Arthur “Willi” Kannenberg about Hitler and Eva Braun.
Hitler refused to marry his blonde mistress, Eva Braun, says Arthur Kannenberg. Kannenberg was Hitler’s butler at Berchtesgaden. He and his wife, Frieda, 
who was one of Hitler’s housekeepers, were captured on 01 June 1945.
Kannenberg told the 
Herald-Tribune 
correspondent that Hitler refused to marry Eva Braun because he was “spiritually wedded to the German people.”
Hitler took elaborate, but futile, precautions to keep his association with Eva Braun a secret from the German people.
Kannenburg added. 
“Hitler loved Eva Braun with all the passion of an older man who seeks to find his youth again in someone young and beautiful,” Kannenberg said. “He was always faithful to her. He had every chance to have affairs with women, but he remained true to his ‘Evi.’ He spoke to her gently, as a father to his child, in a soft bubbling voice, calling her ‘My little Evi.’ She called him ‘Adolf’ or “Adi’ on occasions, but in front of us, it was always ‘der Chef’ or ‘der Führer.’ 
“Frequently I turned off the electric lights at Berchtesgaden, lit candles, and played softly on my accordian for Hitler and his little Evi.”
Freida Kannenberg said Eva Braun had “natural light blonde hair, a finely-molded face, large blue eyes, a sporty and lovely figure and exceptionally beautiful legs.”
She added: “Hitler always insisted that Eva dress modestly and restrainedly but he did not always have his way. Eva loved elegance. She had several expensive coats, and used perfume. He strongly disapproved of that.’
Although Hitler would allow none of his henchmen to smoke near him, Eva was almost a chain-smoker 
. “Hitler drank nothing but water, and later during the war, a specially brewed low-alcohol content beer. But Eva drank champagne almost every night, to help her sleep,” said Frau Kannenberg.
“Eva always joined Hitler in his study when he called her to have a cup of herb tea or hot milk before he went to bed. But she drank champagne. The lovers had a carefree time at Berchtesgaden. They had snow fights in winter time and played table tennis on rainy afternoons. No one was allowed to photograph any of this, for Hitler thought this was not ‘Führer’ behavior. 
“Hitler wasn’t keen on these games. He thought them frivolous. But he played just the same because Eva wanted to.” Asked about Hitler’s friendship with the Hon. Unity Mitford-Freeman 
, daughter of Lord Redesdale 
, Frieda Kannenberg said: “Hitler was attracted by Unity, but he did not love her as he did Eva. Eva was his great love. Hitler never was intimate with Unity Mitford.”
When asked whether the Führer was abnormal with women, Frau Kannenberg denied it.
“Hitler loved women and feminine beauty. Eva was a real beauty and it was obvious to us he adored her. They behaved very normally, though restrained. Physical displays of affection were to be avoided. However, the Führer would sometimes feed her cake with his hands, stroke her arm and they held hands as a matter of course.“
Herr Kanneberg made similar denials of any abnormality.
“Hitler and Eva were a normal couple, but of course, had to hide that from outsiders. It was only in his close circle that they would be affectionate. I never saw them kiss or embrace, for that was reserved for behind closed doors. His eyes would light up when she walked into the room and there was never any question that Eva loved him with her whole heart.”
Eva Braun was only 17 when she met Adolf Hilter in 1929, and 33 when she joined her husband of only a few hours on the sofa in a sitting room of the Führerbunker, deep beneath the war-torn streets of Berlin. On April 30, 1945, with the vengeful Soviet Red Army just a few blocks away, the two committed suicide, Hitler with a pistol shot to the temple, and Eva by biting down on a cyanide capsule.
Leave a Reply