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Anni Winter was Hitler’s housekeeper in Munich from 1929-1945. She was captured by the Americans in 1945 and was kept in protective custody for nearly one year. Between March-September 1948, she was subjected to extensive questioning over many days, totalling 60 pages on document record, with American interrogators headed by Captain Michael A. Musmanno. The original documents from the interrogation are archived with the Musmanno papers at the Duquesne University Archives Special Collections. This interview was given on April 1, 1948 and is located in microfiche box #34a, Musmanno Collection. Curiously, unlike the interviews on some other days which are publicly accessible online, this interview has not been digitised, and only a partial transcription by an American researcher (of the now offline blogs putschgirl.tumblr.com and adolfhitler33.wordpress.com) is known to exist. The transcribed section describes Hitler’s clothing, his relationship with Inge Ley and Eva Braun, and the latter's exasperation with his odd clothes sense.
Q: How often was Eva Braun present in Munich when Hitler was there?
A: All the time. She wouldn’t spend the entire day and it really depended on what Hitler had planned for that day. Generally they would have tea together, then she would leave and come back around 8:00 at night. They might have a snack at that time. I didn’t disturb them. She either stayed with Hitler all night or was escorted home.
Q: Eva Braun was said to have been very well dressed in expensive clothes. Can you confirm this?
A: Eva was very stylish, she had time on her hands and not much to do when Hitler was in Berlin. She had a great and established fashion sense. She really did dress marvelously well. Even those who didn’t like Eva would have to admit she was the essence of style.
Q: What do you mean by that phrase, please?
A: I mean that she knew what clothes and what fabrics would flatter her figure. She looked very well in clothes.
She was one of the best dressed people I have ever been around in my life.
Q: Was Eva Braun the most pretty woman in Hitler’s circle?
A: Well, I would put Frau Inge Ley ahead of her, she was a world class beauty. Hitler was very taken with her. She was around him a lot.
She only married Dr. Ley to get close to Hitler, of that there was no doubt.
Q: When you say ‘she was around a lot,’ you mean she visited Hitler alone?
A: No, they were never alone. Hitler always had a chaperone, he was strict about such things. Sometimes I had to sit in the room with them, sometimes an adjutant. Frau Ley tried hard to get closer to Hitler, but she did not succeed.
Q: You’re saying there was no intimate relationship between Hitler and this Mrs. Ley?
A: She pushed for that but Hitler already had Eva by that time and as he told me a hundred times, ‘I have to be careful. Women can never keep their mouths shut.’ But Inge Ley was in love with Hitler, she made no secret of that fact.
Q: And this included Eva Braun? Hitler thought she couldn’t keep her mouth closed either?
A: Absolutely it did not include Eva, this was one of Eva’s greatest strengths in Hitler’s eyes. He trusted her implicitly, especially during the war years. But even long before then, Hitler knew that Eva was 100% loyal and never was someone to talk out of turn.
She kept his confidence. Eva had her faults, but discussing Hitler or revealing information about him? Never. At least not to me.
Q: Getting back to Eva Braun’s fashion sense, I have read she changed clothes 5 times daily. Can you confirm if this was the case?
A: No, she didn’t do this in Munich. Of course she would change into an evening dress at night if she was doing something that required it. Now at the Berghof, she changed her clothes a lot. In Munich she didn’t do this.
Q: Did Hitler compliment her dresses?
A: All the time, but I don’t think he noticed every detail. Oftentimes he would be very enthusiastic upon first seeing her and would say, ‘Oh, you’re wearing a new dress, how lovely,’ and Eva would glower, “come on, it’s not new, you’ve seen this often enough!’ I think Hitler was teasing her, he was very observant and had an iron-clad memory. He said that to needle her, to tease her.
Q: Can you discuss Hitler’s wardrobe? Was he conscious of clothing?
A: I can discuss his suits, his uniforms I had nothing to do with, they were sent out to be cleaned and I merely arranged them for him. But his suits I can discuss in detail. What can I say except Hitler had odd tastes in clothes.
Q: How do you mean he had an odd taste?
A: The way he dressed sometimes didn’t reflect his personality. Hitler could be very rigid in things, he was conservative about certain things, or at least behaved as such. But he could wear some suits which were very liberal, very modern almost for a middle-aged man.
Q: I still don’t understand?
A: Well, he a penchant for loud clothes and very loud ties. One would have thought he would have dressed more conservatively.
