Eva Braun, the wife of Adolf Hitler

Eva Braun

According to Adolf Hitler's chauffeur Erich Kempka Eva Braun was "the unhappiest woman in Germany. She spent most of her time waiting for Hitler." But gradually she accepted her frustrating role - content to be sole woman companion of the great man ..

She was born the middle of three sisters into a Catholic family; three lively, pretty girls. Fresh out of convent school Eva Braun, at 17, met Adolf Hitler the first time when she was working in Munich in 1929 as the assistant of Hitler's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann.

From the moment Hitler walked into the shop, she was in love.

In a letter to her sister Gretl Eva Braun later wrote about the meeting:

"I had stayed after closing time to straighten up several things and was standing on the ladder putting something away on the top shelf. Then I heard the door open and saw the boss come in with a somewhat older man carrying a felt hat in his hand. I tried to watch them without their noticing ...

When I came down off the ladder the boss introduced us. He said: Mr. Wolff, this is our little Miss Eva. Then Hoffmann sent me out to get some beer and sausages from the corner pub."

In 1931 the 19-year-old Eva wrote the following letter to the Nazi Führer:

"Dear Mr. Hitler, I would like to thank you for the pleasant evening at the theater. It was unforgettable. I shall always be grateful for your friendship. I count the hours until the moment when we shall meet again ..."

Eva Braun soon agreed to follow Hitler to his mountain retreat in the alps. Their attraction was immediate, and over the objection of her lower-middle-class Bavarian parents, she became his mistress. For the next sixteen years, she lived in luxury as millions suffered and died at the hands of her 'Wulf'.