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Karl Wilhelm Krause (1911-2001) was Hitler’s valet from 1934-1939. An interview with Krause discussing his boss Hitler was once available on Youtube but has since been removed by the Juden and shabbos commissars who moderate that Jew-owned platform.
Krause also wrote a fascinating book about his experiences working for Hitler in 1949, 10 Jahre Tag und Nacht Kammerdiener bei Hitler (10 Years Day and Night as Hitler’s Valet.) The book offers valuable insight into Adolf Hitler as a private man. Inexplicably, it never been translated into an English edition, though a new German edition (titled Im Schatten der Macht Kammerdiener bei Hitler) appeared a few years ago. There existed only a partial English translation of select excerpts from the book, the labour of an American researcher who ran the "Adolf Hitler Photos and Historical Info" blog hosted on putschgirl.tumblr.com, until that blog was wiped from the Internet by the usual culprits.
The good news is, when (((they))) delete and censor the work of legitimate researchers from mainstream social media sites, curious goyim will discover and obtain their Hitler facts from this forum, nationalvanguard.org, stormfront.org, foum.codoh.info and nseuropa.org instead.
This is putschgirl's translation of Krause’s chapter on Hitler’s life in Berlin (taken from Zehn Jahre Kammerdiener bei Hitler, pages 12-21, Karl Wilhelm Krause, 1949). Hitler usually spent 9 days a month in Berlin and much preferred being in either Munich or the Obersalzberg.
Before Hitler would go to be at night, he would always tell me what time I should awaken him. His words would be, “wake me up at 8:30,” for instance. I would always put messages and telegrams that came in during the evening on a stool right outside his bedroom. Hitler would always say to me at night before retiring, “Good night!” Oftentimes he would also shake my hand. My answer would always be, “Good night! Have a pleasant sleep.”
Hitler always locked himself into his room at night. In Berlin, his quarters were on the first floor of the old Reich Chancellery and consisted of a work room, a library, his own bathroom and his bedroom.
When I had to awaken Hitler in Berlin, I would go up to the door of his bedroom, knock quietly and then await his answer. I would say something like, “Good morning, mein Führer! It is 8:30 a.m.!” (or 9:00, whatever the time was). Hitler would answer one of three ways: “thanks!” or “thank you” or “thank you very much.” His greeting depended on his mood.
Then I prepared his breakfast, which never changed. Hitler’s breakfast always consisted of two cups of warm milk, 10 pieces of Leibniz cookies and a chocolate bar. I would heat his milk up myself with a little apparatus in the kitchen.
Hitler’s morning routine really never varied. It always took him 22 to 23 minutes each morning to get himself ready. During that time, he took a bath, shaved himself and dressed himself. Hitler always took that exact amount of time each morning while in Berlin. He would emerge from his private rooms as he was putting on his jacket.
Hitler always shaved himself. In the years I was with him from 1934-1939, nobody else ever shaved him. He was very particular about shaving. He always used two blades, one for each cheek. He also used two different razors, one for the “pre-shave” and one for the “after shave,” as he explained to me.
His soap was Steckenpferd-Lilienmilch, his shaving cream was Peri, his skin cream was Pfeilring, his cologne 4711 and his shampoo was Dr. Dralles Birkenwasser. He used Odol mouthwash and also used pine needle tablets in his bath. His Deodorant was Mum which we procured from the British embassy in Berlin.
After breakfast, which he ate alone and while standing up, Hitler would come out of his private rooms and greet me. It usually happened that he greeted me first. My greeting was always, “Good morning, mein Führer!” If I wasn’t in a good mood, I might only say “Morning!” His response to me was “good morning!” or sometimes just “Heil!”
When Hitler was eating breakfast, he read the morning newspapers and any telegrams or letters which I left on the stool outside his bedroom. He would also peruse the lunch menu, which I always laid out for him. He would get nervous if foreigners or ladies were present. He would be very particular about the table appointments, salad dressing and things like that.
After that, Hitler went downstairs to begin his official day. I opened up all the doors for him, that was part of my job. Then the two chambermaids would come and clean his bedroom. I also entered his rooms and changed the razor blades in his razors.
At lunch, Hitler usually had the same old faces there. Speer, Goebbels and Werlin [a director of Mercedes Benz] were often there. Hitler would greet them all with a handshake and always say, “How are you? What’s new?” Sometimes foreign guests would be invited, but not often. Most of them were always extremely fascinated with Hitler’s arresting blue eyes. Many people thought Hitler had a very interesting stare. It was much commented upon.
For instance, in 1934, British politician Anthony Eden came to Berlin to meet Hitler. After 20 minutes, he suddenly got up from the table and went into an anteroom. He told me through an interpreter, “I had to get up and out of there. If I spent 20 more minutes with Hitler, I could convert to being a Nazi!”
Women were especially enthusiastic about Hitler and made their interests known. But men were definitely not immune from his charm either. The race car driver Carraciola said to me once that he’d rather drive 300 km an hour than be alone with Hitler. His charm was too intense. When Hitler heard this, he was much amused.
The person in Berlin who Hitler seemed to enjoy the most was probably Dr. Goebbels. At least in the early days. One day Goebbels came to lunch and jokingly told him he had heard from the American ambassador that Roosevelt wanted to meet him. Hitler said, “Well, Herr Doktor, you will have to decide whether to go or not.” Goebbels immediately said, “no, no, I will remain here.”
