 1974. The interpreter is indicated as Thomas Berndt. “JT” refers to John Toland and “HL” refers to Heinz Linge.
Linge with Hitler in 1936.
JT: You first began working for Adolf Hitler in mid 1935. What were your first impressions of him?
HL: Actually I officially started working for Hitler in June, 1934 and I had met him and shaken his hand even earlier that that. I was assigned as a bodyguard to the Führer at Haus Wachenfeld, which was later expanded to become the Berghof. I had an interview with him in the spring of 1934, but I didn’t commence my duties as personal manservant until later.
JT: Can you recall the first words he ever spoke to you?

HL: Certainly, the first thing Hitler ever said to me was, “young man, please tell me where you are from and what is your name?” And then I answered both questions.
JT: And what were your first impressions?

HL: Favorable. He was a simple man in his tastes and demands. He was calm, vibrant, alert and was almost always fair to me. I had no complaints being in the Führer’s service for ten years. His personality was also something that is hard to describe, but he exerted a tremendous control over his staff and over the people around him. He had an enormously powerful presence.
JT: In what way?

HL: It’s hard to describe. He was spellbinding as a man. He had a devastating sort of charisma. So yes, my first impressions were very favorable. He had that fascinating presence about him. I can’t really put it into words.
Linge on the right in 1939 with Brueckner, Hitler and Bormann
JT: What kinds of things did you do for Hitler while in his service?

HL: I was responsible for everything relating to him personally. I would awaken him every morning, make sure newspapers and communiques were laid out for him, provide him whatever he needed such as colored pencils, paper, writing utensils. I would lay out his razor for him, tend to his private rooms, pack for him. I really was like a personal servant.
JT: And you accompanied him on his trips throughout the Reich?

HL: Of course, I was always at hand unless I was ill or on leave, which happened rarely. I would pack for the Führer whenever we went anywhere. I was responsible personally for packing his things.
JT: And how many suitcases did he have?

HL: Usually two. I always had a back up suitcase which included things he might have to use, but frequently didn’t. In fact in all my years with the Führer I think I only had to remove something from the second suitcase three times This second suitcase would include formal attire like white tie and tails, footwear for the opera, extra socks, extra shirts, underclothing and chocolates.
JT: Chocolates?

HL: Yes, as you might have heard, Hitler was addicted to chocolates, he called it “nerve food.” I learned early that only certain brands of chocolates wouldn’t melt in the suitcase, and I had those on hand. Hitler’s favorite food by far was chocolate. He ate sweets all the time, more or less constantly. Marzipan, strudel, hot chocolate, these were all things he ate in enormous abundance.
Linge assisting Hitler in 1944.
JT: When you awakened him, what did you say or do?

HL: I’d knock at his door and said, “Good morning, mein Führer!” This was usually at 10:55. He would respond, “Good morning!” and then get up. He always locked his bedroom door, I didn’t see him until 20 minutes later. In that time, he would bathe, dress, shave and then emerge from his bedroom as he was putting on his jacket.
JT: Was he generally in a good mood?

HL: That depended upon what year you are referencing. In the early years, let’s say before 1940, he was generally quite jolly. Later on, during the war, that became less and less frequent. The war changed him very much, he was more somber, particularly after things started going badly on the eastern front.
JT: When Hitler travelled, would you ride in the same car as he?

HL: Usually not and then only very early in my service. It was only occasionally that I would ride in the same vehicle. For security purposes I rode in the second car and this was the case during the war especially. When the Führer’s car stopped for any reason, I would already have exited the second car to open the door for him, provide security and assist him with his overcoat and other incidentals.
JT: Would you have meals with Hitler?

HL: Very rarely. Perhaps I had five meals with Hitler in my entire service, and then only at Felsennest, very early in the war. Hitler ate his meals with a certain group of people, depending upon where he was. In Berlin, Goebbels was a frequent guest, as was Speer, Dr. Brandt, later on Dr. Morell and Herr Werlin. At the Berghof and in Munich, then Eva Braun would also take part, as well as one or more of her friends or her sister.
JT: And of course, these were vegetarian meals?
HL: Hitler himself was a vegetarian but never cared if others partook of meat or spirits. Hitler, incidentally, was not a teetotaler, he did drink alcohol. It surprised me when I got out of captivity to hear people saying the Führer didn’t drink liquor. In fact, he did drink it, though at long intervals he didn’t much touch it.
JT: And what kinds of alcohol would he drink?

