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As the Reich crumbled, the women who had shared the lives and ideals of the Nazi leaders faced their downfall with an uncertain fate.

Ilsa Hess, wife of Rudolph Hess, experienced a destiny marked by separation and solitude following her husband’s decisions.

After the Nuremberg trials, Rudolfph Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment and transferred to Spandow prison, where he remained until his death in 1987.

For Ilsa Hess, this meant a definitive separation, forcing her to face life without her husband while bearing the weight of his absence.

In an attempt to vindicate his memory, Ilsa wrote the book Rudolfph Hessa Devahite, where she defended her husband’s innocence, portraying him as a misunderstood idealist.

On the other hand, Margaretta Himmler, wife of the Reichfura SS, embodied the ideology of the regime in her daily life.

With a somber demeanor and firm manners, Margaret firmly believed in the ideal of racial superiority and even went so far as to declare, “We have built something that the world will never forget.

” Margareta Himmler, the shadow of the Reichkes Furer.

In 1927, Hinrich Himmler embarked on a train journey from Munich to Burkis Garden near the Austrian border.

During this trip, he met Margaretta Sigroth Bowden, a divorced nurse who would later become the mother of his daughter Goodrun.

Margaretta, known as Margar, perfectly embodied the Aryan woman stereotype, tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and Protestant.

In contrast, Himmler was far from the Aryan ideal he promoted.

At 27 years old, he was thin, nearsighted, and had a weak chin.

His frail health prevented him from engaging in sports or enjoying abundant meals, which fueled his insecurity about his physical appearance.

This personal dissatisfaction led him to seek refuge in strict discipline and the use of uniforms, symbols that gave him a sense of authority and control, a relationship rooted in ideology.

In his youth, Himmler had little experience with women and publicly defended sexual abstinence as a virtue.

However, years later, he expressed regret for not having had more relationships during this stage of his life.

His first intimate experience did not occur until he was 28, which contrasted sharply with Margarett’s confidence and physical appeal.

In his attempt to win Margareta over, Himmler shared books with her that reflected his own obsessions, Freemasons, and the supposed Jewish world conspiracy.

In a Germany plagued by economic crisis and prejudice, these ideas found an audience, and Margaret was no exception.

After meeting Himmler, she sold her stake in the clinic where she worked, justifying her decision with the phrase, “A Jew always remains a Jew,” referring to her former business partner.

Although shy, Himmler was persistent in his advances.

He sent her romantic letters, signing them with a peculiar nickname, “Your lands connect,” a term referring to German mercenaries of old.

Lonely, heroic, yet ruthless, Margaret replied with words filled with hope.

“We have to be happy.

” However, their relationship seemed to be built more on affection than passion.

A disapproved Union Margaret, 7 years older than Himmler, was never accepted by his family.

The Himmlas were devout Catholics and she, a divorced Protestant from Prussia, did not fit their rigid social standards.

Additionally, her nervous personality and awkwardness in social events fueled their prejudices.

Himmler’s mother even wondered whether Margaret would damage the family’s reputation.

Despite family disapproval, the couple married on July 3rd, 1928 in Berlin Shernburgg without any Himmler family members in attendance.

A little over a year later on August 8th, 1929, their daughter Goodran was born.

With blue eyes and an angelic appearance, Goodrun, affectionately called Pupy, became the center of her father’s attention.

Himmler, fascinated by Germanic literature, likely chose the name Goodrun as a tribute to the saga of Goodrun, a story glorifying the virtues of the Nordic woman idealized as worthy of male sacrifice.

A family strained by absence.

After Goodrun’s birth, Margaretta could no longer have children, leading the couple to adopt a boy, the son of a deceased SS soldier.

However, the child never found warmth in his new family.

Margareta described him in her diary as a liar, a thief, and of criminal nature.

Soon after, they sent him to boarding school and later to Anapula, institutions meant to train the Reich’s elite.

Meanwhile, Goodrren met all expectations, Margaretta describing her daughter as affectionate and gentle, frequently wrote in her diary about how marvelous her poopy was.

However, family life was far from idyllic.

In 1928, after studying aronomy at the University of Munich, Himmler invested Margaret’s dowy in a chicken farm in Waltaring on the outskirts of Munich.

