Adolf Hitler promised greatness to his people, which put him on the brink of destruction. The Fuehrer and his faithful Eva Braun ingloriously committed suicide in April 1945, leaving no offspring. But Hitler's relatives survived, among whom are the sisters Angela and Paula, as well as his cousin Maria. Their life was inextricably linked with the life of the leader of the Third Reich and irrevocably changed after his death.
Older sister
Angela was almost 6 years older than Adolf and was born in 1883 from the second wife of Alois Hitler, Francis. The girl was barely a year old when her mother died at 23 from tuberculosis. Soon, the father became friends with his cousin Clara, who was much younger than her husband. Church permission for the marriage had to be requested in Rome - the local bishop refused the wedding due to the close relationship of the bride and groom.
Angela was brought up together with the common children of Alois and Klara. Four out of six, including one and a half year old Ida, died at an early age. In addition to Adolf, Angela's elder brother Alois Jr. and the youngest sister Paula grew up in the family.
Angela was the only one in the family to whom the future Fuhrer had warm feelings and with whom he shared his childhood experiences. At the very beginning of 1903, their father died of a heart attack. Angela, who received a small inheritance, married Leo Raubal and settled separately.
At first, the life of a young family was happy. Leo Raubal and older sister Giler had three children: Leo, Angela and Elfrida. Unfortunately, 8 months after the birth of the youngest daughter, Angela was left a widow. Her husband died of tuberculosis, the same disease that once robbed the one-year-old Angel of her mother.
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With three children and a younger sister in her arms
In the care of 27-year-old Angela, not only three small children remained, but also her younger sister Paula, who was barely 14 years old. Paulina and Adolf's mother passed away in 1907, briefly outliving her elderly husband.
The tiny child allowances and widow's pensions were barely enough to make ends meet and help her sister, who studied at the Lyceum. In the summer of 1911 it became a little easier - Adolf gave up his allowance in favor of Paula.
Angela decides to move to Vienna, since it is easier to find work in a big city. Historians have found information that since 1915 she worked in one of the women's boarding schools in the Austrian capital, and by 1919 she became its leader.
Interesting fact: in 1920 Angela Raubal worked at the University of Vienna as head of Jewish cuisine. Hitler lost contact with his sister for several years and managed to find her only in 1919.
Hitler's housekeeper
In 1928, Angela suddenly resigns from a leadership position and agrees to Adolf's offer to become his housekeeper. Together with her youngest daughter Elfrida, she moved to the Wachenfeld estate in Obersalzberg. Hitler rented it and later bought it, making it his main residence until 1945. After the restructuring in the 30s, the estate received the name "Bernghof" ("Mountain yard").
Employees of Hitler's staff recalled Angela as a respected, energetic and determined woman. She considered herself responsible for the well-being of her brother, strictly followed the attendants, was an excellent cook and an impeccable housewife. Angela secured full power in the house - any messages and notes for Hitler first of all fell into her hands.
Life at the stepbrother's estate was not cloudless. Rumors persistently circulated about Hitler's connection with the "young charm" Geli - the eldest daughter and namesake of Angels - which continued until the death of the Fuhrer's niece. In September 1931, after a major quarrel with her uncle and probable lover, Angela's eldest daughter Raubal committed suicide by shooting herself with Hitler's pistol. According to some reports, she was pregnant at the time of her death.
Angela was more than anything in the world devoted to her brother, and even the death of her daughter did not induce her to leave the service of Hitler. However, with the appearance in the life of the Fuhrer Eva Braun, whom Adolf's sister categorically did not accept, Angela Raubal had to accept the loss. In 1935, she left the Führer's estate and moved to Dresden, where a year later she remarried the architect Martin Hammitz.
Paula Wolf
As a child, Paula did not see affection from her brother. At the beginning of the 21st century, German historians found her diary, the authenticity of which was confirmed by expert examination. An eight-year-old girl writes in it about her 15-year-old brother: "I again feel my brother's heavy hand on my face."
German scientist Timothy Raiback, head of the Institute of Contemporary History of the city of Obersalzberg, commented on the find as follows: “Adolf replaced the girl's early dead father. He was extremely harsh with his sister, he repeatedly beat her. However, Paula justified him, thinking that this approach was necessary for her upbringing.
The younger sister of Adolf worked as a secretary for a Vienna insurance company. In 1930, she lost her job, after which Hitler began to provide her with constant financial assistance, which ended only with his death. Not needing money, Paula limited herself to temporary part-time jobs.
At the request of her brother, she changed her last name, turning into Paulo Wolf. Hitler advised her to do this "for her own safety." After Angela left the Bernghof estate, the estate passed into the hands of a younger sister.
For many years it was believed that Hitler's younger sister was just an innocent relative of the bloody Fuhrer. However, German historians found out that she was going to marry one of the most brutal organizers of the Holocaust, a doctor and specialist in euthanasia, Erwin Yekelius, who is responsible for the death of 4,000 Jews in the gas chambers. This marriage was prevented only by Hitler's direct ban.
War and the last years of life
During the Second World War, Angela lived in Dresden. She made peace with her brother and even passed on the necessary information at his request to those relatives with whom he did not want to communicate. Paula worked throughout the war as a secretary in a military hospital.
After the bombardment of Dresden by Allied planes in February 1945, the Fuhrer persuaded both sisters to move to Berchtesgaden, in western Germany, away from the advancing Red Army troops and ensured their transfer. Angela did not live long after the war. She died of a stroke in the fall of 1949.
Paula was arrested by the Americans, interrogated, but soon released. For several years she lived in the Austrian capital, gradually spending her savings, then she worked in an art store. In 1952, she again moved to Berchtesgaden under the name of Paula Wolf, where she lived in seclusion in a small apartment until her death in 1960.
Hitler's sister in the Urals
Maria Koppensteiner (nee Schmidt) was the daughter of Hitler's maternal aunt Theresia. During interrogations after her arrest by the Counterintelligence Directorate of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, she said that the last time she spoke with the Hitlers was in 1906. Nevertheless, it was thanks to the relationship with the leader of the Third Reich that Maria and her husband became the owners of 19 hectares of fertile land.
Ignaz Koppensteiner, Maria's husband, joined the Nazi Party in 1932, and Maria followed suit 6 years later. During the war, farm laborers worked on their estate - Ukrainians, driven away by the Nazis from their homes. Maria Koppensteiner was sentenced to 25 years in prison for using forced labor. Five of them she was held in the Lefortovo prison, then she was transferred to a special prison of the MGB, located in Verkhneuralsk.
An elderly woman learned to speak Russian in prison. She read a lot until she lost her sight. Due to leg disease, she almost could not go for a walk. Hitler's sister was bullied by inmates and prison staff. Warder Vasily Selyavin recalled: “The poor man spent seven winters in slippers with thin soles. A woman with an eternal cold begged for her boots, but the head of the colony replied: "You will manage!" She was even denied glasses."
In 1955, German Chancellor Adenauer secured the repatriation from the USSR of the prisoners and internees of the Germans held there. Maria Koppensteiner did not wait for this day - she died, according to some sources, in the Verkhneuralsk prison on August 6, 1953 (according to other sources, on December 18, 1954).