About Hitler mistress Eva Braun

She met Adolf Hitler for the first time in when she was 17-years-old, working as an aspiring model for Heinrich Hoffman, the official photographer of the Reich.

At the time, 1929, he was an older man with a "funny moustache", and a rising star in Germany's growing Nazi Party, known to her as "Herr Wolff".


Hitler began to see more of Braun after the apparent suicide of his niece Geli Raubal, with whom he was rumoured to have had a relationship.

By 1936 she was part of his household at his base near Berchtesgaden and appeared to live the life of luxury through the Second World War.

Contrary to what the photographs suggest, Eva Braun's life was not a happy one. After she took up with Hitler, much to the disapproval of her lower-middle class Catholic parents, she was kept virtually under lock and key and most Germans never knew of her existence until after her death.

Hitler's chauffeur, Erich Kempka, once described her as "the unhappiest woman in Germany. She spent most of her time waiting for Hitler."

When he had guests, she was invariably banished to her bedroom. When she moved about the house, it would generally be through side entrances and using rear staircases.

Her diaries, which survived the war, reveal how Hitler's indifference devastated her and she is said to have made two suicide attempts in August 1932 and in May 1935.

Nonetheless, the Fuhrer became increasingly attached to his young lover, once telling his personal valet, Heinz Linge that she was "too young to be the wife of one in my position. But she is the only girl for me."

At the outbreak of war, she was increasingly allowed to be present when visitors arrived - friends said that she matured and grew in stature as a result.

In 1944, she told Hitler in a letter: "I have promised myself to follow you wherever you go, even to death." The following year, she fulfilled her promise.

In April 1945, as the Allies reached Berlin, her life with Hitler came to an abrupt end. The couple married in haste then fled to an underground bunker. Historians believe he shot himself while his 33-year-old wife of one day took a cyanide capsule.