Q: Was this a case where he would wear ties because an admirer had sent them? He felt a sense of obligation?
A: No, Hitler hardly even saw all the presents women sent him. He would not have ever worn a piece of clothing sent by a common person. I don’t see him as ever doing that. he wouldn’t have. Hitler chose his own clothes and basically, he wouldn’t match his ties with his suit jacket. He wouldn’t match his shoes with his suit color. It drove Eva Braun crazy. I mean this, it drove her crazy.
Q: How could you be privy to this information?
A: Because I saw and heard it often enough, she nagged him about this for many years in the apartment. It stopped during the war when he could only wear his uniform.
Q: What kinds of things would she say to him? They openly argued in front of you?
A: I didn’t mean to say they argued. I never saw the two of them argue. They had disagreements or even arguments at the Berghof, I heard a lot from the maids. But it didn’t last long up there. I didn’t say that Eva Braun argued with Hitler about his wardrobe, I said she nagged him, there is quite a difference, you see.
Q: Explain how this happened, if you can.
A: As I said, Hitler would wear a tie which didn’t match his suit. It wouldn’t match at all, nor his shoes. He was always very neat, very clean and well put together. He always looked well, but he looked sometimes ridiculous with his ties.
Q: And what would Eva Braun say to him about this?
A: I can tell you exactly what she would say, I can see and hear it all perfectly clearly. She would say, "Really now, look at your polka dotted tie. You can’t wear that with your striped suit. And look at those black shoes with your light suit, where are the brown shoes I selected for you?”
Sometimes she would get so indignant she would stomp her foot.
Q: Hitler took that from her?
A: I think it all amused him. He would just look at her, smile a little, and usually say nothing. His answer was to continue to wear whatever he wanted, no matter how outlandish the color combination was. Sometimes he would tease her about her clothes, but Eva dressed so impeccably it was an impossible task.
Q: It wasn’t generally known in America that Hitler was a poor dresser.
A: Nor here (in Germany) was it known. He usually appeared in uniforms, the public saw him in that. Here in Munich he was a private man and didn’t wear uniforms much. But his suits were often mismatched, as I said. Eva even bought him some shoes, which I can tell you about if you’d like. Hitler’s clothes were of very high quality, silk lined, it’s just his combinations of colors.
Q: When was this, if you recall that Eva Braun purchased the shoes?
A: Oh, it was sometime in the middle 30’s. She went down to the Karlsplatz to Lindt’s and bought him 4 pairs of brown shoes with light colored socks.
Q: Did this settle their disagreements over his clothing?
A: No it did not because Hitler never once wore those shoes. Not once. They sat in his shoe closet untouched. Eva would even lay these shoes out for him and he would put them back inside his shoe closet in the morning. He had so many boots and shoes that he had a separate closet for them. One closet for shirts, pants and jackets, another one entirely for his footwear. She would say, futilely, “black shoes with dark suits, brown shoes with light suits.”
Q: Did Eva talk to you about his clothes?
A: Frequently! You must remember that Eva herself was a clothes horse. She loved nothing more than clothes and accumulating shoes. For Hitler, clothes were nothing more than a chore. Maybe he selected loud ties with striped or orange polka dots because he just didn’t care. Maybe he did it because he knew it upset Eva, he was a very dreadful tease with her.
Q: Who bought Hitler’s ties?
A: Schaub [Julius Schaub, Hitler’s adjutant] would go out every few years and select 50 or so ties from a tailor Hitler had used in Berlin since the early 30’s. Schaub would bring the ties and Hitler would select them, Hitler never went to a tailor’s shop, they came to him. Some of the ties were quite nice. He had a blue tie with white spots which he wore for years. It matched everything, light and dark suits alike. Eva also bought him some ties and he would wear them as well. Eva never fussed about his ties, she liked loud ties, but wanted them to match the rest of his outfit.
Q: What did Eva Braun say about his uniforms, if anything?
A: Eva hated his uniform caps. She positively detested them. She called them his “postman’s caps.” She was always telling him how dreadful they looked, this was a never-ending refrain. She hated the long visor, but Hitler was very sensitive to the sun and to light. He told me many times that after he was gassed in the Great War, his eyes could not tolerate the sun. So he had an extra-long visor.
Q: Can you tell me how this dialogue would have sounded?