HL: He actually liked beer and had been a moderate drinker of beer earlier in his life. In fact he told me he often drank five liters of beer after speeches, and this was a dark beer of high alcohol content. He was referring to the 1920’s. He started drinking a low 3% brand of beer in 1942 from the Holzkirchen brewery, but then put on weight and stopped it. But the Führer drank cognac in his tea and would take a shot or two most evenings at the Berghof. I laid out the cognac for him every evening. This isn’t something generally known. He disliked champagne because he said it was too bitter but I have also known him to drink that. He also sometimes drank apple wine, especially at the Berghof. He would also drink liquor on occasion while alone with Eva Braun, including champagne.
JT: Let’s talk about Hitler’s three residences: Berlin, Munich and the Berghof. Did he behave differently depending upon where he was?

HL: Without question. In Berlin, he was actually working most of the time, at least during the day. He was officially Chancellor when in Berlin. The day was taken up with appointments and actually business of the Reich. But he still watched two films every night in the Chancellery, until the war began. So there was relaxation too.
JT: What about Munich?

HL: This was completely a different place for Hitler, it was his home, he had his apartment there,he had lived in Munich since he was a young man before the first World War. He loved Munich and felt at home there. He was always visibly happy arriving there and I can hardly remember him ever being in a foul mood when he was in his Munich apartment. Anyone on the Führer’s staff would agree with me on that. He was absolutely a different man in Munich as compared to a place he disliked, like Berlin.
Hitler talking to a woman outside his Munich apartment in 1937
JT: What would his daily routine be like in Munich?

HL: We would arrive by car, sometimes by train as well. The Führer also flew to Munich very often and always went by plane in later years. Then Hitler would usually change his clothes in his apartment before going out to a local cafe or visit an art gallery or discuss building plans. It was usually my duty to summon Eva Braun to the apartment as soon as Hitler arrived.
JT: You would call her at home? How did this work?
HL: Early in my service she still lived with her parents. In these early days, I would call Heinrich Hoffmann, who was the Führer’s friend and photographer. Eva Braun still was employed with him. He would tell her of the Führer’s arrival and she would come over, usually right away. Sometimes Hoffmann would be with Hitler’s colonnade when we arrived, and then he would personally fetch her. When Eva Braun arrived at Hitler’s apartment, she would run up the stairs, Hitler would greet her jovially and then take her into his living room. I would have champagne, chocolates, fruit and snacks already laid out.
JT: Kempka told me that sometimes Eva Braun would actually take a cab to Hitler’s residence.
HL: This was true earlier on in their relationship. By the time I was in service to the Führer, I never saw her take a cab. She would be driven to and from his apartment by the service vehicle which was housed on Prinzregentestrasse. However, I know from the Fuehrer’s own lips that Eva did use a cab to see him. He mentioned to me many times how big an impression it made on him that she refused to allow him to pay her cab fare. That made quite a favorable impression on him.
Eva Braun in Munich with Basko
JT: You knew Eva Braun casually or would you say you knew her well?

HL: She was part of Hitler’s life long before I became his valet. I grew to know her as the years progressed. I liked her always and felt her influence on Hitler was definitely a positive one. But we’re discussing early days of my service, so I necessarily kept a respectful distance from her. It was not my place to intrude or become familiar with her. That changed only in the course of years.
JT: Do you remember when you first were introduced to her and where?

HL: Yes, it was in the summer of 1934 at Haus Wachenfeld. We were not introduced because I was simply there as a bodyguard. It simply wasn’t done. We were not formally introduced to anyone unless the Führer initiated the introduction personally. However, I saw Eva Braun and noticed her immediately.

JT: If we can return to Hitler’s different routines at his different residences. What would Hitler do while in Munich?

