Inside the Berghof
Elisabeth Kahlammer in 2014. |
In Hitler's case, he had a whole passel of young women - nurses, secretaries, maids, Eva Braun - around until things went south, and in some cases, they stuck around even after he committed suicide. As these support staffs reach the end of their lives in the 2000s - the ones, obviously, who survived, unlike Braun - they have had an occasional tendency to step forward and tell their stories (though many took their stories to the grave, too).
Telling all as they get older is not a new phenomenon for the Hitler girls. It was done, for instance, by daredevil aviatrix Hanna Reitsch in the 1970s. Reitsch, realizing her days were running short (she died a few years later), donned her Third Reich medals with pride in 1976, put on a broad smile and gave a lengthy filmed interview heavy on her experiences as a test pilot but woefully short on her interactions with Hitler. You can hear the pride in her voice as she talks about the Third Reich. Reitsch was the poster child for unrepentant former members of the regime.
It has taken much longer for most of the other girls in the bunker to reach that point, though. Only in the 2000s did many of these young girls of the 1940s reach that age where they felt comfortable popularizing their Hitler experiences because their own years were running short. Unfortunately, they, too, like Reitsch, tend to have little of significance to say about Hitler personally, though they give some interesting background color.
Perhaps the bakery closed in 1943 because the owner entered the military. Or, perhaps the Germans simply closed the bakery because "unnecessary" shops were wasting resources. They did this increasingly as the war dragged on, particularly right after the Stalingrad defeat in February 1943 when Joseph Goebbels launched his "Total War" campaign.
Whatever the cause, in 1943 (apparently early in the year) Elisabeth needed a job. Extremely naïve, Kalhammer innocently answered an ad for a job in Berchtesgaden:
Maid wanted. Location: The Berghof on the Obersalzberg.Berchtesgaden was about 130 km by car to the southwest, a long distance in those days, but a girl had to eat. In any event, it was a live-in position with room and board. Against her mother's opposition (why her mother objected is unclear, but probably simply because 19-year-old girls in that culture were supposed to stay at home until they got married), Elisabeth took the job. Kalhammer claims that she beat out "thousands" of other girls, or at least she was told that.
Kalhammer only realized later that she would be working for Herr Hitler in the laundry and sewing rooms. Perhaps the three SS guard posts through which she had to pass on her first day was a tip-off? There were 21 other maids on staff, all sworn to secrecy, and one can tell from how long they have kept their silence how serious they were about that promise.
It is important not to overstate Kalhammer's importance. Anyone looking for insights into Hitler's 1944 Ardennes strategy or the response to D-Day is sure to be disappointed by the likes of Kalhammer. She claims never to have met the man or spoken to him, only to have seen him through the window or perhaps while going about her duties. Anyone who has worked on a modern-day yacht of a wealthy dilettante would know the routine: once Kalhammer broke a cup and was disciplined harshly. That's how it was then, and how it is now. Actually, now the servant who broke a cup likely would be fired. Kalhammer was only grounded for a week, like a little girl. So, if you've ever worked on such a ship, your boss likely was worse than Hitler.
Kalhammer's major contribution to history? That Hitler enjoyed eating a special ‘Fuhrer Cake’ – an apple cake strewn with nuts and raisins – at night. This comports with a general understanding that Hitler liked to stay up late and sleep in, and he liked late-night snacks after his daily midnight war briefing. He went to bed at 4 a.m. and rarely got up before 2 p.m. Service staff like Kalhammer were not permitted to speak to Hitler or listen in on his conversations, much like modern-day pop stars who order the little people not to look them in the eye. Some folks put a great deal of stock in Kalhammer's recollection that Hitler liked to sleep late, but that fact already was very well known.
So, we get some trivia you won't find elsewhere. Another tidbit from Kalhammer is that Hitler's girlfriend Eva Braun ran the Berghof like an empress and that the staff greeted Braun with "Heil M’lady’, kind of an odd form of greeting. Obviously, Braun did not mingle with the servants. Kalhammer liked Braun, who turned out to be a big fan of propaganda actress Marika Roekk. Braun wasn't quite as popular later in the Berlin bunker, where people resented her presence as people will when powerful people lose power. But, in Berchtesgaden, Eva Braun ruled the roost.
Kalhammer worked at the Berghof for two years - until it was bombed into rubble at the very end of the war - and then disappeared into the mists of history like all the other girls. She probably lived thereafter at her parents' home until she got married. Hey, steady work is good to find even when your world is collapsing around you! She did not make it to Berlin for the bunker scene, there was a completely separate support staff there. But at least Kalhammer made this final effort to tell her story and is to be commended for that.
2019
Dear Mr. Bjorkman, Please do consider the following aides of Hitler for your future photographic essays - (a) Heinrich Hoffman - Hitler's personal Photographer, (b) Hans Baur - Hitler's personal Pilot, (c) Erich Kempka - Hitler's personal Driver and (d) Dr. Theodore Morell - Hitler's personal Doctor. I am very sure you will be able to unearth many rare photographs and bring to light various aspects of Hitler's peculiar personality for aficionados of your site. Regards, Raja
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions, Raja. I do have a couple of pictures of them scattered about here and there, but they each deserve more attentions. I will give them more attention in future posts. James
DeleteIn an interview I watched Kalhammer indicates that Mauthausen was located near the village she came from.
ReplyDeleteCan you clarify whether or not she was located near Mauthausen per se or one of its many sub-camps and, if so, what was done to prisoners at that camp before she was hired to work at Berghof?
Hello, I added some details along those lines to the extent that I know them. Thanks for asking.
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