Hitler and Goebbels joked around a lot together. Hitler loved telling one particular story. It happened in 1931 and Hitler was scheduled to give a speech in Berlin. The entrance price to the hall was 60 Pfennigs. At the last moment, Hitler had to cancel the speech and Goebbels was forced to take his place as the main speaker. The entrance fee was then lowered to 30 Pfennigs. Hitler would sometimes shush Goebbels at the table and say, “you have to be quiet, my little Doktor (Doktorchen), you’re only worth half of me!”
Göring showed up sometimes and Hitler made fun of his fancy uniforms and medals. But Göring could make Hitler laugh and was allowed to tell some political jokes which Hitler liked. Early on he was also close to Julius Streicher, but they later had a falling out. I heard him say once to him, “You and your damned Stürmer can get to packing!”
In the early years in Berlin, Hitler would usually go and drink coffee and eat cakes at the Hotel Kaiserhof. We always had a corner table reserved. The bodyguards would walk over there, but Hitler would go with me and a few adjutants by car. Goebbels and Goering took part in this routine, though they were seldom together. Hitler and Goebbels liked to discuss movies, primarily.
Hitler very rarely wore a uniform during these coffee hours, and just wore a suit. The coffee interlude generally lasted from 5:00-7:00, then we went back to the Reich Chancellery and prepared for dinner. Oftentimes film stars, opera singers and pretty women were invited for dinner.
Afterwards one or two films were shown. Hitler selected the titles himself from the Propaganda Ministry. They were usually American films. Sometimes Hitler disliked the movie and it had to be stopped. “Get rid of it! What nonsense!! Next!” (”Abbrechen! So ‘n Quatsch! Den nachsten!“)
Adolf Hitler saw every single film made in Germany or America from 1933 until the outbreak of the war. He watched 1-2 films every single evening unless we were travelling or an emergency arose.
After the war began in 1939, Hitler refused to watch films anymore. He said he couldn’t allow himself that luxury when his soldiers were deprived of it. He did, however, watch the Newsreels. From the winter of 1942 onwards, he stopped watching those as well.
After the films were over, Hitler retreated back to his private rooms. He would invite some of his guests with him and they’d sit in a corner of his study, drinking tea and the others might have some alcohol. Nobody was allowed to smoke in Hitler’s presence and all guests knew this. The conversation was very relaxed. They talked about everything except politics.
Hitler also liked to discuss women’s fashion. He was fascinated by women’s clothing and the manner in which women wore their clothes. During these chats, I observed that Hitler was really a very charming and accomplished conversationalist. This was oftentimes told to me by German guests as well as foreigners.
I usually stood 2 or 3 meters behind Hitler and could hear and see everything that was going on. Hitler effortlessly charmed everyone with his shy wit and manner. Really nobody else could compete with him, not even Goebbels.
These get togethers usually lasted until 2:00 or 3:00 am. Then Hitler would wish me good evening and go upstairs to his private rooms. He would then read in bed, either books or newspapers.
When I first came into Hitler’s service, his clothing was quite simple. It consisted of one tuxedo, one set of white tie and tails, a Cutaway (which he only wore once, on May 21, 1933 in Potsdam), and some suits: black, tan, blue and other colors. He had five uniform jackets, three pairs of black pants and four pairs of boots. His suits were all cut the same way and were not expensive. A middle-level civil servant would have worn the same types of suits.
There were many women around Hitler who remonstrated with him about his poor clothing style. These women consisted of Gerdy Troost, who nagged him about his “disreputable trench coats”. Magda Goebbels tried to get him to change his wardrobe as well, but most of all it was Eva Braun who was at a loss to try and get him to dress with more style. She tried to get him to buy more suits and different uniforms as well. It was mostly all in vain.
Hitler’s uniforms were made in Berlin, his suits were made in Munich. His trench coats were made by Herpich in Berlin. Rarely did Hitler allow a tailor to make measurements or to get near him. Eva Braun begged him to have measurements taken, but Hitler said to them, “just take my old jackets and cut them to the same specifications.”
Oftentimes I would ask Hitler, “when can the tailor come and make new measurements?” It was usually a waste of time. During my nearly 7 years of service, the tailor made measurements maybe a total of 10 times. Then these sessions could not last more than 2 or 3 minutes. Few things (besides going to the dentist) were more disagreeable for Hitler than to have a tailor touch him!
Hitler wore all of his clothes very loosely on his body. You have no idea of the criticism I heard about this, especially from the ladies. From all sides was Hitler’s manner of dress criticized, even in letters from the people, which always poured in. It was part of my job that Hitler look presentable to his people and I got a lot of reproaches.
Finally I decided on my own to try and “fix” his clothes. I took in his pants and also tried to make his jackets tighter. I did this myself when Hitler was not watching his closet. But, oh my God, the pain! (doch, o weh!) Hitler immediately noticed that his clothes were tighter and he would reproach me by throwing down the garment and giving me a look.
And his hats! This was another battle I fought (along with Eva Braun), and we fought this battle in vain. Hitler rarely went outside without covering his head. His eyes were very sensitive because he had been gassed in World War I.
His civilian hats were all bought at Seidl’s in Munich and his uniform caps were bought in Berlin. Eva Braun made her wishes known in this regard and sometimes purchased civilian hats for him. He wore those on occasion, but not without a little grumbling.
The manner in which wore his uniform caps was simply impossible.
This was an ongoing battle which lasted years between us. I would say to him quite openly, “a railroad employee might wear such awful caps, or a mailman, but otherwise, no other human being!” Then Hitler would look me up and down and say simply, “Who wears the cap? You or I?”
My answer was to criticize the caps again and this impertinence didn’t seem to disturb him in the slightest.
