Lifestyle
Conversion of Hitler's small vacation home he purchased in 1933 on the mountain at Obersalzberg began in 1934 and was completed by 1936. A large wing was added onto the original house and several additional buildings were constructed. The entire area was fenced off, and remaining houses on the mountain were purchased by the NSDAP and razed. Braun and the other members of the entourage were cut off from the outside world when in residence. Speer, Hermann Göring, and Martin Bormann had houses constructed inside the compound.
Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, stated in his memoirs that Hitler and Braun had two bedrooms and two bathrooms with interconnecting doors at the Berghof, and Hitler would end most evenings alone with her in his study before they retired to bed. She would wear a "dressing gown or house-coat" and drink wine; Hitler would have tea. Public displays of affection or physical contact were nonexistent, even in the enclosed world of the Berghof. Braun took the role of hostess amongst the regular visitors, though she was not involved in running the household. She regularly invited friends and family members to accompany her during her stays, the only guest to do so.
After learning about the failed 20 July plot to kill Hitler, Braun wrote to him, "From our first meeting I swore to follow you anywhere even unto death. I live only for your love." Hitler named Braun in his will, to receive 12,000 Reichsmarks yearly after his death. He was very fond of her, and worried when she participated in sports or was late returning for tea.
Braun was very fond of her two Scottish Terrier dogs named Negus and Stasi and they feature in her home movies. She usually kept them away from Hitler's German Shepherd, Blondi. Blondi was killed by one of the entourage on 29 April 1945 when Hitler ordered that one of the cyanide capsules obtained for Braun and Hitler's suicide the next day be tested on the dog. Braun's dogs and Blondi's puppies were shot by Hitler's dog handler, Fritz Tornow, on 30 April.
Read more about this topic: Eva Braun
Famous quotes containing the word lifestyle:
“The hippie is the scion of surplus value. The dropout can only claim sanctity in a society which offers something to be dropped out of—career, ambition, conspicuous consumption. The effects of hippie sanctimony can only be felt in the context of others who plunder his lifestyle for what they find good or profitable, a process known as rip-off by the hippie, who will not see how savagely he has pillaged intricate and demanding civilizations for his own parodic lifestyle.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)