Eva Anna Paula Braun was the German wife of Adolf Hitler, born in 1912. She lived an emotionally unhappy life at Hitler’s side, yet remained loyal to him for many years and ultimately committed suicide with him just one day after their marriage.

Eva Braun was born on February 6, 1912, in Munich, Germany. Her mother was Franziska Kronberger, and her father was Friedrich “Fritz” Braun, a schoolteacher. Both parents came from respected Bavarian families. Eva was the second daughter in the family; her older sister Ilse Braun was born in 1908, and her younger sister Gretl Braun was born in 1915.

After completing secondary school, Eva continued her education by taking economics courses at a convent. Her academic performance was not particularly strong, but she discovered a natural talent for athletics. Those around her often remarked on her beauty. She worked for several months as a receptionist in a medical office.

At the age of seventeen, Eva began working as an assistant to Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer of the Nazi Party. In 1929, she met Adolf Hitler at Hoffmann’s studio. For security reasons, Hitler was introduced to her under the pseudonym “Herr Wolff,” a name he had used since the 1920s. Eva later described Hitler to her friends as “a gentleman with a funny mustache, wearing a light-colored English coat and carrying an enormous fedora hat.”

Both families strongly opposed the relationship. Eva’s father objected for moral and political reasons, while Hitler’s half-sister Angela Raubal reportedly regarded Eva as a second-class person. Because of this opposition, very little is known about the first two years of their relationship.

In 1931, Angela Raubal’s daughter Geli Raubal died under mysterious circumstances. Geli was widely rumored to have been Hitler’s lover. Some historians argue that her death was a suicide, possibly driven by jealousy over Hitler’s relationship with Eva Braun; others have suggested that Hitler may have been directly or indirectly responsible. During this period, Hitler was also linked to other women, including actress Renate Müller, whose early death was likewise rumored to be a suicide.

Eva Braun attempted suicide twice—first in 1932, when she tried to shoot herself in the neck, and again in 1935, when she took an overdose of sleeping pills. After she recovered, Hitler began treating her more attentively. He provided her with a villa in Munich, a Mercedes automobile, and a personal chauffeur. In 1936, Eva moved into Hitler’s residence at the Berghof.

Hitler and Braun never appeared together publicly as a couple. It was believed that Hitler feared losing his popularity among German women if he were seen as married or committed. The German public remained largely unaware of their relationship until after the war. According to Albert Speer’s memoirs, Eva did not share a bedroom with Hitler and had her own room. She was allowed to appear only when Hitler’s old party friends visited; when high-ranking state officials arrived, Eva was expected to disappear. Those who knew her felt sympathy for the deeply unhappy life she endured because of her devotion to Hitler.

During World War II, Eva Braun spent her days exercising, watching films, and reading romance novels. She had long been interested in photography, and many of the color films later associated with Hitler were developed by Braun herself in her private darkroom.

People close to Hitler observed that he seemed happier when he heard Eva Braun’s voice and often wanted her nearby. He teased her about her hats, and at times they spent hours together in his study. When Hitler was too busy to pay attention to her, Eva often became tearful and depressed. On one occasion, when a woman shouted “the Führer’s prostitute” at Eva outside her Munich home, Hitler ordered dozens of police guards to be stationed there.

Hitler was known to oppose women wearing makeup. According to servants, one evening at dinner, when Eva’s lipstick left a mark on a napkin, Hitler laughed and remarked, “Soon that lipstick will be made from the bodies of dead soldiers.”

In 1944, Eva Braun invited her cousin Gertraud Weisker to the Berghof. In her memoirs, Weisker recalled that Eva openly did things forbidden to German women at the time—wearing makeup, smoking, and drinking—yet described her as the unhappiest woman she had ever known. Weisker admitted to illegally listening to BBC radio broadcasts and told Eva that the war was going badly. Although they were aware that Jews were being mistreated, Weisker stated that neither of them knew anything about the extermination camps.

Weisker last saw Eva in January 1945. She later argued that historians were mistaken in portraying Eva as a committed Nazi, describing her instead as a trapped, desperate, and unhappy woman. According to her cousin, Eva was very conscious of her appearance and knew how beautiful she was. During visits, three Nazi soldiers were always present, making it impossible to speak freely about Hitler or the camps.

On June 3, 1944, Eva Braun’s sister Gretl married Hermann Fegelein, an officer who served as Heinrich Himmler’s liaison. In the final days of the war, Fegelein was caught attempting to flee to Sweden with another woman and was executed on Hitler’s orders. At the time, Gretl was eight months pregnant. She later gave birth to a daughter named Eva Fegelein.

In early 1945, as the Red Army entered Germany, Eva Braun refused to leave Hitler’s side, proving herself to be one of his most loyal companions. On April 29, 1945, Hitler and Braun were married in a bunker ceremony witnessed by Joseph Goebbels and Martin Bormann. Eva wore a black silk dress. Although she officially became Eva Hitler and was to be addressed as “Mrs. Hitler,” Hitler continued to call her “Fräulein Eva Braun.”

Shortly afterward, rumors circulated that Eva was pregnant with Hitler’s child, but no evidence ever supported these claims. On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide together. Eva took cyanide, while Hitler shot himself. Eva Braun was 33 years old at the time of her death. Their bodies were burned in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. The remains were later discovered by Soviet forces and secretly buried alongside the bodies of Joseph Goebbels and Magda Goebbels and their six children in an area controlled by the Soviet Union in East Germany.

Before her death, Eva Braun sent all of her personal belongings to her father. Her mother, Franziska Kronberger, died in Bavaria in 1976 at the age of 96.

Eva Braun remained at Hitler’s side for many years, consistently supporting him. Very little is known about any political influence she may have had over Hitler, and historians generally believe it was minimal. Nevertheless, many scholars think that Braun possessed significant knowledge of the inner workings of the Third Reich. Outwardly, she appeared uninterested in politics, yet she was far closer to the center of Nazi power than she ever publicly acknowledged.

Source: Biyografiler.com