One year at the Nuremberg party rally, I secretly removed the frame from one of his uniform caps. The cap immediately looked 100% better on him. Hitler didn’t notice the change right away. It was only when we were in the car driving to the rally that Hitler first noticed it. I thought he was going to personally throw me out of the car! I got a royal chewing on that day and Hitler told me to go back to the Hotel Deutscher Hof and get the frame from the hat.
When I returned and put it back into the cap, he was immediately in a good mood again. Hitler then strictly forbade me to ever alter his caps again. I actually believe the entire German population laughed at the manner in which he wore his caps. This caused Eva Braun no small amount of grief. She also threw up her hands in despair at his shoes and his boots. One bone of contention that Eva Braun had was that Hitler refused to get rid of his old favorite pair of boots which he’d worn even in the 1920’s. I bought for him three new pairs of boots in the exact style and material as his old one. I would lay the boots out for him, but he’d just go into his closet and get "the ratty ones” out and wear those. It was a never-ending battle.
These horrible old boots that Hitler wore also became a sort of running joke among the people. They had old creases and folds in them and up close looked worn and old. Hitler refused to part from them, however. It was only when he visited Musssolini that he finally agreed to get a new pair. And his civilian shoes! This was another ongoing struggle which I battled along with Eva Braun. She positively detested his “shellacked” black shoes which had a high buff shine to them. She called them “dancing shoes for a tap dancer, not the Fuehrer.” Many times I heard her upbraid him for his shoes, especially wearing black shoes with a tan or light-colored suit. She herself personally purchased for him several pairs of brown shoes. They sat untouched in his closet.
Eva Braun also bought him many pairs of socks which he only would wear rarely. His socks were so short that he constantly was pulling them up. He even tried to blame me for this and once said, “is it too much to ask that the Führer can’t get a decent pair of socks?” I mentioned that Fräulein Braun had bought him many pairs and pointed them out. Hitler said nothing, glanced at the socks, but didn’t wear them. It was always impossible with him and his clothing.
Frau Kannenberg [wife of Hitler’s Berghof “butler” Arthur Kannenberg] and I scoured the shops of Berlin for socks and shoes for him. All to no avail. His insistence on wearing black shoes with light suits was an abomination (ein Greuel). This went on for years. Every evening, I would lay out Hitler’s clothes for the following day. I had devised a type of “clothes rack” where everything would be laid out. Every time I laid out a light-colored suit with appropriate brown suits, he would go into the closet himself, bring out the black shoes and wear those! Eva Braun and I never saw eye to eye and we spoke rarely to one another. But she approached me several times about this and said, “why is der Chef (the boss) still wearing the black shoes? What is going on?” I told her honestly that I laid out the appropriate shoes, but he was so stubborn he selected his own.
Finally in 1937 I approached the three women that were closest to Hitler and asked them for help on this ongoing issue.
I approached Frau Goebbels (who was very, very fond of Hitler), Gerdy Troost and I even approached Eva Braun, who was cool to me and I to her. But I enlisted them in my battle to make the Führer change his ways with his shoes. Hitler put great emphasis on Frau Troost’s clothes sense and sense of style. It was she who managed to get him to give up wearing his old trench coat of the Kampzeit [the years of struggle].
Eva nagged him a lot about this, but it was without success. If he ever wore brown shoes with a light-colored suit, I never saw it more than a handful of times.
With Hitler’s ties it was the same thing. In the manner of ties, he was incredibly stubborn and self-willed. Every evening I would select his suit for the following day and put it on my clothes horse. I would then select three or four suitable ties to go with it, with appropriate colors.
Eva Braun also was involved in this. But nearly every morning, I noticed that Hitler would ignore my selection of ties and instead go into his closet and select a completely ridiculously colored tie! Oftentimes the ties would clash horribly with the suit color. It was an eyesore.
Finally in 1935 or 1936, Hitler “saw the light” about this. We were in Munich and in a hurry one morning. Hitler was going to visit the studio of Frau Troost, whom he greatly esteemed. She was one of the few women whom Hitler really listened to and he respected her a great deal. Because he was in a hurry, he happened to put on one of the ties I had selected for him.
When Frau Troost saw him, her face lit up and she said, “a wonderful tie!! You have done well this morning!” Hitler was pleased, because nearly every other time, she would greet him with, “Mein Führer, an impossible tie!” She would say this when he would wear his yellow and orange tie with polka dots over a blue suit with stripes. He clashed all the time.
When Frau Troost would criticize his ties she usually would throw me a reproachful look. I refused to take her passive criticism and spoke up. I would say, “the appropriately colored tie I laid out last night. He refuses to wear it.” Hitler would never say anything during these exchanges and did not bring it up to me later on.
Eva Braun was more lenient on his ties and liked to see him wear outlandishly garish ties. He didn’t like red ties and wore those but seldom. He also would wear ties she purchased for him, though rarely with the correct colored suits. And his habit of wearing striped suits with polka dots made Eva almost have a nervous breakdown. Again, this was a battle which was ongoing and lasted until the war broke out and thereafter Hitler only wore his field grey uniform with black tie.
The one area where Hitler looked quite well was the white tie and tails. Even Eva Braun could find nothing with which to criticize. But he didn’t know how to tie his white ties and I had to do it for him. Hitler said that I had to do this “very quickly” and wanted them tied in 25 seconds or less. If it took longer than 25 seconds, he would get antsy and start stomping his foot down. When Heinz Linge took over this job for Hitler, he told me Hitler even had a stop watch and it had to be done in less than 25 seconds!
