Eva Braun

The following day, in the late afternoon, as the two reclined at the study, a gunshot was heard. It was later found that she had bitten into a cyanide capsule and he had shot himself in the right temple with his pistol. The two were burned in the garden behind the Reich Chancellery.

The ashes were secretly buried at the SMERSH compound in Magdeburg, East Germany, along with the bodies of Joseph and Magda Goebbels and their six children

Eva Braun was one of the three sister siblings born to Friedrich ‘Fritz’ Braun and Franziska ‘Fanny’ Kronberger in Munich. She was the second girl child of the couple. While her father was a school teacher, her mother worked as a seamstress prior to being a homemaker.

She completed her formal education at the Catholic lyceum before enrolling at the Convent of the English Sisters in Simbach am Inn, a business school, for a year.

After completing her education, she took up work as a shop assistant and sales clerk at the office of Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer for the Nazi Party. No sooner, she learned the art of photography - learning the basics of clicking photographs and developing them.

She first met Hitler at the Hoffman’s studio in October 1929. The popular Nazi leader was introduced to her as ‘Herr Wolff’.

The death of Hitler’s half-niece with whom he lived in an apartment in Munich drew Hitler towards her. However, in 1932, she tried to kill herself by committing suicide. Luckily, she failed and the incident led Hitler to become more committed towards her.

Meanwhile, things at the professional front also bettered as she was promoted as a photographer for Hoffman. This led her to indulge in travel with Hitler's entourage, as a photographer for the NSDAP. During these travels, she was accompanied by Hoffmann.

In 1935, she, for the second time, attempted suicide by taking in several sleeping pills. The reason behind the move was insufficient time Hitler had for her. She, however, recovered later and started spending time with Hitler at his household at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden whenever he was in residence there.

In 1935, she attended the Nuremberg Rally for the first time as a member of the Hoffman’s staff. Later in her career she worked for Hoffman's art press.

The fact that she was a companion and later wife of Adolf Hitler, remained a well-guarded secret until their death.