Both Himmler and Margaret had romanticized the idea of rural life, but reality proved disappointing.

The chickens barely laid eggs, the chicks frequently died, and the farm soon fell into financial ruin.

The burden of managing the failing farm fell entirely on Margareta, who also spent most of her time alone with Goodren.

Meanwhile, Himmler, obsessed with his political ambitions, was constantly absent.

This isolation and financial difficulty took a toll on Margaret, who became irritable and aggressive.

From domestic struggles to political power in 1933, after selling the farm, the family moved to central Munich.

By then, Himmler had already ascended within the Nazi party.

Once seen by his colleagues as a good man, but probably inconsistent, he had now risen to control the Reich’s police apparatus.

In 1936, he was appointed chief of the German police, consolidating his power as Reich’s Furer SS.

Described by Albert Shpear as a school teacher mixed with a madman harboring bizarre ideas, Himmler used his obsession with racial purity as a way to compensate for his insecurities.

That same year, the family moved to Tegan in Upper Bavaria, where Himmler had bought a house in 1934.

However, his responsibilities within the party only grew, and his presence at home became increasingly rare, leaving Margaret and Goodran alone in a household where the father figure was now just a distant shadow.

The shift in Himmler’s views on monogamy.

As his life progressed, Himmler radically changed his stance on sexuality, marking a stark contrast with his once strict views on abstinence.

Although he acknowledged that Margareta was not at fault for not giving him more children, he refused to accept the limitations of monogamy.

Margaret Himmler, the shadow of the Reichfura.

For Himmler, monogamy was an invention of the Catholic Church, a work of Satan that needed to be abolished.

He justified his beliefs with an idealized vision of Germanic prehistory in which a nobleman could have multiple wives to ensure his lineage.

Himmler extended these ideas within the SS, allowing officers with marital issues to divorce or even cohabit with a second wife.

He believed that a man should not be limited to a single partner for life and saw polygamy as both a personal and collective solution.

The influence of Nazi leaders on Himmler’s views.

Some Nazi leaders shared these beliefs.

For example, Joseph Gerbles had an agreement with his wife allowing extrammarital affairs.

Martin Borman promoted a lifestyle where his wife accepted his mistresses and raised all their children together under one roof.

The Lebansborn program and Himmler’s social engineering.

In this context, Himmler created broader projects such as the Lebansborn program founded in 1847 1936.

These centers were designed to encourage child birth among Aryan women, offering a safe place for single mothers while keeping their maternity a secret.

These initiatives aimed to counteract the low birth rate that concerned the regime.

Himmler even considered legalizing and encouraging births outside of marriage.

At the same time, he sought to combat homosexuality, organizing social gatherings for teenagers to promote heterosexual attraction at an early age.

During a 1937 speech, he stated that adolescents should have the opportunity to fall in love through activities like dance classes, as this would ensure their normal development.

Himmler as a devoted father.

Despite his brutality, despite his liberal views on sexuality and his growing political responsibilities, Himmler remained a devoted father.

Although he separated from Margareta in 1940, he never officially divorced her, partly out of respect, but mostly to preserve his bond with his beloved daughter, Goodrun.

Himmler maintained constant communication with Goodren, whom he affectionately called Poopy.

The blonde, angelic-faced child embodied the Aryan ideal and was her father’s pride.

Despite his numerous travels, Himmler made efforts to be present in his daughter’s life, sending her photos, letters, and calling her frequently.

Even within his busy schedule, he recorded every phone conversation with his family, reflecting a paternal dedication that starkly contrasted with his role in the horrors of the Nazi regime, Himmler’s downfall, and Margaretta’s isolation.

When Hinrich Himmler was captured in 1945, he firmly declared, “My name is Hinrich Himmler.

Shortly after, he died suddenly while in British custody.

Although medical personnel attempted to assist him, they could not save him.

” Thus ended the life of one of the most feared men of the Third Reich.

Margareta Himmler from power to anonymity.

For Margaretta Himmler, May 1945 marked a dramatic turning point.

Until that moment, she had been the wife of one of Nazi Germany’s most powerful figures, protected by status and privilege.

However, with the fall of the regime, her world crumbled.

On July 13th, 1945, Margaret gave an interview to Anne Stringer, a journalist from United Press.