Sometimes I deliberately went slowly, just to test his limits and this would make Hitler furious. But he almost never really lost his temper and never yelled. He was actually very mild mannered. Then when I went slowly, he would sigh and say, “what are you thinking about?” I blandly said, “I’m thinking that my job is not so ordinary and boring when I can take more time to do things right.” Hitler wasn’t accustomed to anyone in his service talking so openly with him. One day at the Berghof, he said to his guests, “See here my man Krause. He deliberately ties my ties for my tuxedo in 2 minutes when I have instructed him to take 25 seconds, tops. Then he will just look and at me with a sly smile and give me an ironic laugh. Nothing disturbs him. I would dearly love to have just 5 minutes of such calm in my life.” In the matter of Hitler’s shoes, I can say that Eva Braun finally did win one of her battles, but only when she was around Hitler. One day in 1937 we arrived in Munich and immediately Hitler wanted to go to his old hang out, the Osteria Bavaria. He was so rushed he didn’t even visit his Munich apartment first, but wanted to change his clothes at the Führerbau. He instructed me to go over to his flat and bring him a fresh shirt and his light tan suit. I almost fell over when he turned around in the car and said, “and bring the brown shoes with it!”
I was ecstatic! I drove over to Hitler’s flat and there was his housekeeper, Anni Winter. I had already called her and told her to have the light suit and brown shoes ready. But when I got to the apartment, Frau Winter said, “Eva took the brown shoes to the Berghof with her! There aren’t any here!”
When I returned to the Führerbau, I got him alone and said, “Mein Führer, forgive me! I have begged you for years to wear the brown shoes with the light suits, now I have forgotten the brown shoes!”
I was prepared for a dressing down. I didn’t want to mention Eva Braun to him, since he knew we were not on friendly terms. But he must have suspected she was involved because he merely said to me, “are the shoes at the Berghof? Were they removed by another person?”
That was his indirect manner of mentioning her to me.
I merely said, “Jawohl, mein Führer, you have hit the nail on the head!” Then he let the matter rest.
Hitler decided to go to the Osteria in uniform and then we drove to the Berghof. The next day, to my great surprise, I saw him wear for the first time brown shoes with a light suit. On this momentous occasion, I even said a word or two to Eva Braun and quietly congratulated her. She merely smiled.
To the matter of undershirts and underwear, there were thankfully no disagreements. Hitler never wore an undershirt, or a T-shirt underneath his dress shirts. He changed his shirt many times a day even though it was unnecessary. He wore simple white short underwear. He never changed his style of short underwear in my years of service.
Once we had a small “fight” about his underwear. He had 7 or 8 pairs of underwear and I noticed one day they were getting a little old looking. So I bought 8 new pairs. They were made of the exact same material as his old ones, same color and they were the identical size [48 European, 32 inch waist American measurements]. I removed his old underwear one day and replaced them with the identical style new pairs.
Well, this was not a success in Hitler’s eyes. One morning during his breakfast in his study, he motioned me towards him as he stood eating his morning chocolate bar. I couldn’t believe it when he literally tossed a pair of his new underwear at my feet and said calmly, “you can take these things and toss them. These are totally impossible underwear!”
I merely bent down and picked them up. I myself had worn an exact pair since we had the same waist size. I thought they were wonderful, soft and comfortable. Well, a few weeks passed and we were on a journey to Bad Godesberg. The hotel took Hitler’s clothes to wash them and some of the chambermaids (I think) stole them as objects of fascination. In any case, his clothes vanished.
What was I to do? I already mentioned I was wearing the exact size and style of Hitler’s underwear. I went to my own suitcase and I had two pairs still not removed from their package. I took them and laid them out for Hitler on his hotel bed. I was expecting him to get upset, but he never did and never mentioned the matter again. It must just have been one of his moods earlier on when he tossed the underwear at my feet.
Now, when we traveled somewhere, his clothes also became a matter of contention because he was always so vague about things. I would say, “how long will we be away?” I had to know in order to prepare his personal things. Hitler would never be specific. He’d just say, “a few days” or he might say, “a week,” but he would not say anything more than that. But then all hell would break loose if I forgot something or didn’t have it available for him. Because Hitler was so vague prior to his trips, sometimes I would pack two suitcases for him when we would be gone one night, and sometimes pack 1 half a suitcase when we would be gone two weeks. I always had to pack a tuxedo or white tie and tails because he might at the last moment decide to attend the opera.
Before I conclude this chapter on Hitler’s clothing, let me mention also that he put great store on cleanliness. He was really very very particular about himself and keeping himself fresh and clean. He always had a faint aroma of soap. I have mentioned he used two razor blades for each shave and took two baths a day. But his changing of his clothes was also extreme! I believe he got into this habit because Eva Braun endlessly changed her clothes. So Hitler then took up this habit, which could get tedious. His underwear he changed three or four times every day! Then sometimes, strangely, he would go back to changing them only once a day. While at the Berghof, the changing of his underwear was usually 2 or 3 times a day. Same with his shirts. Hitler had previously worn separate shirt and collar and he still was doing this when I came into his service. It was only under Eva Braun’s tutelage that he changed to a shirt with collar. He never wore anything but white shirts, never a sports shirt, despite the nagging of Eva. He never wore long underwear, always his short underwear. Even in the coldest weather he said, “no long underwear! I wouldn’t be seen in such things." He also never wore a belt unless it was a uniform belt, but he wore suspenders. For years he insisted on wearing a linen nightshirt, something which Eva Braun positively despised. Her reproaches about this fell on deaf ears until 1938. She purchased for his 49th birthday a dozen pairs of blue and white pajamas. These were the colors of Bavaria and bought especially for him. Hitler wore these only in Munich or the Berghof. He still insisted on the nightshirts when he stayed other places.