HL: From my vantage point, he reverted back to his old routine when in Munich. He didn’t do much official business, but lived a Bohemian life. He stayed up very late, slept late and did little actual business. He was an artist in Munich, as he often said to me. Hoffmann, Esser, the old Munich crowd, would all be over at the apartment, and Hitler spent a great deal of time at Hoffmann’s house as well. It was as if he was an architect and living his youthful dreams. You wouldn’t have thought he was the Führer in Munich, he was more Adolf Hitler, the man.
JT: And the routine at the Berghof?
HL: Similar to Munich, but more private. Hitler did conduct business there too, don’t be dissuaded that he did not. He worked there too, especially during the war. In fact, from 1941 onward, Hitler worked almost as hard at the Berghof as he did in his field headquarters.
JT: Where was his mood the best?
HL: That’s hard to say. Definitely not in Berlin, but he was equally at home in Munich and at the Berghof. He loved both places.
JT: Did you ever have private conversations with Hitler?
HL: All the time. He liked to hear from me the mood of the people, what I did in my off time, places I had visited, my family, things like that. Contrary to what people have said, Hitler was not a poor listener. He was only a poor listener when he was bored with the topic. But if he asked someone a question, he listened pretty carefully to their answers.
Linge behind Hitler in 1938
JT: Did you ask him ever about his private life?
HL: Never! This was not my place or position. Now the Führer volunteered incidents of his past life to me many times. He did this quite often, especially early on. But I would never have dared pose a question of a personal nature to Hitler. Again, this was someting that just wasn’t done.
JT: How would you describe Hitler’s private life?
HL: You mean his relationship with Eva Braun or with women in general?

JT: Could you could address both topics?
HL: I suppose I can speak generally about the Führer and women.
JT: Please do.
HL: Well, he was a man like any other man, but he was disciplined. That’s how I would explain it. He loved pretty women and pretty girls especially. He had a real eye for face and figure. But he was exceptionally careful about women, at least when I served him. That’s what I mean by being disciplined.
JT: And how did you determine this?
HL: From his comments and from how he lived his life. But he really loved women and was enthusiastic always over a pretty face or figure. Whenever he would see a pretty woman, he would always speak of it. For instance, I remember once in Bremen, my town, there was a girl who presented him a bouquet in the hotel. This must have been 1936. She was tall and blonde and beautiful. The Führer was raving about her beauty as late as 1943. He was very taken with her, though they never met again.
JT: So you would say Hitler liked women and the company of women?

HL: Definitely. He was polite and charming to women generally. He was a visual person, he responded strongly to beautiful things, whether they be inanimate objects or living things. He was not, I might add, promiscuous, and had told me he never had been so, even as a young man. And when he would discuss his early days in Vienna, he always told me he was a lone wolf and did not have the money to be around women.
JT: What was that conversation, exactly?

HL: He mentioned to me more than once that a man in his position had to be careful, especially of a chance encounter with a “loose woman.” He mentioned Napoleon being ruined by a woman. He was fanatical about that. So he just stayed with Eva Braun and passed up any number of romantic adventures. I am sure about that.
JT: The oldtimers told me was faithful to her.
HL: I concur with this. In fact, I know he was. Out of everyone on his staff, I was the first one who saw him in the morning and the last one to say goodnight to him, except for Eva herself. I am certain he was monogamous and I base this on living thirty steps from him all those years.
JT: How would you characterize his relationship with Eva Braun?

HL: As a perfectly normal couple. They lived as husband and wife whenever they could and whenever circumstances allowed it.
JT: Two of the secretaries have told me she was not allowed in Berlin until the war.
HL: That is not true, I am in a position to refute that. Eva Braun did not have her own bedroom in the Chancellery until 1939, but she visited Hitler in Berlin many times prior to the war and before the new Chancellery was completed. I know this because it was my job to summon an S.S. orderly to drive her to and from the Hotel Eden, where she stayed during those visits. This ended when she was given her own bedroom.
JT: I have concluded the rumors that Hitler was sexually abnormal are false.
HL: I don’t even know how these stories got started. I can tell you this: I first saw Eva Braun in June, 1934 and I last saw and spoke to her two hours before she died. That’s a span of ten years. She was a lovely, normal girl who loved the Führer deeply. Her devotion to him was touching. She was normal and so was he. I always have to shake my head or laugh that anyone would believe otherwise.
JT: In your estimation, would you say Hitler loved Eva? The secretaries indicated to me they thought not.
HL: Again I will dissent. I believe he loved her and he told me more than once that when the war ended, he would marry her. He also indicated he wanted me to be the head of his household there and the only people he wanted around him in retirement would be Fräulein Braun, me, his dog and a personal cook. He said many times he wanted no bodyguards and never wanted to see anyone in uniform again. He would always say to me, “who would want to spend one minute with me if they didn’t have to?” The only person he excluded from that parameter was Eva Braun, which is telling.
JT: In your opinion, the relationship between Hitler and Eva was sexual in nature?

