Eva Braun: Unknown in Life, Icon of Today
By Kevin A. Sanders
Eva Anna Paula
Braun was born in Munich on February 6th, 1912 as the second
daughter of a middle class Catholic school teacher, Friedrich Braun and his
wife Franziska Kronberger, both respectable families rooted in Bavaria. At the age of seventeen, the perky, blonde and pretty young Eva took
a job as an office assistant to the photographer Heinrich
Hoffman, then the official photographer of the National Socialist German
Workers Party (Nazi). Eva later gravitated to processing and developing films
as a laboratory assistant. She eventually began serving as a photographic
assistant. It was in this photography shop that she developed her passion for
photography and films…this is also where she met Adolf Hitler in 1929. It is not known when Hitler and Eva began
their relationship, as Hitler was often traveling the country to strengthen his
position and that of the Nazi Party.
After two suicide attempts by Eva in
1932 and 1935, Hitler became more committed to her, moving her into his Munich
flat and shortly thereafter bought her a villa in the Munich suburbs and a
Mercedes along with a chauffer. She soon started spending time at the Berghof
near Berchtesgaden in 1936 when Hitler was in residence. Eva Braun was one of
the best kept secrets of the Third Reich.
Only Hitler’s innermost circle and
resident staff knew of the relationship between the dictator and Eva Braun.
Hitler felt that a marriage or a girlfriend would lose some of the female vote
and cast a shadow on his complete dedication to the Fatherland. Eva spent much of her time sunbathing,
swimming, taking photographs and movies.
In fact, Eva’s color “home movies” were a one of a kind; no one else had
ever taken color movies at the Berghof and these films remain of major
historical importance.
Eva did love clothing, shoes, and
adornments. She dressed elegantly and
fashionably, wearing suits, dresses, furs, gowns, and undergarments from Paris
and Florence - all of the finest shops in Europe. She lived in extravagant
style with a passion for expensive and matching jewelry. A personal maid said Braun often changed
clothes up to seven times a day! During the period between 1936 and May, 1945
she accumulated an unbelievable wardrobe.
She found clothing and jewelry another way to express herself and her
artistic talents.
Almost all of Eva’s belongings were
personalized with a monogram. One of
Hitler’s personal physicians, Dr. Karl Brandt, designed a “four-leaf clover”, Kleeblatt, from her initials, “EB”. Albert
Speer, Hitler’s architect and subsequently the Minister of Armaments, later
claimed to have altered the monogram to the “butterfly” type seen on some
pieces. However, Frau Junge (a personal secretary of Hitler) confirmed that Eva
would hand-embroider the “four-leaf clover” monogram (a personal superstition
of Eva’s) if the clothing or linen maker didn’t apply it.
The examples below reflect Eva Braun’s Kleeblatt
monogram on a dresser set belonging to Braun which sold with Manion’s
International Auction House for nearly $2000 in 2003.
There are many books that could be written about Eva
Braun, as historians and collectors have put many pieces of her life together
as the mistress of Adolf Hitler. It is
ironic that in her suicidal death after her marriage to Hitler, her belongings,
parts and pieces of her very private world, have become very valuable
collectibles indeed.
Kevin A. Sanders is a Manion’s Staff Writer and moderator of the
Wehrmacht Collector’s Association. He operates World War Collectibles,
specializing in documented appraisals, consignment, and research of 19th
and 20th Century military history and collectibles, particularly WWI
and WWII German militaria. He can be reached at PO Box 140412. Gainesville,
Florida 32614-0412. Telephone 352.505.3825 – Cell 352.870.8385 –
worldwarcollectibles@hotmail.com.
References
Women of the Third Reich, by Anna Maria Sigmund
Internet
Ananova; http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_133939.html
http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Braun
http:/www.thirdreich.ca/evabraun.php
http:/www.thirdreichruins.com/berghofvisitors.htm
http://www.worldmilitaria.com/newsite/MuseumImages/ebplate1m.jpg