Krause also wrote a fascinating book about his experiences working for Hitler in 1949, 10 Jahre Tag und Nacht Kammerdiener bei Hitler (10 Years Day and Night as Hitler’s Valet.) The book offers valuable insight into Adolf Hitler as a private man. Inexplicably, it never been translated into an English edition, though a new German edition (titled Im Schatten der Macht Kammerdiener bei Hitler) appeared a few years ago. There existed only a partial English translation of select excerpts from the book, the labour of an American researcher who ran the "Adolf Hitler Photos and Historical Info" blog hosted on putschgirl.tumblr.com, until that blog was wiped from the Internet by the usual culprits.
The good news is, when (((they))) delete and censor the work of legitimate researchers from mainstream social media sites, curious goyim will discover and obtain their Hitler facts from this forum, nationalvanguard.org, stormfront.org, foum.codoh.info and nseuropa.org instead.
This is putschgirl's translation of Krause’s chapter on Hitler’s life in Berlin (taken from Zehn Jahre Kammerdiener bei Hitler, pages 12-21, Karl Wilhelm Krause, 1949). Hitler usually spent 9 days a month in Berlin and much preferred being in either Munich or the Obersalzberg.
Before Hitler would go to be at night, he would always tell me what time I should awaken him. His words would be, “wake me up at 8:30,” for instance. I would always put messages and telegrams that came in during the evening on a stool right outside his bedroom. Hitler would always say to me at night before retiring, “Good night!” Oftentimes he would also shake my hand. My answer would always be, “Good night! Have a pleasant sleep.”
Hitler always locked himself into his room at night. In Berlin, his quarters were on the first floor of the old Reich Chancellery and consisted of a work room, a library, his own bathroom and his bedroom.
When I had to awaken Hitler in Berlin, I would go up to the door of his bedroom, knock quietly and then await his answer. I would say something like, “Good morning, mein Führer! It is 8:30 a.m.!” (or 9:00, whatever the time was). Hitler would answer one of three ways: “thanks!” or “thank you” or “thank you very much.” His greeting depended on his mood.
Then I prepared his breakfast, which never changed. Hitler’s breakfast always consisted of two cups of warm milk, 10 pieces of Leibniz cookies and a chocolate bar. I would heat his milk up myself with a little apparatus in the kitchen.
Hitler’s morning routine really never varied. It always took him 22 to 23 minutes each morning to get himself ready. During that time, he took a bath, shaved himself and dressed himself. Hitler always took that exact amount of time each morning while in Berlin. He would emerge from his private rooms as he was putting on his jacket.
Hitler always shaved himself. In the years I was with him from 1934-1939, nobody else ever shaved him. He was very particular about shaving. He always used two blades, one for each cheek. He also used two different razors, one for the “pre-shave” and one for the “after shave,” as he explained to me.
His soap was Steckenpferd-Lilienmilch, his shaving cream was Peri, his skin cream was Pfeilring, his cologne 4711 and his shampoo was Dr. Dralles Birkenwasser. He used Odol mouthwash and also used pine needle tablets in his bath. His Deodorant was Mum which we procured from the British embassy in Berlin.
After breakfast, which he ate alone and while standing up, Hitler would come out of his private rooms and greet me. It usually happened that he greeted me first. My greeting was always, “Good morning, mein Führer!” If I wasn’t in a good mood, I might only say “Morning!” His response to me was “good morning!” or sometimes just “Heil!”
When Hitler was eating breakfast, he read the morning newspapers and any telegrams or letters which I left on the stool outside his bedroom. He would also peruse the lunch menu, which I always laid out for him. He would get nervous if foreigners or ladies were present. He would be very particular about the table appointments, salad dressing and things like that.
After that, Hitler went downstairs to begin his official day. I opened up all the doors for him, that was part of my job. Then the two chambermaids would come and clean his bedroom. I also entered his rooms and changed the razor blades in his razors.
At lunch, Hitler usually had the same old faces there. Speer, Goebbels and Werlin [a director of Mercedes Benz] were often there. Hitler would greet them all with a handshake and always say, “How are you? What’s new?” Sometimes foreign guests would be invited, but not often. Most of them were always extremely fascinated with Hitler’s arresting blue eyes. Many people thought Hitler had a very interesting stare. It was much commented upon.
For instance, in 1934, British politician Anthony Eden came to Berlin to meet Hitler. After 20 minutes, he suddenly got up from the table and went into an anteroom. He told me through an interpreter, “I had to get up and out of there. If I spent 20 more minutes with Hitler, I could convert to being a Nazi!”
Women were especially enthusiastic about Hitler and made their interests known. But men were definitely not immune from his charm either. The race car driver Carraciola said to me once that he’d rather drive 300 km an hour than be alone with Hitler. His charm was too intense. When Hitler heard this, he was much amused.
The person in Berlin who Hitler seemed to enjoy the most was probably Dr. Goebbels. At least in the early days. One day Goebbels came to lunch and jokingly told him he had heard from the American ambassador that Roosevelt wanted to meet him. Hitler said, “Well, Herr Doktor, you will have to decide whether to go or not.” Goebbels immediately said, “no, no, I will remain here.”
Hitler and Goebbels joked around a lot together. Hitler loved telling one particular story. It happened in 1931 and Hitler was scheduled to give a speech in Berlin. The entrance price to the hall was 60 Pfennigs. At the last moment, Hitler had to cancel the speech and Goebbels was forced to take his place as the main speaker. The entrance fee was then lowered to 30 Pfennigs. Hitler would sometimes shush Goebbels at the table and say, “you have to be quiet, my little Doktor (Doktorchen), you’re only worth half of me!”
