PowerPoint Show by Andrew

♫ Turn on Speakers

These photographs from Eva Braun's personal picture albums reveal new dimensions of the woman who was Adolf Hitler's longtime girlfriend and, in their last, frantic hours together, his wife.

By all accounts, Eva was an unpretentious companion for the Nazi leader, but also a woman at once frivolous and vain -- unsurprising characteristics, perhaps, in a former teenage model, but striking in a figure long associated with the darkest chapters of the 20th century.

Eva and her sister Ilse in a childhood photo, 1913. In later life, Ilse worked for -- and had a relationship with -- a Jewish surgeon, Dr. Martin Levy Marx, until he emigrated to the United States in 1938.

Nine-year-old Eva Braun (second from right), with some of her classmates at the Beilngries convent school Beilngries, Germany, 1922.

"My first carnival costume" wrote Braun underneath this 1928 photo.

Eva Braun sitting on a table in the living room at her parent's house in Munich, Germany, 1929.

She was staying with her family after finishing her education at a trade school; later that year, she met Hitler at Hoffmann's photo studio.

The shop that hired her belonged to Hitler’s personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann. Eva Braun first met Hitler in October of 1929, when she was only 17 years old and had just begun working there. There was an instant attraction between the two of them and he was introduced to her under a false name.

She called him Mr. Wolf in diary entries, and in a letter to her sister describing her first encounter with her new crush 23-years her senior. Even after she was told his real name and about his work in politics she was completely clueless and simply stated that she didn’t follow politics.

Eva Braun and an unidentified friend at a house party in Munich, 1935.

By all accounts Braun enjoyed these parties and frequently dressed up for them during carnival.

She also liked to smoke but only when Hitler was not around.

This 1937 photo of Braun was titled "Me as Al Jolson" and depicts her in blackface as the American actor and singer in his role in The Jazz Singer.

Braun was a fan of American movies, including Gone with the Wind.

Eva Braun in a rowboat on Lake Worthsee near Munich in 1937.

Eva Braun (left) and friends on vacation in Bad Godesberg, Germany, 1937.

Eva Braun (far right-rear) celebrates carnival time at her parents house in Munich, Germany, 1938. Among the group are her mother Franziska Katharina (center) and her sisters Ilse and Margarethe.

Braun in her bathing suit near Berchtesgaden, Germany, 1940.

Behind the umbrella, 1940.

Hitler disapproved of some of Braun's habits such as smoking, wearing makeup, skinny dipping, and nude sunbathing.

Here, Braun, in a bathing suit, relaxes by Konigssee lake in 1940.

Eva Braun (far right) with her parents, Friedrich "Fritz" and Franziska, and her sisters Ilse (left) and Gretl, 1940.

Eva may not have been a decision maker where the criminal acts of the Nazi party were concerned, but she was an important part of Hitler’s inner circle. While she was completely uninterested in politics, her loyalty to Hitler earned her a strong position in the hierarchy. In fact, Albert Speer and Joseph Goebbels worked hard to gain her favor and get closer to Hitler. Some even claimed if Eva Braun didn’t like someone, they wouldn’t be invited to Berghof, Hitler's home in the Alps.

Eva was quite the shutterbug and her photography was used to create an image of Hitler that simply wasn’t true. She amassed quite the collection of photos and film of Hitler, and creepily enough they portrayed him as a normal, caring person.

She took portraits of Hitler with the children of family friends and shot home movies that depicted him as a family man. Eva captured it all and perhaps these staged photographs are how she truly saw him or what she’d hoped he could be.

Braun filming with her 16mm camera in 1942. Occasionally, she shot with color film which, years later, proved invaluable to historians as it offered an inside view of Hitler and his entourage.

Eva attempted suicide near the end of 1932. She took one of her father’s pistols and shot herself in the chest. She missed her heart and when found she insisted that Hitler’s personal doctor treat her. The fact that she insisted on Hitler’s doctor led people to believe she only did it to get Hitler’s attention and sympathy. It worked. Hitler came rushing to her side with gifts, apologies, and promises.

Eva attempted suicide yet again in May of 1935, by taking sleeping pills. Found scribbled in her diary was, “God, I’m afraid he won’t answer today. I’ve decided on 35 pills this time and it’s going to really be a 'dead certain' business.

If only he would have somebody call.” That second attempt on her own life earned her a three bedroom villa from her "Wolf," and by 1936 they were living together in Hitler’s Berghof chalet in the Bavarian Alps.

Eva Braun sits on the terrace at Berghof, Hitler's home in the Alps, 1942. A photography buff, she took many photos of daily life at Berghof; note the camera by her side. But her life would not long remain so idyllic.

Braun and Hitler's German shepherd in 1942.

Eva Braun (left) and her younger sister Margarethe "Gretl" Braun in 1943.

By the end of the war and the end of her life, Eva was exactly where she wanted to be and with the man she loved. She truly believed in Hitler and had proven more than once that she was willing to die for him. He rewarded her loyalty and the pair finally got married.

Hitler believed he was surrounded by traitors and Eva fed his delusions. She fully supported the idea of him dying a “hero’s death,” rather than end up at the mercy of his enemies.

Some sources claim that even Albert Speer and Martin Bormann began to fear her in those final days—she wanted to die in that bunker with Hitler.

On April 28, 1945, Hitler had Eva Braun’s brother-law killed. Hermann Fegelein was found drunk, trying to flee Germany, and in the possession of stolen goods from Berlin. He was also in the company of a woman that was not Eva’s sister. Apparently, the woman escaped out of a window when Nazis arrived to haul Fegelein off to Hitler’s bunker. Hitler decided this mystery woman must have been a spy and had Fegelein dragged out and shot. Hitler and Eva were married a few hours later and instead of going on a honeymoon they committed suicide the next day, April 30, 1945. She was only 33 years old.