HL: I know it was. I don’t want to say more than that out of respect to both parties, but know with 100% certainty they were sexually active. They were a normal couple as I already said. All the rumors to the contrary are false. They enjoyed an intimate life behind closed doors, whether in Berlin, Munich or at the Berghof. Or wherever they happened to be.
JT: Did Hitler ever talk to you about Eva Braun?

HL: In later years, frequently. In fact there were periods after Kursk (summer, 1943) where he spoke about her constantly, and always affectionately. I had the impression he wanted to divert his mind from the situation at the front. She was “home” to him. He often told me that the things he most esteemed in Eva Braun were her absolute and total discretion. Then also, he could trust her completely. Finally, he would mention her modesty and generosity. She was not interested in his position, his power or his monetary status. She loved him as a man and this he knew. That was very significant to him. Very significant.
JT: He didn’t esteem her looks, just her personality?

HL: I didn’t mean to suggest that. He didn’t talk to me about Eva’s physical attributes, that was self-evident. Any man, especially the Führer, who was personally involved with her, could see that Eva Braun was a very pretty woman with an excellent figure. It wasn’t necessary to discuss it, it was obvious.
JT: And did Eva Braun talk to you about the Führer?

HL In later years, much more than earlier. When I first came to know her in 1935, she would ask me to make sure the Führer’s trousers had a crease, to lay out matching socks for his suits, things like that. Her conversations with me about the Führer revolved around his personal appearance and his clothing. She wanted him to look good in public, that was her biggest concern. I think she took a lover’s pride in how he appeared to others.
JT: And in later years what did you talk to her about?

HL: She often thanked me for my personal attention to Hitler. She complimented me on this, sometimes in front of the Führer as well. She also was worried about assassination, that is not generally known, but she lived in fear, especially as the war progressed. I know from the Führer’s own lips that after the July 20, 1944 attempt on his life, Eva Braun was practically hysterical and remained that way for a long while. She lived in constant dread after that event, waiting to hear of his death.
Linge carrying a large folder behind Hitler, 1938
JT: Did Hitler himself fear assassination?

HL: In my opinion, no. He was utterly fearless about such things. He was more cautious during the war, when we travelled through the eastern countries or France and Belgium. But afraid? I never saw him afraid.
JT: What were some of his odd personal mannerisms or habits? I always like to find out these things.
HL: He snapped his fingers when he was impatient or agitated. He also chewed his nails and especially his cuticles. He rocked back and forth while in a standing position. As for odd habits, I think perhaps his extreme need for privacy and secrecy. He always told me, “the only person that needs to know about my personal life is me and me alone.”
JT: Now let me ask you about Hitler’s famous temper.
HL: He always had himself under perfect control. These depictions of him frothing at the mouth or screaming at people are all lies.
JT: You’re saying you never saw him in a rage or get mad?

HL: Certainly I saw him angry, but never in a rage. Never, not once.
JT: Even in the Bunker, at the end of the war?

HL: He was always under control. I would say no man would be in a better position to judge this than me, I was never more than a few steps from him for a decade.
Here is a clip of Linge after being released from Soviet captivity:
You can also read more about Linge’s views about Hitler here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204388/I-Hitlers-valet-Memoirs-manservant-final-act-devotion-burn-masters-body.html
Linge’s book is exceptional and available on Amazon, as well as Itunes:
This interview is in the Library of Congress in the Papers of John Toland, box 43.

putschgirl: Hitler in 1936 with Krause and Ulrich Graf in the...

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 17:59:29 -0500

putschgirl:

Hitler in 1936 with Krause and Ulrich Graf in the backseat. During the 1923 Putsch, it was Graf who laid on top of Hitler to take the bullets intended for him, thus almost certainly saving the Fuehrer’s life. Reports vary how many bullets Graf took, but he said to the Americans in 1946 that it was 4.