HITLER IN LOVE
It was a Saturday morning when the body was found face down on the floor in the Munich apartment. A bullet wound near the 23-year-old’s heart had killed her, and the 6.35mm Walther pistol lay on the sofa nearby. It had belonged to the man who owned the apartment – a man who was known across Germany and who was beginning to garner attention around the world. His name was Adolf Hitler, and the apparent suicide of his half-niece would change him forever.
The young woman was Geli Raubal, and she had been full of life. A music student, she was known among Hitler’s inner circle as an ‘enchantress’ and a ‘princess’, and the burgeoning politician often had her on his arm at meetings and events, eager to show off his half-sister’s daughter to all who would pay attention. Neither had thought that their relationship would come to such an abrupt, violent end – after all, their affair had started inconspicuously enough.
In 1929, Hitler moved back to Munich, taking a flat on Prinzregentenstraße and bringing Geli along with him. The rumours of a relationship between the two of them skyrocketed, but neither party seemed to care for a while. Ernst Hanfstaengel, a close friend of Hitler’s, commented that Geli was the “one woman in [Hitler’s] life who went some way towards curing his impotence”, and the pair seemed good together. Hitler enjoyed showing his half-niece off, and Geli didn’t mind the attention. The soon-to-be politician even encouraged