A: Well, Eva would be in the Munich apartment and Hitler would enter with his cap and she would start fussing. She started saying things like, “Why can’t you ditch that cap? You would look so much better with a different style.” Hitler usually would say nothing. He wasn’t irritated, he was bemused. Sometimes he would imitate her nagging him about the caps, but only when she wasn’t present.
She wanted Hitler to dress like that silly Italian, Count Ciano.
Q: Did she hate his uniforms?
A: You must remember that Eva never went to Berlin much until 1938 or 1939. In Munich and on the Obersalzberg, Hitler was a private man and usually wore suits. Of course he also wore his brown coat or uniform in those places as well. But Eva was around Hitler more often in suits. Another thing that comes to mind are his shellacked shoes, she was always remonstrating to him about those.
Q: What do you mean?
A: With his uniform, before the war, Hitler wore glossy black shoes. Eva thought that was ridiculous, she wanted him to wear shoes without a “buff” shine. They had many a good-natured discussion about this, it never got heated, Eva was just exasperated.
Q: Does this strike you as controlling, typically female behavior?
A: Nobody controlled Hitler, that wasn’t possible for anyone, I don’t think. Eva was not a controlling girl. She was motivated by wanting Hitler to look as good as he could at all times. She took a lover’s pride in him looking good. She was not seeing him as the Führer, rather as Adolf Hitler.
Q: Did Hitler ever wear a tuxedo, or like Fred Astaire, the white tie and tails?
A: In the early days, yes. He always dressed very correctly going to the Opera. He hated wearing that, he said he felt he was choking. He never knew out to tie a bow tie, so one of the adjutants had to do it for him. Now it’s interesting, Eva didn’t chide him when he was in tails. I think she thought he looked very well in them. In the early days, they would go out together sometimes, with Hitler in tails and Eva in an evening dress. I must say they looked good.
Q: Is there anything else you can recollect about Eva Braun’s remarks about Hitler’s clothes?
A: I think I have touched upon all of it. Except she didn’t like the cut of his clothes either. Hitler would not allow a tailor to touch him, they had to do his measurements by guesswork. She wanted firmly fitting clothes and Hitler simply would have none of it. He did relent and wear light socks with light suits. He did start to make sure his collars were more snugly fitting. But his clothes in the winter at ther Obersalzberg were sometimes ridiculous.
Q: Did you visit him there? I thought you stayed always in Munich?
A: Inevitably I had to go up there on occasion, usually in the period 1933-1936. Hitler would wear one outfit that Eva really teased him about. He had these golfing types of pants which he wore with the traditional Bavarian hiking shoes. Frau Hoffmann had given him a vest which was plaid and had some vivid colors. Hitler wore that in cold weather with jacket, tie and pants which didn’t match at all. Eva talked about that for years. He never wore that I don’t believe after 1935.
Q: How often was Eva Braun present in Munich when Hitler was there?
A: All the time. She wouldn’t spend the entire day and it really depended on what Hitler had planned for that day. Generally they would have tea together, then she would leave and come back around 8:00 at night. They might have a snack at that time. I didn’t disturb them. She either stayed with Hitler all night or was escorted home.
Q: Eva Braun was said to have been very well dressed in expensive clothes. Can you confirm this?
A: Eva was very stylish, she had time on her hands and not much to do when Hitler was in Berlin. She had a great and established fashion sense. She really did dress marvelously well. Even those who didn’t like Eva would have to admit she was the essence of style.
Q: What do you mean by that phrase, please?
A: I mean that she knew what clothes and what fabrics would flatter her figure. She looked very well in clothes.
She was one of the best dressed people I have ever been around in my life.
Q: Was Eva Braun the most pretty woman in Hitler’s circle?
A: Well, I would put Frau Inge Ley ahead of her, she was a world class beauty. Hitler was very taken with her. She was around him a lot.
She only married Dr. Ley to get close to Hitler, of that there was no doubt.
Q: When you say ‘she was around a lot,’ you mean she visited Hitler alone?
A: No, they were never alone. Hitler always had a chaperone, he was strict about such things. Sometimes I had to sit in the room with them, sometimes an adjutant. Frau Ley tried hard to get closer to Hitler, but she did not succeed.
Q: You’re saying there was no intimate relationship between Hitler and this Mrs. Ley?
A: She pushed for that but Hitler already had Eva by that time and as he told me a hundred times, ‘I have to be careful. Women can never keep their mouths shut.’ But Inge Ley was in love with Hitler, she made no secret of that fact.
Q: And this included Eva Braun? Hitler thought she couldn’t keep her mouth closed either?