Göring showed up sometimes and Hitler made fun of his fancy uniforms and medals. But Göring could make Hitler laugh and was allowed to tell some political jokes which Hitler liked. Early on he was also close to Julius Streicher, but they later had a falling out. I heard him say once to him, “You and your damned Stürmer can get to packing!”
In the early years in Berlin, Hitler would usually go and drink coffee and eat cakes at the Hotel Kaiserhof. We always had a corner table reserved. The bodyguards would walk over there, but Hitler would go with me and a few adjutants by car. Goebbels and Goering took part in this routine, though they were seldom together. Hitler and Goebbels liked to discuss movies, primarily.
Hitler very rarely wore a uniform during these coffee hours, and just wore a suit. The coffee interlude generally lasted from 5:00-7:00, then we went back to the Reich Chancellery and prepared for dinner. Oftentimes film stars, opera singers and pretty women were invited for dinner.
Afterwards one or two films were shown. Hitler selected the titles himself from the Propaganda Ministry. They were usually American films. Sometimes Hitler disliked the movie and it had to be stopped. “Get rid of it! What nonsense!! Next!” (”Abbrechen! So ‘n Quatsch! Den nachsten!“)
Adolf Hitler saw every single film made in Germany or America from 1933 until the outbreak of the war. He watched 1-2 films every single evening unless we were travelling or an emergency arose.
After the war began in 1939, Hitler refused to watch films anymore. He said he couldn’t allow himself that luxury when his soldiers were deprived of it. He did, however, watch the Newsreels. From the winter of 1942 onwards, he stopped watching those as well.
After the films were over, Hitler retreated back to his private rooms. He would invite some of his guests with him and they’d sit in a corner of his study, drinking tea and the others might have some alcohol. Nobody was allowed to smoke in Hitler’s presence and all guests knew this. The conversation was very relaxed. They talked about everything except politics.
Hitler also liked to discuss women’s fashion. He was fascinated by women’s clothing and the manner in which women wore their clothes. During these chats, I observed that Hitler was really a very charming and accomplished conversationalist. This was oftentimes told to me by German guests as well as foreigners.
I usually stood 2 or 3 meters behind Hitler and could hear and see everything that was going on. Hitler effortlessly charmed everyone with his shy wit and manner. Really nobody else could compete with him, not even Goebbels.
These get togethers usually lasted until 2:00 or 3:00 am. Then Hitler would wish me good evening and go upstairs to his private rooms. He would then read in bed, either books or newspapers.
When I first came into Hitler’s service, his clothing was quite simple. It consisted of one tuxedo, one set of white tie and tails, a Cutaway (which he only wore once, on May 21, 1933 in Potsdam), and some suits: black, tan, blue and other colors. He had five uniform jackets, three pairs of black pants and four pairs of boots. His suits were all cut the same way and were not expensive. A middle-level civil servant would have worn the same types of suits.
There were many women around Hitler who remonstrated with him about his poor clothing style. These women consisted of Gerdy Troost, who nagged him about his “disreputable trench coats”. Magda Goebbels tried to get him to change his wardrobe as well, but most of all it was Eva Braun who was at a loss to try and get him to dress with more style. She tried to get him to buy more suits and different uniforms as well. It was mostly all in vain.
Hitler’s uniforms were made in Berlin, his suits were made in Munich. His trench coats were made by Herpich in Berlin. Rarely did Hitler allow a tailor to make measurements or to get near him. Eva Braun begged him to have measurements taken, but Hitler said to them, “just take my old jackets and cut them to the same specifications.”
Oftentimes I would ask Hitler, “when can the tailor come and make new measurements?” It was usually a waste of time. During my nearly 7 years of service, the tailor made measurements maybe a total of 10 times. Then these sessions could not last more than 2 or 3 minutes. Few things (besides going to the dentist) were more disagreeable for Hitler than to have a tailor touch him!
Hitler wore all of his clothes very loosely on his body. You have no idea of the criticism I heard about this, especially from the ladies. From all sides was Hitler’s manner of dress criticized, even in letters from the people, which always poured in. It was part of my job that Hitler look presentable to his people and I got a lot of reproaches.
Finally I decided on my own to try and “fix” his clothes. I took in his pants and also tried to make his jackets tighter. I did this myself when Hitler was not watching his closet. But, oh my God, the pain! (doch, o weh!) Hitler immediately noticed that his clothes were tighter and he would reproach me by throwing down the garment and giving me a look.
And his hats! This was another battle I fought (along with Eva Braun), and we fought this battle in vain. Hitler rarely went outside without covering his head. His eyes were very sensitive because he had been gassed in World War I.
His civilian hats were all bought at Seidl’s in Munich and his uniform caps were bought in Berlin. Eva Braun made her wishes known in this regard and sometimes purchased civilian hats for him. He wore those on occasion, but not without a little grumbling.
The manner in which wore his uniform caps was simply impossible.
This was an ongoing battle which lasted years between us. I would say to him quite openly, “a railroad employee might wear such awful caps, or a mailman, but otherwise, no other human being!” Then Hitler would look me up and down and say simply, “Who wears the cap? You or I?”
My answer was to criticize the caps again and this impertinence didn’t seem to disturb him in the slightest.
