Eva Braun

Beobachter.

143. See Plockinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 329f.; Mathias Rosch, Die Munchner NSDAP 1925–1933: Eine Untersuchung zur inneren Struktur der NSDAP in der Weimarer Republik (Munich, 2002), p. 513.

144. Speer, Spandau, p. 442.

145. See Interrogation Summary No. 666, Office of U.S. Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, APO 124 A, Evidence Division, Interrogation Branch, “Interrogation of Hermann Esser, Staatssekretar, Interrogated by Mr. Fehl, 6 December 1946, Nuremberg,” p. 2, in ZS 1030 (Hermann Esser), IfZ Munich. Esser as president of the Reich Tourism Association (Akten der Partei-Kanzlei der NSDAP, p. 287).

146. See Rosch, Die Munchner NSDAP 1925–1933, p. 193; Ernst Piper, Alfred Rosenberg: Hitlers Chefideologe (Munich, 2005), pp. 124f.

147. Interrogation Summary No. 666, pp. 3f.

148. Ibid.

149. Hermann Esser and Johann Jacob Bierbrauer, Die judische Weltpest: Judendammerung auf dem Erdball, 6th ed. (Munich, 1941).

150. See Interrogation Summary No. 666, p. 2. The National Socialist Party platform of 1920 was, according to Esser, completely different from those of 1939 and 1940 with respect to the “Jewish question.” Esser also claimed that he had nothing to do with the decision at the 1935 convention (p. 3). The fact is, Rosenberg himself denied to the end that he knew about the extermination policies of the Nazis, despite being very precisely informed about the “Final Solution” and despite his own involvement in the extermination actions as the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. See Piper, Alfred Rosenberg, pp. 579ff. and 634f.

151. In 1950, Esser was sentenced to five years in prison in the denazification proceedings; he was released early, after two years.

152. See Speer, Albert Speer: Die Kransberg-Protokolle 1945, p. 144. Speer counted Esser—along with Eva Braun, Bormann, Brandt, Morell, Sepp Dietrich, Botschafter Hewel, and himself—as members of the Berghof circle. See also Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, p. 94: Junge, who traveled along to the Obersalzberg for the first time in March 1943, mentions “Minister of State Esser and his wife” as guests.

153. See “Gruppenbild vor Modell Haus des Fremdenverkehrs in Berlin, Berghof, 10. Januar 1937,” in Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Archive, hoff-14728, BSB Munich.

154. The ruins were torn down in 1964.

155. See Piper, Alfred Rosenberg, p. 12.

156. For example, Esser read aloud the “Fuhrer’s Proclamation” at the annual “Celebration of the Founding of the Party” in Munich’s Hofbrauhaus on February 24, 1943, while Hitler was residing “in the east” at his “Wolf’s Lair Fuhrer Headquarters” (“Wortlaut der Fuhrerproklamation,” in Franz Ritter von Epp Papers, N 1101/86, BA Koblenz).

157. See Thilo Nowack, “Rhein, Romantik, Reisen: Der Ausflugs- und Erholungsreiseverkehr im Mittelrheintal im Kontext gesellschaftlichen Wandels (1890–1970)” (dissertation, University of Bonn, 2006), pp. 117ff.

158. See in this regard Bajohr, “Unser Hotel ist judenfrei,” pp. 16ff.; Alfred Bernd Gottwaldt and Diana Schulle, “Juden ist die Benutzung von Speisewagen untersagt”: Die antijudische Politik des Reichsverkehrsministeriums zwischen 1933–1945 (Teetz, 2007).

159. See Susanne Appel, Reisen im Nationalsozialismus: Eine rechtshistorische Untersuchung, Schriften zum Reise- und Verkehrsrecht, vol. 3 (Baden-Baden, 2001); Kristin Semmens, Seeing Hitler’s Germany: Tourism in the Third Reich (University of Victoria, Palgrave, Canada, 2005).

160. See Prof. Dr. von Hasselbach, “Hitlers Mangel an Menschenkenntnis,” September 26, 1945 (copy), p. 5, in Kl. Erwerbungen 441–3, BA Koblenz.

161. See Michael Humphrey, Die Weimarer Reformdiskussion uber das Ehescheidungsrecht und das Zerruttungsprinzip: Eine Untersuchung uber die Entwicklung des Ehescheidungsrechts in Deutschland von der Reformation bis zur Gegenwart unter Berucksichtigung rechtsvergleichender Aspekte (Gottingen, 2006), p. 74.