A: Absolutely it did not include Eva, this was one of Eva’s greatest strengths in Hitler’s eyes. He trusted her implicitly, especially during the war years. But even long before then, Hitler knew that Eva was 100% loyal and never was someone to talk out of turn.
She kept his confidence. Eva had her faults, but discussing Hitler or revealing information about him? Never. At least not to me.
Q: Getting back to Eva Braun’s fashion sense, I have read she changed clothes 5 times daily. Can you confirm if this was the case?
A: No, she didn’t do this in Munich. Of course she would change into an evening dress at night if she was doing something that required it. Now at the Berghof, she changed her clothes a lot. In Munich she didn’t do this.
Q: Did Hitler compliment her dresses?
A: All the time, but I don’t think he noticed every detail. Oftentimes he would be very enthusiastic upon first seeing her and would say, ‘Oh, you’re wearing a new dress, how lovely,’ and Eva would glower, “come on, it’s not new, you’ve seen this often enough!’ I think Hitler was teasing her, he was very observant and had an iron-clad memory. He said that to needle her, to tease her.
Q: Can you discuss Hitler’s wardrobe? Was he conscious of clothing?
A: I can discuss his suits, his uniforms I had nothing to do with, they were sent out to be cleaned and I merely arranged them for him. But his suits I can discuss in detail. What can I say except Hitler had odd tastes in clothes.
Q: How do you mean he had an odd taste?
A: The way he dressed sometimes didn’t reflect his personality. Hitler could be very rigid in things, he was conservative about certain things, or at least behaved as such. But he could wear some suits which were very liberal, very modern almost for a middle-aged man.
Q: I still don’t understand?
A: Well, he a penchant for loud clothes and very loud ties. One would have thought he would have dressed more conservatively.
Q: Was this a case where he would wear ties because an admirer had sent them? He felt a sense of obligation?
A: No, Hitler hardly even saw all the presents women sent him. He would not have ever worn a piece of clothing sent by a common person. I don’t see him as ever doing that. he wouldn’t have. Hitler chose his own clothes and basically, he wouldn’t match his ties with his suit jacket. He wouldn’t match his shoes with his suit color. It drove Eva Braun crazy. I mean this, it drove her crazy.
Q: How could you be privy to this information?
A: Because I saw and heard it often enough, she nagged him about this for many years in the apartment. It stopped during the war when he could only wear his uniform.
Q: What kinds of things would she say to him? They openly argued in front of you?
A: I didn’t mean to say they argued. I never saw the two of them argue. They had disagreements or even arguments at the Berghof, I heard a lot from the maids. But it didn’t last long up there. I didn’t say that Eva Braun argued with Hitler about his wardrobe, I said she nagged him, there is quite a difference, you see.
Q: Explain how this happened, if you can.
A: As I said, Hitler would wear a tie which didn’t match his suit. It wouldn’t match at all, nor his shoes. He was always very neat, very clean and well put together. He always looked well, but he looked sometimes ridiculous with his ties.
Q: And what would Eva Braun say to him about this?
A: I can tell you exactly what she would say, I can see and hear it all perfectly clearly. She would say, "Really now, look at your polka dotted tie. You can’t wear that with your striped suit. And look at those black shoes with your light suit, where are the brown shoes I selected for you?”
Sometimes she would get so indignant she would stomp her foot.
Q: Hitler took that from her?
A: I think it all amused him. He would just look at her, smile a little, and usually say nothing. His answer was to continue to wear whatever he wanted, no matter how outlandish the color combination was. Sometimes he would tease her about her clothes, but Eva dressed so impeccably it was an impossible task.
Q: It wasn’t generally known in America that Hitler was a poor dresser.
A: Nor here (in Germany) was it known. He usually appeared in uniforms, the public saw him in that. Here in Munich he was a private man and didn’t wear uniforms much. But his suits were often mismatched, as I said. Eva even bought him some shoes, which I can tell you about if you’d like. Hitler’s clothes were of very high quality, silk lined, it’s just his combinations of colors.
Q: When was this, if you recall that Eva Braun purchased the shoes?
A: Oh, it was sometime in the middle 30’s. She went down to the Karlsplatz to Lindt’s and bought him 4 pairs of brown shoes with light colored socks.
Q: Did this settle their disagreements over his clothing?