One year at the Nuremberg party rally, I secretly removed the frame from one of his uniform caps. The cap immediately looked 100% better on him. Hitler didn’t notice the change right away. It was only when we were in the car driving to the rally that Hitler first noticed it. I thought he was going to personally throw me out of the car! I got a royal chewing on that day and Hitler told me to go back to the Hotel Deutscher Hof and get the frame from the hat.
When I returned and put it back into the cap, he was immediately in a good mood again. Hitler then strictly forbade me to ever alter his caps again. I actually believe the entire German population laughed at the manner in which he wore his caps. This caused Eva Braun no small amount of grief. She also threw up her hands in despair at his shoes and his boots. One bone of contention that Eva Braun had was that Hitler refused to get rid of his old favorite pair of boots which he’d worn even in the 1920’s. I bought for him three new pairs of boots in the exact style and material as his old one. I would lay the boots out for him, but he’d just go into his closet and get "the ratty ones” out and wear those. It was a never-ending battle.
These horrible old boots that Hitler wore also became a sort of running joke among the people. They had old creases and folds in them and up close looked worn and old. Hitler refused to part from them, however. It was only when he visited Musssolini that he finally agreed to get a new pair. And his civilian shoes! This was another ongoing struggle which I battled along with Eva Braun. She positively detested his “shellacked” black shoes which had a high buff shine to them. She called them “dancing shoes for a tap dancer, not the Fuehrer.” Many times I heard her upbraid him for his shoes, especially wearing black shoes with a tan or light-colored suit. She herself personally purchased for him several pairs of brown shoes. They sat untouched in his closet.
Eva Braun also bought him many pairs of socks which he only would wear rarely. His socks were so short that he constantly was pulling them up. He even tried to blame me for this and once said, “is it too much to ask that the Führer can’t get a decent pair of socks?” I mentioned that Fräulein Braun had bought him many pairs and pointed them out. Hitler said nothing, glanced at the socks, but didn’t wear them. It was always impossible with him and his clothing.
Frau Kannenberg [wife of Hitler’s Berghof “butler” Arthur Kannenberg] and I scoured the shops of Berlin for socks and shoes for him. All to no avail. His insistence on wearing black shoes with light suits was an abomination (ein Greuel). This went on for years. Every evening, I would lay out Hitler’s clothes for the following day. I had devised a type of “clothes rack” where everything would be laid out. Every time I laid out a light-colored suit with appropriate brown suits, he would go into the closet himself, bring out the black shoes and wear those! Eva Braun and I never saw eye to eye and we spoke rarely to one another. But she approached me several times about this and said, “why is der Chef (the boss) still wearing the black shoes? What is going on?” I told her honestly that I laid out the appropriate shoes, but he was so stubborn he selected his own.
Finally in 1937 I approached the three women that were closest to Hitler and asked them for help on this ongoing issue.
I approached Frau Goebbels (who was very, very fond of Hitler), Gerdy Troost and I even approached Eva Braun, who was cool to me and I to her. But I enlisted them in my battle to make the Führer change his ways with his shoes. Hitler put great emphasis on Frau Troost’s clothes sense and sense of style. It was she who managed to get him to give up wearing his old trench coat of the Kampzeit [the years of struggle].
Eva nagged him a lot about this, but it was without success. If he ever wore brown shoes with a light-colored suit, I never saw it more than a handful of times.
With Hitler’s ties it was the same thing. In the manner of ties, he was incredibly stubborn and self-willed. Every evening I would select his suit for the following day and put it on my clothes horse. I would then select three or four suitable ties to go with it, with appropriate colors.
Eva Braun also was involved in this. But nearly every morning, I noticed that Hitler would ignore my selection of ties and instead go into his closet and select a completely ridiculously colored tie! Oftentimes the ties would clash horribly with the suit color. It was an eyesore.
Finally in 1935 or 1936, Hitler “saw the light” about this. We were in Munich and in a hurry one morning. Hitler was going to visit the studio of Frau Troost, whom he greatly esteemed. She was one of the few women whom Hitler really listened to and he respected her a great deal. Because he was in a hurry, he happened to put on one of the ties I had selected for him.
When Frau Troost saw him, her face lit up and she said, “a wonderful tie!! You have done well this morning!” Hitler was pleased, because nearly every other time, she would greet him with, “Mein Führer, an impossible tie!” She would say this when he would wear his yellow and orange tie with polka dots over a blue suit with stripes. He clashed all the time.
When Frau Troost would criticize his ties she usually would throw me a reproachful look. I refused to take her passive criticism and spoke up. I would say, “the appropriately colored tie I laid out last night. He refuses to wear it.” Hitler would never say anything during these exchanges and did not bring it up to me later on.
Eva Braun was more lenient on his ties and liked to see him wear outlandishly garish ties. He didn’t like red ties and wore those but seldom. He also would wear ties she purchased for him, though rarely with the correct colored suits. And his habit of wearing striped suits with polka dots made Eva almost have a nervous breakdown. Again, this was a battle which was ongoing and lasted until the war broke out and thereafter Hitler only wore his field grey uniform with black tie.