162. Minister of Justice to Reich Minister and Head of the Chancellery, Berlin, October 29, 1938 (copy), in Fa 199/47, IfZ Munich.

163. Marriage Act (Gesetz zur Vereinheitlichung des Rechts der Eheschliessung und der Ehescheidung im Lande Osterreich und im ubrigen Reichsgebiet [Law for the Standardization of Marriage and Divorce Rights between the State of Austria and the Other Territory in the Reich]) of July 6, 1938, Section 55, in Reichsgesetzblatt I 1938, pp. 807ff.

164. Ibid. The actual words of Section 9, Ehebruch (Adultery), are: “(1) Eine Ehe darf nicht geschlossen werden zwischen einem wegen Ehebruchs geschiedenen Ehegatten und demjenigen, mit dem er den Ehebruch begangen hat, wenn dieser Ehebruch im Scheidungsurteil als Grund der Scheidung festgestellt ist. (2) Von dieser Vorschrift kann Befreiung bewilligt werden.”

165. Reich Minister and Head of the Chancellery to Minister of Justice Gurtner, Berchtesgaden, November 23, 1938 (copy), in Fa 199/47, IfZ Munich.

166. Ibid.

167. See in this regard Lothar Gruchmann, Justiz im Dritten Reich 1933–1940: Anpassung und Unterwerfung in der Ara Gurtner, 3rd ed. (Munich, 2002).

168. Transcript of the judgment of the Berlin district court from December 23, 1938, ref. no. 220. R.303.38, in Fa 199/47, IfZ Munich.

169. Hermann Esser to Reich Minister Dr. Lammers, Berlin, December 23, 1938 (copy), in Fa 199/47, IfZ Munich.

170. Minister of Justice to Reich Minister and Head of the Chancellery Dr. Lammers, Berlin, February 6, 1939 (copy), in Fa 199/47, IfZ Munich.

171. See photographs of the wedding party, April 5, 1939, in Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Archive, hoff-24169, BSB Munich.

172. See “Eva Braun wahrend der Taufe im Hause Hermann Essers in Munchen,” undated, in Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Archive, hoff-363, BSB Munich. According to a statement by Hedwig Hoffmann, a former employee at Esser’s house, Eva Braun was invited to the celebration as a godmother because she “was an acquaintance of Frau Esser.” (Aussage der Zeugin Hedwig Hoffmann, 18. Oktober 1949, Offentliche Sitzung der Berufungskammer, Munchen, VI Senat, zur mundlichen Verhandlung uber den Nachlass der verstorbenen Eva Hitler, geb. Braun [Witness statement from Hedwig Hoffmann, October 18, 1949, official session of the appellate chamber, Munich, Sixth Senate, for oral arguments concerning the estate of the deceased Eva Hitler, nee Braun], in Denazification Court Records, box 718, State Archives, Munich.) Hanfstaengl also stated that Eva Braun was friends with Esser’s second wife since their schooldays: Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 359.

173. The Brandts’ son, born on October 4, 1935, was given the name Karl-Adolf. Speer’s son, born 1937, was named Friedrich Adolf. Ribbentrop also named his son Adolf. Rudolf Hess, in turn, took on the role of godfather to one of Bormann’s sons, who was named Rudolf (Gerhard) after him.

174. See Adolf Hitler, “Rede vor der NS-Frauenschaft am 8. September 1934,” in Hitler, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen 1932–1945, p. 451.

175. See Michael Rissmann, Hitlers Gott: Vorsehungsglaube und Sendungsbewusstsein des deutschen Diktators (Zurich and Munich, 2001), p. 80.

176. Ferdinand Hoffmann, Sittliche Entartung und Geburtenschwund, Schriften fur naturgesetzliche Politik und Wissenschaft, H. 4, 2nd, expanded, ed. (Munich, 1938), pp. 6 and 14.

177. See Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 92; Henriette von Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 228. See also Gerda Bormann to Martin Bormann, Obersalzberg, December 25, 1943, in Bormann, The Bormann Letters, p. 38.

178. Note from the Fuhrer Headquarters, October 21/22, 1941, in Hitler, Monologe im Fuhrerhauptquartier 1941–1944, p. 99.

179. Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p. 30.