Scandal and Fall
Göring and Himmler found and opportunity to strike against Blomberg in January 1938, when the general, then 59, married his second wife, Erna Gruhn (1913 - 1978, sometimes referred to as "Eva" or "Margarete"). Blomberg had been a widower since the death of his first wife Charlotte in 1932. Gruhn was a 26-year-old typist and secretary, but the Berlin police had a long criminal file on her and her mother, a former prostitute. Among the reports was information that in 1932 Gruhn had posed for pornographic photos, taken by a Jew with whom she was living at the time.
This was reported to the Gestapo and to Göring (who had served as best man to Blomberg at the wedding). Göring then informed Hitler, who had also been present at the wedding. Hitler ordered Blomberg to annul the marriage in order to avoid a scandal and to preserve the integrity of the army. The forthcoming wedding of Blomberg's daughter Dorothea would also have been threatened by scandal. She was engaged to Leutnant Karl-Heinz Keitel, General Wilhelm Keitel's eldest son. Blomberg refused to repudiate his wife, but when Göring threatened to make her past public knowledge, Blomberg was forced to resign all of his posts to avoid this, which he did on 27 January 1938. His daughter was married in May the same year.
A few days later, Göring and Himmler accused Commander-in-Chief of the Army Werner von Fritsch of being a homosexual. Hitler used these opportunities for major reorganization of the Wehrmacht. Fritsch was later acquitted; together the events became known as the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair.
Blomberg and his wife were subsequently exiled for a year to the isle of Capri. Spending World War II in obscurity, Blomberg was captured by the Allies in 1945, after which time he gave evidence at the Nuremberg Trials. While in detention at Nuremberg, Blomberg died of cancer on 14 March 1946, and was buried without ceremony in an unmarked grave. Later, his remains were cremated and interred in his residence in Bad Wiessee.
Read more about this topic: Werner Von Blomberg
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