The one area where Hitler looked quite well was the white tie and tails. Even Eva Braun could find nothing with which to criticize. But he didn’t know how to tie his white ties and I had to do it for him. Hitler said that I had to do this “very quickly” and wanted them tied in 25 seconds or less. If it took longer than 25 seconds, he would get antsy and start stomping his foot down. When Heinz Linge took over this job for Hitler, he told me Hitler even had a stop watch and it had to be done in less than 25 seconds!Sometimes I deliberately went slowly, just to test his limits and this would make Hitler furious. But he almost never really lost his temper and never yelled. He was actually very mild mannered. Then when I went slowly, he would sigh and say, “what are you thinking about?” I blandly said, “I’m thinking that my job is not so ordinary and boring when I can take more time to do things right.” Hitler wasn’t accustomed to anyone in his service talking so openly with him. One day at the Berghof, he said to his guests, “See here my man Krause. He deliberately ties my ties for my tuxedo in 2 minutes when I have instructed him to take 25 seconds, tops. Then he will just look and at me with a sly smile and give me an ironic laugh. Nothing disturbs him. I would dearly love to have just 5 minutes of such calm in my life.” In the matter of Hitler’s shoes, I can say that Eva Braun finally did win one of her battles, but only when she was around Hitler. One day in 1937 we arrived in Munich and immediately Hitler wanted to go to his old hang out, the Osteria Bavaria. He was so rushed he didn’t even visit his Munich apartment first, but wanted to change his clothes at the Führerbau. He instructed me to go over to his flat and bring him a fresh shirt and his light tan suit. I almost fell over when he turned around in the car and said, “and bring the brown shoes with it!”
I was ecstatic! I drove over to Hitler’s flat and there was his housekeeper, Anni Winter. I had already called her and told her to have the light suit and brown shoes ready. But when I got to the apartment, Frau Winter said, “Eva took the brown shoes to the Berghof with her! There aren’t any here!”
When I returned to the Führerbau, I got him alone and said, “Mein Führer, forgive me! I have begged you for years to wear the brown shoes with the light suits, now I have forgotten the brown shoes!”
I was prepared for a dressing down. I didn’t want to mention Eva Braun to him, since he knew we were not on friendly terms. But he must have suspected she was involved because he merely said to me, “are the shoes at the Berghof? Were they removed by another person?”
That was his indirect manner of mentioning her to me.
I merely said, “Jawohl, mein Führer, you have hit the nail on the head!” Then he let the matter rest.
Hitler decided to go to the Osteria in uniform and then we drove to the Berghof. The next day, to my great surprise, I saw him wear for the first time brown shoes with a light suit. On this momentous occasion, I even said a word or two to Eva Braun and quietly congratulated her. She merely smiled.
To the matter of undershirts and underwear, there were thankfully no disagreements. Hitler never wore an undershirt, or a T-shirt underneath his dress shirts. He changed his shirt many times a day even though it was unnecessary. He wore simple white short underwear. He never changed his style of short underwear in my years of service.
Once we had a small “fight” about his underwear. He had 7 or 8 pairs of underwear and I noticed one day they were getting a little old looking. So I bought 8 new pairs. They were made of the exact same material as his old ones, same color and they were the identical size [48 European, 32 inch waist American measurements]. I removed his old underwear one day and replaced them with the identical style new pairs.
Well, this was not a success in Hitler’s eyes. One morning during his breakfast in his study, he motioned me towards him as he stood eating his morning chocolate bar. I couldn’t believe it when he literally tossed a pair of his new underwear at my feet and said calmly, “you can take these things and toss them. These are totally impossible underwear!”
I merely bent down and picked them up. I myself had worn an exact pair since we had the same waist size. I thought they were wonderful, soft and comfortable. Well, a few weeks passed and we were on a journey to Bad Godesberg. The hotel took Hitler’s clothes to wash them and some of the chambermaids (I think) stole them as objects of fascination. In any case, his clothes vanished.
What was I to do? I already mentioned I was wearing the exact size and style of Hitler’s underwear. I went to my own suitcase and I had two pairs still not removed from their package. I took them and laid them out for Hitler on his hotel bed. I was expecting him to get upset, but he never did and never mentioned the matter again. It must just have been one of his moods earlier on when he tossed the underwear at my feet.
Now, when we traveled somewhere, his clothes also became a matter of contention because he was always so vague about things. I would say, “how long will we be away?” I had to know in order to prepare his personal things. Hitler would never be specific. He’d just say, “a few days” or he might say, “a week,” but he would not say anything more than that. But then all hell would break loose if I forgot something or didn’t have it available for him. Because Hitler was so vague prior to his trips, sometimes I would pack two suitcases for him when we would be gone one night, and sometimes pack 1 half a suitcase when we would be gone two weeks. I always had to pack a tuxedo or white tie and tails because he might at the last moment decide to attend the opera.
Before I conclude this chapter on Hitler’s clothing, let me mention also that he put great store on cleanliness. He was really very very particular about himself and keeping himself fresh and clean. He always had a faint aroma of soap. I have mentioned he used two razor blades for each shave and took two baths a day. But his changing of his clothes was also extreme! I believe he got into this habit because Eva Braun endlessly changed her clothes. So Hitler then took up this habit, which could get tedious. His underwear he changed three or four times every day! Then sometimes, strangely, he would go back to changing them only once a day. While at the Berghof, the changing of his underwear was usually 2 or 3 times a day. Same with his shirts. Hitler had previously worn separate shirt and collar and he still was doing this when I came into his service. It was only under Eva Braun’s tutelage that he changed to a shirt with collar. He never wore anything but white shirts, never a sports shirt, despite the nagging of Eva. He never wore long underwear, always his short underwear. Even in the coldest weather he said, “no long underwear! I wouldn’t be seen in such things." He also never wore a belt unless it was a uniform belt, but he wore suspenders. For years he insisted on wearing a linen nightshirt, something which Eva Braun positively despised. Her reproaches about this fell on deaf ears until 1938. She purchased for his 49th birthday a dozen pairs of blue and white pajamas. These were the colors of Bavaria and bought especially for him. Hitler wore these only in Munich or the Berghof. He still insisted on the nightshirts when he stayed other places.