A: No it did not because Hitler never once wore those shoes. Not once. They sat in his shoe closet untouched. Eva would even lay these shoes out for him and he would put them back inside his shoe closet in the morning. He had so many boots and shoes that he had a separate closet for them. One closet for shirts, pants and jackets, another one entirely for his footwear. She would say, futilely, “black shoes with dark suits, brown shoes with light suits.”
Q: Did Eva talk to you about his clothes?
A: Frequently! You must remember that Eva herself was a clothes horse. She loved nothing more than clothes and accumulating shoes. For Hitler, clothes were nothing more than a chore. Maybe he selected loud ties with striped or orange polka dots because he just didn’t care. Maybe he did it because he knew it upset Eva, he was a very dreadful tease with her.
Q: Who bought Hitler’s ties?
A: Schaub [Julius Schaub, Hitler’s adjutant] would go out every few years and select 50 or so ties from a tailor Hitler had used in Berlin since the early 30’s. Schaub would bring the ties and Hitler would select them, Hitler never went to a tailor’s shop, they came to him. Some of the ties were quite nice. He had a blue tie with white spots which he wore for years. It matched everything, light and dark suits alike. Eva also bought him some ties and he would wear them as well. Eva never fussed about his ties, she liked loud ties, but wanted them to match the rest of his outfit.
Q: What did Eva Braun say about his uniforms, if anything?
A: Eva hated his uniform caps. She positively detested them. She called them his “postman’s caps.” She was always telling him how dreadful they looked, this was a never-ending refrain. She hated the long visor, but Hitler was very sensitive to the sun and to light. He told me many times that after he was gassed in the Great War, his eyes could not tolerate the sun. So he had an extra-long visor.
Q: Can you tell me how this dialogue would have sounded?
A: Well, Eva would be in the Munich apartment and Hitler would enter with his cap and she would start fussing. She started saying things like, “Why can’t you ditch that cap? You would look so much better with a different style.” Hitler usually would say nothing. He wasn’t irritated, he was bemused. Sometimes he would imitate her nagging him about the caps, but only when she wasn’t present.
She wanted Hitler to dress like that silly Italian, Count Ciano.
Q: Did she hate his uniforms?
A: You must remember that Eva never went to Berlin much until 1938 or 1939. In Munich and on the Obersalzberg, Hitler was a private man and usually wore suits. Of course he also wore his brown coat or uniform in those places as well. But Eva was around Hitler more often in suits. Another thing that comes to mind are his shellacked shoes, she was always remonstrating to him about those.
Q: What do you mean?
A: With his uniform, before the war, Hitler wore glossy black shoes. Eva thought that was ridiculous, she wanted him to wear shoes without a “buff” shine. They had many a good-natured discussion about this, it never got heated, Eva was just exasperated.
Q: Does this strike you as controlling, typically female behavior?
A: Nobody controlled Hitler, that wasn’t possible for anyone, I don’t think. Eva was not a controlling girl. She was motivated by wanting Hitler to look as good as he could at all times. She took a lover’s pride in him looking good. She was not seeing him as the Führer, rather as Adolf Hitler.
Q: Did Hitler ever wear a tuxedo, or like Fred Astaire, the white tie and tails?
A: In the early days, yes. He always dressed very correctly going to the Opera. He hated wearing that, he said he felt he was choking. He never knew out to tie a bow tie, so one of the adjutants had to do it for him. Now it’s interesting, Eva didn’t chide him when he was in tails. I think she thought he looked very well in them. In the early days, they would go out together sometimes, with Hitler in tails and Eva in an evening dress. I must say they looked good.
Q: Is there anything else you can recollect about Eva Braun’s remarks about Hitler’s clothes?
A: I think I have touched upon all of it. Except she didn’t like the cut of his clothes either. Hitler would not allow a tailor to touch him, they had to do his measurements by guesswork. She wanted firmly fitting clothes and Hitler simply would have none of it. He did relent and wear light socks with light suits. He did start to make sure his collars were more snugly fitting. But his clothes in the winter at ther Obersalzberg were sometimes ridiculous.
Q: Did you visit him there? I thought you stayed always in Munich?
A: Inevitably I had to go up there on occasion, usually in the period 1933-1936. Hitler would wear one outfit that Eva really teased him about. He had these golfing types of pants which he wore with the traditional Bavarian hiking shoes. Frau Hoffmann had given him a vest which was plaid and had some vivid colors. Hitler wore that in cold weather with jacket, tie and pants which didn’t match at all. Eva talked about that for years. He never wore that I don’t believe after 1935.