She admitted knowing about her husband’s role as Gestapo chief and expressed pride in him.

She also declared that in Germany a wife would never be questioned about her husband’s actions.

When asked about the recent events and Himmler’s death, Margaret reacted with an unsettling coldness.

She merely crossed her hands and shrugged, showing an indifference that shocked the journalist.

Stringer described her as a cold woman, almost devoid of emotion, incapable of showing any impact from the collapse of the Nazi regime or the loss of her husband.

For Margaret, the world she had known had fallen apart.

Yet her words and demeanor suggested a complete detachment from the human and political consequences of that moment.

Detention, fear, and survival.

After the war, until November 1946, Margareta Himmler and Goodran were held in camp 77 for women in Ludvigburg as part of the denazification process.

When the camp commander offered her release, Margaretta refused to leave.

She had no money, feared being lynched, and had nowhere to go.

Eventually, a pastor named Bodleswing took them in at a Protestant convent hospice where they were registered as mentally unstable individuals to avoid detection.

During their stay, the nuns tried to bond with Goodren, but the child remained distant and unwavering in her beliefs.

She repeatedly declared, “I want to remain like my father.

” Despite Himmler having abandoned the church in adulthood, he prayed with his daughter every night, a habit that left a lasting impression on Goodren.

The nuns observed that the girl never displayed any emotion, no tears, no laughter.

Both Margaret and Goodran remained at the convent until 1952 when they finally left to start a new chapter in their lives.

Margaret’s struggles in postwar Germany.

Margaret faced immense challenges reintegrating into postwar German society.

She survived on a small pension and financial support from former SS comrades.

She kept a low public profile, making no major appearances, nor offering staunch defenses of the Nazi era.

However, she never expressed regret for her actions or those of her husband.

Historical debate.

How much did Margaret know? Historians continue to debate the extent of Margaret’s knowledge and culpability regarding Nazi crimes.

For example, Peter Longerik suggests she likely did not know the official secrets of Hinrich Himmler, but she was undoubtedly a fervent nationalist and anti-semite.

Jurgen Matos agrees, adding that she benefited economically from her husband’s work.

The final years of Margareta Himmler.

Margaretta Himmler died in Munich on August 25th, 1967 at 73 years old.

She spent her final years attempting to remain anonymous, suffering from heart disease and diabetes.

Her legacy remains one of silent complicity, a woman who embraced the ideology of the Reich, yet tried to fade into the background as history condemned its leaders.

Henrietto von Shiraak, the wife of the Reich’s guardian.

The fate of Balddor Fonak’s wife is without a doubt a unique case.

Although she never condemned Hitler or Nazi policies, Henrieton Shiraak is remembered as one of the few women who openly confronted the Furer.

A childhood in Hitler’s inner circle, Henriette was born on February 3rd, 1913 as Henrietta Hoffman.

She was the daughter of Hinrich Hoffman, Hitler’s personal photographer, which meant she knew the Furer from an early age and grew up within the inner circle of Nazi leaders.

Her home became a meeting point for members of the Nazi party and Hitler was a frequent visitor.

A marriage at the heart of the Nazi regime.

In 1932, at just 19 years old, Henriette married Balddor von Shiraak, a promising Nazi official who was climbing the ranks of the regime.

The Furer himself served as a witness to their wedding, which took place in one of his private apartments.

This cemented the voner couple’s status as one of the exemplary families of the Nazi elite.

They had four children, three daughters, and a son, and lived a life of wealth, influence, and luxury.

Henriette briefly worked as Hitler’s secretary, while Balddor held key positions in the Nazi regime, first as Reich youth leader, Reich’s Yugand Fura, and later as Gowiter, regional leader in Vienna.

the confrontation with Hitler.

However, in 1943, a pivotal moment changed Henriette’s life forever.

While in Amsterdam, she witnessed the brutal deportation of Jews.

Shaken by what she saw, she decided to confront Hitler himself, believing that her long-standing relationship with him would allow her to persuade him to stop the violence.

Her confidence was misplaced.

During a meeting at Hitler’s vacation residence in Burgof, she pleaded with him to show mercy.

Hitler reacted with fury.

That is the last thing I need to have you come to me with such sentimental nonsense.

