Rosa Bernile Nienau
Bernile Nienau with Adolf Hitler, at Berghof, his home in the Bavarian Alps, 20 April 1933[1][lower-alpha 1]
Born
Rosa Bernile Nienau

(1926-04-20)20 April 1926
Dortmund, Germany
Died5 October 1943(1943-10-05) (aged 17)
Munich, Germany
NationalityGerman
TitleThe Führer's child

Rosa Bernile Nienau (20 April 1926 – 5 October 1943), called Bernile, was a German girl who became known as "the Führer's child" because of her close friendship with Adolf Hitler that lasted from 1933 to 1938.[2]

Life

Nienau was born on 20 April 1926,[lower-alpha 2] the daughter of Bernhard Nienau, a physician (1887–1926), and Karoline, a nurse (1892–1962). Her father died shortly before she was born.[3] Nienau, her mother Karoline, and her maternal grandmother Ida (née Morgenstern) Voit (1867-1942) moved to Munich around 1928. Voit, a widow or divorcee,[3] was a Roman Catholic teacher of Jewish descent.

Bernile was one-quarter Jewish, which made her unacceptable under the Nazi regime[2] and subject to persecution. Hitler built Nazi concentration camps to house and exterminate Jews beginning about 1933.[2]

Interaction with Hitler

In the spring of 1933, probably at the instigation of her mother, Bernile, (whose birthday was, like Hitler's, April 20th), pressed to the forefront of the stream of visitors on Obersalzberg to grab Hitler's attention.[1] The fact that Bernile's maternal grandmother and mother were Jewish was already known to Hitler in 1933.[1]

From that contact she and Hitler developed a "friendship" that lasted until 1938. In the Federal Archives in Berlin there are 17 letters which the girl wrote, probably with the help of her mother, between 18 January 1935 and 12 November 1939, to Hitler and his chief aide Wilhelm Brückner. An extract:

Munich, 27 September 1936. Dear Uncle Brückner! Today I have a lot to tell you. During the holidays we were on the Obersalzberg and I was twice allowed to dear Uncle Hitler! Unfortunately, you have never been up. [...] I am already working on the Christmas work. [...] Uncle Hitler I knit some socks again because I asked him if they fit him last year. He said yes! This year I can knit with finer wool, mum only helps me with the heel. They are going to be very warm, and where he always travels so much, his feet will not feel cold. [...] Mummy also sends you greetings and many greetings and kisses from your Bernile!

On 19 April 1938, Hitler's adjutant Fritz Wiedemann described Hitler's disregard for her Jewish ancestry to subordinate party offices as "a purely human attitude toward the child". However, when Martin Bormann got wind of the lack of "German-bloodedness", the girl and her mother were forbidden to appear in Berghof. Hitler learned about it because his personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann complained that Bormann had forbidden him to continue to publish photos showing the Führer as "his child". In his book "Hitler as I Saw Him", Hoffmann writes that Hitler said about Bormann: "There are people who have a true talent to spoil my every joy."[4] While Hoffmann's illustrated book Youth around Hitler which included the photographs of Hitler with Bernile continued to sell, around May 1938 the mother was officially asked to stop any contacts with party leaders.

Death

Bernile, who learned the profession of a technical draftsman, died on 5 October 1943 at 17 in Schwabing Hospital of spinal poliomyelitis. Her grave is located on the Munich West Cemetery.[5][6]

Notes

  1. ↑ The caption for the article printed in The Times of Israel stated that the photograph was taken in 1932.[2] Within the body of the article as well as an article published by the Washington Post, the photograph was said to have been taken Heinrich Hoffmann in 1933 by Heinrich Hoffmann.[1]
  2. ↑ She is said to have been born in Dortmund, but a reliable source is required to add it to the article.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "'The Führer's child': How Hitler came to embrace a girl with Jewish roots". Washington Post. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Winer, Stuart (11 November 2018). "Up for auction: Photo of Hitler embracing young girl he knew was Jewish. Rosa Bernile Nienau became known as the Fuhrer's 'sweetheart'; Nazi leader maintained contact with her until 1938". Times of Israel.
  3. 1 2 Israel, David (15 November 2018). "Photo of Hitler Embracing Child of Jewish Descent Auctioned for $11,520". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  4. ↑ Hoffmann, Heinrich (1974). Hitler wie ich ihn sah. Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotografen. Herbig, München und Berlin. p. 166. ISBN 3-7766-0668-1.
  5. ↑ Bayern - Land und Leute. Lieber guter Onkel Hitler., 27 October 2013
  6. ↑ Dahm, Volker; Feiber, Albert A.; Mehringer, Hartmut; Möller, Horst (2010). Die tödliche Utopie, Bilder, Texte, Dokumente, Daten zum Dritten Reich. Verlag Dokumentation Obersalzberg im Institut für Zeitgeschichte, München und Berlin. p. 127. ISBN 978-3-9814052-0-0.


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