The Mitford family had existed since the Middle Ages, long without any particular significance. It was only in the 1930s that the Mitford brothers and sisters entered the headlines, becoming notorious for their scandalous political views.

Each sister drifted in a different direction: one became a National Socialist and an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler. That was Unity, who formed a close relationship with her idol and, between 1935 and 1940, belonged to the inner circles of the Nazi Party.

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Alongside Eva Braun — who, with some exaggeration, might be described as the “principal mistress” — Hitler had several other acquaintances and relationships.

Hitler and Eva Braun met in 1929, when she was only 17 years old and Hitler already 40. He immediately noticed her. Hitler especially sought the company of very young women; he invited them to dinners, took them to the theater and opera, creating the impression of a chivalrous gentleman.

After the death of Geli Raubal in 1931, Eva Braun took over the role of Hitler’s secret companion and lover in 1932. The relationship demanded complete secrecy: Hitler, the “Messiah of the German people,” could not marry — Germany was his bride.

For years, she was treated like a kind of private secretary, though everyone knew she was Hitler’s lover.

Ilse Pröhl came from a national-conservative family. She was one of the three daughters of Friedrich Pröhl, a wealthy Hanoverian physician, and his wife Elsa, née Meineke. Her father was killed during the Kapp Putsch. In March 1920, the Freikorps unit known as the Ehrhardt Brigade with swastikas on their helmets, the uprising or coup d etat led by nationalist politician Wolfgang Kapp and General Walther von Lüttwitz, seized power in Berlin for five days. The coup failed, and during the brigade’s retreat, it carried out a massacre, firing into crowds of protesters. Ilse Hess’s father was killed in this fighting as one of the Freikorps’ “national warriors.” The brigade’s commander, Hermann Ehrhardt, lived undisturbed in Austria’s Waldviertel region only 60 km north from Vienna  until his death in 1971. Whether by coincidence or not, Adolf Hitler’s family also originated from the Waldviertel.

Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels, mother of six children, one of Hitler’s closest confidantes — and the woman who ultimately chose death together with her children in the Führerbunker. “She was the First Lady of the Third Reich — unofficially, but without a doubt within the Nazi propaganda machine — while others might have given that title to Emmy Göring, the second wife of Hermann Göring.”

But how did a well-bred Berlin girl from a strict bourgeois family become the “queen” of National Socialist Germany? Why was she drawn to power, to cult-like political movements, and how did her life intertwine religion, politics, and destructive fanaticism?

Helene Bechstein was not merely the wife of a rich industrialist in the first half of the 20th century, but one of the early and highly influential supporters of the Nazi movement, who, through her personal relationship, had a significant impact on Adolf Hitler’s life and political career. Several historians have pointed out that Helene’s role went far beyond mere financial support: she was the one who introduced the young politician to the world of the social elite, shaped his manners and appearance, and provided him with “maternal” support on numerous occasions.

During the First World War, many women volunteered to provide clothing, hand-knitted socks, food, and cigarettes for soldiers at the front. Hoffmann volunteered and was assigned to a soldier named Adolf Hitler.

This relationship is documented in postcards and letters, proving that she corresponded regularly with Hitler as early as 1914.

Hitler wrote in pencil:

“Dear Madam Director! After the fiercest battles at Geluveld, right on the front line, I was promoted to corporal, and as if by miracle, I remained unharmed. Now we have three days’ leave; it’s time to paint the church at Beselare (Hitler writes ‘Bezeluere’). Once again, heartfelt thanks.” Respectfully, Adolf Hitler, Gefr.”

The philosopher Hannah Arendt spoke of the “growing admiration of the good and wealthy classes for the underworld” in the 19th century. She noted that “this wealthy class gradually yielded to every moral question and began to favor anarchic cynicism.” In simpler terms, an immoral lifestyle and the underworld became fashionable.

This also characterized the fin de siècle period at the end of the 19th century. Arendt pointed out the astonishing affinity between populist right-wing ideology and the ideology of bourgeois society.

Contrary to the claim that he was a man of absolute self-confidence, we know of numerous documented cases in which he displayed the exact opposite behavior. At such times he acted surprisingly helpless, even submissive, as in the 1920s when he met aristocrats and influential people.

But even when he was already in power, for example in encounters with Hindenburg or even Marshal Pétain, his body language expressed helplessness and confusion. Walter Langer, as a psychological expert, noted that he often did not know where to put his hands in such moments.

Hitler made submissive gestures, such as kissing Hindenburg’s hand as though he were a servant. Hanfstaengl recalls situations where Hitler said nothing at all and stammered in nervousness when facing an aristocrat. He had particular difficulty dealing with members of the royal family.

Thus says Hans Frank, Hitler’s personal lawyer, who was a witness from the very beginning and accompanied Hitler. In his analysis of Hitler and the regime in the work Im Angesicht des Galgens (In the Face of the Gallows), Hans Frank recounts how, as a student, he went from one political event to another, and how Hitler’s speeches stood out far above the rest. It was not so much the content that attracted, but the way he spoke, which clearly distinguished him from others.

But not to forget that people mostly saw Hitler through propaganda. Psychologist Walter Langer points out Hitler’s unremarkable appearance. His looks were rather poor, small, unsportsmanlike, disproportionate—he was not the type of legendary hero from the Nibelungen saga, not a Siegfried or an Arminius, the great Hermann, the victor over the Romans, such as the one we can see at the Hermannsdenkmal monument in the Teutoburg Forest, which the Prussians erected in the mid-19th century to demonstrate their new power.

However, in 1924 a crucial turning point came. After the failed Beer Hall Putsch and the trial in Munich, Hitler was imprisoned in the Landsberg fortress. There, behind the prison walls, his self-perception was transformed. According to numerous testimonies, including that of his close associate Rudolf Hess, it was in Landsberg that Hitler ceased to be just an agitator and became something more: “Führer.” It was Hess who first publicly used this title for him, and Hitler accepted it without any resistance.