Why do you care about these Jewish women? Immediately after this explosive exchange, Hitler expelled the Vonuraks from his inner circle, cutting all ties with them.

From that moment on, her family’s privileged position within the Reich was lost.

The aftermath, interrogation and divorce.

After the fall of the Third Reich, Henrietta and her husband were interrogated during the Nuremberg trials.

Balddorf von Shurak was sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity and sent to Spandow prison.

While her husband served his sentence, Henriette faced the fate common to many Nazi wives after the war.

Her wealth was gone.

Her properties were confiscated.

Her family name became a symbol of a criminal regime.

For a time, she was held in a prisoner camp where she was forced to clean toilets using banners of the Hitler Youth, the organization her husband had once led.

Unlike many Nazi wives, Henriette did not remain loyal to her husband.

She divorced Balddorf von Shiraak in 1949 while he was still imprisoned and later remarried.

Legal battles and attempts at rehabilitation.

Despite her separation from the Nazi elite, Henriette fought legal battles to reclaim certain assets, particularly artworks confiscated after the war, she managed to recover some pieces from the Bavarian state painting collections, even though many of them had been looted from deported Jewish families.

In 1958, she traveled to London to meet with British foreign minister Selwin Lloyd.

Her goal was to request a reduction in Balder’s sentence, claiming that he was by no means a criminal, but rather an idealist who was too good for politics.

Her plea was denied.

A writer and defender of the Nazi legacy, Henriette spent her later years writing books sharing her memories of the Nazi era.

She published three works which were met with widespread criticism.

One, The Price of Glory, 1956.

Two, Anecdotes About Hitler, 1980.

Three.

Women Around Hitler, 1983.

In her books, she depicted Hitler as a warm-hearted Austrian, a description that sparked outrage among historians and the public.

Unrepentant until the end, Henriette von Shiraak died on January 18th, 1992.

Having never condemned Hitler, her husband, or the Nazi ideology, she remains a controversial figure, remembered not for her opposition to Hitler, but rather for her unwillingness to acknowledge the crimes of the regime.

Ilsa Hess, the wife of the Nazi ideologue.

Ilsa Hess was a devoted wife, unwavering in her support for her husband even in the most difficult times.

A staunch defender of national socialism, she was born Ilsa Pru in Hanover in 1900.

Raised in a conservative nationalist family, her political views were shaped early on, significantly influencing her future.

Meeting Rudolfph Hess and their rise in the Nazi party, Ilsa met Rudolfph Hess in 1920 while studying economics at the University of Munich.

They quickly bonded over their shared ideology and soon began a romantic relationship.

Both became early members of the Nazi party, integrating into Hitler’s inner circle from the start.

By late 1927, they were married in a ceremony that was both a political and ideological statement.

As Rudolfph Hess’s influence within the Nazi movement grew, Ilsa enjoyed the privileges that came with her husband’s rising status.

The height of power.

When Hitler rose to power, Hess was rewarded for his unwavering loyalty.

In 1933, he was appointed deputy furer, becoming Hitler’s closest confidant until 1941.

During this time, the Hess family lived in luxury in Munich, surrounded by other high-ranking Nazi officials and their families.

They frequently hosted private gatherings with Nazi leaders.

In 1937, Ilsa gave birth to their son, Wolf Rudiger Hess, whose godfather was Adolf Hitler himself.

a quiet presence among Nazi wives.

Despite her proximity to power, Ilsa Hess did not seek the spotlight.

Unlike Magda Gerbles or Emmy Guring, who competed for influence within the Nazi elite, Ilsa preferred a lower profile.

However, this changed dramatically in 1941 when Rudolph Hess was declared a traitor.

Betrayal and isolation.

In May 1941, Hess secretly flew to the United Kingdom on an unauthorized mission to negotiate peace with the British.

The British arrested him immediately and Hitler, enraged, expelled him from the Nazi party.

With her husband imprisoned and disgraced, Ilsa was left completely alone, forced to defend his reputation within Nazi circles.

Postwar struggles and defending Rudolfph Hess.

After the fall of the Third Reich, Rudolfph Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Nuremberg trials.

Meanwhile, Ilsa lost all her wealth and privileges, but she never wavered in her support for her husband.

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